New Padras
New Padras is in the Tebren Province of the Feran Hegemony, located in the northern mountains. There isn't much else to the north of New Padras except forests and mountains. Technically the Hegemony controls all the territory up to the Ice Coast, but it is a much looser control than they extend over their other territories simply because there are fewer people and fewer resources to fight over. Mostly just lumber and some mining. The rest is wilderness interspersed with tiny towns and villages and mining or forestry camps.
New Padras itself is a fairly wealthy city. It is the central hub through which all of the mining and lumber of the Tebren Province pass, making it a very important trading center. But their main economy comes from the Tebren Spice trade.
Government
The governor of New Padras, who ought to be elected by the Lower Synod every five years, has been from the Dabaten family for the last century. The elections are continued merely as a matter of course. No one else would dare run against whichever member of the Dabaten family is in place. As such, they have effectively turned the city into a small kingdom within the Hegemony , and because no laws are outwardly broken and the resources of New Padras continue to flow into the rest of the Hegemony, the High Synod and the Court of the Archons are not likely to ever make a move to change it.
Industry & Trade
While New Padras does a good trade in lumber and valuable metals extracted from the surrounding mountains, their main source of income comes from the export of Tebren Spice from the nearby void. As they are the only source for this prized commodity, they hold a total monopoly over the spice trade.
In addition to producing the spice itself, the vintners of New Padras have discovered the secret to creating Spice Wines. These rare beverages contain hallucinogenic properties said to instill a rapturous state of euphoria. The Guild of Alchemists has long wanted to bring the spice trade under their jurisdiction because of its alchemical-like properties. But the ruling family of New Padras, the Dabatens, who control the majority of the trade, have continued to stall and subvert any legislation the Guild puts forward.
The Dabaten family gained their control of the trade not by seizing access to the spice--those who harvest and bring it back are mostly small time traders and independent operators--but by buying up everything to do with the processing and shipping of the spice. It was they who imported vintners from the south lands to oversee the production of the spice wine, the recipes for which are kept secret.
Guilds and Factions
The presence of the Tebren Spice has led to a culture dedicated to food and cooking. The chefs of New Padras are also steeped in a culture of rich story telling, and there is some element of story telling in their cooking: with the ingredients used, the creations made, the spices chosen and their effect on the eaters. The best cooks are highly regarded. They not only make the most delicious foods, they tell the best stories with them, sometimes moving their audience to tears even as they eat. An apprentice cook can study for decades.
The Culinary Guild is based in New Padras. Unlike the other guilds, they have only a small hall in Valania. Their seat of power is in New Padras. The guild might have remained simply a non-designated member of the Guild of Artificers were it not for the influence certain culinary artists were able to wield over their Feran patrons, convincing them by the skill of their art that they were necessarily a separate branch of the guild system.
It is also one of the few guilds composed almost entirely of citizens rather than the Blessed.
History
The city of New Padras was built on the ruins of Old Padras. The old city was wiped out through a great fire and earthquake several centuries ago. The earthquake was a result of the expansion of the nearby Tebren Void. This expansion opened up a cave system beneath the city that swallowed much of it. At the time most of the buildings had been constructed of timber given the vast amount of forests in the area. So when a fire started following the earthquake, it quickly wiped out whatever remained.
When reconstruction began, the ruling families decided to do it wholesale. The city was rebuilt in stone on multiple levels. The upper city is, for the most part, the home of the Blessed and the upper class of citizenry. A lower level underground houses a vast portion of the lower classes of the citizenry and slags. There is also an underground canal system. Mountain streams and rivers feed into a massive underground aquifer which is used to provide water for the city as well as for the canals.
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