Three Cities

At the north end of the Nine Kingdoms, two great rivers, each half a mile wide, merge to form the Trade River. At this merging of tributaries lie three crowded cities, spilling out into the water as if reaching out to each other. To the uneducated visitor Three Cities may seem to be one giant metropolis, however, it is, in fact, a merging of three independent settlements. Each city lies within separate kingdoms and is host to its own ruling noble family. On the eastern bank lies Khol, capital city of the Kingdom of Kholen and home to the powerful Kholis family. To the west lies Dranhome, home to family Drant and capital of the Kingdom of Dragar. In the middle, occupying the space between the two river branches, lies Zhiinia, home to the family Zhiin and capital city of the Kingdom of Zhiinth. Tall, powerful stone walls surround each of these cities, defending them from each other. Within the walls of all three cities lie dense populations of tradespeople, merchants, beggars, thieves, and men-at-arms. Rising from the urban sprawl are three massive and opulent castles from which each noble family may watch over their kingdom, and the kingdoms of their neighbors.
Along the shorelines of each of the mighty, merging rivers, lie a sprawling confusion of docks, warehouses, taverns, and inns. Great merchant ships rock in the gentle waters as goods are transferred to and from holds while ferries and rafts shuttle people of all races and backgrounds back and forth between the neighboring cities. Most who arrive at any shore make straight for the walls of the city to which they are traveling, but for some their destination is the shaby river towns between the docks and the walls. These tightly packed shanty-towns are filled with inns, taverns, shops of questionable integrity, scoundrels, sailors, adventurers seeking employ and persons too poor to live within the city walls.
Inside the walls of any of the cities the crowded, tight streets are packed on either side by tall, wood and plaster residences three and four stories tall. The ground floor of each of these homes often serves as workshop, smithy, bakery, tailor, tanner, cobbler, or tavern. Churches both great and small intersperse themselves among the homes, or sometimes break the lines of tightly packed buildings with a plaza dominated by a stone cathedral to one of the Twelve. As one travels toward a city’s castle, the homes grow larger and the streets less crowded, though no less narrow, with a greater number of squares sporting statues, fountains, or finely built churches. If a traveler were to explore in the other direction, they would find themselves on increasingly dirty streets flanked by run down buildings and filled with desperate, hungry people.
Outside the city walls in any place not bordering the rivers, Three Cities takes on the appearance of more rural cities and villages, with farm fields ranging for miles, small clusters of buildings interspersed among them. To the east, outside of Khol, lies a great, dense woodland known as the gateway to the Outlands called the Outlander Woods. To the north of Zhiinia lies expansive, fertile farmland. West of Dranhome the hilly land makes its way to the mountains of Thohak and the wealth of minerals there.