The City of Rime
Rime is a city whose purpose is isolating magic users from the outside world. It is defended by powerful wards that lock off all access to the outside world and are controlled by the human leadership, known as the Cohort. The Cohort is responsible for lowering the wards in the port for trading or when new arrivals enter the city.
Due to the powerful enchantments placed on it, Rime is trapped in an eternal winter night. The city considers 'daylight' the time when the auroras formed by the interaction of sunlight and the magical wards begin to shine over it.
Demographics
Rime is composed primarily of those with one-quarter magical bloodlines or more, as that is the minimal needed to manifest a gift. Approximately a third of the city has fully magical bloodlines, another third are half-magic, and the remaining group are quarter-magic who either lack the control to hide their powers or sought a place where they could use them freely, and the few humans who have chosen to live in Rime's walls, some for the power of ruling it, some because they followed a family member, and some simply for the thrill of being surrounded by legal magic.
Government
Rime is in theory controlled by the Cohort, a fully human governing body whose stated purpose is to protect magic users from the outside world that attempted to eradicate them. However, they are far more interested in protecting the people outside Rime from its inhabitants, and strictly control all legal trade and commerce.
The other ruling force of the city is the dozen magical syndicates, who formed when it was discovered some magic could temporarily create rifts in the protective wards. The syndicates smuggle goods, people, and magical commodities through the Wards, and provide an alternative supply for those who do not wish to deal with the high prices and resource rationing enforced by the Cohort.
Defences
Rime is both protected and isolated by a series of powerful magic wards placed on its outer wall.
Industry & Trade
Rime has a symbiotic economy with a surrounding settlement that sprang up after the city was built. Because of Rime's isolation, it is dependent on outside suppliers for basic necessities. Most food, raw materials, and other goods are shipped in through trade with either the country of Northwind as a whole, or the surrounding settlement, also known as Rime, although it falls outside the city boundaries.
There are several layers of trade. The simplest is exchanges of goods, where outside traders swap food, cloth, or herd animals for the magical items crafted in Rime. Rime craftsfolk can also sell their wares through the Cohort's trade control, making money they can use to purchase goods and materials from traders. The underground syndicates also participate in illicit trade, smuggling magical handiwork out of the city to sell for their clients, at a cut of the profits.
Most trade in Rime comes through the seaport, although the Sun Gate at the opposite side of the city is used for herders who drive caribou to market, trappers who bring in animal skins from the tundra, and woodcutters who supply fuel to the city.
Districts
The city is composed of four main "Quarters".
The Commerce Quarter includes the port, shipyards, and Market Row.
The High Quarter is where the affluent members of the city, including most of the syndicate leaders and all the Cohort, live.
The River Quarter is the slum section, where poorer citizens of Rime make their home next to the almost perpetually frozen river.
The Smoke Quarter houses most of the city's factory work, craftsmen, and other labor trades not connected to the shipyards.
Climate
Rime is perpetually trapped in a winter state as sunlight cannot make its way through the wards. Summer in the outside world brings enough of a thaw to break up thick ice on the river, but very rarely does the ice completely disappear, and snow can usually be found somewhere in the city on any given day.
Natural Resources
Rime is home to several magically-altered arctic species, including tri-antlered caribou, rainbow-fleshed salmon, and cave bears which have porcupine-like poisonous spines and foot-long fangs.
Founding Date
238
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