Crossings
At the center of the Northern Reach, Crossings spreads across a ring of hills overlooking the lake known as the Dark Waters. Six pale spires rise above the city, obscured by the perpetual smoke spewing from the stacks of its industrial district. Miles of farmland spread to the east, while the rolling hills known as the Barrows form a natural border to the south, curling around to the Black Hills where the city pries iron ore from dwarf-dug mines deep within the earth. The present city is the latest in a long line of communities that have stood on the shores of the Dark Waters. Evidence of previous settlements can be seen in the city’s architecture, from looming faerie spires to the arches left by the First People, to the castles raised by the Edene when they ruled these lands. The city’s cobbled streets, ancient cemeteries, and statues of people and events long forgotten have all withstood the tide of years. The Crossings of today grew from exiles, bandits, and refugees fleeing the Empire’s tyranny and squatting in the ruins of a town emptied by the plague. Though the new settlement was a lawless and dangerous place, the influx of settlers and the march of the crusaders to establish their citadels tempered the community’s excesses and helped its people establish a rule of law that has made the last century a stable one. Isolation and wealth have given Crossings a great deal of autonomy, and the city acknowledges the rule of the provincial capital of Sixton in name only.
Thick clouds hover over the city most days, fed by the smokestacks rising from the Academy of Engineers crowning High Hill. Easterly winds move much of the smoke and pollution west over the Black Hills, but soot clings to everything and everyone in the city.
Demographics
Humans make up most of the people living in the city. Half that population can trace its ancestry to the indigenous peoples of the Northern Reach, and are distinguished by their auburn hair and dusky features. Many also have tribal tattoos that often depict divine symbols of the Old Faith gods. The rest of the city’s humans hail from across the Empire’s lands. Halflings are the second most significant population in the city. However, their numbers are even larger in the countryside, where they maintain their farms and tend to their herds. Halflings mingle freely with humans, and marriages between humans and halflings happen from time to time.
Alongside those two races, Crossings features all the other peoples living in and around the Empire. Brutish orcs can be found haunting the taverns in Old Town or brawling with jotun exiles that ventured north to find their fortunes. Goblins tend to the city’s sewers and keep its streets clean. Changelings infiltrate the city in human and halfling guise. And clockworks, either fashioned locally or having arrived from far-flung places, struggle to find their place on the frontier.
Government
A city founded by free peoples, Crossings has no interest in bowing and scraping before an aristocracy. Instead, the city elects a Mayor to take charge for a term of a few years, with the position lasting until the people decide to put someone else in office. A Council advises the mayor, featuring members who represent the city’s districts, industries, and other interests. All council members are appointed by their predecessors, but the council can expand or contract its numbers based on a vote among its members. Council members check the powers of the mayor, and take a quiet role in goading the population to oust an uncooperative mayor for one more favorable to their positions.
Defences
A wall of stone surrounds the city, and older, lower walls rise within it, marking the boundaries of its districts or serving as mementos of the other settlements that once stood here.
Infrastructure
The Emperor’s Road, built by crusaders bound for the north, ends at the city’s center where it meets the Grain Way headed east and the Iron Road to the west. Numerous smaller roads and trails lead in and out of the city by gates that pierce its outer wall. The river known as the Stream of Tears flows into the city from the Barrows, draining into the Dark Waters.
Type
City
Population
19000
Inhabitant Demonym
Crossers
Location under
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
The Empire
Characters in Location
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