Selvergen

The entrance through the straights of Selvergen into the city is one of chaos. Myriad fishing, merchant, and war vessels of a thousand makes and colors all drift and sail this way and that across the miles of water that divide the city in three. Amidst this chaos are pockets of perfect stillness, where coral watchtowers peek up from the depths, manned by barely-visible octopi guards. This scene is framed by three massive lighthouses, each flanked by smaller counterparts and guard towers, one on each landmass.
Entering the main part of the city in the North, massive dockyards and piers filled by fishermen hawking vast varieties of fish and lobster greet weary travelers from abroad. The often-mutated fish come in all colors and shapes and smells, a confusing culinary rainbow for outsiders to Stildane. Past the docks are the massive archways of the Seagates, through which a maze of apartments and workshops looms. The streets of Selvergen are consistent in their grid layout and general shape; they are consistent in no other way. Each district seems to make and decorate their buildings entirely differently, often throwing different eras of architecture together in a Frankenstein's monster of urban design. Adobe, brick, wood, plaster, and stone all mix together in this patchwork city. The crowds bustle always- a mixture of dozens of different races of varying heights and builds.
Every so often a new archway will designate a new district, each with their own flags and banners on which cats lazily gather. Many of these district gates will be watched by a patrol of city guard clad in flashy steel armor and black robes. Peeking out of alleyways, gangs wearing the district's colors leer at passing outsiders. Sometimes boxes or crates will float by accompanied by a black-robed sorcerer, sometimes a platoon of white-apronned kobolds will trot by carrying a large iron box, sometimes the side of the road just opens up into a huge stormdrain emanating the smell of rot and the sound of rushing water, it quickly becomes evident that anything can happen in this city.

Demographics

Humanoid population: 30% Dryad, 25% Human, 20% Starspawn wn, 15% Kobold, 3% Prism, 3% Half Prism, 3% Half-Dryad, 2% Vesper. These are distributed across the two islands and the small peninsula settlement. The Northern Island has 70% of the population, the Souther island 25%, and the peninsula 5%.
Aquatic population: 48% Octopeople located across 6 reefs. 10% Cuttlefolk. 42% Squiddle located in pastoral areas between the reefs. The largest among the reef settlements is Grunenkal at 7,000 strong (90% octopeople, 10% cuttlefolk).

Government

Selvergen is the capital of the Kasteny region of the Empire of Eketen, just as it was once the capital of the independent Federation of Kasteny. Selvergen is a crucial link in Kasteny's trade network and coast, making it crucial for leveraging true control of the region. From this heart of power the Lord Governor of Kasteny, a star-touched dryad named Gunter Iono, rules with the Iono family out of Selvergen.
The Lord Governor is the regional authority of Kasteny. Theoretically a bureaucratic non-hereditary appointment by the Emperor, the Lord Governor has become a fully autonomous hereditary title in recent decades (and was practically beforehand). The Lord Governor is the complete regional authority- managing appointments, tax collection, and local law.
Underneath the Lord Governor is the Lord Mayor of Selvergen. Appointed by the Lord Governor, the Lord Mayor is in charge of managing city development, meeting with local guilds, managing the city guard, recommending trade policy, and balancing the local factions and district legal codes. The current Lord Mayor is Ivara Devseter, a young human woman with a military background, handpicked as Gunter's loyal representative.
Beneath the Lord Mayor is the City Council, composed of the Captain of the City Guard, the head of the Chamber of Commerce (which in turn manages the guilds more directly), and the Sacred Custodes (who manages temple coordination).
Occasionally interfering in city politics are the Dukes of Kasteny- aristocratic appointments that manage the rural counts. This has declined in recent years as Gunter as very tightly controlled his underling aristocrats.
Parallel to this hierarchy and intertwined with it is the military hierarchy of the Imperial garrison of Kasteny, which is stationed in Selvergen to put down any revolts. At the top is the Lord Governor, followed by their lieutenants- 6 lower-aristocratic officers chosen by the Lord Governor to lead their battalions. Each of these lieutenants has 10 captains (often aristocratic but not necessarily) underneath them, which have a variable number of sergeants. Not all of the Kasteny garrison is kept in Selvergen at all times- often lieutenants are sent with segments to intimidate or enforce order on rural regions or perform "loyalty tours".
The military hierarchy is important because these officers are encouraged to involve themselves in local politics and often have local alliances. They are powerbrokers within the city independent of their official rank.
Lastly, the Aquatic races have an entirely different system of governance and report separately to the Lord Governor and the local priesthood of Uvara. The high priests of Ertinar the Sea-Warden manage the reefs, based out of the Coral Cathedral. Each Corachon- the elected or hereditary reef leader- and Rural Chief manages sends direct representatives to the Coral Cathedral as part of the undersea federation.

Defences

Sea forts and local naval garrisons make up the majority of Selvergen's defenses. Much of this is concentrated in the South, at the "Three Sisters"- three citadels on the North Island, South Island, and East Peninsula that control the crucial straights that trisect the city. Massive boon chains are ready to be lifted between these towers, trapping invaders or large monsters in between three massive artillery batteries. Regular dock towers and small military schooners are common along the coastlines, allowing for the repulsion of small forces or monsters and the harassment of larger ones.
The Selvergen city guard and Eketeni imperial garrison make actual assaults on the city difficult. The Eketeni imperial garrison is a thousands-strong constant standing army stationed almost permanently in Selvergen. The city guard, meanwhile, works with the Uvaran temples to maintain a large force of spellcasters and professional soldiers loyal to the city over the empire. Drawing off of the magical religious schools of the city, a third of the guard are sorcerers of some kind- providing a nasty surprise for invading forces or monsters.

Industry & Trade

Selvergen citizens practice a wide variety of trades. Slain monsters and Ederstone-mutated resources are transported from the Eastern coast and processed in the city. This feeds a massive system of apothecaries who produce magical components, poisons, and medicines. It also coordinates with the meatpacking industry in the Northeastern Butcher's District of the city. The Southern half of the Northern island of Selverza is a hilly region dedicated to animal husbandry, with many cows, giant lobsters, chickens, and pigs mass-farmed for slaughter and processing in the Butcher's District. Mass slaughterhouses work with huge tanneries to produce leather and meat that are sent further into the city. Special chilled warehouses, operated by specialized sorcerers, preserve some of this meat, while the rest is mass salted or smoked. The large amounts of leather and wool produced are sent into the heart of the city with flax from the Northern half of the island for weavers, cobblers, and other textile makers to produce various artisan goods. Artisan trades are common here, from brickmaking to candlemaking. Periodic urban repairs also draw on wage laborers, who often work part-time in shipping at the dockyards.

Infrastructure

Selvergen's infrastructure has been well developed over the centuries- massive aqueducts water the city from the Northeast, a functional sewage system exists, massive shipyards and docks line the city next to huge watermills, and the city has actual building codes that regulate the architecture of any permanent structure. This has all developed from intense, continued effort, as Selvergen has had to serve as an emergency refuge for large populations many times through its history. City planning has always been highly valued, and the city has historically held a policy of "build as if the city could quintuple in size tomorrow". Only under the Empire of Eketen has this relentless development and refurbishment ceased.
Aside from "standard" infrastructure that "only" benefits ordinary people, there are a couple of extraordinary structures that tourists should definitely visit.

• The Federation Palace, a beautiful domed palace first built in the early 1100s that now serves as the Governor's Palace. Built to celebrate Uvaran diversity, its rainbow tiled roofing and wall frescos make it look quite extravagant (some would say gaudy).
• The Grand Temple of Ustav and Ertinar, also known as the Paternal Temple. The Paternal Temple is a massive Cathedral of white marble with green and blue tiling. Massive painted statues point out to sea, and the holy avenue connects the Temple to the waters. The holy avenue is lined on both sides with temples and shrines, with a large sea-gated saltwater channel in the center. This channel allows for safe commute of aquatic races into the lower levels of the temple and provides a physical connection between land and sea.
• The Coral Cathedral of Ertinar and Varsha the Creators, a huge undersea palace-temple made of vibrant coral that serves as the political and religious center of command for the aquatic races of Selvergen. It is here that policy is set, that the aquatic tribes pay homage to their ruling priests, and aquatic druids and wizards are trained. It is connected by a series of holy shrines to the holy avenue, tethering it to the terrestrial religious authority.
• The Grand Lighthouse at the Southern point of the Northern island is a great sight to behold. There are three lighthouses, each attached to one of the island citadels known as the Three Sisters, but the Northern island lighthouse is the largest and most extravagant.
• The Undercity of Selvergen is not attractive to most tourists but quite the catch for any visiting urban explorers. Selvergen is built on many layers of old city, which have sunk into the swampy peninsula and become the urban foundation. Much of that old city is interconnected with the city's catacombs and sewer system, forming a semi-submerged underground maze.
• The Fortress Avenek, named after the first Eketen Emperor, is an imposing prison-barracks that hosts the Kasteny Garrison. Built to glorify and intimidate, its imposing spires and large marble statue of Avenek are worth a look. Tragically, it is built on the rubble of the once-beautiful Selvergen Forum- the assembly hall of the Kasteny federation. You can see some bits of the old forum in the current structure, sometimes with small tributes of flowers nearby left by citizens. The forum was a symbol of old Kasteny that has since become a sort of martyr-building after it was set burnt down with protesters inside by Eketeni forces in 1853.

Guilds and Factions

The sprawl of Selvergen is quite diverse and full of local factions and groups. The guilds are too numerous to count (you can generally imagine that any trade will be tightly controlled by its guild), but here are a few factions worth keeping an eye on:

• The Uvaran temples, led by the High Priest of the Paternal Temple, are the top authorities of all religious and magical matters. They prepare recommendations for the Lord Governor on what is and isn't witchcraft or dangerous cult activity, and advise them on judicial matters. They also run the magical colleges of Selvergen, which provide free education for all Uvaran residents as long as they agree to work for either the temple or a temple-approved employer for 5 years after being certified. This is convenient, as the temples also decide certification- it is only legal to practice magic in Selvergen with temple certification (and even then, mind control is usually banned). They also act as a job agency of sorts for sorcerers- drawing in the massive Ederstone Sorcery community of greater Kasteny.
• The Grunenkal Authority: Grunenkal is the name of the reef directly off the coast of Selvergen, and is the largest and most developed aquatic settlement in the region. Grunenkal is run by a clique of warrior-priests, who often ally themselves with the Uvaran temples. Grunenkal manages the fishing rights, clam farming, and shipping lanes of Selvergen- and have been known to violently dispatch residents who break the undersea peace.
• The United Kivishta temples, led by the Liberated Kivish Path Temple of the Ten Faced Harmony, manage the Kobold-only residential districts in the North. As Kobolds have a disproportionate role in the island's animal husbandry and tanning industries, the United Temples leverage significant control over the butcher's, cobbler's, tanner's, leatherworker's, and weaver's guilds as well as the salt, meat, and meat-packing industries.
• The Western districts house a number of Sunekan immigrants, many of whom have merchant connections Southwards. Suneka provides a critical source of food, technology, coinage, and consumer-buying power for Selvergen- and the Sunekan districts know it. These districts organize according to the Sunekan religion- operating community schools, orphanages, and charities. They also have attempted a number of coups and insurrections over the past few centuries and have ties to the Federates.
• The Imperial Juntas: Since the 1960's, the Iono family has worked to integrate the local garrison officer corps into the city's political and economic life. A major part of this has been to allow any rebels or criminals captured by garrison officers to be allowed extralegal detention and enslavement, to be used as forced labor in the Irradiated East, or in mines or lumberyards in rural Kasteny. Individual officers have worked together to form commercial Juntas with local merchants and now have an oligopoly on much-needed lumber, metal, and stone imports. Local merchant groups not connected to the Suneka often align themselves with one junta or another, and many hold great sway over districts of the city.

History

Selvergen began in the late 100's and early 200's ME as a refuge town, but was transformed into a full-fledged city by the Ederstone-irradiated 'Cursed Storms' of 209-300. In the late 200's, aquatic-oriented Starspawn in the community made contact with the local reef community of Grunenkal, and the first Land-sea alliance of Stildane was forged in 240. After the last cursed storm subsided, a confederation of survivors met at Selvergen to form the first Confederation of Kasteny in 380. This became permanent in 400, making Selvergen a center of regional diplomacy. Following internal disputes and conflicts, the Kobold-born Vesper war-leader Yereka became the first elected monarch of the confederation in 620, making it a formal state with Selvergan as its capital. Druidism was introduced via Uvaran priests from the North in 660, leading to the formal conversion of the city and its beginning as a center for magical training. Even after the federated monarchy collapse in 830, Selvergen held strong. It weathered the civil wars fantastically; it weathered the Yellow Death and Mageplague less well. The city struggled to refurbish itself and stay strong in the face of constant plague as new regimes made Selvergen their capital.
The city finally began recovering in the 1100s, and roared back with a vengeance. Much of the old, sinking districts were demolished and rebuilt on the rubble-foundation. The bardic Sisters of Bain cult began to mass harvest monster parts for a new luxury-good industry; wizardry began to be studied in earnest; mass conversion of aquatic tribes to Uvara allowed for a growing peace beneath the waves as well. The mass settlement South of the Darness river saw a surge of lumber and stone starting in 1200, as well as a surge in Kilusha after a massive vein of it was discovered in the South in 1270. Much of this Kilusha was also Ederstone-mutated, producing an economic boom of experimental Kilusha exports. As Selvergen built and self-invested, it became seemingly immune to whatever woes or defeats befell the greater country of Kasteny: its self-sufficient food source, large fortifications, and remote island location make it difficult to actually besiege.
The period of instability from 1800 to 1851 was unique in that it increasingly armed and polarized factions within the city. Aggressions led to cycles of retributions, arms races, and a complete breakdown in city and state leadership. The increasingly large Sunekan population, with a nigh-monopoly on Southern exports, began militarizing and coordinating with distant Sunekan radicals with the plan of inviting a foreign Sunekan army into the city. When civil war finally broke out in 1851, the Sunekans attempted a mass uprising across Kasteny, led from Selvergen. Bloody civil war ravaged the city from 1851 to 1852 after Sunekan merchants opened the port to a foreign military expedition. This expedition failed, but exploded the unspoken rules of combat that had governed Selvergen's factionalism. As the many gangs, factions, schools, and individual politicians all fought for dominance, no one noticed the cloud from the North. Eketen, for millennia having been isolated and fragmented, had united into a large militaristic empire. The Empire of Eketen launched a grand invasion from the North in 1852, bribing their way through the port-gates and into the city. The invasion was complete by winter of 1853.
At first, Selvergen fought tooth and nail to be free of these "savage northerners" who did not respect the traditional rights afforded communities. Rebellion was constant by the many factions who claimed to represent "The Federation". Eketeni armies met them with brutality, slaughtering protesting crowds and destroying cultural monuments. Major rebellions in 1853, 1858, 1862, and 1870 all rocked the city. After the 1870 rebellion, peace was finally brokered by the then-Governor of Kasteny. The old federal rights were restored, allowing district governments to meet at an assembly hall to help manage local taxation, development, and law. Parallel justice systems were made, old laws restored, and community leaders given their old voices. This undercut the rebel 'Federals', who faded into the background from 1870 to 1960. Prosperity returned and it was business as usual in the city. The Imperial dukes of the countryside refused to implement these changes, and dissent moved out of the city and into a low-level rural guerrilla campaign on the mainland.
While the Lord-Governor had things under control, the Empire did not. Succession crises in 1920 and 1960 shook the order, and opened up a gap for rural guerrillas to make their attack. While the Lord Governor's garrisons were mass deployed on the mainland to restore order, the Sisters of Bain- the monster-hunting cult given reign over the irradiated Eastern shores in ancient times- launched their own attempted coup in 1960. Killing the old Lord Governor and seizing the Governor's palace, it was only the courage and ruthlessness of the visiting Duke Iono that put an end to their operation. For keeping Kasteny, the Iono family received basically hereditary rights to the Governorship- and total control over the land. They began prioritizing control over local factions while stripping the old federal rights; officers were allowed to enslave suspected rebels or rebel-associates to encourage a reign of terror over suspected minority communities. The profits gained from this reign of terror entrenched the garrison among the merchants but did them no favors among anyone else. While this approach has kept the system running, a new federated rebellion has formed- this time, more organized and focused. With the Empire in disarray after a series of military revolts and bursts of civil war starting in 2000, the Governor has ruled by bribery and terror. It might not be visible yet, but he is losing the city. Selvergen is once again coming undone.

Geography

The city of Selvergen is split across three landmasses- the huge island of Selverza in the North, the much smaller Dakaza in the South, and the Renock Peninsula to the East. Most of the city is located on a small peninsula jutting South of the Northern island, with only a small urban fringe located in Renock. The main body of Selverza and Dakaza are agricultural areas dotted with small urban outposts.
Both Selverza and Dakaza are part of a larger chain of islands that cross the bay. As the land to the East of the bay is heavily Ederstone-irradiated, these islands have become the heart of Stildanian trade.

Type

Large city

Population

163,000: 100,000 humanoids, 3,000 cats, 60,000 aquatic

Inhabitant Demonym

Selvergen

Location under

Stildane

Owning Organization

Empire of Eketen