Curig

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Public knowledge held by the inhabitants of Curig and well-informed outsiders relating to the city in which they find themselves.

Contents 1 History 2 Geography 2.1 Districts 2.1.1 Old Curig 2.1.2 The Docks and Curig Island 2.1.3 The Mire 2.1.4 The North Shore 2.1.5 Y Traet and the Empire of Sand 2.2 Places of Interest 3 Society and Culture 3.1 Religion 4 Government 5 =Keeping the Peace 6 Influential Groups 6.1 The Syndicates 6.1.1 Westwood Mercantile 6.1.2 The Church of Vecna 6.1.3 The Arcanists' Guild 6.1.4 The Brotherhood of Knives 6.1.5 The Red Sands 6.1.6 Clan Ironstone 6.1.7 The Dockworkers 6.2 Notable Individuals and Smaller Organizations 6.2.1 The Archmage 6.2.2 The Nightstars 6.2.3 Kalonese and Tumnian Legations

History

Hundreds of years ago, Curig was a beautiful elven town that lay nestled along the shores of a natural harbor. A center of scholarship and learning, the shining white towers of the city served as a beacon for those traveling the south shores of Erakal. But little of that era remains, save for some graceful architecture, some place names, and the persistent tendency among the inhabitants to curse in Elven.

Note: The following paragraph needs to be rewritten, per Curig's place in the history of the war against the Council of Hyram

One year, a discovery was made of rich veins of precious metals not far upstream, and so all manner of newcomers flowed into the city looking to make their fortune. The local elven rulers accepted it gracefully, for they viewed their city as a free and open one and believed that the immigrants would surely only serve to diversify and strengthen the culture. Their trust turned out to be somewhat misplaced, and several aggressive merchant groups from the far reaches of Erakal made their way to Curig to attempt to take over the trade in these valuable commodities, often working to subvert the princes of Curig's control over their city. The princes maintained control, quickly learning to play the devious games of the merchants, and play them well.

...

And things have continued roughly the same ever since. New groups appear, and old ones grow lazy or weak and are destroyed, but the struggle that is life in Curig goes on as always. There are enough scattered power bases throughout the city that any one group that seems to be on the way to consolidating its power is quickly balanced by an alliance of the others and brought back down to a level that the others are comfortable with.

Every so often, some noble leader or avaricious lord has desired to impose some order on the place, either to break the evil that infests it or to install their own rule over it, but such attempts have never lasted long. Though the groups of Curig can rarely cooperate enough to effectively resist determined foreign aggression on the open field, outsider leaders and peacekeepers suffer mysterious and quiet (or not so quiet) deaths very rapidly, and so attempts to govern a unitary city have always failed. A relic of one of these attempts lies on the hill lying to the east of the city, overlooking the entering road that skirts Curig Bay - a blasted keep, built by one of those noble lords. The day after it was completed, the central tower (and the lord) disappeared in a blast of witchfire, putting a quick end to that particular experiment in governance.

And so it continues. The city has continued to grow, with the settlement expanding to cover numerous islands in the swampy river delta to the west. Often a tenuous peace will hold for years at a time, with the groups consolidating their hold on the land and resources that they control, but it never lasts, and war comes to the streets again. But the city of Curig remains as it ever was and will attract newcomers to the struggle as long as the land continues to give up the riches that make that struggle worthwhile.

Geography

Curig lies around the bay of the same name, and in recent years has begun to spread further up the estuary of the River Tâf. The Old City is built upon rocky headlands, with much of that newer expansion being build on the low-lying marshes of the river delta. Much of the architecture of the Old City is distinctly elven in character, with newer construction a chaotic mix of styles and forms.

A rough map of Curig: [1]

Districts

Old Curig

The site of the eladrin settlement that gave the city its name, Old Curig is still possessed of the deceptively delicate architecture and flowing lines that indicate its heritage. In addition to housing the Westwood Mercantile Company and Red Sands compounds, it also holds the Market, one of the main reasons for Curig's wealth and importance. Nearly every conceivable or service can be found or arranged there, and the taverns in its vicinity see deals being made every hour of the day and night. Due to the heavy emphasis on trade in this area, unsanctioned violence is quite rare - an effort to keep foreign merchants and the wealth they bring intact.

The Docks and Curig Island

The other part of the machinery of trade in Curig. While the Market is where deals are struck, the Docks are where the machinery of trade takes place. Ships from all over Erakal make port in Curig's fine harbor, with goods being loaded, unloaded, and transshipped for untold destinations.

The Mire

The North Shore

Y Traet and the Empire of Sand

While certainly the poorest areas of the city, these two ghettos, located on the far side of Curig Bay are in some ways the best parts of it in which to live. With nothing of value to be had on the island, the main powers of the city have left it largely alone, and a spirit of solidarity and cooperation exists among the residents that is absent in other places. Y Traet is largely made of of those of fey descent and is the more successful of the two, with the ironically-named Empire of Sand being more cosmopolitan in its makeup (and so, perhaps less a ghetto and more of a slum). The Empire suffers more due to the turf wars of numerous small gangs and is much more subject to the occasional raids in search of slaves or subjects for magical experiments due to its proximity to the rest of the city, but there is still a sense of community among many there, and a willingness to work together for a common goal.

Places of Interest

Society and Culture

Religion

Apart from the Church of Vecna (see below), many other faiths are active in Curig although their influence is not extensive. Their houses of worship are generally confined to the area around the Market, where they cater to visiting foreingers, and deities with an interest in travel and trade - Avandra, Erathis, and Melora - are the most prominent.

Government

Curig is governed by one ruling principle: the accumulation of wealth and power. Whether it is achieved by means of brute force, by stealthy acquisition, or through the superior application of intellect, understanding that basic maxim allows understanding of nearly every part of the political structure of the city.

There are rules to the game, though. There have to be. Nothing so quaint as a written code of course - leave that to the Tumnians and their ilk - but there's a Code that's followed in Curig nonetheless. Violation of these rules in the course of the ever present struggle draws the serious and instant ire of all the other serious powers in the city. The rules are designed to ensure that the wealth that makes the struggle worthwhile remains intact, even as it is continually divvied up in new ways.

• No harassment of or violence toward foreign merchants - Foreign trade is the lifeblood of Curig, and so foreigners come for commerce are able to walk through the city without fear. Only as long as their motives are restricted to trade, of course. As soon as they start to get involved in the city's power struggles... well, then they're just playing the game like everyone else.

• No scaring off of foreign merchants - While violence is a perfectly acceptable way to accomplish one's ends, overt violence in the streets tends to make those of the merchant's persuasion nervous. As a result, covert violence is the order of the day, and is looked on much more favorably.

• No needless destruction of the means of wealth creation - There won't be anything worth fighting over if all of it is destroyed in the fighting. As a result, activities that damage natural resources or the means of production are looked on very unfavorably. Property destruction is quite all right of course, as long as it is the personal goods of a competitor, but destroying productive enterprise is a sure way to quickly become isolated from one's allies.

=Keeping the Peace

Given that adherence to the Rules is important, there have to be security forces in Curig to enforce them. And since none of the syndicates trust any of the others not to engage in some 'selective interpretation', patrols are made up of seven members - one from each of the syndicates. For some of them, such duty is seen as punishment; in others, it's part of the training of newer members, letting them gain a feel for the shapes and rhythms of the sprawling city.

Influential Groups

The Syndicates

These seven groups constitute the current ruling elite of Curig. Controlling the various means of production of goods and commerce, they zealously guard their own spheres of influence as they seek to erode those of their competitors.

Westwood Mercantile

The first and largest of the human mercantile companies that moved into Curig many years ago, Westwood has maintained a strong presence in the city ever since. With a large, walled compound in Old Curig and a historically close relationship to the Red Sands mercenary company that have survived since the earliest upheavals, Westwood remains the premiere power broker in the city, and is involved in the trade of every conceivable kind of good.

The Church of Vecna

The Vecnans operate deeper in the shadows than the city's other major powers, but everyone knowledgeable still considers them among the first tier, and the power they can bring to bear where their interests are concerned is considerable. Their primary trade is in magical items and services, as well as the production of undead for specialized labor or defensive needs. From their tower with its extensive catacombs on the eastern end of the Island they gather and hoard information via magical and mundane means, to be used for their own purposes.

The Arcanists' Guild

The Arcanists are the purveyors of most of the non-mundane shipping that occurs in Curig. From instantaneous travel from their secured ritual circles in one part of the city to another, when alacrity outweighs expense, to moving perishable goods long distances, any form of transport by magic falls under their purview. The center of their operations in Curig is a self-contained island complex in the mire, containing sufficient quarters, recreation, and laboratories for all of their members and support staff.

The Brotherhood of Knives

A group formed from the consolidation of several smaller guilds, the core of the Brotherhood is made up of skilled thieves and assassins. With their skills in more... physical means of persuasion, it found a natural role in the slave trade, and has come to dominate that commerce from its base on the north shore of Curig Bay, where it has easy access to both the River Tâf and the trade roads.

The Red Sands

This organization began as a mercenary company brought into Curig in the earliest of the upheavals. After putting down numerous revolts in the outlying regions, it gradually came to control the unglamorous but essential task of administering Curig's outlying agricultural settlements. Their base of operations is in Old Curig, close to the compound of Westwood, who arranged their arrival in Curig hundreds of years ago.

Clan Ironstone

While Clan Ironstone is the official name (though the group tends to be described more often by various impolite epithets), this syndicate is made up of many more families and races than simply the dwarves that gave it its name. The Clan controls the logistics of the mining operations that first brought the city its wealth. The main players in the Clan are still predominantly dwarven; somewhat unconventionally however, they control the mining not through the traditional dwarven methods of pick and hammer, but through the conjuration and binding of elemental and primal spirits that they use to reshape the land and force it to release its treasures.

The Dockworkers

The somewhat less-than-imaginatively-named Dockworkers are responsible for the maintenance and management of Curig's port facilities and shipyards. Perhaps the most practical and least likely to attempt to increase their power base of all the ruling syndicates, the Dockworkers are also one of the most cosmopolitan. On the docks, workers of nearly every species from across Erakal can be found working together, including those often termed in other lands the "monstrous races."

Notable Individuals and Smaller Organizations

The Archmage

The Archmage is a mysterious individual of apparently extraordinary power. From her tower on an island in the Mire, she will occasionally send for people to attend her or to collect seemingly useless or bizarre items for her own unexplainable purposes. She has never taken any apparent interest in involving herself in the power struggle between the syndicates, despite their occasional attempts to enlist her aid either openly or through deception.

The Nightstars

An elven gang/mutual aid society most active in Y Traet. They are one of the reasons the area is somewhat sheltered from the depredations that affect the Empire of Sand, as they make any incursions costly.

Kalonese and Tumnian Legations

While the diplomatic legates of these two dominant city-states have little direct power in Curig, they wield a significant amount of soft power through the economic weight of the states that lie behind them. Whether through the allocation of trade benefits or sanctions, or simply through ensuring that one of the syndicates is the recipient of a particularly lucrative contract, the influence of both cities is widely felt if not always seen.