Winterburg is a small city in Obrith, on the banks of the Amandîn, between Orendon and Menendara. It sits on an important regional trade route, bringing goods from Chesny, Brunheim, and parts of Valte to the river for trade with the major cities of Obrith and realms beyond. Its importance and wealth mean that the city itself forms an entire county in Menendras.

The civic population has swollen in the last century, as the completion of the city's 15-foot high masonry wall--which extends into the harbor--offers unprecedented safety against brigands and monsters. As such, the city's ruler, now the Earl of Winterburg, enjoys vast a tax base.

Winterburg was first founded by the dwarves of clan BRUNHAMR in the 2nd millennium BGC. It served as a port, where they could transfer silver ore from mines eastward by river to MENUNDAR, modern Menendara. When the silver mines eventually dried up, so too did the port's usefulness, and it was abandoned. The area was later claimed by the elves of the Morrowood, who did not use the land, but guarded it against intrusion.

In the First Great War, the site quickly became useful again. When the dwarves seized The Gates from the elves, they restore their ancient docks and the artificial harbor they had carved into the riverbed. However, they could not complete adequate defensed before the Dawn Vanguard under John Calabeth arrived; he successfully assaulted the site and claimed it as a fortress. His success is credited to a bold gambit: winter was rapidly approaching, and his men were already overextended. As such, no one expected him to move forward, having already claimed the keep at Chedon, adequate to winter his troops. Instead, he surged forward, taking the dwarves by surprise, and worked at a furious pace to outfit the site as a wintering ground.

His men constructed a simple keep in record time, and named it Winterbur, Middle Uldennic for "Winter Fortress". It kept them through the winter; the river does not completely freeze in winter, so they had a nigh-limitless supply of fresh water and fish to sustain them. In spring, the vanguard moved southward to besiege Menendara, though John left a lieutenant in charge to garrison and fortify the keep: Albur Kozan, who would soon be created the first Earl of Winterburg when John became King of the Sword.

The keep was expanded and improved, and served as an important strategic base for the remainder of the war. When peace was declared, it soon became the anchorpoint for the Road to Dawn, the path along which John originally led his men to the region, along which was rapidly sprouting a network of farms and villages, fruit of John's new landed nobility.

The city survived the Mist Cataclysm relatively unscathed, but was sacked during the First Kurnish Invasion. When the second, larger invasion came, the Earl threw open the doors, and prostrated himself before the Kurns, thus earning the tongue-in-cheek name Gior the Receiving. Still, his act saved many lives, though the townsfolk would suffer under the cruel lordship of the Kurns for generations to come. The unique architecture of Winterburg still bears the mark of Kurn settlement--the domes and parapets give it a certain western flair.

When the Kurns met their end in the Sea of Ghosts, the garrison at Winterburg dug in, continuing to lord over the city. Over a decade, a rebel faction, headed by the former Earl's son, eventually managed to oust their Kurn overlords, though there was much death in the process--the Kurns, unable to keep the city, tried to spoil it as much as possible.

For centuries thereafter, the town was reduced to a shadow of its former self. Much was destroyed, but there was little money to rebuild, as trade from the Road to the Dawn was anemic. During this time, much of the former Earldom was ceded to the new Earldom of Brunheim; Winterburg was now the seat of County Winterburg, much smaller in scope, but still approximately as wealthy as the newly created lands.

The city's recovery was slow, but sure. By 800 GC, it had returned to a population of 1,000. In 966 GC, the successful completion of the Bridge of God's Glory, spanning the Amandine, allowed the Road to the Dawn to stretch further west across The Arnroc to booming Vostum, and so the town grew even greater. In modern times, the roads have become safe enough for farmers to travel without escort at times, leading to its recent population boom and unprecedented wealth.

Sadly, the Kozan line recently ended, after almost 12 centuries. After much debate, ultimately reaching the Supreme Potentate, power was passed to the wealthy merchant family of Soval, against the wishes of the Duke of Menendras. Agnar Soval became the new Count in 1146, though he insisted on the more traditional title Earl of Winterburg. The legacy of the Kozan line lives on only in the name of the city wall his family recently completed: the Kozan Wall (although it has since been officially renamed the Soval Wall, hardly anyone uses that name).

• The Bridge of Glory
• The Kozan Wall
• The Wailing Catacombs
• The Cathedral of St. Margaz
• Dwarf Town