Revision 9

Overview

Svartrau is the capital and largest settlement in Vale Sangora. It is the center of Brencis's political authority and the only true city in the game. Smaller settlements like Laslea are villages. Svartrau is where the political power, specialized merchants, and most of the population concentrate. It was established because of the silver in the surrounding mountains, with rocky slopes pockmarked with mine entrances visible from the city walls.

Districts

Silberkreis is the wealthiest district, sitting closest to Greifberg Castle. Both of those details come from the publisher's own account of the gameplay reveal, which describes Coen travelling through the district on his way into the city. The name has Germanic roots, "Silber" (silver) and "Kreis" (circle/district). Other districts include market areas, residential blocks, and public spaces shown during the Gamescom 2025 demo. The city is large enough that navigating it (especially at night using rooftop routes) is a significant part of gameplay.

Three further districts are named in coverage of the finished game. Neustadt is built around a central square with a tree at its middle and holds several vendors, including the trader who will buy silver. The Midden is a ruined district on the western side of the city and is covered separately under The Middens. A fourth district sits in the north of the city. Most accounts print its name as Altenmarkt and one prints it as Altermarkt, so Altenmarkt is used here as the better-attested form, with the caveat that no first-party spelling has been published.

The area immediately north of the walls is referred to as the Svartrau Outskirts, and is where Coen first runs into the Sanzhana. The western gate has a shrine beside it, which makes it the usual arrival point for anyone travelling in from the valley, and the city itself sits in the south-central part of Vale Sangora.

Greifberg Castle

Greifberg looms above Svartrau on crags near the Silberkreis district. It was Skender Dragosti's seat before the vampire takeover. Skender used silver mine proceeds to expand the dungeons beneath it, and the walls were stained with blood. Brencis now rules from Greifberg, inheriting both the castle and its infrastructure.

The Cathedral

Svartrau's cathedral is a grand but foreboding structure. Chronicler Albertus Taurinus described it as embodying "the wrath God displayed towards sinners." The cathedral contains hidden crypts beneath its floors, including the tomb of Saint Mihai, the patron saint who was buried alive centuries ago and is still down there. Coverage of the game widely describes the crypt occupant as a second Dawnwalker, but no studio material says so and the valley's own chronicle calls him only a saint, so read that as the common account rather than as settled. Frescos on the cathedral walls contain hidden clues.

The Gamescom 2025 hands-off demo was set in and around the cathedral. The daytime version involved investigation through NPC dialogue and using the Compel Soul hex to speak with the dead. The nighttime version of the same quest required stealth infiltration of the underground catacombs using vampiric abilities, encountering a murohni called "The Almshouse Monstrosity" and, as the boss, the saint entombed beneath the cathedral.

The City in Play

Svartrau is where several of the valley's economic and criminal threads land. Silver is contraband under vampire rule, and the only documented buyer is a trader in the Neustadt district who will not deal until Coen has completed a specific quest first. See Silver Mines for how that works.

The city also has a crime lord of its own, whose grip on a pair of Uriashi drives one of the longer side quests, and an almshouse that turns up as a destination for characters Coen helps out of trouble elsewhere in the valley. At night a house break-in frees a caged Sanzhana from a merchant, which is one of the five encounters in that chain.

Merchant and quest markers do not appear on the map until Coen is close to the city, so the density of what is available here is not visible at a distance. Nothing gates the visit itself: once the open world is available, Svartrau can be reached as early or as late in the thirty days as the player wants.

Day vs. Night

Svartrau changes dramatically between day and night. During the day, it is a medieval city. Merchants sell goods, citizens move through the streets, and Coen can interact, shop, and pursue quests through social means.

At night, vampire patrols take to the streets. Coen's Vampiric Powers give him rooftop and wall-climbing routes that don't exist during the day, but detection by guards or civilians triggers consequences. If Coen undermines vampire operations in the city, Brencis can respond by increasing patrols or initiating lockdowns that restrict player movement.

Role in Gameplay

Svartrau is the primary hub for shopping, information, and faction interactions. Specialized merchants are only found here. Many political storylines play out in the city, since it's the center of both vampire authority and human resistance. The city's verticality (rooftops, walls, tunnels beneath the cathedral) makes it a different place depending on whether you're navigating it as a human or a vampire.