20.5.5 Spinesreach, Dragon of the North
In a pass within the Tarean Mountains, nestled between the Dry Plains and the frozen Tundra, stands Spinesreach, the ancient fortress citadel of the Ankyreans. Steeped in Artifice, history's annals tell of the soaring spires and boundless innovations, and the fallen Order's legacies - of science, art, culture, magic, guile, and ingenuity without parallel - remain as the cornerstones of Spirean ideals. Though the city has dallied with democracy and republicanism over the centuries, invariably does a singular truth reemerge: Spinesreach is Severn's city, and the Manipulator has ever been known to take what is His. So it was that in the year 506 of the Midnight Age, the Republic was dissolved and the theocratic state - established in all but name eons beforehand and oft-whispered in the dark places of the citadel - reasserted itself beneath the gaze of the Minotaur God and the wings of the great First Dragon - Tanixalthas, Pride Incarnate. Eschewing the trivial notions of morality, honour, and justice, the Spirean mandate is one of progress without restraint, the newborn Conclaves encapsulating a myriad of fields in which merit alone wins out. It is to these ideals of progress and excellence that Spinesreach's three native guilds - the Archivists, Sciomancers, and Syssin - adhere. The Ankyrean subjective exists now as the Spirean objective: ascension, beyond the heights of even the Citadel's topless towers to grasp at the might of the Gods Themselves in hopes to one day supplant their divine overseer and seize power for their own. The flag of Spinesreach is known as the Tricolour; three vertical stripes of green, white and yellow. Historically, the flag has sometimes been depicted with a lion rampant within center. In modern times, this symbol has been replaced by a dragon volant, representing the city's current moniker. The flag can be depicted with or without this draconic heraldic symbol. The three stripes are presented vertically, referencing the spires of the city that stretch towards the heavens. Each colour in the tricolour represents a different aspect of the city: green for the outer city fields, white for the snow and tundra, and yellow for the sun rising over the Tareans.