Ordellia

Although named for one of Magnimar’s most beloved historical figures, Ordellia Whilwren, the district of Ordellia faces a specific (and for a city of Magnimar’s supposedly open-minded nature, rather ironic) challenge—for it is here that many of those of “foreign” blood dwell. Separated from the main city by the deep waters of the Yondabakari, Ordellia simultaneously extols the virtues of diversity Magnimar was founded on and suffers from and supplies those who distrust outlanders with constant reminders of why a safe city has walls. Referred to disparagingly by many Magnimarians as the “Mush” (a play on words that references not only Ordellia’s proximity to the Mushfens, but also its highly diverse population), Ordellia is in many ways its own city, distinct from the rest of Magnimar, yet bound to it by a dependence on government support as surely as it is by the sturdy stone bridges that connect the district to the east.
Long a hotbed of dissension and governmental criticism, Ordellia perhaps best embodies the spirit of freedom and leaderless rule Magnimar was founded upon. Many in the district consider Ordellia a town apart from Magnimar, taking pride in organizing their own small community militia and council apart from the city’s. Humanity remains the dominant race in Ordellia, but only just, with an increasing number of half-elves, half-orcs, dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings taking up residence in the district. Those humans who do live here are of ethnicities from across the Inner Sea region, with embassies established in the district’s nicer neighborhoods. That Ordellia offers significant discounts on homes and lodging to those not of Chelish or Taldan descent, as a draw to foreign traders, certainly helps to maintain the district’s cosmopolitan themes.
Between Ordellia itself and the rest of the city is a small island given over almost completely to lumber mills, granaries, tanneries, and other smelly or noisy workshops best situated away from homes and quieter businesses. The island is known as Kyver’s Islet, and to Ordellians as “Little Beacon” (because of its smaller size but similar purpose to Beacon’s End). Its status amid Magnimar’s districts has long been a matter of contentious local debate—the islet’s industries bring in a large amount of income, and while it has traditionally been regarded as part of Ordellia, the movers and shakers of Beacon’s Point have lobbied for decades to have the island’s districting be revised so it falls under their control. They argue that the only reason the islet has remained a part of Ordellia for so long is a stubborn adherence to tradition—“That the isle has been connected to Ordellia by bridge for 10 years longer than it has to the east is not reason enough to keep it apart from the district it should belong to,” the lobbyists maintain. Nonetheless, Kyver’s Islet has remained Ordellia’s “ward,” with the government wisely noting that preventing all of Magnimar’s major industries from falling into a single district monopoly keeps the city as a whole healthier. Of course, the sheer amount of paperwork and bureaucratic complexities involved in reassigning Kyver’s Islet to Beacon’s Point may be an even stronger reason why the isle’s allegiance has remained unchanged through the years.
The lumber mills of Kyver’s Islet are the only major Magnimarian industry not affiliated with a guild. Each of Kyver’s Islet’s lumber mills is individually owned and funded, free to pocket all of its profits but forced to assume all the risks of the business venture as well. As a result, ownership of most of the lumber mills switches relatively frequently. Magnimar’s government set this unusual mandate after one of the city’s more prestigious founders, a wizard named Savasten Kyver, pressured the government to leave the mills as a long-term experiment of sorts. That Savasten actually wanted to maintain one of these mills as a meeting place for a secret society called the Brotherhood of the Seven he conveniently forgot to mention. In the decades since Savasten’s death, his family line’s fortunes have dwindled, but his legacy on Kyver’s Islet persists, and the lumber mills remain guildless to this day.

Gazetteer

Ordellia does not receive much official support from the city watch patrols—officials blame the difficulties of maintaining proper rounds at such a great distance and bottlenecking issues with the bridges. Security, like so many other amenities, is left to its inhabitants. For the most part, Ordellia’s patrols are performed by a combination of hired mercenaries, periodic visits from Hellknights (who don’t have a problem with long patrols, and often mock the city watch for this), and out-of-work adventuring parties looking to earn a few extra coins from the district’s Embassy Building. The major roads are cobblestone, with hard-packed earth in alleys or on Kyver’s Islet. Several of the dirt roads have wooden beams sunken into them to help keep them navigable during the wet seasons.