Firsthome
Nowhere in the Nine Kingdoms is there a city that outshines the glory of Firsthome. Combined, Three Cities may be slightly larger and while it is true that the wealth of Noves (Nov-es), capital of Sardenis, is greater, no city can match the combination of size, wealth, and diversity of Firsthome. Founded as a last bastion of defense by the scattered tribes facing extinction from orc marauders, Firsthome was declared a free and safe city for all and so has become awash in peoples of all races and dispositions. Because it is situated advantageously at the mouth of the Trade River, where it empties into the Sea of Splendor, the volume of trade that passes through Firsthome is surpassed only by Zaribar. Guarded by the Shoremen, protected by tradition, and ruled by a council of land owners, the city is known to be relatively safe and free from the petty squabbles of the noble class found in other kingdoms.
Firsthome is laid out as a series of rings, or districts, radiating out from where the Trade River meets the Sea of Splendor. The inner most ring is the old city and includes some of the oldest and most historic buildings in all of Iskatel. It also plays host to the mansions of Firsthome’s earliest families, some of which are still politically powerful and others of which have faded slowly into obscurity. The inner ring is the only walled portion of Firsthome. It is along this ancient wall and in the fort that dominates it that the Shoremen make their home.
As the city radiates out from the old city it grows progressively newer, with older rings abandoned to the poor and displaced and the newest rings, at the very edge of town, filled with the wealthy. It is a strange juxtaposition, then, that the regal and historic old city is immediately surrounded by the most poor and rundown areas of Firsthome. The wall that once protected the city from orcs now protects it from those they'd rather not see. Within the city rings there are ghettos, collections of persons consisting almost entirely of members of a single race or culture. Some of these ghettos are rough, violent, and poor — like the Orc Shore — whereas others are clean and stately — like the Irean Estates. The outermost ring of Firsthome contains a great many mansions surrounded by acres of cultivated gardens. These are the newly rich merchant lords who have found their wealth not through rulership but through buying and selling along the Trade River. Tension between the ascendant merchant lords and the venerable families of the old city has been building for generations, kept in check only by the Shoremen.
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