The Gateway of the Flokain West
The City of Boston
A city near the border of Flokia and Ocheon. Thanks to the recent peace Flokia has seen, they've been quick to try and make friends across Kesia, with Ocheon being one of their core targets. With trade increasing, Boston, an already important mining town, has seen a boom thanks to their lumber, horticulture, and agriculture that have become an important part of the city's economy. Boston could be a shining star if the right people hold onto the reigns.
The city itself is between several districts, each serving a purpose for the townspeople who live there. The districts being the following:
Northern Boston
Vimdirth Keep
Vimdirth Keep is where Clan Oredelver lays claim over Boston, given to them by Clan Battlehammer, one of the kings of Flokia. It contains its own smithy, specific to Lord or Lady Oredelver depending on who's in control. While Oredelver owns the city, they do not rule it exactly. Instead, they garrison their own forces to protect the city should a threat come from the Underdark or even Ocheon should the need arise.
Urikas's Farms
This district was named after Urikas, a forest gnome who brought horticulture secrets from Ocheon and spread them to Flokia. When walking through this area, there are countless fruits that grow rich in the underground soil of the city. Lights that mimic sunlight always shine, allowing these fruits to always grow. Fruits here grow year round with variation in location to allow some fields to replenish and regrow. A gnome temple resides for gnomish gods but anyone is welcome to pray to a deity they worship.
Falgin's Estates
Falgin was a popular and shrewd halfling who started growing crops for the upper class of Boston. Selling only to them, he was able to make a massive series of manors and farms where noble farmers took up residence. Cutting a deal with Tifabi, Falgin's Estates are the sole grower and seller of crops in the northern side of the city. They often employ criminals or mercenaries to make sure no one breaks that treaty and won't suffer any further competition.
Isakis Homes
Isakis was a rock gnome who knew that the mines in the city would require a steady workforce to be able to function. While there were homes on the south side, they needed a smarter workforce to serve as the recordkeepers and the managers of these unskilled laborers. Isakis Homes serves as such a place, even housing taverns for skilled laborers and a library of knowledge where people may study architecture.
Platinum Town
Platinum Town is where the elite of the elite live. These people are raking in dozens of platinum and basically serve as the backers for many important city projects. The founders of guilds are likely to live in this area as well as people who have the ear of Clan Oredelver. They are the most protected with their own personal guards that are the elite of the elite in the city. For a thief to try and steal from these people is to be insane, have a death wish, both, or trying to prove something.
Gold Town
High-end merchants are likely to live in this area, serving as the city council for Boston. Upper class and middle class people live here and they can serve as a true test for those who want to make some money in the city. These people are likely to serve in guilds or serve as backers for the Arkis Mines. They are the closet mediums to the south side where the majority of the population lives so they have their ears closer to the ground than Platinum Town dwellers.
Arkis Mines
The main reason for Boston's existence. This mine delves deep under the surface, even breaching into the Underdark in some instances. Many rare resources and precious minerals come out of there to be refined, processed or sold. With a dock nearby, it's easy to ship them upriver or downriver to a local processor/refiner or even buyer who wants to use the ores for something else. Everyone wants this district to thrive and will easily unite if they feel that someone threatens that.
Southern Boston
Silver Town
The working class makes their home here. They are the people who work in the miners or even in the markets and Khulam's Hammer. They mainly own silvers, having to pay massive amounts of money to support their families. Usually, a good place to test your skills if you're into less than savory ways of making money.
Copper Town
A place where the impoverished and lower class live. Criminals are likely to be spawned from this area and even lay low since it's so overpopulated it's easy to hide in plain sight. While they might be the poorest, they are also the most likely to be thrown into the mines since there are many of them. However, at least they're better than the people of Deckspear and Blightown.
Khulam's Hammer
The Craftsman district of Boston. Khulam was the first of the crafters to set up shop in the area. A Dwarf of Clan Ironsmith, he believed in hard work and commitment above all else. The Ironsmith Guild believes in that same commitment and will do their hardest to live up to his legacy. Other guilds rest in the area as well: the Peltweavers, the Potioncrafters, and more.
Boldrith Market
The location where all goods end up no matter where they come from. Some exports, the majority being native. In the center of the market stands the Temple of the Mordinsamman. The Dwarven gods are very common here with crafters having clerics of Moradin inspect their goods to make sure they're good quality. However, other gods can be found as well. It is also where town meetings are held for the south side if they need to air any grievances and take them to higher people. The entire population of the south side will no doubt people there when it happens.
Deckspear City
If there's one place that's aesthetically poplar to the rest of Boston, it's Deckspear. It was founded by Gnolls, Goblinoids, and Kobolds who flocked to Boston for a new life and cheap work. It's a refuge for those people as they are looked down upon in other areas. A constant stream of workers come as they work both day and night. Gnolls, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears serve as miners and laborers while Kobolds and Goblins serve as farmers, scouts, and surveyors.
Blightown
The slums of Boston. People who have nowhere to go always end up here. People who go missing always end up here. Protected by a mysterious benefactor, Blightown people have a superstition about them, especially since some come from the Underdark, a place not well liked in Flokia.
Tifabi's Homesteads
The breadbasket of Southern Boston. Tifabi was made by a young halfling who saw the problems for the lower classes and wanted to provide for them and stop the price gouging they had to deal with. When she made a deal with Falgin, she did it primarily so her crops could support the people there. Countless farmlands were set up by poor and middling farmers alike.
Demographics
Racial
In the northern side of the city, Dwarves are the majority as they were the main settlers of Boston at first. Since they stayed there the longest, they make up the majority of the rich. Close behind them are rock gnomes, shrewd inventors and businessmen who own the guilds that function out of the south. While there are more scattered around, the final large number are forest gnomes who keep the forests and farms safe for animals and people alike.
The south side is a different story as business is conducted there. Deckspear City houses Gnolls, Kobolds, and the Goblinoid species as they aren't fully accepted in the city limits. As they are the laborers who work across Boston, it would make sense for them to be the majority of the southern population with goblins and kobolds leading during to their fast rates of reproduction. The next populous species are the halflings and deep gnomes who live on the farms and in the city, particularly in Copper and Silver Town. However, the most interesting races reside in Blightown: the Dark Elves and Grey Dwarves who left the Underdark and reside there, feared and hated, and trying to make a living.
Class
The working class are the dominant population as they perform the majority of the work in the mines and Khulam's Hammer. The low class follow after, tying with the middle class. The lower class mainly reside in Copper Town instead of Silver Town like the working class but they both have their issues. The middle class stay in Gold Town, rubbing shoulders with the upper class of Platinum town and the like.
Professions
Miners run the town as they are the ones who go into the mines and dig up the ore and materials that make the city so important to Flokian Trade. Craftsman follow behind them at a close second, processing the materials and turning them into products. The farmers are also high up there as they have to feed the large population that resides in Boston, making the merchants and nobles of the city stay low at the bottom compared to all of them.
Government
On the north side, the rich and powerful control the government. Clan Oredelver lead the city from Vimdirth Keep where they "run" the city as a whole. He meets with the city council, representatives from all over Northern Boston, to speak about matters of the city. It's mainly the upper and middle classes that make the decisions while Clan Oredelver deals with political issues outside the city. The law is upheld by a private guard corp, funded by the Platinum Town people. Since they're in their pocket, they have a habit of siding with the upper class on issues.
On the south side, the people are the strongest voice here. The Temple of the Mordinsamman is the center of political activity as the entire southern side meet there to air their grievances and discuss matters on their side of the river. People from Gold Town will also attend these meetings, listening for issues they need to bring up at the next city council meetings. Deckspear City houses the guards as Hobgoblins keep the city safe and also provide the majority of the military as well.
Defences
A goblinoid host that serves as the guards of Southern Boston and a privately funded elite guard organization in Northern Boston.
Industry & Trade
Mining is the main focus in the city as most of their shipments include materials or products made from those materials. Thanks to the local farms nearby, they don't have to worry about importing food as much. They're more likely to import people if the population can't keep up or even wood since their lumber supplies are running low currently.
Infrastructure
The most notable infrastructure in the town is the mine system, a multi-layered network of tunnels and rooms that stretch as far down as the Underdark. Each layer serves to have access to a specific material or mineral that is common at certain depths. Thanks to the stoneworking of the Dwarves and the ingenuity of Gnomes, the threat of cave collapse has basically gone down to zero in the Arkis mines. The only danger comes from the Underdark raiders who will attack the mine sometimes.
The two bridges that connect the sides of the city are also unique in that they are drawbridges. Complex mechanic designs by Flokian engineers made these two bridges so it would be easier for ships to head upriver and back. It's the only fast route to get across town as well if you don't head some distance around the river to another crossing. That makes the bridge an important point for land-based trade as well.
Oredelver's Road is the main road connecting the two sides, split between the western road and eastern road. The roads running in those directions, however, are part of the Kesian Road, a long, expansive network of roads that connect the entire Kesia Continent. A shorthand for it is the King's road.
Guilds and Factions
- Onyx: An Organization that dominates the Criminal Underground
- Peggy's Children: A spy network that reports to a woman named Driftwood Peggy in Blightown. No one ever crosses her.
- Moradin's Children: The Smithing Guild of Boston
- Peltweavers: The Leatherworkers and Weaver Guild of Boston
- Potioncrafters: The Alchemist Guild
Architecture
The Northern side of the city has buildings made from expensive stone if they aren't farmland. A way to flaunt the wealth of Northern Boston as the southerners like to say. The Dwarves carve murals into the buildings and walkways, showing the history of the towns and the families that lived in them. For those who know how to read Dwarven murals, they tell an extensive story that is quite entertaining and a good opportunity to learn. For everyone else, it just looks pretty.
Southern Boston is home to wooden buildings, their quality going anywhere from decent to actually falling apart. Copper Town and Blightown show the following apart side as they are housed by the lower class and destitute who have nowhere else to go. The Market, Khulam's Hammer, and Deckspear have better quality but that's not saying much. The only outlier is the Temple in the center of the market which was built with the same level of quality as Northern Boston. Above all else, southern Boston can be summarized as a wildfire waiting to happen because of how crowded the streets and buildings are.
Geography
A river divides the city in half between its two sides, a division of both class and species. Forests come in from the west but are quick to cut off as the lumber industry did a number on the local forest. As a result, Boston is a city of rolling plains and a few hills here and there, nearing the beginning of a river that empties into the Southern Sea. That same river serves as fresh water for the town as they can grab it from the lake or from the wells that drop off the deep water reservoirs.
Natural Resources
Boston is home to several natural resources that make it important. For Flokia, it's metals and minerals are the most important as Mithral, Adamantine and more come from the mines to be shipped out across Flokia and beyond. The unique fruits they grow at Urikas's farms are another export but this one is shipped south to Shinovar and westward to Ocheon since many Shino use them. Boston is also home to a lumber industry from the nearby forest but that is slowly on a downturn.
Alternative Name(s)
Boston
Type
Large city
Population
45,000
Inhabitant Demonym
Flokian
Included Locations
Owning Organization
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