Zalhrada

[Humabout]

ZALHRADA

Zalar Sound.

[note]Zalhrada
Population:  225,000 (Search +3)

PHYSICAL AND MAGICAL ENVIRONMENT

• Terrain:  Mountains
  
• Appearance:  Average (+0)
  
• Hygiene:  +1
  
• Normal Mana (Rare Enchantment)

CULTURE AND ECONOMY

• Language:  Common
  
• Literacy:  Broken
  
• TL:  4 (Medical 3)
  
• Wealth:  Average (x1)
  
• Status:  -1 to 6

POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

• Government:  Representative Democracy, Oligarchy
  
• CR:  3 (Corruption -1)
  
• Police Resources:  $360,000
  
• Military Resources: $3,600,000
  
• Defense Bonus:  +8

NOTES
Zalhrada forms a semicircle perched atop the 1,000-foot high cliffs that line Zalar Sound.  Built on top of countless ruins, the city's catacombs stretch for miles and attract adventurers – and supporting industries – from all over the world.  Smiths skilled in weaponmaking and armorcrafting about (Search +4), as do daring merchants looking to buy and sell various dungeon wares (Search +4).  And of course, if one needs to hire an adventurer, they are never too far or too few to be found (Search +5).

Zalhrada is generally a lenient city in terms of laws, but they are quite strict about hygiene (CR 4) and maintain an extensive sewer system that empties into the sound farther down river.  While generally TL 4, Zalhrada lacks microscopes and more advanced medicinal practices (TL 3), and does not make use of personal firearms – the city's naval fleet and defensive fortifications do, however, employ cannon.

Zalhrada's defenses consist of a number of concentric semi-circular walls built as the town expanded and each offering a fallback point should the lower one be breeched.  Facing the sound, five batteries of heavy cannon defend the city against naval assaults while a dozen batteries of light cannon, scorpions, and other light artillery guard against land attacks.  The army consists of 2,000 bowmen, and 400 light infantry, and 1,300 medium infantry, all adept at negotiating the rough mountain terrain of the area.  The navy consists of 15 brigs and a galleon flagship, along with 10 longboats, each of which typically carries a raiding party of 10 light marines, 50 medium marines, and 10 heavy marines.  The brigs and galleon usually protect the city or engage in piracy, while the longboats conduct inland raids.[/note]
Zalhrada is large by any city's standards.  Its population of nearly a quarter million inhabits a 4.5 square mile semicircle butted against the edge of the cliffs along Zalar.  Its catacombs extend for miles beneath the city and provide a point of refuge while the Zalhrada Castle defends the city from attacks.  Around its outermost perimeter is a 5.3-mile-long wall of packed earth faced with concrete.  Five concentric inner walls mark the steady expansion of the city, each one being of similar construction and culminating in the castle's walls themselves.

Five gates grant access to the city via the Forest Road, the Coastal Road, the North Road, and the West Road.  All four roads form major avenues within the city's maze-like streets and meet at the Plaza of Arms at the gates of the castle.  Here the Senate building and main city market, along with the city hospital and main cathedral look over  the only large, open space in the city outside of the more wealthy residences.

GEOGRAPHY
Positioned on the cliffs above Zalar Sound, which eventually serves as the mouth of the Aida River, Zalhrada enjoys a clear view of the open sea.  Zelen Forest, which use to extend to the edge of the sound, has been cleared to make way for farmlands for about ten miles.  This sprawling mountainous landscape provides the city and its supporting villages with food, while fishermen from Pilsēta and other fishing towns bring in a wide variety of seafood.

Below the city are vast expanses of catacombs formed by centuries of rebuilding the city atop the ruins of previous cities.  These extend quit deep and were later connected to an underground cave system by unknown persons.  This entire system is not entirely separate from the city's sewer system, which makes use of parts of the undercity to rid the streets of waste and generally keep the population healthy.  The undercity has become a haven for criminals, dissidents, troublemakers, monsters, and other unwanted persons.

Similar to the undercity, the quarries that used to produce the stone needed for the continuous expansion and periodic rebuilding of Zalhrada have become a haven for monsters and wildlife in recent years.  These are located about three miles upriver from Zalar Sound.  Many of the local mining towns still fight for existence against the encroachment of unsavory sorts, but unless Zalhrada requires more stone, the city does little about the problem, militarily – they leave such tasks to adventurers.

Zelen Forest itself is often a place of interest for adventurers and the army alike.  Home to countless wild things and the remnants of the local elf population, the Forest is the source of many folktales and scary stories.  It is said that the area was once covered by a vast civilization that collapsed and was swallowed by the forest long before Zalhrada was ever built.  That the city was founded by adventurers exploring the wilderness does little to refute this claim.

CLIMATE
Zalhrada enjoys a chilly temperate climate with warm summers and cold winters.  Temperature can range anywhere from 85° F in the summer to -10° F on a cold winter night.  The area is wracked by summer storms that carry high winds, fierce lightning, and torrential downpours; and the winter is little better, alternating between blizzards and hailstorms, depending on the conditions.

ORGANIZATIONS
These organizations often play large role in the lives of city-dwellers.

CHURCH
The church in Zalhrada is a citywide institution that provides spiritual advice, religious rituals, healing services, generally attempts to help the truly needy.  Its worship is directed to the Heavens, and particularly a host of deities widely held to be the most powerful by those in the region.  The city's patron deity is Likuma, the goddess of light, military force, and justice.

MILITARY
The military is organized into two branches - the army and the navy.  The army provides defense for the city, and while it is capable of rapid movement in the rugged terrain, it generally stays near the city in case of attack.  The navy, however, is used extensively for raids, since the cliffs and castle's cannon can hold off an invasion by sea for months.  The city's adventurer population can also be called upon at any time to defend the city or go on missions, as the need arises; this is part of the cost of having the freedom to engage in activities illegal for common citizens without repercussions.

ORGANIZED CRIME
With so little banned by the government, organized crime exists primarily to dodge taxes and run extortion rings.  The latter are unfortunately common in the city's slums, and so long as the right bribes are paid, the town guard does little to stop it.  The city does remorselessly pursue tax evaders, however.

SENATE
Zalhrada is a democratic republic, but despite this, the same general group of people always seem to be in power.  This group of nobles are not particularly maleficent, but they have been known for their corruption.  Despite this, no one from outside the nobility can get enough votes to acquire an office.  Speculations on conspiracies, shadow governments, and the like abound among the downtrodden, but overall, the city rulers keep the middle class happy, and therefore complacent.

ARCHITECTURE
Zalhrada's soaring apartment buildings, crowded cobblestone streets, and twisting alleys give the city an air of dark majesty unlike any other.  Flying buttresses hold high walls in place, while ample archways support ever-growing roofs.  Streets are often the width of a cart, or less, and balconies come close enough for people to shake hands across railings.  Facades are mostly stone, even if the walls are rubble or concrete, and interior floors are usually wooden.  Doorways are short and narrow, never open outward into a street.  It is common for the lower floors of a building to be storefronts while upper floors contain the owners' residences.

[Ghostman]

Is this intended as a setting in it's own right or just a location to be inserted into another setting? It looks like it could work well as a starting point for a bottom-up approach to worldbuilding.

p.s. There's a rather comical typo right under Geography :P

[Humabout]

It's meant as a starting point for bottom-up creation and the starting point of a campaign.  It's just one location in the world, but it's large enough that characters need never leave the city in search of adventure if they don't want to.

The intent is a points of light sort of thing with city-states scattered thinly across a very hostile and dangerous world.  This one happens to be perched above a temperate fjord. At present, I don't see anything larger than a city-state existing, although there might be some small kingdoms or a fledgeling empire somewhere.  I'd rather keep the world vast, dangerous, and largely unpopulated.

[Ghostman]

The intent is a points of light sort of thing with city-states scattered thinly across a very hostile and dangerous world.  This one happens to be perched above a temperate fjord. At present, I don't see anything larger than a city-state existing, although there might be some small kingdoms or a fledgeling empire somewhere.  I'd rather keep the world vast, dangerous, and largely unpopulated.

A city-state this large should prolly need to keep some smaller towns under it's domination (or "protection") to support it's economy, especially so in a world where the rural countryside is under constant threat from monsters and bandits. That could provide some ideas for when/if you need to define locations outside Zalhrada, as well as potential for RP scenarios.

[Humabout]

You're right.  That's what the cleared farmlands surrounding the city are for.  There's a network of small villages and homesteads on the roughly 160 square miles of farmlands between Zalhrada and the forest's edge.  I should probably check to see if that's enough farmland; I picked the "has been cleared to make way for farmlands for about five miles" based more on travel times for the army/adventurers than dietary requirements.  I'll see what I can find.

[Edit]
Looks like they need about 10 miles cleared to the forest to provide enough grain to feed the city and the farmers.  Adjusting numbers now.