Hasturi is one of the most ancient cities in the region, second only to Pazzix. In its distant past, it was a small, walled city-state on the Isle of Eramor surrounding an acropolis built from the island's famed native blue marble. The city was famous for a temple dedicated to the now-largely-forgotten god Cilhastur the Dreamer, also known as the Lord of Omens, his symbol a white owl with outstretched wings against a night sky filled with stars. Travelers would come by ship from the teeming cities of the northwest lands to partake of a tea brewed from the seeds of the holy Ipomea flower and slumber in the temple gardens until their dreams and visions brought whatever insight or guidance they sought. A cataclysmic earthquake, quickly followed by a tsunami a hundred feet high, brought the city-state to a sudden and deadly end. The acropolis broke apart and crushed the city below. The gardens were lost to time, and the ruins stood empty for a century or more, inhabited only by a dwindling population of degenerate survivors and a clan of black-winged harpies who fed upon them.
The Isle of Eremor was eventually resettled, this time by an order of seafaring, Mythric Knights-in-Exile led by the famed commander and explorer Narvvos the Unrepentant. The order found, on Eremor, a ready supply of building material from the tumbled cyclopean blocks of the ruined city and from these they built a great fortress. Narvvos the Unrepentant became Narvvos I, king of Hasturi, and his order of knights became famed mercenaries who demanded not only gold for their service, but that the cause be deemed worthy in the eyes of Mythra.
Today, a great city has grown up around the many-tiered fortress of dark blue marble. In the center of the fortress stands the soaring Heron Palace, its central spire affording a clear view of the seas all around the Isle. Hasturi features a large natural deep-water harbor, protected from storms by an ancient seawall of volcanic rock inhabited year-round by teeming flocks of gulls, albatross, and other seabirds. The city is a major hub of commerce, known to merchants as the Gateway to the Three Seas. The harbor district is composed of massive warehouses of blue marble surrounded by inns, taverns, and impromptu marketplaces filled with goods from all over. The entrance to the harbor is guarded by twin statues of Mythra and Belara, 150 feet high, that can be seen from well out to sea.
Some other notable landmarks include the Holy Chapterhouse, the largest temple of Mythra outside of Mythrior, and the Baths of Eram, which doubles as a temple of Belara. The city's Old Quarter is built on the ruins of the city-state of antiquity, with the ivy-covered remains of blue marble columns, broad forums, shady arcades, and inscrutable shrines still standing amid newer buildings. Old silver coins depicting the owl of Cilhastur may still be unearthed here, but few know their meaning. The city is home to a respectable library, the Archives of Vogol, and a military academy, the Redoubt of Skallos, an imposing fortress in its own right, with broad courtyards filled with young men (and even the occasional brave young woman) undergoing intensive training in the arts of war. Trade in slaves is perfunctorily outlawed in the city, but the gladiatorial arena on the western outskirts of town does allow for convicted criminals to choose between slavery and the possibility of fighting to earn one's freedom.
Recent times have proved challenging for the City of Heroes. Ignoring his advisors, King Narvvos IV undertook an ill-advised expedition to cut off the viper's head of the ever-expanding influence of the Sorcerer-Kings by marching on mighty Lyrion itself. The attempted invasion was crushed by the Sorcerer-King Shariel the Stormcaller, whose forces outnumbered the Hasturii 10-1, at the Battle of Bog Hill. Narvvos barely escaped with his life, and all three of his sons and heirs were captured and executed. Today Narvvos has declined into his dotage, the order of succession is dangerously unclear, and several organisations inimical to the city have begun to take root, some possibly funded by the Sorcerer-Kings. One such, a guild of assassins from far-off Shadomir called the Gray Hand, has been bold enough already to strike at the Heron Palace in an attempt to kill the king, but were fought off by knights still loyal to Narvvos.
