Situated to the west of Ravka on the coast of the True Sea, Os Kervo is one of Ravka’s most populous cities and the centre of its main port. A large portion of all of the imports in and exports out of Ravka move through Os Kervo on their journey to their destination, as do travellers looking to land upon – or depart – Ravka’s shores.
Places
Like any city, Os Kervo has both rundown slums and more highbrow lodgings, as well as plenty of taverns for sailors.
The city features an enormous lighthouse, and if you scale the white cliffs near the city, it’s also said that you can find a mythological cave which once served as the den of a dragon.
From the bell tower atop Os Kervo, as well as other locations including some of its more upper-class hotels, one has a perfect, uninterrupted view of the True Sea.
In Canon
Zoya Nazyalensky visits this location herself in Rule of Wolves, and it’s revisited later in the novel. The Crows also visit Os Kervo more broadly at the end of the Shadow & Bone TV show before travelling back to Ketterdam.
Quotes from the Series
In a high tower of Os Kervo’s city hall, Zoya paced the flagstone floor. [...] Through the window, she glimpsed waves crashing against the base of the city’s famous lighthouse. It was said Sankt Vladimir the Foolish had held the ocean at bay while the stones were laid for the sea wall and the great lighthouse.
– Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo, p.56
Nikolai had been inside Os Kervo’s city hall many times, had fought not to fall asleep beneath its stained-glass dome through countless meetings. Yet the audience chamber looked different today, the light filtering through the colored glass from above seemed brighter.
The chamber was built like an amphitheater, its terraced walls lined with long, curving benches …
– Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo, p.503
