Venac


 * Farming People City
 * Population: 80,000
 * Main industries: trade, fishing, education, agriculture
 * Alignment: LN-LG
 * Ruler: Almeric Tarsiss, human philospher, Head Councilman of the Guild Council

Overview
Venac is the heart of commerce in Xian-Tau. It occupies a strategic position at the mouth of the Vargal river; a safe natural habour and the only practical way of moving large quantities of goods into and out of the Dargallion Range and the High Plains.

The river cuts a steep, narrow path through the mountains, leaving little land suitable for building and farming. Thus Venac is the smallest of the continent’s city states by area. The small areas it does hold however are highly productive, consisting of the narrow floodplain along the banks of the river, an area that generally doesn’t extend more than 10 miles from the main river itself before becoming too steep to use as well as the coastal escarpment north of the city, covered in lush jungle. It also has extensive marine holdings, claiming the river itself for 200 miles upstream until the point were it reaches Targazzin Lock, as well as the extensive delta immediately downstream from the city itself, which holds rich fish resources. While no state can officially claim the high seas the city’s significant fleet of ships allows it to exercise effective control of large areas of the important west coast marine trade route. The only land route out of Venac is the southern coast road, a treacherous road that winds along cliffs and takes in a few fishing towns and occasional small farming regions on its way to Tribold Cape.

Along with its powerful trade position and natural resources the University of Venac is considered the best on the continent, and wealthy families from across the land send their heirs here for the best education in the sciences, arts, arcane skills and commerce that money can buy. All these things contribute to Venac being the wealthiest city on the continent.

History
The crown jewel of Xian-Tau’s humanoid civilization, there is no place better to engage in the exercise of commerce, to pursue knowledge or to take to the high seas for reasons noble or nefarious.

Until the early 13th century, the mouth of the Vargal River was home to nothing more than a few farming and fishing settlements clinging to the narrow stretches of flat land in the deep valley along the river’s edge, as well as pirates who took advantage of the muddy twisting delta and lush jungle to hide themselves and their treasures.

All that changed when word arrived from the northern continent of Athos of the successful completion of one of the world’s most ambitious arcane engineering projects. After many years of planning and debates as to whether or not it could truly be done, a series of great locks had been completed on the escarpment known as Mazgill Drop. The world’s mightiest waterfall was transformed into a series of calm walled lakes, with water level controllable by arcane flow masters, and for the first time the length of the Gardil river could be traveled, from Barshavits delta all the way to Andelusia and to its tributaries in the burning spires.

While teleportation magic is well known to the humanoid races of the world, it has never been a practical way to transport mass commodities; only small amounts of goods can be moved each day and most of the few individuals capable of casting such magics have better things to do with their days than turn themselves over to work as a beasts of burden. There is also a reluctance on the part of most skilled spellcasters to make their abilities too widely known – powerful individuals of all persuasions have a tendency to disappear mysteriously and there are few who suspect any cause other than a desire by the dragons to remove those who could pose a threat to them.

Therefore, for the vast majority of the populace, transport by ship remains the most efficient way to move long distances and to carry out trade, as it has been since ancient times. Nowadays boats can also be magically augmented too to make these journeys quicker, safer and more comfortable. (Despite the reluctance of people to show off high level spellcasting powers, magical engineering is quite common – it relies mostly on low level spells and can be very utilitarian in its application so dragons get much less bothered by it). Thus, once the success of the Mazgill Locks became clear it was a very short time before the enterprising Western Fathoms Trading Company began work on a similar project to tame the Vargal River and open up trade to the Dragallion Range and the High Plains, home to numerous highly productive dwarven mining holds and thousands of square mils of grazing land shepherded by easily exploited savages. The series of six locks, spread along 300 miles of river rather than being located all in one cliff as in Mazgill, opened in the year of the covenant 1211 (199 years before today) and the effect was immediately transformational. The Western Fathoms Trading Company established a modest trading post at the mouth of the river but within a year almost every major merchant house had moved their operations to here from Daric and with them came everything else needed to support a thriving trade empire. Within two years Venac was the second largest city, and the richest, on the continent and has remained so ever since.

Initially the Western Fathoms Trading Company ran the city state more as an extension of their company than as a nation, channeling all taxes into furthering their commercial ambitions and providing for the people only what was necessary to make the company more profitable. Over the early decades however significant fighting between merchant companies, which often escalated as far as violence and the destruction of ships, threatened the stability of the nation and eventually an agreement was signed whereby all merchants would cooperate under the eye of a single over-arching guild. Worried that they would be excluded form power, most of the other industries also quickly formed guilds and the guild council, which governs Venac to this day, was born The Western Fathoms Trading Company has now gone, though it’s heir Marion Scrarmage sits on the guild council for the merchants guild and takes great pride in her family’s legacy. Venac now holds itself up as a pillar of inclusiveness, being one of only two nations in Xian-Tau (along with River Keep) run in a democratic fashion, although the democratic system is far from being universal or fair. (Only guild members get to vote, and only for who will be their guild’s representative on the guild council. The guild council then votes on laws and building infrastructure, but many of the guilds aren’t politically engaged so vote for whichever side can bribe them the most effectively, either monetarily or with the promise of supporting other laws in that guild’s interest. There also are a number of small guilds for industries that are either obsolete or should be rolled into a larger guild that exist purely as vehicles for political influence).

Venac also holds itself forward as a pillar of civic harmony, with the guild system having removed the often violent competitiveness seen within industries in other nations, however the monopolies guilds possess often leaves them in a position to gouge and simply moves the fighting from within an industry to between associated industries.

Still Venac’s wealth and stability mean there is no better place for a humanoid of Xian-Tau to call home…

Notable Locations

 * 1) Guild Hall
 * 2) University of Venac
 * 3) The Docks
 * 4) The Crags
 * 5) The Temple
 * 6) Dragon Mount
 * 7) The Mud Islands
 * 8) Courthouse and Prison
 * 9) Mercs/Guilds/Watch/Armoury

Guild Hall
The meeting place of the guild council as well as the residence of the Head Councilman (currently Almeric Tarsiss of the philosopher’s guild), the guild hall is the closest thing Venac has to a palace – a grand building four stories high with many balconies and small but elaborate gardens. It is located at the top of a large cliff that borders the north-western edge of the city. While in the rest of the city the slope of the land gradually increases until it becomes too steep to build on, here the land drops sharply some 200’, the broken terrain said to be the result of a great ball of fire striking the earth from the sky and cracking it apart millennia ago.

It is surrounded by a high wall and always guarded, but extra guards from each guild tend to be bought in whenever tense debates or negotiations are expected. Actual violence in the hall is rare, but the guilds relish the ability to make a show of force to one another.

University of Venac
Overseen by the Philosophers Guild (who have their headquarters here), the University of Venac is the most prestigious institute of learning on the continent.

The fees are high, meaning it is attended mostly by the young scions of wealthy families and as such it has as well deserved reputation for snootiness amongst the student body. The teaching staff are a different matter entirely, being composed both of widely acknowledged experts and those who obtained their positions through the odd delectations of the philosophers guild.

While the Philosphers Guild runs the faculties of arts and sciences themselves, the faculty of the arcane is run by the Mages Guild while the faculty of commerce is managed by the Merchants Guild. The grounds and buildings are elaborate, designed and built by the finest craftspeople to attend the university over the years and it’s central tower looks out across all of the low city and the delta beyond.

The Docks
The shoreline of Venac is entirely artificial, having been extended and reenforced with boulders and mortar over the last two centuries to form a series of docks, breakwaters and seawalls. The docks are lined with warehouses with those further inland accessed via the network or canals. This area is considered the most crime filled part of Venac due to it being the main area of the city of interest to those involved in piracy and smuggling, the presence of numerous taverns and brothels to serve newly arrived sailors and because it is home to a significant population of savage people and giants, bought in as cheap menial labour.

Despite its unsavory reputation the area is the economic heart of Venac and many of the trade related guilds including the mariners, merchants, logisticans and mercenaries have their headquarters here.

The Crags
Supposedly created in the same cataclysm that created the cliffs, the crags are a series of islands surrounded not by water but by shear drops. They gradually slope and get lower so that whilst those nearest the ‘mainland’ cliffs are level with it (about 200’ from the ground level of the low city) those further away are closer to the ground. Sloping bridges connect them to one another, as well as to the cliffs and the low city.

The proximity to guild hall has made the crags a popular location for guilds to place their headquarters, it also hosts a large marine observation tower, from where watchmen observe the river and its mouth all day and night to keep tabs on the coming and going of ships. It also serves as a convenient vantage point from which to watch dragon mount on the other side of the river; although no one ever says so an important part of the tower watchmen’s duties are to give advance notice of kobolds or ‘the big blue’ moving across the river towards Venac.

The wide vistas also have plenty of less practical value and the crags are thus the site of many lavish homes, inns and residences for visiting dignitaries.

The Temple
The temple to the draconic pantheon is an imposing gray stone ziggurat that emerges from the base of the cliffs. In front of it is a great cobbled square, into which the entire population of Venac can fit, and is expected to do so on holy days. The stage in front of the temple is also where civic proclamations are, by order of the kobolds, required to be made.

Outside holy days the square serves as a market place and the temple is always staffed – it is open at all times for people to come to pray or seek spiritual advice.

A small number of those truly devout non-kobolds do so willingly, and a few others do so in the hopes of currying favour with the kobold hierarchy. The majority of the population however only set foot near the place when required to do so. Spellcasting services can also be purchased here, though up front payment is required and for divine spells most prefer to use the healers guild. The mages and healers guild would both very much rather kobolds not be paid to provide these services, but don’t dare to make their opposition public.

Dragon Mount
Across the river from the city proper, connected by a great stone bridge that crosses the river at its narrowest point where it flows through a deep canyon, is the foot of Mount Gallowbraid, mostly referred to by locals simply as Dragon Mount. High up a great cliff facing towards Venac is the lair of Stragazzlex, the great blue dragon who watches the city. She lives in a huge artificial cavern, supported by massive stone pillars and opening hundreds of feet above the ground.

Below the cliff, on a section of the mountain that slopes gently towards the river mouth is the citadel of her kobold garrison. This is a military base, its main function being to oversee the city, ensuring the draconic gods are appropriately worshipped (including through sacrifice), that tribute is regularly supplied and that the humanoids don’t get out of line. The high ranking officers are stationed here on a more or less permanent basis but the rank and file rotate out regularly.

The citadel is heavily fortified and the mountain has been deforested from the cliff to the water’s edge to ensure none can sneak up upon it. Non-kobolds enter only when taken as sacrifices, and thus no one has any real idea of what is inside or what goes on there, but it is estimated that the citadel and the temple combined house around 500 kobolds at any one time. While this is a small force compared to the population of Venac, the main threats come from Stregazzlex herself and the possibility that many more dragons can be called at very short notice should the city displease them.

The Mud Islands
Beyond the inner harbor the river’s current slows and the silt it has carried for hundreds of miles is dumped, forming countless mud islands that dot the water’s surface for several miles. These islands constantly shift, some over a matter decades, some over only days, resulting in an ever-changing network of channels between Venac and the open ocean.

The more stable islands are covered in dense thickets of mangroves, in which a number of tribes of lizardfolk dwell. While these tribes possess few ‘civilised’ qualities, and their draconic appearance makes them the target of even more discrimination than other savage races, their knowledge of their ever changing home and their skills in the water make them a valuable resource to those who wish to navigate the channels. Thus a small detachment are employed as guides by the mariners guild and many sailors have a great deal of respect for them.

Despite the inherently unstable terrain there is one permanent structure in the mud islands – the Floating Inn. Noting that ships can often have to wait for hours or days to enter the delta when channel configurations and tides are unfavourable one enterprising young sailor named Trezel Lamark decided to set up shop for this captive market several decades ago. The inn isn’t actually floating most of the time, it’s supported by poles that keep it just above a king high tide and which sink deep into the mud on one of the more stable islands. However attached to the underside of the inn’s floor is every rum barrel ever bought into the place – a substantial number after 30 years in business.

Thus, the inn can genuinely float, though isn’t the most stable of craft. Every few years, when the island on which it rests crumbles, it gets dragged away by whatever ships, monsters and magic Trezel (who still runs the place into her middle age) can muster and anchored down on some new island. She is proud of never having paid a copper to the innkeepers guild, much to their chagrin. However the mariners guild use the inn a base of operations for their patrols and thus back Trezel strongly, meaning that the innkeepers have very limited means by which to enforce their claims for membership fees.