Conviction Cradle

Demographics

Most of the population is non-augmented. Higher than usual numbers of naturalborn sorcerers.

Government

By and large it works a city-state with a self-ruling government. It controls the surrounding areas, including the ones across portals.

Defences

The surrounding mountains work as a natural wall.

Industry & Trade

The place still trades basalt, but it mostly works as a trading post for the few settlements in Exile. A lot of smuggled products and drugs find their way through here, often staying.

Infrastructure

Has a shipyard, a small airport and even a portal hub made of six portals leading to four distinct locations around Elsewhere and one to Elan.

Guilds and Factions

Out of all interworld organizations, The Merchant Enclave is the one that can claim to have a better grasp on the place.
However, three forces rule the place, while they are comparatively small fish, they are big in this pond. The Crones is a weird mix of family and mercenary group with the prestige of having saved the place. The Sand School, is a small magical academy that is a political force in its own right. The Gray-gold, is a political faction formed by the prisoners from even before the colony was founded, their past allegiances are largely irrelevant now, but they have strong local sway.
The Daliath church is remarkably unpopular here.

History

Founding and Separation

The place was founded as a prison colony under a coalition of Elsewhere-based governments that established a mining operation. The place was assumed to be rich in gold, and while there was some, it was not as nearly what as it was expected, it was then used a source of basalt. It was repurposed as a colony for political and magical prisoners.
When war broke out between Elan and Elsewhere the portal that led to this place was destroyed, leading to the colony being cut off from the other worlds. The local authorities managed to keep a hold on the situation for two years, but with the lack of external supplies they couldn't keep control of their magical prisoners and were overthrown.
While not bloodless, the next years saw the settlement finding a new independent equilibrium. The sorcerers gave them an edge at surviving in the short term. But people still wanted to establish contact with the rest of the multiverse, one way or another, attempts at contacting other colonies were not successful.
Thus, they implemented a very controversial plan. Since every natural born sorcerer is transported to Elsewhere at some point in their lives, it was realized that could be a means of contact. Sorcerer children were trained and taught that once they found themselves in Elsewhere they should contact authorities seeking for help, and if that didn't work they should figure out something on their own. At some point contraceptives were destroyed.
However, the multiverse was still in turmoil and reaching for an old prison colony was far from a priority, and many of the sorcerers were captured or simply found themselves unable to return. This lead to some people redoubling their efforts, leading to even more tragic decisions that ranged from paying teenagers to have children (thus creating shorter generations) to things even less savory.
Eventually, a young sorcerer named Zas Crone managed to gain money and power through illicit work that included kidnappings. He managed to bring a sorcerer to the city to open a portal in the location, establishing direct contact with the multiverse once again.

Legacy

Conviction's story is not unique, but it happens to be one of the most prominent ones when people think of the interworld conflicts and colonies being cut off. Its dark history is largely used as the justification for several interworld policies that sought to prevent such things from happening again.
Today the place holds a dark reputation as a violent crime-filled space and the reason why the planet is still called "Exile". There is corruption, poverty and a great disparity of power between the two ends of the social spectrum.

Architecture

The original buildings were simple stone constructions designed to be built fast and densely, there was a brief period where wooden constructions were valued, but today people prefer either stone or glass. This leads to an eclectic building style.

Geography

Surroundings a bay area that it is itself surrounded by mountains, there is an opening to the east.

Natural Resources

An aquifer and many rivers are a good source of freshwater and the place is known for the basalt mines.

Type

Town

Population

18000+

Location under

Exile

Owner/Ruler

Judith Crone