Mount Mouraine (More-raine)

Mount Mouraine is both the mountain and the city built around it. It is located at the center of the Mouraine Mountain region, on an unnamed continent, on the world of Yhihria. The city starts at the base of the mountain and builds up and around it in a loose spiral. The city is divided into several different tiers. Each tier is divided into a number of Wards made up of neighborhoods or burrows. Social standing in the city is largely determined by which level you reside in or have access to. The higher level residence or access you have the better your overall social standing is considered.
The major feature of the city and the region surrounding it is that society, is controlled and its actions dictated, by magically enforced contracts. These contracts create the basis for the city's existence and maintain order and control for the Mouraine family. The power of the contracts is largely considered to emanate from the Mouraines themselves or some source they control. Contracts and their terms dictate everything from the city's government and power, law and order, all the way down to the lowest level trade and bartering deals. The lowliest peon to the highest noble or government official lives and dies by the terms of their contracts. Contracts determined what kind of work a person is able to perform or what kind of actions they can or cannot take.

Structure

The Mouraine Family are the ruling family and head of state for the city and surrounding region. The Mouraine Family technically hold the highest level of office in the city's government and are responsible for the majority of decisions made about running the state.
A group of high nobility swears fealty to the Mouraines. They take on governmental duties based on a combination of granted and elected offices.
A group of lower nobility swears fealty to the Mouraines as well. These nobles mostly hold mercantile and financial power. Some hold low level governmental offices.
Below these titles are the rest of the citizens. This level of society accounts for any people living in the city or region who are not directly sworn to serve the Mouraine family.

Culture

Mount Mouraine culture is effectively dictated by Contract Law and the Foundation Contract.
The Foundation Contract created by the Mouraine family outlines how citizens of the region are expected to act throughout all the levels of society.
This creates a very strict bureaucratic culture surrounding the people of Mount Mouraine.
The Foundation Contract, and Contract Law, makes it so that Mourenians deal with the world through their contracts. Contracts are used to handle all manner of personal and professional business, government decisions, conflicts, and disputes. 
Not all day to day actions and business are required to be facilitated by contracts, but their are many long standing contracts and laws which dictate how day to day business is handled. This makes it so that nearly all business and social interaction adheres to a rigid code. The people of Mount Mouraine have grown accustomed and comfortable to these social codes.

Public Agenda

The public agenda for Mount Mouraine is the ideal that Law and Order as universally attainable for all people through the family's expounding of the virtues of the Foundation Contract. The Mouraine family seeks to increase their power and control by expanding the influence of their Foundation Contract and Contract Law.

History

Mount Mouraine, as a settlement, was started when the first generation of the Mouraine family bought land around the mountain from a neighboring kingdom. The family started construction on an estate and setup the boundaries for a settlement to begin. The original purpose of the settlement was housing for prospectors and miners. The settlement began prospecting and mining minerals and some precious stones within the first few years. The following decades resulted in significant profits for the Mouraine family and the settlement swelled into a town, and eventually the first level of the city is today. The Mouraine family used their profits to buy more land and open more mines and quarries to grow their fortune. In a few short decades Mount Mouraine became a significant center for trade among its neighbors. 
The Mouraine family continued to purchase land around the mountain for a few generations. 
It is speculated that the Foundation Contract which solidified the Mouraine's power in the region was discovered or created between 50 and 60 years after the settlement was completed. The contracts were slowly introduced to the townspeople and spread across the region.

Contracts Create Order

Founding Date

3789 CE

Type

Geopolitical, City-state

Demonym

Mourenian

Government System

Oligarchy

Economic System

Mixed economy

Location

Mouraine Mountain Region