Barad Briatha

== Description ==
The largest city in Thrae, and bastion protecting the Briathan Peninsula from land-based invasion.
A place where up and coming adventurers can grab a meal and rest their heads at the local tavern before they head out, or checking out the bounty board for different jobs. Besides the large bazaar for all nearly all types of merchandise, another iconic structure is the Tower of Briatha which overlooks the harbor and the surrounding vicinity. Unfortunately, slavery auctions are also part of the bazaar's wares, but is kept from the main merchant stalls.
== Population ==
Barad Briatha boasts one of the largest populations of any major city within Thrae. As a major trading power, the city has managed to grow beyond the normal scope due to imports and exports of food and good.
Slaves account for nearly thirty percent of the population and are brought from all corners of the world, both to work the fertile lands of the peninsula and to be sold to foreigners for their own needs.
Nobles and well-off merchants account for a larger than normal percentage of the city population, around ten percent.
== History ==
As far anyone could remember, the abandoned fort of Barad Briatha had remained intact for the past century, far outliving almost all other buildings of similar caliber. With most of the poorer population simply trying to settle down and avoid whatever war that might have been brewing at the time, a city had grew around the fort as time went on and has become a place for trading to both caravans and ships, as well as one of the most defensible cities in the land and even encompassing all routes further within the peninsula to ensure land based invasion was impossible upon the fertile farm lands.
== Politics ==
Several noble families have various historical claims to the lands of and around the grand city of Barad Briatha, even while the Dukedom remained in full effect until the city become bigger than themselves and in an effort to share the treasure among them all, the Council of Noble Advisers was put together by the Duke at the time to rule the city via consensus. However, as the treasure ran through the city and the merchant class became established, they pushed for political rights and control of the city.
So in an effort to broker continued peace and to keep the lifeblood of the city, trade, pumping, the Council of People's Advisers was established as compromise. The highest tier of merchants could purchase seats on the Council of Peoples by auction (money that went toward the funding of the bureaucracy that ran the city) and rule alongside the Council of Nobles, the two Council’s working together with the ruling duke or duchess to form consensus for the policies of the city
As it stands, eight feudal houses sit on the Council of Nobles Advisers and eight merchants sit on the Council of People's Advisers, with the Duker or Duchess free to heed or disregard the presented consensus of the advisory councils.
== Culture ==
* Attire: Given the heat and lack of shade during the summer and spring seasons, peoples in Barad Briatha prefer to wear light, loose clothing. It is not uncommon for women and men both to show off more flesh than is normal within other realms, and the thin fabrics worn often times hint at the body underneath. Hence, when walking through the streets of Barad Briatha, it is actually quite normal to see exposed midriffs and thighs on many younger women and bare chested males. Nobles, merchants, and rich citizens are typically seen in silk or other finely weaved fabrics, but commoners rarely wear more than scratchy cotton.
* Religions
* Architecture
* Customs
** Public Bathing Houses: While Barad Briatha is home to one of the largest harbors in Thrae, the city has a distinct shortage of fresh water. Many of the old wells upon which the Old City were founded have long since dried up, meaning that the inhabitants of the city rely on aqueducts to transport fresh water from the west. It is very uncommon for many homes to have their own private bathing rooms, and throughout the city a variety of large and rather rich-looking bathing houses can be found.
== Notable Locations ==
*Briathan Keep: The heart of the city. An ancient fort created by a long fallen kingdom that eventually grew into the grand city of Barad Briatha. The keep has been thoroughly renovated over the years, making it more akin to a castle than a fort, it nonetheless boasts highly defensible structure and defensive measures to protect the nobles, advisers and duchess' and dukes within.
*Grand Bazaar: If it's worth buying, you can probably find it for sale in the bazaar. Even if it's worth buying you can likely still find it. With everything from mundane tools, magical weaponry, livestock, and even people for sale, merchants flock from across Thrae to hawk their wares here. If anything's ever stolen anywhere in the world there's a good chance it'll eventually wind up here.
*The Academy: A small college that started within the walls of the original fort that slowly grew into it's own walled off structure. Inside resided uniquely, magically gifted, who were brought in from all of Briatha, where they are trained and schooled to better understand and handle their great powers. The secretive school is completely funded by the Dutchy, and in return any and all students are expected to serve as agents for the County if the need ever arises.
*The Drake's Breath: One of the finer taverns located within the walls of Barad Briatha, this hookah bar is one of the many establishments neighboring the Grand Bazaar, yet far enough away from the docks to avoid the smell associated with the warehouses. Upon entering, patrons are welcomed by a visage of comfort tinted in red. The large common room on the first floor has a long bar with stools cushioned in red, large tables polished and gleaming and an always immaculately clean floor. Scarred around the perimeter of the first floor and all around the second are red cushions laid out on the floor with red drapes partitioning the alcoves for privacy. The second floor looked out over the first and throughout the establishment floats a fog of flavored vapors.
*Barad's Adventuring Guild
*Bank of Barad: For those looking to keep their coin from thieves or simply to hold a large amount in a centrally guarded building, the Bank of Barad has grown to hold much of the gold and silver of the population since the city became a regional trade spot on the map. It's vaults are secured by locks and mystical glyphs, let alone my armed guards and traps in place..each differing than the other.
== Meta ==
Barad Briatha, and to a lesser extent the entire Briathan peninsula are somewhat unique in that they aren't "owned", either concept-wise or in-universe by any player. Since its inception, most major changes to the city were directed by Thrae's moderation team. Our intent with Briatha is to offer an area for a different style of roleplaying than you might find in the rest of the sometimes tumultuous world. In order to be a better base for episodic, character-driven scenes we've come to the following resolutions:
* The status quo in Barad Briatha is to be respected. Consider it analogous to a TV espisode: Threats to the city will rise, be acted upon, and though certain things may shift it's more or less how things began at the beginning of the episode. This prevents major changes from unsettling anybody also using the city as a base.
* Players don't need permission to run events in Briatha, or to launch military incursions into the more rural areas of the peninsula. Assaulting the city itself must be understood to be a massive undertaking, and should never succeed, as that would invalidate the entire point of Briatha's existence as a utility for RP.
Category:Locations
Category:Settlements