Everyn (ehv-uhr-in)
Long considered the jewel of Ayndrinor, Everyn is the largest city in the known world. It has long had a cultural trait prioritizing peace and abhorring violence, making it one of the 'nicest' places in the world as well. Its status as a large, advanced city has attracted settlers from all over the world, and its native population has grown steadily over the years. The laws of the city discourage violence in all forms, though the Watch is well equipped and prominent enough to respond to most incidents of violence quickly to stop it escalating. Most crime in the city, therefore, tends to be burglaries when people are away from home or cons and scams.
The current city of Everyn is a massive metropolis spread out over a large area on the coast. The city was founded where the Mercer River empties into the Midor Sea, making the area extremely fertile. The city occupies both banks of the river and a large amount of the coast, as well as several miles inland. Most of the inland neighborhoods cropped up around the trade roads but have grown to meet the rest of the city. The entire inland perimeter of the city - including large swaths of farmland - is bounded by a strong stone wall. The city's prosperity and wealth over the centuries have made it a very sought-after trading partner, and trade routes connecting Everyn to other parts of the continent were created as early as the first century 2A.
Everyn has long been a coveted neighbor of the Dumein Dominion, who hoped to secure the city's wealth to support their constant wars and conscript thousands of its citizens to serve in their army. Upon finally conquering the city in 1480 2A, the Dominion king founded a new continent-wide government named after Everyn, hoping to evoke the city's legendary reputation of peace to give their conquest more legitimacy. The war itself is named for the massive city, as it was the first conquest of the Dominion that allowed the rest of the war to happen. The treaty that ended the war and set up the new continental Federation was also named for the city. The Dominion's leadership hoped this would deflect much hatred off themselves in the international court of public opinion. This has not worked very well so far, and the Dominion is largely considered to be aggressive and imperialistic.
Demographics
Everyn is by far the most cosmopolitan city in the world, with every race and culture represented by at least a dozen individuals. Humans are one of the predominant races, but they only make up about 20% of the population. Halflings, dwarves, and gnomes each represent about 15% of the population. Some of the rarest peoples to see in Everyn would be genasi, but there are about 100 total from the various clans and subraces. Even the gith (both githyanki and githzerai) and giff have outposts in Everyn, manned by about 5-10 people each. Without visiting Everyn, one would think it almost impossible to have adversarial cultures living peacefully side by side, but the city has managed that (with the exception of rare outbursts of violence from time to time).
The economy of Everyn is incredibly diverse as well, with all manner of industries and markets represented. Several thousand of the city's workers are fishermen who venture out to sea in small boats every morning to haul in what they can. Everyn has never been big on international maritime trade, so the warehouse and shipping industries are not as large here as in other major coastal cities. Agriculture is another massive industry, with the city's walled area including thousands of acres of fertile farmland growing everything from wheat and barley, to various fruits and vegetables, to fine grapes for wine, and even trees and flowers for purely aesthetic use. Though it is a small part of the overall economy, there are several arcane enchanters and auction houses in the city, creating or procuring magic items from all over the world. Most other large cities may have one magic shop and whatever the court mages allow to be sold, but Everyn has several competing shops that have friendly rivalries to test their arcane abilities.
As varied as the people and industries are in Everyn, so are the economic strata. Like most major cities, there is a large lower class that is made up of menial laborers and farmers. Beneath them is a very small portion of impoverished individuals, but this tends to be rarer in Everyn than other cities due to the prevalence of charities and the emphasis on neighborly kindness. The middle class varied as well, ranging from small business owners to small magnates with several branches and endeavors to their name. The true aristocracy of the city has political implications as well as financial, so it is a bit more limited and harder to join. There is not a specific wealth level that must be reached, but it is based more on reputation and success in spreading your business empire. Over the centuries, the aristocracy has constantly grown to the point that it now encompasses somewhere around 200 families.
Government
Currently, Everyn has a dual, competing governing structure since the end of the Everyn War and the imposition of the Federation authorities. The official government is run by a mayor appointed by King Oswold IX, but it is ineffectual and has struggled to come to grips with the extent of running a massive metropolis like Everyn. The mayor was a noble in nearby Dumein Keep, but he did not have any experience with Everynese culture or systems before his appointment.
The other part of the government is the legacy bureaucracy that existed before the War, under the leadership of the last Genitor. These functionaries are very efficient and adept at running the city, as many have made it their entire career, and they are happy to keep doing their jobs to keep the city running. The previous Genitor has retreated to quiet private life and does not have anything to do with the current covert government - unless one believes the rumors and gossip spread around the capital. Many of the families of the aristocracy have been quietly funneling money to the city's functionaries to pay their salaries and keep them working on improving the city, making it very difficult for the actual mayor to stamp out their funding and end their resistance to his leadership.
Many members of the aristocracy and the city's bureaucracy hope the Dumeiner king realizes his folly and returns Everyn to self-rule, but talks have begun in earnest about ways to overthrow the Dominion's influence and rid the city of their oppression. Most of the solutions involve expelling the noble families with Dumenier ties, as they were the ones who left Everyn unprepared for the invasion and takeover, but this is a very delicate matter that must be executed with ruthless accuracy if they are to truly return Everyn to its previous ways and traditions.
Defences
The central core of Everyn features a single district with a perimeter wall; inside of which are the Genitor's manor (now inhabited by the mayor), various government buildings, and the central courthouse. This wall is a remnant of the city's early years when they believed a perimeter wall around the important buildings was necessary. It was tested on a handful of occasions by sieges and assaults from the Dumein Dominion, but it has not served a purpose for over 700 years. A few other neighborhoods throughout the city - specifically the inland boroughs and hamlets - have constructed walls around their perimeter, but many of these are more wooden palisade that stone wall and are built primarily to keep livestock away from the houses.
In the early eighth century 2A, it became apparent to the city's government that the Dominion was going to continue trying to attack the city and take over its wealth and steadily growing population. The various raids and sieges to that point had forced people out of their homes and had resulted in the devastation of houses and farmland outside the then-perimeter walls. The Genitor at the time realized that the city was constantly growing and would occupy more and more of the inland area as time went on. It was going to be impossible to keep expanding the city's walls to accommodate this growth, and building concentric rings or semicircles of walls would not be aesthetically pleasing or make the citizens' lives easier. So she decided to order the construction of a mass wall that started at the northwestern coastline and circled the city's land around to the eastern coast, built several miles inland of the city's contemporary borders and population centers.
For centuries, this wall was manned by soldiers stationed at a dozen watchtowers, each more than one mile from the next. The soldiers would be assigned shifts to stay in the tower barracks or rotate back to the city to be with family. When the wall was initially completed, in 721 2A, there were very few roads connecting the city to the wall, and much of the land was completely vacant without any farms or grazing herds. Over time, the city grew and filled out toward the wall, though it still has not fully occupied every available acre inside the perimeter.
Think of the wall and city similar to Attack on Titan. There is a massive wall that encompasses the exterior of the city. Inside that wall are miles and miles of farmland, broken up by occasional hamlets or neighborhoods, and eventually the city proper near the coast.
Infrastructure
Apart from the Enlightened City of Kort itself, Everyn is the most advanced and comfortable city in the world. Much of the latter's systems and infrastructure were created by Korter engineers, emulating a small part of their home city. All roads in Everyn are paved and maintained by a corps of street pavers; even the roads connecting the various farms with the rest of the city are of the highest quality. The Mercer River provides a small portion of the city's clean water, but there is also a massive desalination plant along the coast that allows ocean water to be arcanely purified and distributed to the citizens. Other fresh water is obtained through the dozens of wells that are placed throughout Everyn.
Everyn has a rudimentary rail network that connects parts of the inland area with the coastal core of the city, as well as going through various neighborhoods of the city proper. It is not as comfortable or as fast as the famous rail of Kort, but it helps expedite journeys and make travel between the city's regions much faster. This rail, like its predecessor and inspiration in Kort, is powered by the energy of Kort Crystals, which the city imports. Everyn is the only city in the world outside of Kort that has been allowed to use the crystals to power machinery.
There are a good number of mills and processing plants throughout the city, some on the river that access the power of the water and others occupying corners of various farms that harness the wind. The last few years have seen one steam factory built in the city, though its continued existence is only possible because the owner has personal connections with miners in Oestbernia where coal is mined and then shipped across the world to Everyn.
As the city exists on both sides of the Mercer River and quite a ways inland, there are many drawbridges that allow citizens to traverse the river while also allowing boat traffic to head upriver unimpeded. There are also quite a few public parks and squares, though not quite as densely packed as what one would see in Brandis. The few shipyards that exist near the coast can only handle small or medium ships for repairs or construction. As Everyn does not have a presence in the international trade or shipping industry, there has not been a need for massive drydocks to repair the great merchant vessels - those that do make their way to Everyn know not to count on repairs being available in the city. More than one ship captain has arrived in the city with a grievously damaged ship only to sell it for parts and salvage and settle down in the city as a fishing captain instead.
Districts
Everyn is a web of boroughs and hamlets, all with different naming conventions and histories. The central part of the city near the water tends to have neighborhoods named after features of the area, such as: Theatre Square, Bywater Hill, Temple Ward, etc. The vast farmland that weaves its way between suburbs and neighborhoods is divided into western, southwestern, southern, and eastern areas, though the boundaries of each of these divisions can be somewhat nebulous. The various inland neighborhoods and districts that exist among and between the farmland are typically named after the person or family that first built up the housing there, such as: William's Copse, Berger Plains, or Garciatown.
Guilds and Factions
The city of Everyn relies on guilds to regulate and monitor all of its industries. These guilds are part of the government bureaucracy and are run by people who had careers in the respective industry before transitioning to the administrative side. For an idea of the guilds of the city, consult the Waterdeep Enchiron located in the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure. In addition to those listed, Everyn also includes the Rail Workers' Guild, and the mage guild is less watchful and more craftsmen (known as the Grand Order of Arcane Practitioners).
History
In the early days of the Second Age, nomadic groups of settlers littered the plains of eastern Ayndrinor, magically displaced from whatever homelands they had before The Smiting. These groups wandered around looking for a suitable place to found a new settlement, and it did not take long for a group to stumble on the rich and fertile area where the Mercer River empties into the Midor Sea. The settlers set up a settlement on the coast and started fishing and farming, taking advantage of nature's bounties.
Over the next few years and decades, other settler groups arrived and joined the settlement, and the original population grew at exponential rates. There was an abundance of fertile land and fishing grounds that provided opportunities for the people to work and feed themselves and others. At the turn of the city's first century, its population was nearing 10,000 and growing rapidly. As the aristocrats - who had previously vied for leadership among themselves based on wealth and influence - recognized the need for a robust government to oversee such a large city, they set up the system of governance that came to be known as the The Halcyon City and appointed the first Genitor (or Exemplar as the position was originally called) to administer the city's government.
From the earliest days of the city's existence, its leadership and aristocracy have been focused on virtuosity and kindness. The Exemplar was so called because they were supposed to set the shining example of what an Everynese should aspire to be. Emphasis was placed on peace and tranquility within the city, only employing violence or force on the periphery when attacked by outsiders. This culture has held to the present day and is one of the defining hallmarks of the grand city.
As the city continued to grow and prosper at levels never seen across Ayndrinor, it drew the covetous eye of its neighboring nation, the Dumein Dominion. The Dominion wanted nothing more than to conquer Everyn and claim its fertile lands and large population center for themself. Over the centuries, several assaults and sieges were undertaken against Everyn, met each time with heavy resistance at the city's walls. Every single one of these sieges was repelled easily, and the attackers called the retreat and returned home with shame at failing their task. Other than the exterior farmlands and homesteads, Everyn suffered no damage or loss of property during these raids, and the land that was inside the various perimeter walls was more than capable of producing enough food for the city.
In the early eighth century, the reigning Genitor decided to put a stop to all loss of life and proper from external invasions by building a massive perimeter wall that would encompass all of Everyn for centuries, even at the ridiculous growth rates the city was still experiencing at the time. Construction began on the wall that connected the coast in the city's northwest with the trade roads in the southwest and the other coast to the city's east. The construction took almost five years and was completed in 721, just in time for another invasion attempt. The watchtowers and alert system worked as intended, and the defense force was able to repel the siege within half a season.
Since that time, there have only been two invasion attempts (not counting the most recent, as that was not really a military assault) and both were defeated easily. Everyn has had very few other events of note throughout history, though its population has continued to grow steadily. The exponential growth of the early centuries slowed down at some point, but even today the population is growing at a constant rate. Through that growth that saw Everyn become the largest city in the world and then double that, the prosperity of the city persisted and also saw it become by far the wealthiest city in the world.
The last five years have been rough for the city, as the Dumein Dominion finally conquered the city after years of trying. After taking the city, they abolished the local government and instituted their own king/emperor as the leader. When the chaos of the war died down, the king named his own mayor to lead the city, but many in the city do not support this leader. The mayor is not Everyn and has no idea how to run a city this size, so his term has been largely ineffectual so far. The city's massive bureaucracy has been operating independently of the mayor and still getting most of the city's business done. But the mayor and the emperor are getting increasingly frustrated with the situation, and the locals hope this leads to them reinstating self-rule for the Everynese.
Tourism
Everyn is not as much of a tourist destination as other major cities. It does not have the infrastructure to support large traveling ships, which limits the amount of people that can visit. It is an advanced city, but it does not have any unique features or technologies that don't exist elsewhere. Some people do travel to the city to experience its size, as even through stories it is difficult to illustrate how large the city is. Some also travel to the city to experience its famous peace and tranquility, a place to feel safe even amongst almost 200,000 others.
Architecture
The architecture of Everyn is as varied as its cosmopolitan populace. Most of the housing in the city proper resembles the Renaissance style of three- or four-story buildings and tenements, reminiscent of what one might see in Paris or in the Georgian style of England. Temples tend to be massive Neoclassical or Baroque buildings, though there are a few smaller temples in the Gothic style.
Some housing in the inland neighborhoods and boroughs draws influence from other cultures around the world, as settlers moved here and brought their architectural ideas with them. Some of these resemble Japanese Shinden houses, which are not completely incompatible with the Everynese weather, while others are closer to colonial or frontier styles that fit well in the plains and fertile delta.
The manors of the aristocrats, spread throughout the city and among its other buildings, tend to be more Tudor or Elizabethan in design, though some do resemble the Moorish architecture of Spain and Morocco. A few of the more wealthy families have taken their manors' designs to more Baroque or Rococo styles, with gold accents and fine filigree decorating the facades.
Founding Date
3 2A
Type
Metropolis
Population
185,246
Inhabitant Demonym
Everynese
Owning Organization
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