Svalbard's Capital is easily the largest, most economically stable and secure city within the nation, if not the world itself. While the military is distributed throughout its kindred states, Stadarfell holds the highest quality of units to ensure that the capital, its people, and its leader is untouched by the grisly world beyond.
Simply magnificent, Stadarfell needs not a particular eye to look upon it in order to appreciate it, for it is readily stunning to both new and old acquaintances. With skies clear and sun bright, wide stone walls standing strong against time while its insides cater to both the rich and poor, Stadarfell holds grace in age. Stadarfell is in itself a fortress, with only two stone bridges at the north and south wall, leaving there only two ways in and out of the powerful capital. These walls are laden with military coursing through its halls, and with artillery trained to the ground. There is no chance for it to be conquered from the outside.
An estimated 50,000 foreigners are said to come to those great walls every year, begging for entry. By their discretion, knights reportedly turn away more than two-thirds.
"Stadarfell is an ark boxed in with four great walls. ..only a fool would let diseased animals into the fold of it." — Baldwin, The Queen's Court.
With gilded gold floors, yawning hallways and incredible acoustics often filled with opera song, Forséign Castle is internationally known as one of the most beautiful man-made structures in the world. Historically, The Unconquerable Svalbard was said to build upon the castle with each of its victories. This celebratory practice has led to a beautiful complex of governmental buildings huddled around the brilliant castle and its many gardens, sparring grounds and vantage points above the masses of royals congregating beneath the watchful eyes of armed men and women.
Security is heavy, and those without permit are thrust into the ugly unseen underbelly of the Forséign Castle; the dungeons, where it's rumored that they've intentionally been left stripped, primitive, and inhumane. "They should be thankful. The ones we've crushed; their resources have contributed to something infinitely beyond them."— Baldwin, Magistrate.
Nestled in the center of Stadarfell's upper class, the marketplace is a vast network in which passing peddlers with the proper permits come to sell goods from their finely-crafted carts, competing for sales with some of Svalbard's most prominent merchants and their businesses permanent businesses. Separated into many sections consisting of antiques, treasure, apparel markets, produce and meats, Stadarfell's marketplace is visited by a great many travelers and natives alike who wish to get their hands on the highest quality goods.
The scenery is particularly divine; lanterns keep it well lit at night, commotion never ending even when the day is done. Street performers and bards beg the rich to reward them with coin, and many lush parks dot the area for civilians to rest as they watch peddlers make sales and guards on horseback move through the streets.
"People often lead such simple lives. I enjoy coming here to see their novellas play out." — Halin, Philosopher.
An integral element to Svalbard's entire success, the academy is a cluster of research and educational facilities dotted along the bluffs of the eastern side of Stadarfell where the mountains greet the sea. Svalbard's legacy for Magic started and continues here, where Magisters dabble in the treacherous science of Magic while students learn the ins and outs of casting, writing spell books, and proper decorum as representatives of Svalbard's higher education. "The gift knows no age," they say, and for that reason the academies do not bar students based on it. The issue of money, however...
"Strict. They call ME strict--but I'll have you know, there hasn't been a student-related explosion in the past 30 years. You're welcome."— Lucci, Grandmaster.