Ostberg

Port city in the south-east of the Mainland.

The city of Ostberg was built around a vast natural bowl where the cliff-bound coast of Bernicia was low and was breached by the river Oiselet, at the end of its long journey to the sea from the Southern Alps far inland. Ostberg’s prosperity was based on the fact that it possessed the finest natural harbour along the continental east coast between Hochrecht and Ardhesse. It was now also an important hub in the continental railway system. To Ruprecht’s eye, the city had grown considerably from his boyhood days. When the carriage crossed the Oiselet bridge and climbed the opposite slope he found the upper reaches beneath the ancient fortress, which had once been parkland, were now covered in new villas, while inland and upriver an unpleasant yellow tinge to the air indicated growing industrial activity. ch iii.