Capital City of Sol-Regis – Academy Main Gates. Midday – First Day of Orientation.
If Northreach was the gleaming beacon of the future, then the Capital of Sol-Regis was a magnificent yet dusty relic of the past. As the hired horse-drawn carriage rattled over the uneven cobblestones, Raphael Sudrath pressed his forehead against the cool glass window, his expression a mixture of boredom and growing irritability.
To any other teenager, the sight of towering white limestone arches and gold-leafed statues of ancient kings would have been a cause for awe. To Raphael, a boy raised amidst the rhythmic hum of Mana-turbines and the clean efficiency of the North, it looked like a city that had spent a millennium forgetting how to innovate.
