Summerized Ideas! Moved from Page Four!
All this is just member suggestions.
EN World City Project
Region: Enheim *
City Name: Mor's End , The City of Crafts and Coins *
Ruler: The Lady Kelvin, Matriarch of Mor's End (N female human Ari4/Rog6/Sor6). *
Other Noteable Characters: Castellan Althea Stangus (LN female human Ari4/Ftr6); Russol Mor (N male human Rog6/Ftr7).
Power Groups/Guilds: City Warders, Glazers' Guild, Glittering Brotherhood, Guild of Guards, Mages' Guild, Merchants' Guild, Silkers Circle, Thieves' Guild, Workers' Senate.
Capital: Mor's End *
Major Towns: Lalaton (500) , Mor's End (10,200). *
Resources: Cattle/sheep, clay/pottery, dairy, grain, iron, pork, sapphires, silk **, swamp cucumbers/pickles, wool. *
Coinage: Shield (pp), hammer (gp), sword (ep), dagger (sp), knife (cp).
Population: 10,200 (small city): Integrated - 40% human, 20% dwarf, 13% gnome, 8% humanoid, 6% halfling, 6% elf, 4% half-orc, 2% monstrous, 1% half-elf. *
Languages: Common, Dwarven, Gnome, Halfling, Elven, Orc, Aquan.
Alignments: LN, NG, N, CG, CN
Religions: The city has a collection of small local gods.
Allies: Kul Moren (pop. 800) *, sand barbarian traders.
Enemies: Orcs, goblins, yak folk.
Overview: Mor's End is a self-sufficient city, known far and wide for it’s abundance of natural resources and large artisan community. It is a melting pot of races, idealogies, and professions from all over the known world. Also known as the City of Crafts by some, and the City of Coins by others. It is an independent city-state in the region known as Enheim.
Built on the banks of the Mor River, an outpouring that is continually fed by Lake Enoria, Mor’s End stands at the conjunction of a number of trade routes, giving rise to one of it’s other nicknames, “The City of Coins”. For indeed, much coin does flow through the river town. The nearby dwarven community of Kul Moren provides abundant iron ingots for trade downriver. Fine clays used in the beautiful local pottery are highly sought after by craftsmen and nobles everywhere. Rare sapphires collected from the Mor River are used as spell ingredients. Finally, the unnaturally strong and beautiful fisher silk is produced only in Mor's End.
Mor’s End has much to entice anyone, whether they be merchant, noble, mercenary, or adventurer.
Geography: Currently being reworked by The Grey Dwarf
Government: The leader of the city is a mysterious female matriarch, hardly ever seen in public. Lady Kelvin is a beleagured leader trying to keep a hold on her independent city-state. The city's trade and position is much admired; located in a frontier land her city acts as an outpost serving several civilized settlements. Lady Kelvin moves around the city unseen. The daily duties of running the city are done by Castellan Stangus, and a group of officials known as the City Warders, who post the laws, settle disagreements, and keep the somewhat wild city going.
History: In ages past, dwarves discovered rich deposits of ore in the Mountains of Kul Moren, far from the settled lands to the north, or the strange sand barbarians of the south. Fortunately, a trickle of trade between these far distant cultures was beginning and the common route passed less than a day's hike from the new dwarven mines. The dwarves prospered from this trickle of trade for centuries before humans came to the region, now known as Enheim
Erek Nohan, the infamous barbarian explorer, was the first human to lay claim to the area. With the help of his grandmother, a sorceress of great power, he was able to take control over the caravan routes that used Lake Enoria as a resting point.
One day the sorceress spots a cairn while wandering through the hills north of the Wanderers' River, as it was known at the time. For some reason she felt drawn to it. To one side of the cairn she notices a large boulder that is hiding an entrance. Curious, she moves the boulder with her magic to reveal the entrance and rough hewn stairs leading down.
Entering the cairn , she comes across a powerful, evil artifact with a insanely powerful personality. A battle of wills ensues but the ancient artifact is too powerful for her mind and soon dominates her. The artifact forces her to take control of Erek and his men, so that they get information about Auvdor Kost, a powerful wizard that originally sealed the evil artifact underground.
No longer interested in treasure from the caravans, she forces her grandson and his men to gather all available information on Kost. With the powerful artifact's enhanced magic, the sorceress divined that the old wizard was spying on the region through the very caravans her grandson was raiding. Kost was out to destroy the sorceress for uncovering the artifact.
Due to the artifact's influence, Nohan's followers raid caravan after caravan, killing all except those that could provide information on Kost. These spies were allowed to return to Kost as a warning that the sorceress was ready for anything he might have planned.
In a moment of strength of will Nohan breaks free of the enchantments the artifact had placed on him. However, he couldn't bare to kill his grandmother, who was still under the artifacts power, so he banished her instead. She was never heard from again, though many believe she went on to control a city (or citadel (?)) south of the swamp.
Erek Nohan, free of the artifacts influence, splits the region between his two best men: Russol Mor and "Katze" Kulpin. Katze continued raiding caravans crossing through the region, while Mor decided that there was more money in trading than in raiding. He built a settlement on the river. In later years, Katze, who was known as the Pirate of the Lake, often raided the small boats carrying the precious fisher-silk.
(And what of Erek Nohan? No one knows for sure, but some say he completely abandon his barbarous ways and eventually became a wizard and a loremaster.)
Not long after, Erek and his followers discovered beds of clay of unusual purity and color on the banks of the Mor River and set up a small manufacturing hamlet where the river intersected this trade route. The dwarves of Kul Moren soon introduced themselves, and with their usual dwarven interest in all things manufactured, suggested the use of some mineral byproducts (which they had previously thought of as waste) as glazes for the fine clay wares being produced. The results were unusually beautiful and durable, and were readily sold to the traders who were passing through with increasing frequency.
Sadly, as is the way of the frontier, these lands were not empty. Bands of marauding orcs, worg riding goblins and even a few of the yak folk harried the fledgling town, and nearly destroyed it more than once. The dwarves, who had begun to see the community as essential to their continued economic health, hired some mercenaries, and helped to build a palisade.
Conflicts and Intrigues: The Merchants Guild has a lot of power given this is a trade city. They manuever for power against the Glittering Brotherhood, the local guild that holds the secret to cutting the gems just right to bring out their magical properties, often used as spell components.
- The city is extremely rich in natural resources which makes it an important caravan stop. Although it's far away from most other civilization, many people go out of there way to visit Mor's End. Coin attracts all sorts people, good and bad, thieves and heroes, men and mice.
- Some wonder why such an area was not already teaming with civilization when the founder of Mor’s End first topped the nearby hills and set eyes upon the plains below. The answer, say the locals, lies buried somewhere in the ancient warrens rumored to be beneath the city. Perhaps time will tell if the rumors are true.
- Catoblepas hunting in the marsh is both dangerous and popular amongst the cities nobility/upper class. These nobles are members of cult of God of Pain and Suffering. They hunt the dangerous creatures in order to risk pain in the name of their God. While not a secret society, they do tend to be shunned at noble gatherings due to their many scars and garrish outfits.
- A strange cult is rumored to have formed that worships the Lady Kelvin as a quasi-deity. No one is sure if these cultist are serious or simply mad. The city's officials have not commented on the issue. Rumors are spreading like wildfire.
Other Ideas/DM Tidbits: A magical riverboat that makes its way up and down the river. Other boats tend to be flat-bottom and use polers to move from one bank to the other, ferrying people, goods and sometimes contraband.
* Semi-finalized
** The city forbids the sale of fish-silk to outside sources so that they have a monopoly on giant silk fish fabric. Thus, the city heavily patrols the lake to prevent silk fish theft. (But of course, it's hard to make an open body of water 100% secure.)
