Gullthorpe (gull-thorp)

Gullthorpe is a large and constantly growing city in the Serene Republic of Dalkar, situated on the southeastern side of the island. Its sprawling area covers many different biomes including the nearby Punchbowl Mountains, the fertile plains of Dalkaria, the Abundant Forest, and the coastline of the Midor Sea. This geographic diversity has allowed the city to pursue a number of lucrative industries and has provided vast resources for the city to leverage in its growth and development.
Gullthorpe was one of the first towns founded on the southern plains of Dalkaria in the Second Age. As displaced settlers from The Smiting and voluntary settlers from the northern tundra began to scout the southern plains, they ran into many threats they were ill-equipped to handle - namely giants. As several groups wandered the plains, scouting and mapping what was out there, other groups settled down on the edge of the forest where game and produce were aplenty. When other groups struck out on the plains and could not find a safe place to settle, many retreated to this burgeoning town and helped it grow even more.
Gullthorpe has also benefited greatly over the years from its proximity to the Stones of Zyntrani, a set of standing stones believed to grant wondrous powers of innovation and creativity to righteous individuals. It is the closest permanent settlement to the stones - between one to two full days on foot - and many pilgrims pass through Gullthorpe on their way to the Stones, patronizing businesses along the way.

Demographics

Gullthorpe is one of the more heterogeneous settlements in the Serene Republic, going back to its original founding and persisting through dozens of waves of migrations ever since. The original founders were humans, halflings, firbolgs, goliaths, dwarves, and even a few elves, tieflings, and gnomes. The giant-kin (firbolgs and goliaths) were nomads from the northern tundra seeking a better life in a milder climate, while the rest were refugees of The Smiting. Over the centuries, folk have moved here from all over the world, recognizing the constant growth and opportunity of Gullthorpe.
Because of the city's variety of geographies and biomes, there are many different industries in the city. It is close enough to the Punchbowl Mountains that mines are found on the city's western edge, while the opposite eastern side of the city is a coastal landscape where fishers and other maritime workers ply their trades on the Midor Sea. The southern edge of the city is home to sprawling farmland for days in any direction, while the northern part leads into the Abundant Forest, so named because there never seems to be an end to the game, produce, and timber the forest can provide. It is tough to say which of these industries is the largest, and there are many others that are well-represented in the city's population.
The wealth disparities in Gullthorpe are what one might expect from any large city, though slightly less egregious than most. Because of the giant-kin culture that permeated some of the city's early dealings and is still present in some of Gullthorpe's neighbors and allies, there is a much stronger sense of community responsibility here than in other large cities. The aristocrats are still rich and live lavishly comfortable lives, but they are not as fabulously wealthy as nobles in other cities. The poor still lead a hard life and struggle to be seen with dignity, but they are given food and shelter more readily than in most other cities.

Government

The city government of Gullthorpe is somewhat of a representative republic in itself - reflective of the greater republic of which it is a member. The city is broken up into fifteen different districts, each of which gets one delegate to the city's council. Each neighborhood can appoint their delegate how they see fit: the aristocratic neighborhood has a very political behind-the-scenes battle of influence and selects their delegate based primarily on financial or business concerns, while the small mining community in the western city takes a straw poll of all its citizens to elect the delegate. These delegates serve three-year terms, with five of the city's wards rotating elections each year. There are no limits on the number of consecutive terms a delegate may serve.
This city council is the primary governing body of the city, sitting at the head of a vast bureaucracy that oversees every aspect of the city's operation. Career bureaucrats can expect a secure lifestyle, though the level of comfort varies based on position and rank. Most minor policies require simple majorities to pass, but all tax and judicial reforms must get at least ten votes (two-thirds of the total council) to pass and be enacted.
The court system of Gullthorpe is part of the massive bureaucracy, and its judges are career lawyers above all. When a judge vacancy arises, the city council accepts applications from anyone who aspires to the position, then debates and interviews every candidate to find the best match. One of the first jobs of each year's council is to review the performance reports from all the existing judges and vote whether to remove the judges. Unless ten councilors vote to remove the judge, they stay in their position; however, if at least half of the voting members vote for removal a deeper dive is conducted and the vote comes back up later in the year. This helps ensure just and fair treatment under the law and makes sure the will of the people is heard in the courts via the appointed/elected representatives' oversight.

Defences

The city of Gullthorpe has long since outgrown its perimeter walls, though the ring still stands around the core of the city. Today, that area is home to the government buildings and many temples, as well as a variety of neighborhoods. With almost half a dozen "buffer towns" between the dangers of the western continent and Gullthorpe, there has not been a need for full perimeter defenses for quite some time. Instead, the city Watch operates certain units that patrol the outskirts of the city and look for trouble on the western edges. This trouble - when it does come nowadays - usually is in the form of roving wolves or marauding goblins, easy enough for the frontier patrols to handle.
The ring wall in the center of the city was once topped with trebuchets capable of hitting invaders quite a distance from the city walls, but those have long since been dismantled. The watchtowers of the wall are not abandoned, however, for they now serve as Watch garrisons. These garrisons possess large arsenals of weaponry should the city ever fall under attack, but the vast majority of action these weapons see is the regular maintenance and testing conducted by the Watch at least once a year.
The port facility at Gullthorpe is somewhat defended, though not as heavily as the more southern ports of the world. Naval attacks have been rare in the past, and especially now as the Serene Republic is not at war with any other nation. Pirate raids, however, happen a few times a year. These are nowhere near as intense or violent as the raids on the Te'kiil Ocean, so the defenses do not have to be as robust as those. There are large ballistae mounted on a handful of coastal towers, watching out over the nearby sea. Two of these towers are actually fully offshore about 500 meters, built on small rocky islands and reachable only by small skiff.

Industry & Trade

Of the myriad industries and products of Gullthorpe, arguably the most lucrative is the ore that is mined on the western edge of the city. Everything from iron to precious metals and gems can be found here, with the former going toward construction and tools for most of the nation and the latter being used for trade or bought by wealthy aristocrats. Much of the iron that comes from the mines is smelted and crafted here in Gullthorpe, making tools and hardware that is shipped to other parts of the nation.
Other industries include a vast array of farms and livestock grazing land, which produce more than enough food for the city - especially considering the bounty of produce from the Abundant Forest. What food is not consumed by the citizens of Gullthorpe is typically exported to harsher areas of the world, such as the northern tundra on Dalkaria. Shipping, shipbuilding, fishing, and other nautical industries are also a big part of Gullthorpe's economy, as one might expect from a large coastal city.
Yet another of the large industries in this city is the hospitality industry. The merchants and sailors are not the only travelers who pass through this city; the nearby Stones of Zyntrani attract thousands of pilgrims each year, almost all of whom come into the port at Gullthorpe and avail themselves of the city's inns and taverns. All of these travelers need provisions and occasional maintenance for their ships or carts, and the people of Gullthorpe are more than happy to provide those services.

Infrastructure

As a large city in the current era, Gullthorpe is significantly advanced and polished, though it is still nowhere near Kort. A close rival city would be Castillon but there are still a few differences between the two. Gullthorpe sports paved roads all throughout its area, with the far exterior farms using gravel on top of the dirt to make it easier for carts to go to and from the farms and markets. The small river that ran from the mountains to the coast here has been diverted into an aqueduct that feeds a series of wells and cisterns throughout the city, providing clean water for all.
The port facilities at Gullthorpe are nice, though not quite as sophisticated as others. There are cranes to help unload ships, and the docks contain a network of rails that allow goods to be moved easily between the docks and the nearby warehouse district. The city's sewer system is somewhat rudimentary but encompasses the whole city and empties into the sea several miles away from the city's ports.
The only thing Gullthorpe does not have that some other large cities do is blast furnaces and large heating apparatuses. The Abundant Forest and Punchbowl Mountains provide ample resources for the city, but the one thing neither of them has is coal. The "miracle" mineral that has allowed Castillon to step up its industry and begin to rival Kort for innovation and productivity sadly does not exist in this part of the world. The few workshops that wish to use coal-powered machines must import it at a very high cost from Castillon.

History

The early days of the Second Age saw the exploration and settlement of the southern plains of the island of Dalkaria. Refugees forced into the area magically by The Smiting met with nomadic groups of people looking for milder places to settle than their original tundra homes. These bands of wandering settlers set out to map and eventually settle the southern plains of Dalkaria, but they soon found it dangerous and uninviting. Giants and rabid beasts inhabited the land and threatened all who ventured outside the Abundant Forest.
The first permanent settlement that these groups made was at the southern edge of the forest, a defensible location on the banks of a small river. They called it Gullthorpe because of its proximity to the sea and the massive flocks of gulls that could be seen all over the area. The town became a base from which expeditions could venture westward and forlorn wanderers could return for some respite from the dangerous plains.
After many years of the groups wandering the plains, a few other towns had been established and were trying to stay afloat through Giant and roving beast attacks. Yet, many of the settlers had deemed the plains to inhospitable and retreated to this town on the edge of the forest, helping to grow its numbers and its security. It was not long until a massive circular wall encompassed the entire town, and the small river that once flowed through the city was channeled into an aqueduct that supplied the city with clean water.
More waves of settlers leaving the tundra for (literally) greener pastures came every year, and within 100 years of its founding word of this burgeoning town had begun to reach people across the seas. Settlers and refugees came from all walks of life and every corner of the known world to find new opportunity in this town-now-city that seemed to have no end of resources and hope.
Within 500 years, the city was a sprawling monster that reached from the mountains to the sea, yet many areas were sparsely populated and resembled frontier towns barely connected to the central city - akin to exurbs today. The giants and roving beasts were still a threat, though much diminished from the city's original founding era.
In the tenth century, the city of Alard's Rest sent emissaries to the other eastern towns and cities asking for joint cooperation to defend against the giants and other threats they all faced. The leaders of Alard's Rest sought not only weapons and soldiers but settlers to found new towns in the west to directly watch for threats and stop them before they reached the rest of the slowly-forming nation. Buoyed by the founding stories of Gullthorpe and the promise of hope that many refugees and travelers had found, several thousand Gullthorpers volunteered to take part in these exhibitions, making up by far the majority of the settlers and soldiers that would embark on this great western venture.
Though Gullthorpe shrank noticeably at this point in time, the subsequent decades would see those numbers replenished and multiplied several times over, as the increased security and safety provided by the new western towns led to a more densely populated area with new citizens enjoying the prosperity and promise of Gullthorpe. And so it has been over the last 500 or so years since that time, Gullthorpe continues to grow and attract people from all over the world. It is a cosmopolitan city, with the ancient giant-kin tradition of community assistance still very much alive and thriving.

Architecture

The architecture of Gullthorpe is as varied as its people's cultures or its different geographical regions. The mining suburbs of the west feature many small stone buildings built for purpose rather than beauty, reminiscent almost of the underground dwarven cities or the utilitarian dragonborn towns of Ikitur. The farms and grazing lands of the south and southwest feature sprawling villas and frontier houses, built for the large families that are required to work large tracts of land. The forested areas to the north resemble the houses of the Black Forest area in real-world Germany, with others being closer to Tudor style with crossed timber lattices. The coastal and central areas have no unifying architecture, and the buildings here represent every culture from halflings to goliaths and humans. There are small, cozy houses with bountiful gardens belonging to firbolg families and others who love the land. There are towering, imposing neoclassical temples meant to inspire and be seen from a distance.

Founding Date

5 2A

Type

City

Population

44,092

Inhabitant Demonym

Gullthorpers

Location under

Dalkaria

Owning Organization

Serene Republic of Dalkar