The Watch

One of the older districts of Avemroth, The Watch grew out of Abenbury as the original wealthy district before the cultivation of the Kekhinim Vineyards. It became known as The Watch for the close proximity of the Hollows Prison and the Temple of Septimus to the north.

Characteristics

The Watch is the most densely populated district of the city, containing 22 percent of the city’s population in its narrowest geographic area. Brick and mudwork tenements grew in between the abandoned manors of the rich, some rising to fairly astounding heights. Squatters occupied the abandoned manors, often fitting a dozen or more families to a single manor house. Cart traffic along Light Street is virtually impossible in the district after dawn, leading many to use ferries to shuttle cargo between Fenn City and Holdern. Leatherwork, textiles, and other crafts take place in the same small apartments that serve as family homes, often serving the interests of the wealthy fashion houses that operate in Old Town and The Amwics. Some homes within tenements even serve as taverns for the working class population or for the occasional nighttime caravans through The Watch. Children join the workforce as young as early adolescence (10 years old for a human), primarily as scavengers, looking for goods to recycle.

The Watch has a high crime rate, particularly in upper floors of the tenements. Some of the older tenements occasionally suffer minor or more significant collapses due to age, usually with catastrophic casualties due to the population density. These sections are sometimes rebuilt, sometimes scavenged and relocated. One tenement along the eastern foothills has not a single brick in its original place. Due to excellent artifice, the abandoned manors have not deteriorated, and these are usually controlled by gangsters. Rockslides from the mountains to the east and west of the Watch also pose a significant threat.

The Patron of the Watch

Nouveau riche relative to some families, the Patron (or Matron) of the Watch is a hereditary title for the ‘Godfather/mother’ of Thysis Square. It is also, by virtue of the organization having no official name, the name of the vast criminal family and its clients.

The original Patron was an influential criminal in The Watch whose family took control of one of the abandoned manors. He used his influence and diplomatic wit (Lark) to establish his home as a neutral haven for dispute resolution among the lowborn of The Watch (The Little Thing). By establishing control of the rival gangs in The Watch, he drew the attention of a wealthy high elf daughter from Kekhinim Vineyards who was a Thysis worshiper. She became first his patron, much to the annoyance of her family, and later his wife, to the horror of her family. Despite estrangement from her family, the new family had already gained enough resources and influence to establish a casino in Old Town's North End, South of the Kevalth sacred grove and north of the Dragonmouth educational district. The matriarch’s guidance of the half elf family through several generations established the family as one of the most powerful in all of Avemroth. Today the Patron or Matron lives on the Kekhinim Vineyard side of Lake Aben, but a cadet branch of the family still runs the Little Thing in The Watch.

Although the Patron or Matron is always a Thysis worshiper, the family has adherents in every church except for Kao's at this time.

Places of Interest

The Little Thing

The Little Thing is an abandoned manor occupied by and run by a cadet branch of descendants of one of the city’s early gang leaders. As his interests turned to more legitimate business, he converted his former house into a known unofficial safe meeting place for dispute resolution among the poor and criminal elements of the city. This earned him the nickname Patron of the Watch, a title still used by the family patriarch or matriarch despite the core family having long since moved on to Lake Aben. The few times that the sanctity of the Little Thing has been violated have been met with brutal and public retribution, ignored by (and possibly aided by) the local temples.