Eziell (EHZ-ee-ELL)
The Port of Thorns
Eziell was a city along the Outfair Ocean on the eastern coast of the Dead Marches in southwestern Fieren.
Demographics
Historic
In its heyday, the city had over 53,000 people and was home to a wide variety of different species and ethnic groups. The predominant population was Human (75%) (90% Dunmaer, 10% Falcresti), with a large population of Atollan (10%) merchants. Approximately 5% of the population were Fiore, 5% were Nuaira or Nuaan (incomplete records exist of the diversity of the two groups, noting a small enclave of Valaira in the Breakshore Ward. The remaining 5% were mixed between various other species, with at least one Cecaelia known to inhabit the Lower Dock Ward.Present Day
The Port of Thorns is home to a number of different goblinoid species, ranging from Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears. This has also attracted a number of other Species of the Wild, including a tribe of Oroka, a Bayuk Oroka tribe that inhabits the Upper Dock Ward, Giants and Giantkin that have taken over the High Ward.Government
Historic
Eziell was goverend by a Lord Mayor. From 1193 to 1245 CE, this was the city founder, Kaelin Eziell. After Kaelin's death, the city underwent a quick succession of Lord Mayors, with the last abdicating in the late autumn of 1259 CE.Present Day
Currently, the city is ruled with an iron hand by The Thorn Lord, a bugbear warlord and his lieutenants, each of which oversees a particular ward of the city and keeps the denizens in line.Defences
Historic
Eziell was encircled by a curtain wall over twenty feet (6.09 m) high with a single access point on the northwest, known as the Marsh Gate. Watch towers rose fifteen feet (4.57 m) off the top of the wall, spaced approximately every three-hundred feet (91.44 m). The wall was manned at all times by the Watch division of the Eziell City Guard, a force comprised of four-hundred individuals spread over four six-hour shifts. Each Watchstander carried a short sword and light crossbow along with a signal horn to be used in the event of a threat. The harbor was monitored by the City Guard, who maintained a small fleet of riverine boats to serve as interdiction vessels. In addition, the mouth of the harbor was rigged with a chain boom that could be raised in the event of a threat from the Outfair Ocean.Present Day
The curtain wall remains, providing a frame for massive thorn vines to grow. The Thorn Lord's hobgoblin soldiers patrol the wall just as the Watch division did in the city's heyday, while a number of grindylow tribes, and several scrags inhabit the harbor and work to scuttle any ship that dare approach.Industry & Trade
Historic
Eziell was not known for its own production, but instead for the access it allowed into the heart of Fieren. As a result, the bulk of the city's industry was either mercantile in nature or supporting those endeavors. Shipwrights plied their trade in shops near the harbor, warehouses and taverns dotted city blocks along the main streets, while inns and boarding houses commanded healthy profits at the expense of the transitory merchants and their crews.Infrastructure
Historic
Eziell's primary city streets were cobbled, with smaller side streets comprising packed soil. The water table was too close to the streetbed to allow for subterranean sewers, so a waste channel was utilized on either side of either road, draining into larger channels before being washed out to sea in the Breakshore Ward.Present Day
The cobbled city streets are cracked and broken, the walls and buildings overgrown with massive thorn vines. Nature has reclaimed the city, with marsh grasses, bushes, and small trees sprouting anywhere they can find purchase. The waste channels have served as particularly fertile areas, and so most roads are now little more than paths through the vegetation.Districts
Eziell was divided into fifteen distinct wards, organized into seven districts.
- Administrative District
- Mayor's Ward
- Dock District
- North Dock Ward
- Upper Dock Ward
- Lower Dock Ward
- Central District
- High Ward
- Upper Central Ward
- Lower Central Ward
- Low Ward
- Gate District
- Upper Gate Ward
- Lower Gate Ward
- Wall District
- Upper Wall Ward
- Mid-Wall Ward
- Lower Wall Ward
- Shoreline District
- Breakshore Ward
- Temple District
- Temple Ward
History
RUINED SETTLEMENT
1260
Founding Date
1193
Founders
Alternative Name(s)
The Port of Thorns
Type
City
Population
752
Inhabitant Demonym
Ezielli
Ezielli
Eziellene
Ezielli
Eziellene
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Characters in Location
Comments