Hawktop Keep
The gateway to Rilga, Hawktop Keep is often the first Rilgan town that travellers visit. The second largest settlement in Rilga after the capital of Somiochr itself, Hawktop Keep is a vibrant, bustling and wealthy merchant town. Goods from across the world flow in and out of its port before being shipped inland to the capital and beyond. Picturesque and affluent, Hawktop is very much the “public face” of Rilga, and ships from across the world find safe harbour in the shelter of Dorsara Bay, the mighty bastion of the famed Hawktop Keep looming overhead. Finely lain cobble streets and thoroughfares wend through the town of charming and modern buildings, shops and inns, while providing beatific views of the bay and the sunset over the sea.
Demographics
Humans and halflings make up the predominant demographic of Hawktop, accounting for roughly just over half the population. Beyond that, members of most races can be found here, though in much smaller number. Half-elves, goblinoids and tieflings are the most common.
Government
House Gosmark are the ruling noble family of Hawktop Keep and the surrounding landscape. Lorrick and Tabeth Gosmark are the current heads of the house, governing from their hall in Hawktop Keep itself. The daily governance of the city is handled by the local burgomaster Rogred Haurin, who heads a small town council of appointed officials.
Defences
Hawktop Keep presents a formidable defence from the sea. The looming silhouette of Hawktop Keep itself is a daunting prospect for any would be attacker from the water. The naval power of Rilga is maintained from Hawktop, and its marines are well armed and supplied. The town is less well defended from the land however. Short strips of simple wooden palisades create the impression of a perimeter around the town, supported by basic wooden watch towers and guard camps. The town maintains a relatively large towns watch to keep order and patrol the streets, supported by a contingent of Iron Hands who oversee magical use in the town. The Gosmark family and the keep itself are manned by a standing force of guards and personal retainers.
Hawktop relies on a series of lookout posts dotted about the surrounding countryside to warn of any approaching danger. Should the town come under serious threat, the common folk are instructed to seek shelter within the stone walls of the upper Admiral’s District. Those who live in the southern Waveside district can find shelter within the walls of the smaller stone keep of Whitecrest, a much smaller fortification that watches the coastline to the south.
Industry & Trade
Ships are the mainstay of Hawktop Keep, and much of the industrial power of the town goes towards building and maintaining the vessels that come and go from the harbour. Foreign ships can be repaired or resupplied here, and new Rilgan kogs are constructed.
Hawktop Keep is the principle gateway to Rilga from the outside world and is the first stop for practically all imports and exports. Merchant guilds operate sprawling warehouse complexes where their wares are housed before being loaded onto trade ships or readied to be delivered up river to Somiochr. Even rarer goods can be acquired by those with black market connections.
Infrastructure
A key port town of Rilga, Hawktop Keep has extensive docks and shipyards, constructing the signature fat-bellied Rilgan kogs from timber harvested in Svenflytt and Neath. Cobblestone streets wend and wind through the town, and sewers sluice waste out of the city and into the sea. Where the mouth of the Sivyrne opens up into the bay, numerous water taxis ferry people and goods from one side of the town to the other.
Districts
Hawktop Keep is divided into two distinct sections, on the northern and southern banks of Dorsara Bay and divided by the broad mouth of the river Sivyrne.
The northern portion of the town is the Admiral’s District. Large numbers of shipyards, metal workers, sail makers and rope weavers are found in the Admiral’s District, and are responsible for the production and maintenance of the ships of Rilga’s mercantile and naval fleet. The burgomaster also takes up residence in the Admiral’s District, where they also head the town council who meet regularly in the town hall.
The great stone keep for which the town is named is also accessed via the Admiral’s District. The keep is built on a series of rocky outcroppings out in the bay, and can only be reached by land via a great stone causeway. The keep itself is impressive, if a little brutal in its design, with stout stone towers and gatehouses topped with ballista and catapults keeping watch along the coast.
The southern quarter of Hawktop is the Waveside District, and is the principal residential and commercial area of the town. Here can be found the majority of the common folk living in the town, running various local businesses and shops. A lot of the mercantile goods that flow in and out of Rilga pass through the Waveside, and numerous guild houses can be found along the waterfront. The smaller fort of Whitecrest is found on the cliffs on the south side of town, keeping watch over the southern coastline.
Numerous farming villages and hamlets dot the countryside around the town, accessed via rough dirt tracks and quiet roads.
Guilds and Factions
House Gosmark and the appointed burgomaster work to ensure that the laws of the Diet are obeyed and the taxes collected. The most influential guilds in Hawktop Keep are those directly related to constructing and maintaining the ships that moor in its docks, such as shipwrights, sailmakers, metal workers, coopers and tinkers.
Small, humble temples to several deities can be found in Hawktop, most prominently Kavura, Bahnin, Vishai and Ouma. Simple shrines to most other deities are also present, but are attended only by a small number of acolytes.
A contingent of Iron Hands work closely with town watch, especially along the docklands and warehouse districts, keeping watch for signs of dangerous magical malfeasance. They also engage in a constant game of cat and mouse with the local cell of Nightlarks who continually frustrate the authorities, running a lucrative criminal enterprise of smuggling, blackmail and burglary.
History
Originally a simple fishing and trading town, Hawktop Keep itself was constructed in response to the raids by Frosthaldan longships and pillagers from the Molbronta. During the dark days of Mordred’s rule, the town was governed by the now reviled Constantia Jorge. Constantia was well known for her penchant for ordering those who could not pay her exorbitant taxes to be drowned in the harbour in full view of the townsfolk, and afterwards having her necromancer lackeys raise their body to perform manual labour alongside their former kin.
After the Skeinwynd rebellion overthrew Mordred, Constantia and her ilk were captured and executed by Uthrick Gosmark, a scion of a lesser noble house turned pirate. For his part in liberating Hawktop, Gosmark and his family were appointed as the towns rulers.
Points of interest
Hawktop Keep itself dominates the skyline of the town, looming over the houses and shops from atop the rocky cliffs out in the bay. The fortress dwarfs any other building in the town, and the shadow it casts at sunset as the sun sinks low in the sky blankets the district below. The people of Hawktop are very fond of the castle that gives their town its name, and it’s not uncommon for Hawktoppers to refer to the keep as though it was a person, and it crops up in a number of local adages and aphorisms.
Outside of the capital city of Somiochr, Hawktop Keep is one of the best settlements in Rilga for those seeking rare and exotic goods. The Amblemart near the Waveside quays is a sprawling, but lively and chaotic marketplace; a maze of canvas and shingle roofs where venders display their wares. Goods from all over Kordania and beyond pass through Hawktop, and whatever one is looking for, one has a good chance of finding it here. Also along the waterfront of Waveside is the Trotse Promenada, a beautiful avenue of paved stone lined with fashionable eateries and public houses that serve dishes from all across Gaio, while offering charming views of the town and the bay.
Given the vast amount of international traffic that comes through town, the taverns, inns and guesthouses of Hawktop are well-renowned. Dozens of locally run businesses cater to merchants and travellers from across the world, and are on the whole exceptionally accommodating and comfortable, as well as secure for those travelling with full purses.
Architecture
Hawktop Keep is a classic Rilgan township, it’s architecture a charming and modern fusion of timber and stone. The wealthier parts of town that put on the public face of Hawktop have tall and picturesque structures with decorated exteriors. Even the buildings in the poorer parts of town are robust and comfortable, if a little quianter.
Geography
Hawktop Keep lies in a sheltered cove where the broad mouth of the river Sivyrne feeds into the choppy Doran Sea. To the north and south, tall rocky cliffs shelter the town below, and it is along the clifftops that the great keep itself stands. These cliffs are renowned for the flocks of seabirds that roost around them, in particular the large seahawks from which the town gets it’s name. River boats navigate the sea-fed river Sivyrne, ferrying goods between Hawktop and Somiochr further inland. Around the town are rolling hills and fields where small farming hamlets grow crops and tend livestock. To the south one can see the edge of the tall, brooding pine forest of Falkhord, though the woods sinister reputation keeps most from venturing to far into it.
Heraldry
Four swooping sky-blue sea hawks, circling a white ship on a midnight blue field (coat of arms of House Gosmark)
Type
Large town
Population
16,660 (56% humans, 19% halflings, 8% half-elves, 8% goblinoids, 9% other)
Inhabitant Demonym
Hawktoppers
Location under
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