Haven

*“Ah, Haven - the home away from home, the Sanctum of luxury and leisure. Make sure to arrive during off-season if you wish to avoid the rabble.”*

*- An Eminent Guide to Eithne*

Haven was a small but extremely vibrant town that thrived on its massive tourism industry. It was largely abandoned by Aodhians during the evacuations in summer 1701, and subsequently taken over by kirins in December of the same year. The town is still standing, but occupied by kirins.

## Town

Haven was a sprawling town, covering a large area of the Hissing Plains. Instead of a clear city plan of any kind, it consisted of large resorts, each with their own surrounding small communities where workers would live. Each resort and its surrounding mini-community were their own individual entities, with their own style of building and decor. It was a favored place for architecture students to visit, as the evolution and change in taste could be easily seen when touring Haven.

Paved pathways crisscrossed the area, leading to the single central plaza where markets (mostly selling trinkets to tourists) would be held.  Haven’s only schoolhouse was located a bit out of the way, out of the view of most visitors. A railway station stood near it on the edge of the town.

The topography of Haven was challenging, with multiple natural terraces and slight elevation differences - small stairways had been added here and there to make traversing easier. There were several hot springs around town, with the larger ones used as pools for the resorts, while many smaller or more shallow ones were simply a part of the scenery. Vents and geysers produced a high amount of steam, leaving the town in a near-constant shroud.

Haven’s buildings were made mainly in stone, clay and marble, with only slight wood detailing for style. Large glass elements were also common in town, with many of the most prominent resorts having large stained glass windows and door decorations to greet guests. Many of these buildings were somewhat empty outside peak seasons, as Haven’s permanent population was only around 10,000, but could boom to almost 30,000 during peak season - meaning a lot of extra housing and rooms had to be available for tourists.

There was almost no greenery in town, save for some particularly hardy cultivated trees, bushes and exotics like succulents. All of the plants were planted purposefully to provide color to the town - the natural flora of this region of the Hissing Plains is near-non existent. Instead, rock gardens and various colorful sands were used to create parks for visitors to walk in - these were often made around small geysers or hot ponds, which acted as the centerpiece.

### Landmarks

The entire town of Haven was considered something of a landmark for its wild, natural beauty. However, there were still a few especially notable locations for visitors to come and see.

**Ignacio’s Heart** is a particularly large volcanic formation, just a mile out of town. It's formed out of a number of rounded, hot pools that smell strongly sulphuric, and one of the largest geysers in all of the Hissing Plains at the middle. There are several vents nearby that emit hot steam, growing in intensity as the eruption of the geyser draws closer - the geyser itself erupts about every 6 hours, and used to draw a crowd almost every time. The water of the Ignacio’s Heart geyser is un-naturally turquoise, and is seen as being blessed by some.

Another particularly important site was the original resort built in town, known as **Widald’s Folly** after its creator. This extremely opulent villa and adjoining support buildings (such as a greenhouse, servant’s buildings, a steam sauna, a personal rock garden) were originally the personal resort of King Widald, and were planned by some of the leading architects of the day, including Eminents of House Nitor. The main building had a white and purple marble facade, with a mosaic depicting kirins frolicking in the springs going around it. A marble sculpture of Widald stood in front of the entrance, greeting visitors - although later artists had tried to restyle it to resemble Uriel Soleil instead. The building was sold by the Crown in the 13th century and became an exclusive luxury resort that changed hooves several times.

## Culture

A tourist on holiday was unlikely to get much contact with Haven’s real culture - locals would be working in customer-facing jobs after all, performing to the comfort of the visitors. Haven’s own local flavor was often lost on visitors, as that is not what they were there for.

Culturally, Haven was not the most divergent settlement, largely due to the massive stream of visitors from all around Eithne they received on a near-constant basis. Like most Aodhians, people of Haven were classist individualists who placed great value on wealth and upward mobility. Almost every one of Haven’s natives might’ve been a commoner - but being a tourist town, this encapsulated all layers of “commoner”, from the poorest to the wealthiest. Differences in rank and prestige were well known among the Havenites, even if they were not necessarily the same structures as elsewhere in Aodh. Hierarchy would show itself as organization within a given job, for example - your higher ups were to be respected and obeyed almost as if they were nobility. They also placed a lot of value on family, and respecting your elders.

Havenites appreciated education, and although they only had a single schoolhouse in town, it was massive and covered all grades from kindleheart to upper secondary. It was common for youths to get involved in the tourist business early on, working evenings doing small tasks to help their parents.

Although there were very few slaves in Haven, the town itself was strongly pro-slavery, and the lack of slaves was more about the benefit of having one versus the cost of owning. Having a slave was a massive status symbol, and slaves were generally well-treated to keep them presentable and at least seemingly happy.

### Patron Gods

Haven worshipped an aspect of Ignacio that had seemingly absorbed most of Cascade’s realm of influence as well. This Ignacio is associated not only with fire and steam, but also with water - particularly the hot, volcanic water that was the lifeblood of Haven. Their sole patron, this Ignacio was depicted as a kirin with the back end of a sea-serpent, with black scales broken by veins of molten lava and gold. The kirin front has majestic horns reminiscent of anchors, and steam consantly pours out of his mouth and nostrils.

Havenites saw Ignacio as a gentle and loving, but simultaneously unpredictable god. She was nurturing and motherly, giving the town its beautiful springs and warmth even during hard winters. However, she was never to be disrespected, for her anger was scalding and immediate. Ignacio demanded sole dedication from her people, as she alone provided for them - and in return, they received her loving, godly devotion. The evacuated citizens of Haven still hold to these beliefs.

Worship of other gods was not welcomed in Haven, so while small shrines had been constructed for tourists to engage with their preferred gods, Havenites themselves would never pray to or seek blessings from any other god - to do so was believed to be an invitation for disaster.

## Economy

Haven was the only town in Eithne whose entire economy was reliant on tourism, and that produced very little of anything that might’ve been sold as an export to other towns or countries. Almost all the locals were employed by the service industry - sellers, maintenance, masseuses, courtesans, guides, hospitality workers and so on. A small portion worked with the transportation of goods into the city, and an even tinier portion were the teachers at the local school. Everyone in Haven was connected to the tourism in some way, and lulls in the flow of visitors affected everyone in town.

Tourists would visit all year around, but summer and winter were the most popular times to visit, coinciding with the university holidays.

There were some small local businesses, but almost everything had to be imported from elsewhere - including the many luxury goods consumed by tourists.

## History

Hissing Plains had never been a particularly inviting location to set up a town or village, and had remained largely uninhabited since the kirins were wiped out in the Gods War. The area was known for its natural beauty and allegedly healing hot water springs, but no one ever stayed there for long.

That is until the then-Prince, Widald Soleil, visited the region in 1072 on his (forced) tour of the country’s northern regions. Immediately falling in love, he began to dream of a resort town located in the region - a dream that would come true quickly once his reign began.

Haven was officially founded in 1095, but construction efforts had begun in 1091, almost immediately after Widald came to power. A veritable army of laborers, architects and even prominent nobles were forced or coerced into traveling into what was essentially the middle of nowhere, and began construction on Haven.

Haven, in this original form, was essentially a single, massive holiday home, with a small village to support it and house the various servants and service people the King would need. At first, commoner workers were forcibly imported to manage the estate, but soon Haven began to have a natural pull to it - more people would arrive, and more resorts and homes were constructed. By the end of Widald’s reign in 1110, Haven had become a bustling resort town favored by the upper classes, and although his successors did not share the enthusiasm for the project, the town continued to grow and prosper, and did so until its evacuation in 1701.

## Notes

* Locals of Haven tended to be short, almost stubby, but still retained the desired light Aodhian features and concave heads.
* The style in town was short manes, shorn feathering and clipped coats to combat the near constant heat and steam.
* Most of Haven’s many fancy resorts, bathhouses and other attractions were owned by noble families
* Haven’s permanent population was mostly commoners working in the service industry - mostly middle class with relatively good pay. During peak travel season, the town would be absolutely saturated by upper classes.
* Haven had very few slaves permanently living in town, but serviles and pit fighters were a common sight when visiting with their owners.