Temoura

Population: 47,900 (80% Human, 10% Halfling, 6% Gnome, 3% Dwarves, 1% Elves)
Government: Anonymous Plutocracy
Religions: All
Imports: Fruits, Grain, Meat, Shou Silk, Timber, Vegetables
Exports: Armors, Fish, Magical Items, Shou Silk, Weapons
Alignment: All
===Life and Society===
Temoura is a very cosmopolitan city. Halflings live side-by-side with Dwarves, Elves, Humans, Gnomes, and nearly every other race that can be found on the planet. Goods from far-exotic places can be found with surprising ease. With enough money, nearly anything is possible.
In Temoura, money makes things happen. Even the youngest residents of the city understand the power that a single coin has. Most residents are knowledgeable in basic economics, and haggling. Because of the money and goods that are constantly coming and going, stories from across the globe constantly filter through the city streets- gossip is thought to be a favorite pastime of the majority of Temourans.
An anonymous council of merchant lords rules the city. Very few know the identities of the merchant lords. Only the merchant lords themselves, and the Speaker of the City know who the merchant lords are. They never appear in public, and when secretly meeting with each other, have multiple wards placed on them to protect their identities. With their magical wards, the Merchant Lords appear as non-descript figures, all the same size, blurred faces, baritone voices, wards to prevent others from reading their minds.
The Speaker of the City is akin to the governor of Temoura. He does not make the decisions, but instead, conveys the decisions of the Merchant Lords of the city. The Speaker of the City, in turn, conveys those decisions to the residents of the city, through public decrees. The Speaker of the City is selected by the Merchant Lords themselves, serves five-year terms, and has his/her memory of the identities of the Merchant Lords wiped when their term expires. The current Speaker of the City is a middle-aged Halfling by the name of Bruddy Rosecheek (Male Halfling Commoner 4).
The majority of Temouran residents are far from rich. Most of the city is firmly entrenched in the “middle-class”. In other words, they work ordinary jobs to survive, and have little, but they are not poor paupers. The rest of the city is either filthy rich, or dirt poor. The poor are well, hidden, however, in the run-down Underport neighborhood.
===Major Organizations===
The Black Runners
The City Guard
Sterling Dragon Mage’ Guild
===Major Geographical Features===
Temoura is located on the eastern coast, right upon the shore. Because of its location, trading is it’s main industry. Traders from all different places regularly dock at Temoura, letting off their cargoes.
To the south of Temoura lies a small forest. In the past, this forest was the main source of wood, but for nearly a century, logging has been prohibited. The Southern Forest is mainly left as it is, though supposedly, demon cults, evil druids, and fell spirits regularly enter the wooded lands.
There are a few small rivers that flow through the city. In the past, these rivers played more important roles in the lives of the people. Since the city became a major center of trade, and a major metropolis, these rivers have come to play more trivial roles. They are still heavily utilized, but no major traffic ever comes down these rivers. The four major rivers only intersect in on spot, and the area is appropriately called the Four-Rivers district. This district is home to a great deal of the more affluent citizens.
The city of Temoura itself is roughly a half-circle, with a heavily fortified wall protecting the nation’s western, southern and eastern neighborhoods. The Wvyern Sea protects the city-state’s northern neighborhoods.
===Important Sites===
The Hall of Justice
Southern Forest
Underport
Four-Rivers
===Regional History===
Temoura, originally, was an Altathairian colony. Up until Temoura was founded, Altathair existed solely to the north of the Wyvern Sea, Bay of Salt, and Bay of Altathair. In order to trade with those to the south or west, traders had to pass through the Troll Fens when coming to or leaving from the kingdom. In the year –737, King Graeme Chantón decided to colonize the land immediately to the south of Premiers. The rationale was two-fold- it would allow terrestrial traders to ignore the Troll Fens, and it would allow the kingdom to establish naval supremacy in the immediate area.
By the time two years passed, Temoura had been established and given a city charter. Moving settlers to Temoura, at first, proved somewhat troublesome, as most residents of the kingdom had no interest in settling on the frontier of their nation. After numerous attractive incentives- including, but not limited to tracts of land given to settlers, and government tax-incentives- were offered by the king, Temoura’s population began to grow steadily.
In 818, the Nagawar between Altathair and Ss’eth’untes began. King Lanspoor of Altathair began to see the frequent Naga slavers leaving the nearby Cherrapunji Mountains to the southeast as threats to the economy of Altathair, and the well being of the residents of Temoura, and, as such, launched a preemptive war on the Naga city. The Nagaraja was killed, and the war ended without many casualties for Altathair.
The Nagawar sparked difficulties between the governor of Temoura and the royal government of Altathair. All of the armies that marched on Ss’eth’untes left from Temoura. The large presence of soldiers- immediately before, during, and after the conflict- caused economic problems for the people of Temoura. As a result, shortly after a cessation of hostilities, Temoura went through an economic crisis. Certain resources had been made scarce because of the many soldiers in town consuming them, and this resulted in a boom in violence, illegal black market trading, and inflation.
Elumirae Du’val, the governor of Temoura during the time, requested that the expenses incurred by Altathair’s army be paid for by the national government, instead of the funds allotted to him by the king yearly, to govern the city with. The response from the king was an emphatic no, and that Du’val would have to balance all of Temoura’s finances with the yearly allotment the king had given the city months earlier, which did not set aside extra coin to house thousands of soldiers. Du’val did what he could to balance the city’s finances, but there was only so much he could do. As the market grew worse, the outlook and attitudes of most of the people in Temoura grew worse.
In the year 839, a large group gathered in Temoura’s docks, to protest the way King Lanspoor was handling the entire situation. One thing led to another, and the large group became an angry mob that set a merchant vessel that was making port- the Barkley- in the city ablaze. None of the crewmembers were hurt, but thousands of gold pieces worth of spices and herbs were destroyed. After receiving word of what happened, King Lanspoor declared that all of Temoura was to be put under martial law for the immediate future. This did not sit well with the people of Temoura, who protested the decision as soon as soldiers arrived to enforce the royal decree. All in all, the city was under martial law for nearly two months. Nearly 300 residents of the city died, in a time known to Temourans as the ‘Barkley Massacres’.
Though he initially backed King Lanspoor, governor Elumirae Du’val could smell that change was in the wind. He secretly began supplying the growing number of separatist and anti-royalty factions with information crucial to their organizations, such as when soldiers would be conducting searches, or when and where certain highly prized goods would arrive in the city. The governor saw that the writing was on the wall, and that it would only be a matter of time before the people of Temoura openly revolted against the crown, and the city would declare it’s independence.
Du’val would not have to wait very long, as, in the year 840, calls for Temouran independence began. Being the masterful politician that he was, the governor did not openly support such attitudes until it became certain that Temoura would be able to unite and break free from Altathair. By the end of the year, the governor navigated the complex political alliances that united the city against Altathair, and declared that Temoura was it’s own sovereign state, no longer under the control of Altathair.
The elderly King Lanspoor attempted to control the situation, but a number of factors prevented him from doing so. When he died, in 842, and his son, Derren, became the King of Altathair, this changed. He discreetly contacted various pirate groups in the Southern Sea, and hatched a plot to launch a proxy “mercenary” war the economy of Temoura, as to both punish the people for rebelling against the crown, and to make it easier for the larger kingdom to reabsorb the unruly city-state. The king’s wily plot would backfire, though. In fact, it would backfire so horribly that the only way he was able to stop it was to enter into a temporary alliance with Temoura, recognizing the government of the fresh city-state as legitimate, and the sole power in control of the city. In 848, the Merchant Wars began when Altathair agreed to a temporary alliance with Temoura in order to rid the area of the pirates who had double-crossed King Derren, and were attacking both Temouran and Altathairian vessels.
The Merchant Wars ended in 852, ending the temporary agreement between the two states. Neither would be able to take advantage of the others’ weakness and attempt to exploit it, however. King Derren’s role in brining the pirates to the area in the first place were discovered shortly before the conflict ended, causing the king to eventually step down in political disgrace. Governor Du’val died in battle shortly before the war ended. Without a powerful and forceful successor, as he had been, the fledgling nation fell into chaos and civil war as the many factions he worked hard to court began turning against each other for control of the city-state.
From 852 until 857, Temoura was locked in civil war. Factions loyal to Altathair fought with factions loyal to a free Temoura. Within the free Temoura camp, various groups were fighting for leadership and control of the city-state. When all was said and done, a group of rich merchants who were fighting for an independent Temoura were able to take control of the state and end the war. They instituted the unique form of government that Temoura utilizes to this day- the anonymous plutocratic council.
In 977, Memnon and Temoura settled their differences- both were mercantile nations located within the same region- and formed the Twin-City Alliance. Their alliance with Memnon marked the complete end of Altathairian interference in Temouran politics. Altathair would not risk a bad relation with Memnon to her south. In 994, Altathair completely gave up reintegrating Temoura back into the kingdom when King Tendree of Altathair signed a treaty of non-interference and non-aggression with Temoura.
That alliance was almost broken in the year 1,144, when Lord Augustus Venier of Altathair was nearly assassinated in Temoura, by a rogue member of the Black Runners thieves’ guild. Though he survived, the noble believed that the Temouran government had attempted to kill him, and informed King Jordan III of this fact. The Temouran government added fuel to the fire by exercising naval war games in the Wyvern Sea. Both sides backed down at the last minute, when the truth was discovered, averting conflict between the two sides.
In 1,147, Temoura made a somewhat controversial move in establishing diplomatic ties with the Goblinoid settlement of Uurlgarsh. In exchange for establishing trade relations with the Goblinoids, and giving them recognition on the international level, the Goblins agreed to end piracy in and around the Cape of the Claw. Altathair and the Shou Empire joined in the agreement, effectively making the region a free-trade zone.