Aurumburg

The City of Aurumburg

**Aurumburg**, a gold rush town, founded near a river of seemingly endless gold. The entire economy is built around this renewable source of a seemingly non-renewable resource. Being a relatively new town, there's not a lot of long term established history. The Original founder, Gideon Aurum, is still alive, albeit on his death bed. There is a major class divide in the city, split into three distinct districts: the noble upper district, the small and hardworking middle class, as well as the ever expanding lower class.

## Geography

Aurumburg is built on, and next to a large river, with plenty of gold to go around. Prior to being set up, the river was called Roaring Cliffs River. Based on the loud, roaring waterfall, as well as some steep cliffs around the banks of the river. There are few trees in the nearby plains, but plenty of deposited rocks instead. Often times these rocks create natural barriers,

Once the Aurum family settled down and began to build Aurumburg, the river was renamed to Shining Dawn, in reference to the first discovery of gold in the river, as it fell through the mists, shining, at the break of dawn.

Aurumburg is set on the banks of the Shining Dawn river, on top of the tall cliffs, right at the top of the waterfall. Waterwheels are set up to harness the power of the waterfall, used to operate the automated gold sifting machines.

Gold is frequently deposited at the river bed near the top of the waterfall, where it is collected and refined for export. Even after 250 years of operations, it still seems like there’s a steady supply of gold from coming up-river. It has been forbidden for anyone to seek out this source. The Church claims it is a blessing from the gods, but in reality, a gold dragon named Zalakargon lives in the mountain at the start of the river and is constantly shedding its scales, leaving gold flakes to be caught and swept down the river.

Inevitably, some gold gets missed and is hurled over the waterfall, down to the pools below. Crashing down at a high speed, and with lots of force, the leftover gold is crushed into large masses in the pools down below.

### Geographical Features

Many rocks litter the plains nearby, and are an effective natural barrier for defensive walls.

The area is often prone to flooding, being so close to a river, and is on the windward side of the nearby mountains.

### Nature

Mad Druids
 Gold-Gilled Trout - 1 - 1.5 ft - Slightly Metalic, normal trout taste for the most part.

 Snails and Gilded Snails ~ 1/1000 pure gold shell

 Oyster ~ gordon ramsy

 Rabbits

 Buffalo/Bison

 Goats/Rams

 Rocs - Uncommon

 Wolves

 Bears

 Owl Bears

 Plants
 Golden Alage - feeds on gold, city trying to clean

## Government

This city is governed locally by the Aurum family, who originally founded the city. The family has a council which they all sit on, along with some of the high ranking officials of other primary sectors of business, trade, and worship.

The powerhouse gold exporter of the empire, Aurumburg is surprisingly devoid of outside control. It is firmly in the grasp of the Aurum family, lead by the town’s founder, Gideon Aurum. All business that happens in and about the city goes through the council, which is made up of primary heads of the family, along with some of the high ranking officials of other primary sectors of business, trade, and worship. Due to the value of Aurumburg, the empire does provide aid in the form of guards, protection, and supplies in order to keep in favor with the family. After 250 years of ruling the city and family with an iron (golden) grip, Gideon’s health has begun to fail as he nears the end of his Elven lifespan. This has caused squabbles to start between his descendants, each forming their own factions that are vying for power.

### Crime

The national thieves guild is also prevalent here, dealing in mostly non-violent crimes, such as thievery, forgery, counterfeit, and the like.

Crime is mixed between organized and individual.
Common crimes committed against the Head Family includes stealing collected gold, counterfeiting with ‘Fools Gold’, Illegal independent panning of the upstream river (all non-sanctioned panning is illegal), and multiple, failed, assassination attempts.

## Trade

Most basic supplies can be found in taverns, inns, and the general marketplace. The main, and almost only, export is gold, whereas food, lumber, iron, and a lot of other necessities are imported.

## Culture

With Gideon Aurum being the founder of the city, as well as an elf, many of the visual cultures take after elven culture. Additionally, due to the high concentration of native goliaths, many of the lower regions take after a more tribal goliath visual culture.

### Religion

The Shining Dawn Temple has a foothold here, worshipping the gift of gold while also weaving corruption throughout.

### Festivals and Holidays

Gideons Day - on birthday

Day of the Dawn

Alms Day

## Defenses

The national government soldiers guard the city due to the sheer amount of gold that comes out of it. The city itself has a series of natural defenses such as bluffs, cliffs, the river, and the waterfall. A simple defensive wall connects each of these natural physical defenses, with watchtowers a distance from the city to warn of oncoming danger.

## History

Prior to the foundation of Aurumburg, the goliaths had an ancient religious rock that was worshiped. This rock was left in the city and is a cultural monument for them.

## Notable Locations

 Gideon's Rise - Elvish, gold smiths, best roads. Goliths here and panning. 15% population lives here

 Slums - Store - necessities, but lower quality, poor dirt roads. 65% population lives here.

 Panning District - Same as slums, better quality, silver smiths, gold processors. Paved, better roads than slums. 20% population lives here.

 Gilded Pools - The base of the waterfall, a religious location