Thursday 30 June 2011

The City of Ironmarket


1) The Gatehouses
2) The River Wharf
3) Market Square
4) The Mayoral House and Council Chamber
5) The Graveyard and Chapel of Nemesis
6) The Amphitheatre
7) The College of Sages
8) The Law Court and Tax Offices
9) The Church of Rhondus
10) The Guildhall
11) The Church of Sturnornel


Ironmarket is a town that has swelled to the size of a city with the influx of refugees since the Summoning and the destruction that befell the Godsblood Straits. It is ruled by a council of a mayor and ten representatives.
Before the Summoning Ironmarket had a modest population of 7500 folk. As its name indicates, it was an important meeting place for humans from the Duchy of Urdus and the dwarves of the Confederacy of the Ten Peaks, with about 2000 dwarves, 5000 humans and 500 other races there. Metal, both raw and worked, was the main commodity. The Maquos River is the main artery of trade, and Ironmarket is strategically placed at the highest point that the large trade barges can reach upriver. Upstream from Ironmarket, the River Maquos can only be navigated by small boats and rafts, though some brave merchants will still use these less efficient craft to get their goods from the Ten Peaks down to the human lands.
These days there are about 16,000 folk, most of whom have fled from the two destroyed cities of Aerisport and Maquosmouth.
It has long had a fine stone wall surrounding it, and before the Summoning most of the people lived within the walls. Now there are large refugee shanty towns around the outside of the walls. The authorities are in the process of building proper homes for the refugees, and a series of wooden palisades have been erected around the new settlements, but this all takes time and money.
It is fortunate that the countryside around Ironmarket is fertile, so growing food and raising livestock is not a big problem. However, raiding monsters and bandits threaten the food supplies where every loaf of bread is needed.
  

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