Avemroth

“The Blue City” of Avemroth sprawls throughout most of the eponymous island off the eastern coast of Vicisi between the Isin Strait to the west, the Quicksilver Ocean to the northwest, and the Azure Ocean to the east and south. With almost a million documented residents, Avemroth is the second most populous of the Free Cities. Exercising hegemony over the entire island, Avemroth is by far the largest of the Free Cities by area, with a trip from the southernmost point to the northernmost tip requiring weeks by horseback and days by sea. The terrain of the island is rocky to mountainous throughout, with swampland and desert in the south posing difficulties to habitation. Sprawling docks throughout the island lead to constant trade with both Isinroth and Syr in legitimate ports and smuggling and piracy in illegitimate ports. The “City of Temples,” Avemroth has temples to all ten Blessed Gods and all five Dragon Gods, although the largest temple is that of Averae in the Isin Strait to the west, for which the city and island are named. Income inequality is rampant in Avemroth, with the city’s rich elite occupants of the lush central highlands being among the wealthiest in the Free Cities, while its poor everywhere else in the island are among the most destitute.

Geography

The interior of the island of Avemroth consists of primarily mountainous terrain with two dominant verdant inland valleys providing all of the island’s agriculture. The southwestern coastal plain and the southern shores are swampland, difficult for habitation. The southeastern region of the island features harsh arid highlands with little water. Crossing the southern highland desert without staggering ones approach or without magical assistance is impossible for mortals. While the southern and eastern coasts are largely inhospitable—with the exception of the Amwics—small fishing and trading villages exist under the hegemony of the city, along with the occasional smuggling and pirate community trying to exist outside it.

The core of the city extends from a natural harbor on the west coast along the Isin Strait through the lush central valley and out to the temperate east coast beaches. The urban sections north and south of the city core present difficulties to their largely poor inhabitants. The highland Loch Clensbrim is the primary source of the island’s potable water, emptying to the north in the Blao (Blue) River and to the south in the Abenbury and Kekhinim rivers. Residents not living in the regions close to these rivers must rely on cisterns and wells for drinking water. Sewage and sanitation in these districts is a major health challenge.

Major Thoroughfares

The most important road in Avemroth is Light Street. The Riverwalk and The Broadwalk are important roads in Old Town, Kekhinim Vineyards, and The Amwics. Schadwe Street, Syr Street, Blao Street, Mine Street, Valor Way, and Isinroth Road are shorter roads that are significant in fewer or less prosperous districts of the island.

Light Street

The innocuously named Light Street is the major highway of the Avemroth hegemony, running from the southern lighthouse in The Angles through Hordern, Old Town, The Watch, Fenn City, and the highlands until its northern terminus at the northern lighthouse between the Blao River delta and the port of Isinroth Road. In an effort to expand their prestige on the island, the temple of Alkaizer established enchanted torches at regular intervals along the road throughout the urban districts, with longer intervals in the highlands. The lights reflect the great light atop the Temple of Alkaizer and the signal lights from the two lighthouses all along Light Street from early evening twilight until mid-morning. With regular patrols and an orderly boulevard width all along its length, Light Street is the most heavily trafficked road in the city and often the safest road in Avemroth's dangerous slums.

Main Districts

Avemroth’s major metropolitan districts are Abenbury/Old Town, Clensbrim, Hordern, The Angles, The Watch, and Fenn City. These districts may be further subdivided into important neighborhoods. The wealthiest elite live in the sparsely populated Kekhinim Vineyards and the Amwics, while the majority of the city’s Svaald (all but the clanless) live in Clensbrim. The highland farms are largely rural with small hamlets under the hegemony of Avemroth existing primarily at crossroads. Small coastal villages exist on both western and eastern coasts, primarily as fishing villages or minor inland distribution centers. The most important of these is Isinroth Road, in the far northwest.

Abenbury/Old Town

The district originally known as Abenbury includes the old city docks and the City Temple, the government center and financial district for the growing city of Avemroth. As Abenbury’s influence spread and subsumed other settlements on the island, the city took on the island’s name, and the port shifted from industrial commerce to commercial fishing. With time and colloquial usage, Abenbury became known simply as ‘Old Town.’

Over the millennia, the city's wealthy elite rebuilt much of Old Town's residential and commercial areas to attract tourists from the other Free Cities. This included erecting buildings in varying shades of blue, converting the old city docks nearest the river into seafront taverns, paving roads along both sides of the river up to the Kekhinim Temple and building taverns, amphitheaters, stages, and parks along the Riverwalk, and allowing the establishment of a formal market square complete with legal casinos and brothels.

With its heavy emphasis on tourism, Old Town is one of the safest districts in the city and represents about 7 percent of the population, largely composed of officers and adjuncts of the temples, low level government bureaucracy, and important clients. Even the prostitutes and barwenches of Old Town rank among the city's middle class due to their patronage.

Important Neighborhoods: Dragonmouth, Thysis Square, Averae Exclave, Lake Aben.

Places of Interest: Temple of Averae, City Temple, Temple of Alkaizer, Abenbury Riverwalk and Old Town Pier, Temple of Kronos, Dragon Eyes Casino, Wiccdun, Kekhinim Temple.

Hordern

Lying south of Old Town along the Isin Strait, Hordern is the chief industrial district for the city. The docks on the western shore serve the large commercial container ports and marine transfer terminals that use up the best land in the district. Hordern’s residential areas are plagued by poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water. The overcrowding due to the unfinished terrain of the residential districts has led to communal toilets, with more than 12,000 households having no access to safe waste facilities. Those attempting to use the communal toilets without a guard of some kind are prone to attacks, and Hordern has the highest violent crime rate in the city. Travel into and through the district by middle class (and the extraordinarily rare upper class) individuals requires armed guards with knowledge of the district, especially for those planning to stray from Light Street.

Important Neighborhoods: Hordernport, The City of the Dead, The Cairns. Places of Interest: Stedweg Hippodrome, Temple of Su-Lan.

The Angles

The Angles was originally a small unnamed fishing village on the southwest coast of the island. Today it is the most populous and second-poorest district of Avemroth. Due to overpopulation or overpolicing of the other slums, The Angles is the fastest growing slum in the city. The majority of new growth is in the swampy areas closer to the strait. Many new structures are up on stilts, with many homeless residents living beneath them. Dirt roads in the district flood almost immediately with any rainfall, and flash flooding is a major hazard.

Sewage and sanitation issues became so terrible in The Angles, that the impoverished residents took it upon themselves to create their own sewer lines. Despite these efforts, the frequent flooding from the strait and occasional breaks in the sewage lines lead to the many canals and cisterns being coated with an oily, horrible-smelling film. Relief workers from outside the district are often horrified by the sight of children playing in or near these water sources.

Violent crime and drug and sex trafficking run rampant in the district despite the heavy presence of the city’s various police forces. For most residents of the district, crime or prostitution is the only means of upward mobility or access to decent housing. The Angles hides the first shrine of Irrilandrilla in Avemroth.

Important Neighborhoods: Schadwe Street.

Places of Interest: The Southern Lighthouse, Temple of Sudreth, The Pretty Little Sting.

The Watch

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

The Watch is the most densely populated district of the city, containing 22 percent of the city’s population in its smallest 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. Some homes within tenements even serve as taverns for the working class population. Children join the workforce as young as early adolescence (10 years old for a human), primarily as scavengers, looking for goods to recycle.

Despite the strong religious presence in the community and the heavy patrolling by temple officers, 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 southern border has not a single brick in its original place. Due to excellent artifice, the abandoned manors do not deteriorate, and these are usually controlled by gangsters. Rockslides from the mountains to the east and west of the Watch also pose a significant threat.

Places of Interest: The Little Thing.

Fenn City

The poorest and most disease-ridden slum in Avemroth, Fenn City’s terrain is mostly swampy—warehouses taking up most of the decent land—and access to sanitation and clean drinking water is scarce. The undesirable living conditions made it a pirate haven in the early years, until the Septimites subdued it. Fenn City remains the most heavily-policed district of the city, and almost half the population of Fenn City can expect to spend time in The Hollows at some point in their lives, often for crimes that would be considered legal in other districts or for other classes.

Disease, poor sanitation, and incarceration/execution rates are such a problem that more than 40 percent of the population are under the age of 18. In addition to the Septimites, charitable endeavors from the churches of Alkaizer, Khitar, and Nimway have significant presences here, although their effect is often to work within the system rather than to attempt to change the system. As a reaction against the Septimites and the indifference of the other temples, the cult of Kao has gained popularity among the young of the district.

Places of Interest: Fields of Valor, Temple of Kao, The Hollows, Fight Club.

Kekhinim Vineyards

The least densely populated and safest district of Avemroth, the Kekhinim Vineyards contain the estates of the richest and most powerful four percent of families in the city. The Clensbrim Palisades to the north and the Southern Coil to the south funnel the district to the east coast where it opens upon the Broadwalk region connecting the Amwics to the north and south of the Kekhinim River delta.

Places of Interest: Averae's Bounty, Augonwin Winery, Serenity Strath.

Politics

Like each of the Free Cities, Avemroth is governed by its Ruling Guild and administered by the City Guild. Given the number and influence of the temples in Avemroth, the Ruling Guild features more temple officials and has more members than any other city. The Enforcers Guild is likewise the largest in order to cover the massive city.

Early in Avemroth's history, the Ruling Guild established the Patronage system as an attempt to create a social link between the wealthy elite to the poor of the city. Over the millennia, the system has largely developed to a class system with the wealthy exercising executive and judicial power over their clients, although it is possible for a patron to be another patron's client. While the Free Cities have not known war since the end of the Elari War, the wealthy patrons of Avemroth frequently engage in cold wars and proxy battles through their clients throughout the city.

Patronage is a legal obligation, and Patronage Bonds are recorded with the the Aewhof (ev-hof), the city's law and business registry. Breach of Patronage by either patron or client is punishable, although clients often bear the greater burden in breach cases. Patrons and clients may file for legal severance of the Patronage Bond with the City Guild,

Patrons

Patrons become the protectors, sponsors, and benefactors of their clients. Wealthy patrons often hold sittings, informal courts with Arbiters from the temple of Alkaizer as observers. Patrons provide legal representation in court, loans of money, influence business deals or marriages, and support clients' candidacies for offices or priesthood. The more clients a patron has, the more prestige.

Within the temples and Enforcers Guild and Military Guild, officers serve as patrons to their subordinates in what is known as official patronage. In these situations, the officer's rank serves in lieu of a written contract. The wealthiest patrons do not engage directly in commerce, leaving such tasks to their clients and even their clients' clients. Patrons also sponsor the Enforcers Guild and Military Guild in Avemroth, with predictable levels of corruption.

Clients

Clients usually arise from the tiny middle class and lower class of the city. The majority of lower class clients have some special skill such as being remarkable entertainers, jockeys, charioteers, or less publicly marketable skills. In return for providing services to their patrons such as managing business concerns, representing the patron well in Lake Aben, or other services related to their area of expertise, the clients gain sponsorship and legal protections through their patrons. An attack on a client is an attack on the patrons themselves, and patronage is highly sought after among the lower classes. Clients become, in effect, minor members of their patron's family. When a client dies without an heir, the patron inherits their property.

Economy

Avemroth's chief form of wealth is trade—both legal and illegal—with Isinroth to the northwest and Syr to its south. An airship port in Clensbrim facilitates trade primarily with Tyrose and, to a lesser extent, Kertos. Tourism of Avemroth's Old City, Loch Aben cultural district, and Thysis Square shopping and entertainment district along with the massive Stedweg Hippodrome provide significant revenue to the city's elite. The Blaodun Games, hosted every five years by the Temple of Isin, bring significant revenue into the city. The city's highland farms sustain the agricultural needs of the island, and Serenity Strath produces expensive beef famous throughout the Five Cities. The Kekhinim Vineyards export the finest wines in the Free Cities. Temperate summer breezes off the Azure Ocean attract wealthy residents of all the Free Cities to vacation homes in the Amwics seasonally.