Critlip

Critlip is an ancient Fultonian town in Northern Fultar a few leagues up stream from where the Tesser River empties into the Melidition Ocean. Critlip is the largest town in the free northern area of Fultar which is not controlled by any baron. While technically a free town, in practice the town is ruled by a mixture of the Fultonian military and a variety of city guild members, lesser lords, nobles and freemen. Critlip is the largest town and a center for smugglers, mercenaries, frontiersmen and other less than desirable sorts. You will not find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in all of Fultar.
Critlip is an impressive, yet ancient Fultonian city. Critlip was a city during the ancient Fultonian empire, remained a Fultonian city after the collapse of the ancient Fultonian empire, and has played a role in the revival of Fultonian military and cultural power.

Government

The city government has a Mayor who is appointed by the Admiral of the Royal Northern Fultonian Navy, and a City Council, which has a complex election process with members chosen by the most powerful guilds, appointments from the temples and local nobility as well certain hereditary positions.

Defences

Critlip is not the home of the Northern Fultonian navy, which occupies a port at the mouth of the Tesser River slightly downstream.  The Fultonian navy keeps Critlip safe from any attack from the sea and its strong and thick walls keep it safe from invaders so that it has never been sacked.
The town defenses and law enforcement and separated two the City Guard and the City Watch.
The City Guard wear chain mail, green and black cloaks, helmets with green feathers, and embroidered vines on their surcoats. They are armed with shields, halberds, and short swords with separate light crossbow men (no shield or halberd). The City Guard is tasked with defending the walls, patrolling outside of the city, and protecting the outlying villages and farms.
The City Watch City are responsible for internal policing and security. City Watch wear studded leather armor, red cloaks, helmets with red feathers, surcoats with embroidered roses, and their primary weapons are the spear and club, with some crossbowmen.

History

Critlip were founded by colonists from the then city state of Fulton (the patron city of Hantithenus). This tends to give the people of Critlip a slightly more urban and sophisticated outlook on life and their place in the world than would be apparent for a city in the Northern Borderlands.
Critlip were founded thousands of years ago during Fultar’s golden age of expansion. Critlip was the launching point for other cities, roads, castles and forts in Northern Fultar, the Celtic lands to the north and other regions that were colonized by Fultar during this time period. Subsequently, the great Fultonian empires collapsed and Fultar was conquered a number of times, not the least important of which was by the nomadic Guar warriors. In recent times the Fultonian Empire has reasserted itself and is beginning to reclaim lost territories.  During all this time, Critlip has remained a Fultonian town loyal to and dependent upon the Empire.

Architecture

Critlip has a commercial port, thick walls and gates.  Most of the town itself has been rebuilt over the ages, and resembles a medieval town that only contains some of its ancient remnants. In addition to the main town, there is an outer town of wooden buildings the houses the poorest and most disreputable residents. The town layout and design is based on the real medieval town of Dubrovnik.

Geography

Critlip is located on the Tesser river, slightly upriver of the river’s mouth. The Tesser River valley is populated with Fultonian farmers under constant vigilance for the hostile Guar horsemen.

Type

Town

Population

7,000

The forms of violence in Critlip are as expansive as the creativity of its inhabitants.