Gambler's Gate

> *"I could think of no better name for such a place. Stepping through the gates is a gamble in and of itself whether or not you will leave rich, poor, or leave at all."*
>
>

   To the East of the **Ashed Confederacy** borders, lies the independent city state of **Gambler's Gate**. The city of Gambler's Gate is a large thriving metropolis and sovereign nation. Depending on who you ask the city is known as either a convulsing hive of conspiracy and crime, or a bastion of freedom and trade where a beggar can become a king if they are strong, smart, or lucky enough.

 History

> *"As far as I can tell its always been just a gathering place for merchants until someone got the bright idea to start building some permanent structures to get drunk in and have a nice feather bed. Then everyone else just kind of followed their example, a few hundred years later, sprawling city as far as the eye can see. You could say they took it a bit farther"*
>
>

Gambler's gate started out a as a gathering place for traveling merchants and peddlers that centered around a tavern simply known as **The Headwaters**, an establishment built around a natural spring that provided fresh, cold water for the merchants to drink and bathe. The water known for being remarkably refreshing, and any drinks made with it superbly tasty. Eventually, other businesses, attracted to the gathering of merchants with coin to spend began setting up shop around this tavern, their families settling the surrounding area, and growing into the thriving country that now stands.

## Appearance

### **Morphology**

The people of Gambler's gate can trace their heritage to traveling salesmen from all over **Soi**, leading to a very mixed genetic set. The people of Gambler's gate tend to be of all looks and bloodlines form all over the globe, having been settled by travelers and outcasts from every nation.

They tend to be lean and dark haired with thin noses, if not naturally dark of skin they tend to be very pale.

### **Fashion**

Due to the cold, wet climate of the Lakelands, the people of Gambler's gate often wear very covering outfits during most of the year, consisting primarily of a large high collared coat. These coats often are lined with many pockets in the case a pickpocket attempts to steal from them, most of these pockets are empty, and the ones with valuables are typically sealed or concealed.

The wealthy of the land tend to wear brightly colored outfits befitting of Family Hearth merchants, while the working class tend to wear darker outfits as to not be ruined with soot from the coal dust that falls from furnace districts.

## Land

Gambler's gate rests on the eastern fringes of the **Ashed Lakelands**, sharing a similar climate and geography to the lands inhabited by the confederacy.

## Law

The city council of Gambler's gate does its best to stay out of the affairs of the businesses of its citizens, but recognizes that basic law and order must be kept in order for the city to remain functional. Law is only enforced in certain districts of the city where the legitimate businesses of the city are held in order to prevent theft and destruction of valuable trade goods. Elsewhere precious few lawkeepers are found.

Any road in the city named "Way" is an area not enforced by the cities lawkeepers, any road marked "street" law is enforced, certain enthusiastic lawkeepers will follow perpetrators into "way"s to drag them back to the street, or drag them to a "way" to deliver less orthodox forms of punishment.

## Society

### **Status**

Status in Gambler's gate is determined primarily by social connection and monetary wealth along with a host of other smaller factors.

Family name and family history of labor are held in extremely high regard in Gambler's gate. However it is extremely easy for a low performance member of a family to be disowned or a particularly capable commoner to be brought into a high ranking family.

### **Family**

The people of Gambler's gate tend to live in monogamous pairs, however, widows and widowers are not uncommon due to the hazardous nature of city life. Widows and widowers are considered desirable as they usually have inherited some of their spouse's property.

Many children in the city often find themselves orphaned by poverty or family death. While plenty of orphanages and workhouses exist within the city, a few of these children end up working as guides for tourists to prevent them from getting mugged or murdered in the seedier sections of town. These city guides are acknowledged as invaluable parts of the city and orphans are often considered good luck by merchants visiting Gambler's gate.

## Government

### **Government type**

The government of Gambler's gate apes the traditional government of the **Ashed** with some modifivations**,** being run by a council of 21 representatives. 11 of the representatives are various wealthy business owners with the highest influence, voted upon by the various business owners of the city, and 10 voted in citizens of the city.

### **Government people interaction**

The 11 council positions occupied by business owners are voted upon by the business owners of the city, the 10 citizen representative are voted upon by the rest of the citizenry. Council representatives take ballots from each person once every year to determine council seats.