Argo

An ancient hill settlement recently come back to life as gems come flooding down from the hills- gems that come flooding at the cost of the local peoples exploited for their labor.
The city is also notable for so strongly embracing new ideals of sprezzatura and a young sword nobility, with the growing upper middle class of merchants who buy themselves into positions of being cavaliers and patricians being just as likely to become seafaring mercenaries as they are merchants as their parents were. In truth, the city has a growing problem with these young people killing each other in pointless honor-duels.

Demographics

About two fifths of the population are farmers of some kind, largely living in the hinterlands around the city, herding sheep and growing grapes. Most of the food crops are imported from uphill, west of the city. Most of the rest form a city bourgeoisie and their employees, skilled artisans, bankers, merchants and others educated in the humanitarian fields and those who serve them. At the top, of course, rest the owning class of the richest merchants and city government. That is, of course, ignoring the sizeable urban poor, some few thousand souls unable to make their way into those ivory towers.

Government

The city is ruled by a prince and his court, who function as a sort of unofficial parliament mostly consisting of merchants and the occasional religious figure. He employs local noble families, such as the Cinderblights and the Torrentes, to work as tax collectors and judges, relying on loyalty just as much as on a higher standard of education.

Infrastructure

The city has a drydock, making it an important place for ship repairs, as well as a well-functioning harbor. Furthermore there are blast furnaces for processing copper and gold from Uatok, though an even larger amount is found in cities to the west, closer to the mountain. The city lacks real high-functioning infrastructure due to it's age, but people make do traveling by water or the winding city streets.

Districts

The northern Porto Grande and the Astuzía form two strikingly different silhouettes of the city. The Porto Grande was rebuilt as a dock over old mills and barracks in the past 70 years, including an impressive drydock system letting ships sit out of water for repairs. It also contains the few local blast furnaces, the harbormasters office, plenty of taverns and living districts for sailors and those who do manual labor.
On the opposite side of the inlet forming the natural harbor we find the Astuzía, home to both the poorest and the richest inhabitants of the city. On the high hill overlooking the harbor lies the Palazzo, an ancient fort refurbished as a lavish manor housing Victor II Araguza, prince of Argo, and some of his extended family and servants. It is also the home of the Court of Argo, the ruling council and its surrounding madonnas. Around this we find other manors of the nobility, that is those which aren't situated outside the city proper, the Collegia D'Argo, and the finer goods and services of the city. Just past this, and past an old, low-lying wall we find what people call Artist Alley, a slum filled with those cast out of or seeking to join the halls of power. Ironically, it is in the middle of artists alley that the Old Town, a collection of buildings stretching back to prehistory, is found, and which has in recent times become a center of attention for the well-educated young nobility.

Population

Some 70,000 people, permanently settled in and around the city.

Owner/Ruler

Victor II Araguza