City of Arksloth
Arksloth is an ancient city that has stood on the mouth of the Calas River for almost a thousand years. There is some questionable evidence that the oldest portions of the city were laid down by Elven invaders a millennia ago. What is not questioned is the antiquity of the city in its current layout.
The city proper is located on the southern bank of the Calas River where it empties into the Bay of Calas. It is the accepted and traditional eastern-most extension of the authority of the Duchy of Hekmo and the primary seat of ducal authority on the eastern seaboard of the High Kingdom of Imesse.
The city as a population of 9,800 souls within its walls and large neighborhoods and communities outside the walls and along the riverbanks. The city is a busy port of both river and sea traffic, where cargoes of hundreds of tons are loaded and unloaded daily. As busy as Arksloth is today, however, it is a shadow of what it was just 30 years ago. It is safely estimated that the population of Arksloth has declined by as much as 10,000 souls in those three decades, and the amount of trade and traffic passing through it has reduced proportionally.
Today, the city is a run-down and much neglected neglected version of what it was just a generation earlier. Empty and abandoned structures are everywhere, crime is rampant, and the streets are sometimes clogged with refuse and trash for days.
Demographics
Government
Ruled by Lord Marten Standam in the name of the Duke of Hekmo with the aid of the Briar of Arksloth and the Commander of the City Guard.
Defences
Old but stout city walls with numerous gatehouse giving access to the City. The City Guard consists of two Companies of Foot made up of unmotivated and under paid guardsmen that gleen enough silver through bullying to keep themselves fed and drunk.
Industry & Trade
Large amounts of river and sea traffic at the harbor front moves hundreds of tons of goods and produce through the city every month. In and around the large southern city gate are dozens of warehouses, farriers and waggoneer shops that cater to overland trade and travel needs. There are also several large and quite odorous tanneries located outside the gates, making it a less-than-desirable area to live.
Infrastructure
Much of the infrastructure of the city is failing. The greatest example of this is the Grand Canal, which allows heavy cargoes of overland traffic to be brought through the city via watercraft rather than on surface streets from the great Southern Gate to the Harbor District. The canal failed at several key points within the city, causing devastating and costly flooding at several places within the city walls. Because of this, the Duke has had to order the canal closed and drained so that repairs could be made and this has caused a major disruption in the city's dynamics for more than a year now. Repairs are slow, incredibly expensive and completely undermanned. The resulting stench emanating from the filthy mud remaining in the canal is nearly over-powering in the very heart of the ancient city.
Districts
Harbor, Whitehill, Grand Canal, Gallows Square
History
Arksloth is a truly ancient settlement, arguably one of the oldest in the entire High Kingdom of Imesse. There are exposed foundations of ancient buildings that have not stood for close to 1,000 years and these foundations have Elven inscriptions carved into them in a dialect that no one can fully translate after all the intervening centuries. There are some historiographers that have interpreted the name Arksloth to stem from the Elvish word arkesa'loth which means "end of the river", but this is not universally accepted.
Prior to the conquest of Imesse by Benn Ohn, Arksloth was a part of the Doa Coast Kingdoms and was closely aligned with Len Doa. During the conquest, while Len Doa resisted and was eventually taken and sacked by Lenis Ahm, the rulers of Arksloth capitulated to avoid devestation.
Whitehill on market day, with some of the city's wealthiest households shopping from a single produce cart
A view of the Grand Canal near the city's center, with repairs progressing slowly and local women larking in the mud
