Point North

Vaitislavi (Illumian: Vрха́нгельсi, litterally "Thing of Vaitslav"), or Point North in Common, is a city and the administrative center of the Harvest Eye Administrative District, Goneril. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvna river near its exit into the Rillian Sea in the far north of Western Goneril. City districts spread for over 40 kilometers (25 mi) along the banks of the river and numerous islands of its delta. Vaitislavi was the chief seaport of early Goneril, and, according to accounts by the philosopher Heckle, a seaport for the Harmonian Empire, although there is no archeological evidence that this was ever the case. The city is located at the end of a 1,133 km (704 mi) long public highway, connecting it to Goneril City via Harvest Eye. The city consists of three major parts: the inner docks, the outer docks, and The Icedome. The ice dome is the largest orcmade structure in the world, consisting in over ten million kilos of ice.
==Economy==
In 670 S.A., three ships were went from Baldur along the western coast of The Northern Continent with the intent of discovering a seabound northern passage. Two of the ships were lost, but the third found the small settlement around what is now Point North. Barron Ganth heard of this, and brokered a deal with the ship's captain, Vaitslav Franko. This offically opened trade between the northern half of the Goneril Empire and the rest of the continent and founded the first joint stock adventuring company, The Torals Passage Corporation. Until the dominence of Barrensburg after 1100 S.A., Point North was the nation's primary port. It is still the largest cold water port in the world. The port functions nine months out of the year between March and November, and carries major exports of grain, alcohol, timber, ore, coal, iron and steel. The city is also known for it's petrol processing. It's major imports are manufactured goods, medical supplies, alchemical potions, basic magical substances, glass and rope. Point North is the primary timber supplier for both Baldur and Malvont.
Point North is also home to a large contingent of black market Wolves' Milk, Green Tea, and Purple Whiskey exporters, who use the city's expansive network of docks and warehouses to conceal illegally harvested Absynthium Orientalis to the more profitable southern markets.
==Government==
Point North is represented in the Supreme Assemby of People's Tribunes in Goneril City by Haveonis Jakarta, a female orc chieftess who used to be CEO of the Northern Passage Adventure Company. Barron Ganth's crown representitive in Point North is Vladom-il Archangelsk, the only aasimar ever appointed to such a position. The mayor of the city, currently Mitch-il Goneus, is independantly elected and works in tandem with the crown representitive and the imperitor of the 18th Legion as a triumvirate.
Point North was invaded in 1442 S.A. by forces under the command of (possibly fake) Baudin Dommilan of Baldur's Third Legion, and thereforth repelled by units of Barron Ganth's 18th Legion who suffered massive casualties. The city operates a minimal fleet of warships in the area and is equipped only to deal with smuggling. Much of the local law enforcement it outsoursed through a system of bounties placed by the Imperitor of the 18th Legion or by the Mayor, and paid for from a %9.5 import export tax and from confiscated goods.
The center of the city is covered by the Icedome, a ten story dome of ice that rests over a large island along the bank. Many homes, government offices, and marketplaces are located under this dome for warmth.
==Adventuring==
As a profitable trading city nestled right below the impassable northern mountain ranges, Point North supports a massive number of adventure sites that serve the adventure economy. There are more than a dozen adventure-friendly bars, but there are three that are quite prominent: The Laughing Rogue, Dodge The Bullette, and Vatislavil's. These serve three different classes of clientele: ne'er-do-wells, adventure-explorers, and adventure-merchants.
In addition, the local government is known for putting out dead-or-alive bounties on criminals with no-questions-asked bonds of up to 10,000 GAD. With hundreds of nondescript winter warehouses and thousands of unguarded docks, there is never a shortage of criminals. There is a vibrant open economy for assassins and drug manufacturers, too.
Below much of the city there is a series of tunnels dug out by a giant winterwyrm. Often the top layer of these tunnels are co-opted for heating purposes during the winter and filled with hot water from a geothermal guiser, which keeps the center of the city under the Icedome at a warm sixty degrees. The lower layers are still unexplored, though there are wild rumors of Harmonian treasure and possibly even a Frozen Fate being buried under the city.
As much of the city is made of ice, possessing gunpowder within city limits, even in small quantities, is wildly illegal. There is a bounty of 500 GAD for anyone seen violating this law.
To there north there are a series of natural caverns rumored to be the resting place of several large white dragons.
==In Eon==
In early 1443, The Company headed to Point North on a mission to destroy and loot Marcus Fairlan's docks. They used their Goneril passports to gain entry to the city and lodgings at Vatislavil's. They met with the mayor and got a tourism talk, as well as unloading some magic items on the local market. Leilah Maloch hit the local bars. They saw evidence of the Black Hand Corporation, which was allegedly distributing a cure for the Red Plague, and a company member suspiciously similar to Pyotar Umarov hid upon seeing the party. He wore two swords on his back, which ought to be illegal inside the Dome. Mitch claimed that merciful weapons are legal in some cases inside the Dome, though Vladom-il Archangelsk later disagreed.
Later, a mysterious man sent Ashra the brain of a cow with a telepathic message written in its memory. Connecting him with the "Blackguard of the Dome", the party decided to wait for him at midnight in the forum when everyone else was at home due to a voluntary curfew. After an evening of drinking with Vladomil Archangelsk, the party headed out in hopes of seeing a flamboyant entrance from the Blackguard. The ice around them began to melt, and a cloaked figure led Ashra into a trap which knocked her out and teleported her into the lair of a white dragon sixty miles to the north. The "Blackguard" turned out to be an independent figure who attempted to kidnap Fab Dick and was easily subdued by Fab D, Ethan, and Leilah.
A rescue mission for Ashra and a young half-orc woman named Ruska of Point North later, the party eventually returned after a few days of recovery to finish what they had started. They promised Mitch that they'd bring all of their bounties to the Forum later in the afternoon, since they had a quick errand to run first: Ruska was still severely hypothermic, and while she was stable, her condition was out of Sam and Leilah's range of healing expertise. Ethan decided that the Black Hand Corporation, being healers based in the north, would be the best people to talk to about this. The party took her down to the docks in search of the Black Hand, and there realized that they were right next to the warehouses they were later planning to raid in hopes of fucking up Marcus's operation. While they soon found members of the Black Hand who expressed willingness to treat Ruska, something seemed a little off about them. Namely, their ship wasn't actually inherently good, but lawful evil. It also had bloodstains on the deck when checked out with Detect Magic, True Seeing, and a spyglass. Oh, and they were about to sacrifice Ruska to Duplicitous. Wait, what?
One hardcore rescue mission later, the party was owed a lot more in bounties and facing down Marcus's warehouse. Their plans now include:
1) breaking into Marcus's warehouse, fucking things up, and stealing anything that would help them further their own drug enterprise
2) getting paid shit-tons of money thanks to cleaning up on the bounties on the white dragon, Marcus Fairlan, the Blackguard of the Dome, Edvard Kevil, at least eleven are-these-really-the-Black-Hand? mooks on charge of possessing gunpowder, and maybe getting a little credit for Jackil the Jackal. Hey, even a "Damn, that was pretty hardcore" would be nice.
3) going into the Forum and shouting, "IS THERE ANYONE HERE WHO CAN TREAT SEVERE HYPOTHERMIA WITHOUT SACRIFICING YOUR PATIENT IN A BLOOD RITUAL?" (Okay, maybe not quite like that.)
They managed 2) quite well, and 3) was handled for them by the 18th Legion. 1) ran into a few issues with a frenzied berserker and then a lot of fire, so the company didn't ever figure out what was really in Warehouse H. They did get a lot of acclaim for turning in half the bounties on the list, and increased that reputation by giving dragon meat to the people and attending a party.
Category:Northern Continent
Category:Cities
Category:Locations
Category:Dungeons