Carboth
Has peace finally found the great Eldorian city built on the only strip of arable land found along the blasted rock and sand of the Carboth Desert? Certainly one might be inclined to think so, with the signing of Sands Agreement four centuries ago trade - mostly in fine Dharjan horses and exquisite rugs - has kept the peace, the flow of jewelry and raw ores into the heart of the Emirates overcoming the two centuries of violence that preceded the agreement. There is, of course, the matter of Dharjan slaves, taken by the Imperial Legion for what the Dharjan's consider petty offenses and made to fight in the bloody entertainment unique to the city - the Arenas. Those Dharja, however, should not have been sloppy enough to get caught stealing inferior Imperial horses or fine imperial weapons, after all. They clearly earned their fate, a sentiment echoed soundly by the Emirates refusal to aid their brethren during the last slave revolt. So yes, peace has finally come to the City of Sand.
A local might raise an eyebrow or blink - perhaps with two eyelids in rapid succession - at that sentiment. Dharjan's outnumber Eldorians two-to-one in the city and the Legion only manages to keep what passes for peace with draconian measures that might make a Justicar seem forgiving. No one pays attention to them anyway. There are not enough Legionnaires to enforce the ridiculous curfew and the drinking establishments along the wharf would all fail if they did. How are all of those thirsty Human sailors from the across the Inner Seas going to get a drink if they can't venture off their ships after nightfall, anyway? So the Legion, undermanned, underfunded, and perpetually short on arrows, does what it has done for the past four hundred years. They clench their teeth and make do. Without the ability to hang murders and thieves from the city gates - they all get sent to the Arenas - how could they be expected to keep the peace?
The real keepers of the peace is Eldorian Thieves' Guild. Blind to how leathery the skin of their members might be, they have infiltrated every facet of government, including a seat on the Duke's small council. With this they have turned much of Carboth into a den of sin. More goods are judiciously left off the harbor master's logs than added to it and it is said that dozens of ships arrive every year just to move goods to another ship, never once offloading anything in the city other than their waste and sailors. At least they take the sailors back when they set sail again for a new destination, their holds filled with different cargo of dubious origin that cannot be traced.
Carboth at Dawn
Beyond ventures that directly lead to gold lining their pouches, like the docks and taverns that line them, however, the Guild does invest infrastructure. Beyond the private residence of smuggler barons or crime lords which stand like oasis in the city, much of its mud-bricked buildings are crumbling with age and neglect. The vibrant blues and yellows and reds of the city have long since faded to smoke gray and ochre and cinnabar. Second story floors are suspect, their floorboards cracked with the salt blowing in from Bay of Tears or, when the wind shifts, the oven-hot air from the desert. Third stories are largely abandoned and fourth often crumbled, the tiles from flat roofs lying shattered on their floors. Everyone agrees that it is a great shame, for tales of the city's vibrant past are still told in taverns filled with those breaking curfew, but no one has the will or coin to fix anything but the roofs of private palaces and Legionnaire housing.
Founding Date
132 AC
Alternative Name(s)
City of Sand
Type
Large town
Population
12,000
Inhabitant Demonym
Carbothians
Location under
Included Locations
Owning Organization
Characters in Location