Apothecary of Orieb

Overview

The Palace of Orieb was ceded to Azoth during the Autumn Equinox 388YE

The Apothecary of Orieb is an Imperial title created by the Senate in Winter 383YE to oversee the Palace of Orieb following the conquest of Ossium. The position of Apothecary served as both a sinecure and a ministry, producing a variety of herbs, including the rare realmsroot. The Palace is in the former Druj town of Orieb in Drownbark Forest, Ossium.

The Palace was ceded to Azoth by the Senate during the Autumn Equinox 388YE. The Apothecary receives three pawns of crystal fire, but receives no herbs, nor vis, until it has been returned to the Empire.

Responsibilities

The Apothecary has no particular responsibilities; they simply receive a bounty of herbs from the Palace and are able to hire locals to greatly improve this bounty. If the Palace were to be threatened in any way, it would be the responsibility of the Apothecary to deal with those threats.

Powers

Crystal Fire

The Apothecary receives three pawns of crystal fire each season from the distillations of Azoth.

Secrets of the Rebis

The Apothecary receives an arcane projection each season that can be used to infuse realmsroot with the essence of one of the realms. The projections will be received in the order of the colloquium.

Appointment

The title is selected by unanimous decision of the Varushkan senators at the Winter Solstice. If a unanimous decision cannot be reached, the title may be appointed by the Senate instead.

The title can be held by any Varushkan citizen. The Apothecary serves until the next scheduled election. They can be revoked by the General Assembly, the Varushkan National Assembly, and by the Assembly of the Nine.

Summit	Elected
Spring Equinox 388YE	Konstantin Rabovich Bolotnikov
Winter Solstice 386YE	Kazimir Kirovich Aristov
Winter Solstice 385YE	Nikolai Desovich Patazca
Winter Solstice 384YE	Nikolai Desovich Patazca
Spring Equinox 384YE	Nikolai Desovich Patazca

Recent Elections

This title is currently held by Konstantin Rabovich Bolotnikov; it will be reelected at the next summit. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.

Palace of Orieb

In the depths of the Drownbark Forest is the settlement of Orieb, a ramshackle former Druj settlement surrounding a sprawling and labyrinthine palace. The Palace of Orieb is believed to have been home to the Buruk Tepel of the Bone Serpent clan, Bleakbane. Neither she nor her apprentices have been accounted for, although it is possible they were slain by either the Thule or the Druj orcs during the peculiar events at Orieb during Spring 383YE.

The maze-like structure is a peculiar and unsettling combination of living area, apothecary workshop, palace, political hub, and herb garden with plants growing inside the structure in internal gardens - some open to the elements and others roofed with glass or cunning wooden shutters that can be adjusted to control the amount of rain and sun that reaches them. Parts of the palace are flooded with waters from the surrounding marshes - but all the signs indicate that this is by design rather than as a consequence of any architectural failure. There are also a number of peculiar chambers focused around apparent veneration or propitiation of supernatural entities containing statues surrounded by a profusion of flourishing plants of all kinds.

The "town" of Orieb is composed of makeshift hovels populated by a number of freed orc and human slaves. They have thus far cooperated fully with the liberating forces, open in their relief that the Druj have been driven away. The only real concentration of Varushkans in the region is found here - bands of wagon raiders from Karsk and southern Volodmartz.

Some of the former slaves made a spirited attempt to gut the palace before Imperial civil servants requested that they stop and allow an inventory of the contents to be completed. The civil service reports that the Palace of Orieb is not only a web of secrets and mysteries, but a labyrinthine pharmacopeia that dwarfs even the now-destroyed Bitter Vats.

Following the Summer Solstice 384YE, the Minister of Historical Research dispatched an expedition, led by seasoned Imperial Orc adventurer Snowstorm Henk, to explore the palace and root out some of its secrets. They discovered several interesting facts about the place, as well as multiple hidden rooms, which are recounted in detail in the Expedition to Orieb briefing.