Olim

Olim. Craddle of men in Nandaahr. Now this might sound like a supperior dream of a city, but it doesnt matter if youre at the southern gates, or approach the city from the Frozen Sea, the first thing you´ll notice is the smell of whale oil. Olim once was build by the first humans to set foot on Nandaahr (or so they thought), but over the years it evolved into the gate to the frozen sea and with that into the capital of whaling, ivory- & furhunting, ambertrading, fishing, logging and other exploitations of the polar regions. Olim is a chaotic town with few straight roads and many different architectural styles. Despite its long history and the tonns of gold in the basements of the traders guild Olim has an equal mix of filthy rich and extremly poor quarters.

History

But first, lets dig into some history. I know my fellow listener, everybody loves historic fatcs so grab an ale and have a seat.

The Foundation

As I allready mentioned, Olim is the first human settlement in the northern half of Nandaahr. After adjusting the calenders later, Olims founding day falls on the 17th leaffall in the year 67 of the third era. The thirteen captains had - due to autumn arriving - finally agreed on a spot for a winter camp. At first they just chose the bay pretty much random, but after their scouts did some exploring through the nearest mountains and it became obvious that most of their ships really were beyond repair, they had a lifely debate going on for nearly a week (some sources speak of skulls being crushed and a lot of literal backstabbing, others speak of peaceful debate). In the end they decided to make this place their new home. Or atleast their base for the exploration of their new found land.
It took a few years. At first they tore apart the carcasses of the ten ships that were too damaged to keep afloat and builded the first townhall and temple with it. This is the reason why the biggest temple of Olim is still the one for Brerolas, god of the winds and not Astral, the highest god. Around the townhall and temple over time more houses gathered as the village first grew into a town and later into a city. 50 years after its foundation, Olim held around 3000 inhabitants. Its not clear what was the trigger, but the sons of two of the original captains and their families left to the south and later founded Svedero at the most northern point of the gulf of battles that back in the day still was called the southern bay. But thats another story.

Becoming a city

In the year 200E3 Olims leaders, at this point they just called them "the captains", they represented the family leaders of the remaining 9 clans (2 died in 143E3 from epidemics) started to build the first city wall around the outer parts of Olim, even including some meadows and farms. Over the time a lot of people moved further inland and along the coast. Some had started to exploit the deep forests for wood, some where out on the sea whaling and at least twice a year a caravan would start that carried a lot of adventurers, fools, thugs and people who wanted to leave the safety of the city walls for whatever reason into an unknown fate somewhere in the vast wild of Nandaahr. It was around this time that the elves showed up at Olims gates. Their first mention was in the year 198E3 in late spring where a priest wrote something about strange folks in weird clothes with pointy ears and a terrible attitude were rumaging around the temple and acting as if the place was theirs. But this shouldnt be about the elves, politics are for later.

The birth of the traders guild

Eventhough everything but boring, the next 400 years passed Olim without causing too much troubles, the city grew extremly throughout this time and now, in the year 603E3 had reached 15.000 inhabitants which made it the largest city of mankind in the north. Over the time a lot of political parties had emerged and all were fighting for the absolute power over the city. The temples of course tried their best to gain power, but in their attempt to outshine each other they were more busy with eachother than a real threat to the other contestors. The decendants of Antrim, the highcaptain of the thirteen founders over time established some kind of royal history around their family and claimed they are, because of their bloodline, entitled to the absolute roulership of Olim and its associated territories. That of course didnt went so well with the other clans who didnt saw the need to bow infront of increasingly incompetent and increasingly inbreed decendents of some guy that lived multiple centuries ago. Oh, and I shouldnt forget the guilds! The thieves- and assassinsguild were everything but amused about the thought of a king, the craftsmenguilds in turn liked the thought of one ruler protecting their professions, the farmers equally feared higher taxes from the selfproclaimed king and the rest of the clans. The average citizen just cared for their own daily life and as long as the ale stayed cheap, the prostitutes werent banned (as some temples demanded) and the streets stayed safe they couldnt be bothered less in most cases.
So the conflict boiled for quite some while until five of the nine clans secretly met with the thieves- and assassinsguild and hatched a plan to murder the Antrimclan, burn the temple of Astral (in a temple with multiple big fires its quite easy to arrange an accident...) and take the city before anyone could do something about it. They hired a few mercenary groups that scattered around the city, just in case and bribed a few higher ups in the citys guard. You might ask, why did the assassinsguild and the thievesguild agree to work for the city officials? The Antrimclan made the mistake to proclaim they wanted to purge the city of filth, kick out the beggars, hang the assassins, lock up the thieves and a lot other foulish things. But over the years where everyone was trying to get as much power as possible these two guilds became as rich as they became influential - in nearly 2 centuries where "accidents" and secret papers and documents where in extremly high demand, these guilds became a steady part of the citys daily life. And they sure didnt wanted to loose that position. So they cooperated under the condition, that as long as the "traders guild", as the clans planned to call themselves, would rule the city, no official matters would be taken against the two guilds.
After everything was settled they set their plans into action - nobody knows where, but the assassinsguild managed to get ahold of a werewolf and set him loose on the estate of the Antrims. Nearly all of them were butchered by the beast before someone managed to chop its head of. The three survivors learned their lesson and left the city soon after. It caused quite some commotion when the news spread that the werewolf actually wore a cloth from the temple of Astral over his hips while feeding upon the Antrims. That wasnt enough proof to do something officially but a few days later some selfproclaimed "werewolf hunters" forced themselves into the temple and murdered the temple servents. Unfortunatly someone spilled oil in the holy flames during the battle in the temple and the whole building burned to the ground. Some saw that as a sign that the priests were guilty and Astral burned his own temple to expose them - so the second important enemy was gone and the five clans, now proclaiming them as the "Traders guild" took over the city. That caused a lot of trouble but after the mercenaries came into town and the guild promising wealth, safety and prosperity most people stopped caring and went on with their lives.
It probably helped, that the most vocal opponents of the new rulers were regularly caught in lethal barfights, were bitten by venomous animals, suddently decided to leave over night or were found dead in brothel... All tragic accidents as you might allready imagine...

The uprising

Over the next few decades the traders guild held up to their name. In the last few centuries a lot of other cities had emerged from nothing like mushrooms after a few rainy days in the late summer and Olim being the oldest, biggest and the one with the best equiped harbor became the "Gate to the North" and the source for amber, ivory, whale oil and other things the Frozen Sea, had to to offer. Especially Moss Harbor and Svedero were paying good money for these goods. So Olim was the uncontested king among Nandaahrs cities at the time.

The elves

Around the year 700E3 the elves suddently increased their contacts with the humans. In hindsight, scholars suppose that their bloodlust came back after a few fertile and peaceful centuries - and the demons in the south werent idle either so war started to stew. Elves and men had quite a few in common - most of their gods resembled each others and most of their priests came to the conclusion that they actually worshipped the same gods - just different aspects of them. The bonding of the two species actually started on a religious basis, the priests increased their cooperation over time and more elves were setteling in human towns and cities which knitted them closer together. This was another boost for Olim and made it possible to continue to outshine Svedero whos rulers managed to establish trading contacts with the orcs and with a strange city on the southwestern shore of the southern bay - Murkwater Harbor. A city founded by demons and humans together. Something the elves hated, but a lot of valuable goods came from the south so the elves tolerated the trade to keep their human allies quiet.
Eventhough the gruesome war that was about to happen later, some of the elvish buildings are still in use in Olim to this day - especially the time from 750E3 to 820E3 was extremly productive in that matter. The elvish baths in the traders district and their famous garden in the temple district are still kept intact and in use today.

The great war

In the year of 947E3 the ignition spark of the great war would be caused by the votaries of light. An extreme cult of Astral. They werent very well liked by Astrals priests because of their extreme views, but their growing followercount among elves and men alike brought them a certain amount of power. Especially since they ended the constant civil war in the heartlands and builded the famous sunrise fort on the solitary mountain known as Achim´s Watch.
Many unfurtunate events happened that time, but I will discuss the great war at another point. For Olim the times were very dire. The trade - exept for weapons, food and horses died pretty much over night. On top of that most men and women from 14 to 40 were hired either by the votaries for their crusade against the dwarfs and the demons or by mercenary groups that sensed big money in these times of war and wanted to fill their ranks.
So after a few years most people capable of working were somewhere in the south fighting a pointless war and left the old and ill behind.

The reapers visit

The year 1001E3 will be forever remebered as the year the reaper came to town. For every one going south for war, one came up north to flee said war. And for some reason the refugees believed that Olim was still the rich place of endless cheap food and comfort it used to be.
The traders guild waited to long with closing the gates and sending the refugees away - probably to avoid a rebellion. But whatever, the damage had been done, the city was overcrowded and people started to starve. The beginning winter wasnt improving the situation either. So when the first leafs started falling and the first people starved to death the marks started showing. What marks you might ask? The The Reapers Markings. A fatal disease that ultimately kills the poor infected soul and is highly contagious.
Eventhough the priests were increasing their prayers and the city officials did their best to single out the infected ones, the marks spread further and by the end of the winter at least half of the cities population was dead. in the end the dire frost of the late winter saved the rest of the city, people were mostly staying inside if they had a roof over their head and those who didnt who were struck hardest by the marks froze to death before they were marked. Most of the early spring was filled with burning the tawing corpses, a gruesome time where the smell of burned flesh was covering the cities streets and many famished people probably thaught about having a taste, but the still visible marks on the bodies kept even the bravest from having a bite.

The aftermath

The epidemic made it clear that the war had finally reached the city of Olim. Until now the city officials had sent troops and plotted against the alliance between the men of the south and the demons. To this point the main drivers of the war were the kingdom of Tergulis, which was a strawman of the votaries of light after they helped building it by uniting the heartlands and the kingdom of Nærlandet which was strongly influenced by the elves. But now the Traders Guild realised how much the war affected themselves - formerly they just pretended that it was "some nasty buissinnes in the south" that they "werent a part of". A famous quote from one of the chairmen of the guild has been preserved from the spring of 1001E3:

"This so called "war" is nothing but demons, elves and some raging religious fanatics beating each other to death. We should be thankful, they will need weapons, food and everything else to rebuild their countries after they are done. And this will be quite soon - and we will be quite rich."

Its not surprising that this man soon found himself assigned to a new position near the last gates in the east to contemplate his failure with assessing the situation. After they had cleaned up Olim, Olim and Svedero started to show great interest and even greater involvement in the war. It was around the time the elvish leader whos name is now forgotten tried to get the dwarfs on his side and failed. Until now the war had consisted of countless battles between demons, elves and their allies along the western shore of the southern bay. This changed dramatically when the dwarfs stirred an organised alliance against the elves and the demons started working together as one group unlike before where each tribe fought their own battle with the elves or their human allies. This was also the year of the bonefields got their name - the great battle of Crows Rock took place this year. This is when the Cataclysm began.

Olim during the Cataclysm

While the battle of the bonefields rang the bell that started the Cataclysm, Olim started to show that the city was at war. The population had shrunken massivly, the guild had confiscated most valuable goods and money to pursue the war, famine, crime and despair crept into the city, followed by rebellion. There were multiple rebellions against the guild, but they managed each time to come out on top - but it was each time closer than the last and the hatred against them grew. The guilds officials were residing in their amored mansions while the average citizen starved in the street while fighting the rats who tried to get to the last bit of food that was left. If the war wouldnt have come to a temporary stop the guild would have probably been overthrown, but now that the votaries had driven out the demons and slaugtered those who didnt manage to flee, the acceptance for the guild started to grow again as they started to spill some hidden food storages on the people.
But this only lasted for a few weeks until the final part of the Cataclysm started - the elves showed their true colours and the final part started where the combined forces of men and dwarfs layd siege to the sunrise fort.
It took about 80 years until the city was more or less rebuilded again. There hasnt been real destruction since Olim never was an active battleground but the time of scarcity had left its mark on the city. Buildings were falling apart, after the epidemic and war half of the buildings were empty, the city resembled a ghost town, especially in the outer parts. But there was one smart man in the guild who passed a bill that all empty buildings would be assigned to the person or group that renovated the building within the next two years of occuping it. This way the city filled up pretty quickly again. Due to the very different backgrounds and cultures of the new inhabitants, Olims face got even more chaotic with all the new influences.

Olim in the 4th Era

During the recovery of Olim the fourth era started. Surprisingly little had changed, apart from a bunch of new folk that had been added due to the "rebuilding bill". Olim grew again and the construction of the Harbour Fort started. It would take another 15 years to finish the fortress, but after the construction was done it became clear that noone would take Olim by sea in the forseable future. The fortress is a gigantic piece of rock, metal and all different kinds of canons. It also contains a big vault that holds the majority of the guilds riches. In addition it has the capacity to host and sustain all important mebers of the guild and their troops. The guild learned from the rebellions during the great war and planned for a way more serious and less desperate rebellion.
But the general day to day life didnt really changed.Some new dialects were added and some new items appeared on the markets but amber, ivory, whale oil, fur and wood dominated the market and the the gap between rich and poor was as big as allways.

Architecture and structure

Most of Olims houses are half timbered clayhouses with small windows and thick walls and roofs against the moisture and the frost during winter. The roofs consist of wooden shingles that are, like the rest of the buildings darkened by the constant smoke of the countless chimneys that are, apart from the hight of summer burning all year long and adding a smokey touch the constant smell of whale oil that flows through all streets of Olim the whole year.
You can see on first sight that Olim wasnt planned and the growth of the city was allways highly improvised.
Central Olim/Temple district
The old center of the town is the old guild hall and the temple district with the destroyed and rebuilded temple of astral as one of the biggest of the temples and the old guild hall that has been extended numerous times before the guild moved out to their amored fortress in the middle of the bay.
The upper harbour
Along the shore within the inner walls (the first city walls) sits the central harbour with the bigger shipowners and tradesmens offices. The streets are paved here, the inns are clean, the city guard is actually on duty and coachmen dont swear that much. This is the area where Olims riches are created, apart from the hill district.
The lesser harbour
Between the outer and inner city walls, along the shore you find the "lesser harbour". To be fair, you will smell it before you will see it. After some trouble the whalers and their oil cookeries where banned to the lesser arbour, not because they were insignificant, but because the smell was hindering the buisiness in the upper harbour. Apart from them you will find the smaller and foreign traders here who arent registred with the guild and all the fishermen, smugglers, pirates, ferrymen and sailors.
The inns here are in general infested with pests, the food and ale is shit and the city guard only shows up and acts out their duty when payed in advance. Overall a nasty and dangerous place.
The stone district
Within the inner walls, behind the upper harbour is the housing district of the richer citizens located, the stone district, named after the paved roads and the slate shingles that were installed after one of the bigger fires.
The hill district/marble quarters
The hill district in the southeastern part of the city is where all the rich people of Olim live, seperated from the poor filth and nonhumans (even though there are some rich dwarfs and elves residing here). Some also call it the marble quarter because right before the guilt took of financially back in the day some lucky miners found a quarry of marble of the finest quality. On of the biggest mansions actually belongs to an heir of one of these miners. The hill district is seperated by a sturdy wall with a bunch of guardsmen that arent part of the city guard but payed by the residents that dont trust the city guard to keep both eyes on all their riches at once.
The wooden district
In the west within the city walls you will smell the living quarters of the lesser harbour which are situated right behind the lesser harbour. The houses here show a wild mixture of architectural styles, due to the different backgrounds of their owners. All the foreigners, nonhumans and others who dont have the means to move to a decent part of the city end up here. The fact that, due to beeing one of the original quaters of the city, the wooden district has a sewage system doesnt make the place better, infact it makes it worse. Yes, the smell aint as bad as in the new quarters, but the dark tunnels and hidden outlets outside of the guards influece are a magnet for robbers, thiefs, lesser assassins and other dangerous and shady folks. Countless people have vanished from the face of the earth in the middle of the wooden district and are rarely found. Even more rarely are they still alive if found at all.
The quarters
Before we move out of the original two walls, lets have a look at the last district in the northeast of Olim. Here lays the quarters. Thats the name, just "the quarters". This is probably the most safe place in Olim because the people here are to irrelevant to be a worthy target for assassinations, not rich enough for thiefs and robbers and over all very very normal. Most of the smaller buissinessowners live here.
The guilds market
Since they didnt wanted to life near the wooden quarters, the quarter was too small and the traders guild wouldnt allow them to set up their shops in the stone district or the central harbour, the craftsmen of Olim builded a new wall and founded their own quarter, the "guilds market". This is the most organised place in Olim, since it was the only place that was planned from the start. Every major craft has its own road and the lesser ones are organised in a tiny market in the edge of the district.
Squatter Settlement
But now onto the squatter settlement infront of Olim. After the city was full - and because of its growth and wealth even more attractive for hopeless figures - the new arrivals started to build huts infront of the city walls. At first the traders guild sent out the guards regularly to tear down everything that consisted of more than two logs, but after some time it became obvious that it was hopeless to remove these people so the guild let them stay there. They increased the size of the outer city walls, stored a lot of oil in the guards towers on the wall and planned to just set the whole thing on fire in case someone would try to take Olim from land. The wind most of the time came from the north, yet still that is a quite risky plan.
The castle
Right in te middle of the city sits the big garrison, called "the castle". Around the castle you will find guards barraques which are actually quite organised - unlike the guards that live there. The prison is also located here, in the basement of the castle and the sewers that leed towards and away from the garrison.

Maps

• 

  Olim

  A rough map of Olim, found in a book in the library of a blacksmith. Dates sometimes in the later fourth era.

Inhabitants	~15.000
Foundation	67E3
Races	Mostly humans, but some dwarfs, elves and orcs can be found
Governement system	Oligarchy / ruled by a guild
Economy	Whaling, logging, fur, ivory, amber & banking

Type

Large city

Related Historical Events

• 2354 E4
  The year of the Reaper
• 1417 E4
  Foundation of Olim