Hajesborg

## The Grand City Of Hajesborg

**Hajesborg** (meaning Sharks Fort in the Hajjian language) is the capital of The Coastal Commonwealth and home to the newest generation of the Rosenskold family. A city largely populated with merfolk but welcoming in those from all walks of life thanks to its many trade routes along the rivers of Iozotha that eventually lead to Hajesborg. As the old saying goes, "All rivers lead to Hajesborg". After months of travelling the lands of Iozotha and settling for some time in Mudwater, Noah Rosenskold and his retinue would settle north of the Frobishire border by the coast. What was once a small camp would soon become the largest and wealthiest city the world had ever seen.

### **Trade History**

As the Hajjians were primarily made up of Merfolk and sea-farers they knew their way around the rivers and oceans of Iozotha and immediately took advantage of this by setting up intricate trade routes between themselves and multiple different towns such as Frobishire and Aurem. One of the earliest major trade routes would be known as "The Brick Passage", in which mud and wheat would be imported to Hajesborg to create mudbricks, that would then be supplied to the Golems of frobishire in return for the riches of their land. The Frobishiran use of mudbricks would later be upgraded to stone and clay but with so much being imported to Hajesborg it would start to make up much of its old town structures and later its own Palace.
Due to unknown circumstances the supply of wheat from the east started to break down and would ultimately end in the eastern traders migrating from their homes all the way to the resource rich lands of Frobishire, Hajesborg had to come up with a new way to meet the demand of Mud Bricks. While Aurem had been supplying them with mud for quite some time, their agricultural workforce had been working hard to secure their own means of producing wheat, and with such a large surplus, they ended up becoming Hajesborgs new supplier of wheat for their bricks and the softest tastiest bread in the western world.

Hajesborg while sitting on a healthy supply of resources from all around, set its eyes to the gold rich lands of Auzesh and would often send small parties of its dwarves to explore every cavern it had in search of gold, emeralds and diamonds. The locals of Auzesh were not too fond of outsiders mining in their land and would often show that in aggressive ways with a "kill on sight" approach to dealing with them. After one too many run-ins with the locals, they decided it would be best to stick to the western mines for now.

After The Rosenskolds and their advisors thought to themselves of a new way to tackle this problem, they were sitting along the Handelsvag Lake and there it was, staring them right in the face. Specks of gold lying across the river beds. While to the normal man, dwarf or elf this would be problematic due to the risk of drowning, to the Merfolk this was a game changer. All able merfolk of the city were given the opportunity to enrich themselves and their people by mining these minerals in every river, ocean and cavern they could find. With dwarves in small boats following them to point out which minerals were of high quality, this new method helped Hajesborg become the economic powerhouse that it is today.

### **Diplomatic History**

In the early days of Hajesborg, they were a very neutral people, with their interests only in making good connections for the purpose of trade. They would make it very clear that they had a strong friendship with Frobishire from the start with much of their trade being with them, but never made an official alliance until rumours of Rock Gang and Aurem had started to arise, as well as their small skirmishes with the locals of Auzesh in mining trips.

Rumours had surfaced that the king of Aurem had hired Rock gang to exterminate every single villager (a sparse trading human population of Iozotha). For whatever reason this is unknown, perhaps a hatered to their kind? to get rid of any trading competition? We are not sure. The whole world saw this as a threat and kept their eyes on their borders incase of any possible invasions. Eventually word got out that the king of Aurem had been badly injured with an assassination attempt on his life by Rock Gang. This only confused the world even more as Rock Gang claimed they were never a part of his plans and wanted him dead to destroy those rumours. Many believe That the king of Aurem simply blamed it on Rock Gang to get out of any consequences it may cause.

As a result of this global tensions started to rise, most sided with Rock Gang and were appriciative of what they did to stop the villagers suffering, but some were more intimidated by the Rock Gang after learning that they could even get so close to a high angel such as the king of Aurem, let alone severly injure him. New rumours started spreading across the west and the north that Rock Gang were extorting smaller towns and villages to the north east of the world where they would enforce resources to be exported to them using intimidation tactics of taking over their towns if they would not comply. Many speculate as to if these rumours were legitamate but by now, most towns had heard stories of Rock Gangs capabilities and decided to take a stance, whether they believed the rumours or not.

With how close Hajesborg and Frobishire had become, they decided to form an alliance. Frobishire and its many warriors would provide military aid to Hajesborg in return for extremely discounted items from hajesborg such as weapons, armour and enchanted books to make the two of them a most powerful force to be challenged. The alliance would be known as "The Coastal Blockade". Two Coastal cities with a strong friendship looking to improve and defend eachother to their last breath. On the evening of signing their terms, an assassin sent from Rock Gang would sneak into Hajesborg and attempt to strike an arrow into the heart of Andicies, king of Frobishire. The arrow missed, but proved just how much we needed this alliance. The Coastal Blockade did not act rashly against this attempt although it could have been the spark of a large war. Only defence was in their minds, only striking if truly necessary.

Rock Gang went back to sticking to themselves while The Coastal Blockades friendship only flourished even more, with Andicies and Noah becoming more like brothers. To this day Frobishire and Hajesborg maintain a strong relationship and alliance that has not been challenged succesfully by anyone in the world.

Many years later Aurems Prince Rasiel would make a name for himself, travelling to Hajesborg and staying there for some time, learning about architecture and the ways of what makes a succesful tradesman. He would help bring back a kinder light to his father after the events of the past with the villagers and Rock Gang and eventually Hajesborg and Aurem would resume trading. After some mysterious events with higher powers of an ancient time started to mess with the world stage, Aurem called for an alliance between them and Hajesborg. While the majority of Hajesborgs population were not ready to fully forgive Aurem, they were willing to make a treaty with them that would greatly benefit them. Hajesborg would provide protection to Aurem if they were invaded in return for vast sums of food to be imported weekly to Hajesborg, in a time where food was sparse they accepted. Hajesborg and Aurems friendship would only continue to grow stronger but some in Hajesborg still felt uneasy about Aurems past.

### Architecture

Although Noah Rosenskold and many of his citizens are merfolk, as they spent a lot of time in Mudwater, their architectural style changed dramatically and is ever evolving. Here are some of the key buildings and squares you will see upon arrival.

**The East Gate**

Hajesborgs east gate is the enterance most travellers will arrive from, with its secure gate that stays closed at night, it offers the first line of defence for the eastern side of the city as well as a lovely enterance to the old town district.

**The Old Town Clocktower**

This grand clocktower positioned between the old town and the city square is a second layer of defense from any potential attackers, as well as its giant golden cross to represent Hajesborgs wealth and grandiose.

**The City Square + Palace**

While the palce is still in construction, you can still see its mightiness towering over the beautiful city square which many businesses and services thrive in. A meeting place for all to sit and have a drink or a bite to eat, while enjoying the view of the palace rocketing into the sky.