Fairhaven

Demographics

• 65% Human

• 15% Khoravar half-elf

• 9% Gnome

• 7% Elf

• 2% Lokumite

• 2% Other

Government

The city is divided into twelve wards by the city planning district in an effort to better manage the city's resources. Although the city adheres to the Galifar Code of Justice in many ways Queen Aurala treats the city as her own personal domain requiring express permission for everything from law to trade to religious worship

Defences

Fairhaven is surrounded by a thick, strong wall built in several stages over the many centuries that Fairhaven has grown. The only points of entry to the city are Rordan's Gate and the Eastgate, as well as the docks of the Whiteroof Ward along the river. Defense in the city is centered on the garrisons which stand around the central point of Fairhold like points on a star. These garrisons house the Fairhaven Watch as well as some Aundairian soldiers in Fairhold itself and the dragonhawk calvary division in Vaucote. The city's defenses have never been seriously tested, not even during the Last War, but the strength of its defenses are surely a contributor to this record.

Guilds and Factions

• The Dark Dagger gang plots to rule Fairhaven’s underworld from amid the tattered tapestries and shattered stained-glass windows of the former cathedral. They are run by the changling, Kreelo.
  The Dark Daggers make most of their money running protection rackets and smuggling contraband (everything from poisons and evil magic to barrels of untaxed wine) into and out of the city. Any significant business with Fairhaven’s black marketeers will most likely attract the Dark Dagger's attention

• The city features a House Lyrandar airship docking tower at Chalice Center as well as a House Orien Lightning Rail station. Each of the other Dragonmarked Houses maintain enclaves here as well.

• The Royal Eyes of Aundair operate directly at the behest of the Queen from within the Palace of Fairhold

History

Before it was the capitol of Aundair, the site at the head of the swift-flowing Aundair River was always a center of trade and civilization dating back over twenty millennia. No Cogs exist in Fairhaven as physical reminders of the city’s past, but the signs are there for those who look. Many residents of Fairhaven attending lectures on Khorvairian History at the University of Wynarn are amazed to hear about the rich history of their home, and adventurers who spend enough time in the city are certain to run into specters of the past as well. Vaarn’tel
Many cities of the Five Nations are built on the ruins of Dhakaani cities, but Fairhaven is the only major settlement is built on an orcish ruins. Vaarn’tel was perhaps the largest settlement in the western orcish nations of the Age of Monsters which existed alongside the goblinoid empire of the east and south. Its name means “bright sands”, a tribute to the white beaches that can still be seen outside of the city along the river’s edge. While it was certainly a large settlement in terms of space since orcish architecture was typically limited to one story, Vaarn’tel never had a large population. This was true even before the rise of the Gatekeepers caused many orcs to move into the vast forests of the west. When the Daelkyr War erupted, the Gatekeepers were on the front lines, as the dragon Vvaraak had planned. The encampments of the druids might have been disrupted, but any permanent orcish settlements were absolutely leveled and Vaarn’tel was no exception. The Dhakaani goblinoids, always jealous of the river port, tried briefly to colonize the area and many monastic communities came to the area with Dhakaani relics they sought to save, but in the end the instability of the empire’s collapse reached even these far-flung communities and the goblinoids were left as scattered tribes. Today, remnants of Vaarn’tel and the goblinoids that came after is hard to find. Dhakaani relics can sometimes be found in the surrounding lands and tales of farmers turning up goblets and statues with their plows are common in Aundairian folktales. The Dhakaan Obelisk in the Iron Way district is a notable exception and the Kech Motrai continues to search for Dhakaani artifacts, but by and large the legacy of Vaarn’tel is only visible to archeologists who seek it out. Far Haven
During the migration of humans from Sarlona, many groups arrived in several different waves fleeing the Sundering of the nations of that continent. These groups arrived fifteen-hundred years after Lazhaar’s famous voyage and many settled among the already-established human communities in eastern Khorvaire. Ships sailing from the island nation of Ohr Kaluun, however, sailed east from Sarlona across the Barren Sea and down the wide mouth of Scion’s Sound. These refugees, carrying with them the powerful magical traditions of their ancestors and their ambition as well, named their new colony Far Haven and saw it as a safe place to hide from the disasters back home. Some began calling it Fair Haven, at the time a pun referring again to the bright white sands that had enamored the orcs, but that name would not become commonplace for another few centuries. The Kaluunite settlers befriended the local goblinoid tribes and developed their port, eventually drawing the attention of other refugees. A rival settlement eventually formed on the far side of the river, populated mostly by zealous immigrants from Khalesh who followed a religion similar to that of the modern Church of the Silver Flame. The rivalry soon turned to a conflict and, with the help of their goblin allies, the colonists of Far Haven destroyed the Khaleshites.
Although it was long ago, most citizens of Fairhaven are at least passingly familiar with the story of their Kaluunite predecessors thanks to the plays of Baroc ir’Tylle. This playwright put on a series of plays about the Kaluunites’ conflict with the Khaleshite settlement during the early years of the Last War. The obvious analogies in the play paralleling the ancient story with growing anti-Thrane sentiment fueled the growing patriotism of the newly independent kingdom of Aundair. While the play wasn’t especially accurate, it has been ingrained in the city’s psyche. Fairhaven and the War of the Mark
The nation that would come to be known as Aundair was forged by the Kaluunite descendants of the Far Haven colony, settling the surrounding lands with their powerful magic. In about -2000 YK, a wizard named Saelyn united the communities around Fairhaven into a magocracy, just in time to resist the armies of Karrn the Conqueror. The communities offered stability to the region and attracted different groups including the half-elf communities of Thaliost who eventually gave rise to the Lyrandar elves. Lyran and Selavash, the legendary Firstborn, came from the city and many half-elves with the Mark of Storm came to the larger city of Fairhaven. It is thanks to the protection of the Lyrandar windwrights that Fairhaven escaped largely unscathed during the War of the Mark. There was only one attempt by the Aberrant forces to take the city, a covert operation led by a captain of General Tarkanan named Danose the Black and twenty operatives with over twenty aberrant-marked followers. Some Galifarian historians say that Danose had no orders from the general to infiltrate Fairhold, but undertook the mission of his own volition to impress Tarkanan. This would explain why the captain’s force was so disorganized. Still, the ensuing battle with the Fairhaven Watch which destroyed Besalle’s Market is the subject of several panoramic portraits in the Seroniot Museum of the University of Wynarn, though most citizens of Fairhaven are more familiar with the Night Fountain in Shadowatch as a symbol of the Aberrant incursion. Fairhaven Under Galifar
The alliance of House Lyrandar with the monarchy of Fairhaven proved to be a benefit for the city during the next large conflict as well. When Galifar I launched his campaign to unify Khorvaire, Fairhaven was besieged by his troops and might have suffered through starvation or worse if the monarchy hadn’t been able to count on the half-elves to negotiate. From the start, Fairhaven has been supportive of Galifarian rule, which is part of the reason that Prince Wrogar decided to stand by Mishann's right to the throne. Even today, the heritage of the Kingdom of Galifar is celebrated in Fairhaven, almost as much as Aundair’s own. Fairhaven remains a center of mercantilism and a crossroad of different cultures, just as it has always been.

Geography

Sits upon the banks of the Aundair River, at nearly the geographic center of Aundair's current political border

Alternative Name(s)

The City of Lights

Type

Metropolis

Population

92,500

Location under

Khorvaire

Owner/Ruler

Queen Aurala Ir'Wynarn

Owning Organization

Aundair

Characters in Location

• Queen Aurala Ir'Wynarn