Garden District

The Gaidth district, in Common "the Garden district," or sometimes simply "the Elven district" in everyday conversation or by indifferent outsiders, is home to the majority of the Elven population of Fenar. The Gaidth district is most well known for its more lenient trade laws than other districts, which is due to the strong Elven culture. Because of this, it contains Fenar's grey market, where items of questionable legality are able to be both purchased and sold. However, the pervading Elven culture has more ramifications than simply lax trade laws.

All are welcome in the Gaidth district, even those who may not be readily welcome everywhere else--the Elves generally believe that every individual is self-determined, anyone can be anything they choose to be, and everyone can and does change. This is passed down from the eldest of the Elves, who have not only witnessed such changes uncountable times, but have experienced them themselves many times as well. However, everyone in the district must follow the rules and customs of the culture.

### Appearance

The boundary of the Gaidth district is immediately apparent to all but the most oblivious. The marketplace can be heard and recognized from a long distance away, everywhere else is marked by an explosive increase of plant life. Trees grow irregularly wherever possible, as do smaller plants. Neighborhoods have communal gardens, and almost every house has window planters and terraces full of herbs and fruiting plants. Vines grow along nearly every surface, grass sprouts from every gap between the sparse cobblestones of the road. The area around the marketplace is mostly empty as it is very loud.

### Culture

The Elves of the Gaidth are bonded mainly by their traditions. Their culture had existed for untold amounts of time prior to the founding of Fenar, and pockets still exist elsewhere today. Their culture has endured through its ability to adapt and change as necessary for survival, while at the same time retaining a strong identity of its own. As far as the elder Elves are concerned, the city is likely another phase that will simply be endured and pass as so many have before.

The Elves of the Gaidth have a distinctive style of construction, preferring living wood and prioritizing natural shapes over efficiency. They have an extremely varied cuisine making use of every ingredient imaginable, plenty of dishes of Elven origin have spread throughout Fenar and farther. The Gaidth culture is never strict about time: when a Gaidth Elf schedules something, they expect to show up anywhere from ten minutes to a few hours *after* the scheduled time--they are in no rush. This is often to the annoyance of those scheduled with, if they are not themselves of the Gaidth or used to this quirk of the Gaidth.

The Gaidth district, while technically beholden to the same laws as the rest of Fenar, does not recognize them as legitimate and does not allow their enforcement. The district has rules of its own, irrespective of Fenar law. The city accepts this begrudgingly, as if it attempts to violate the traditions of the district, the Elves will unquestionably revolt as a single unit. Still, there have been no major political issues with the district so far. The Gaidth tradition of a central market where all trade is performed has combined with Fenar's diversity, industrialization, and large amount of commerce to create the gigantic and famous grey market.

### The Grey Market

Residents of Fenar outside of the Gaidth district know it mostly for one thing: trade of all kinds at the grey market. This is because the traditions of the Elves have little concern with trade restrictions, except that it must all happen in one place. For example, while Fenar as a whole does not abide prostitution, one can easily find prostitutes of all kinds selling their bodies in the grey market. The market is always open, though not every shop owner will always be there. The market mostly operates in gold purely for the practical reasons that 1. there is a lot of it, and 2. it can be used easily outside of the district. Any currency or trade is just as valid as long as someone will accept it. The regulars at the market are masters of buying low and selling high, using any means short of cheating to undercut their competitors' prices, such as hiring people to spy on other stores. The only items you will not find occasionally changing hands in the gray market are those that are directly dangerous--unstable magical items, bombs, poisons, artifacts, etc. The marketgoers do not want them there, and consider putting others' lives at risk just for money to be a form of cheating.

The market is gigantic, taking up many city blocks. Its border is well-defined, as necessary for the rules concerning it specifically, and can be expanded or contracted by vote if necessary. Businesses that don't have buildings run out of small shacks, tents, blankets on the ground, any way they can set up to make a buck. The businesses that do have buildings are the largest, all open 24/7, and always looking for help getting one over on their competitors. Intrigue and small scale politics abound at the grey market.

### The Rules

The district has few explicit rules:

* **1.** **You can not trade outside of the marketplace.** The market is chaotic and free from restrictions, but the Elves like their peace outside of it. You cannot pay someone to go to the market for you as that would be a trade, but once you are there you can pay one of the many market boys that are always lined up outside to go in and find things for you. Anyone can still provide favors freely, and in fact must:
* **2.** **Except in the marketplace, you can not deny someone help that you could provide freely.** The Elves never have a problem lending a hand, tools, or money, within reason. An unknowing outsider may be caught blindsided by this rule and unintentionally break it by refusing a simple request. In the marketplace however, this is out the window--the marketplace is where the money is made, by trading for anything and everything.
* **3. You can not cheat others.** This includes in trading and gambling, but also the restrictions imposed by the other rules, and any attempts to circumvent them or use their word to your advantage over their spirit. When outsiders make major trades in the marketplace, if the item being traded cannot be authenticated immediately, the seller will often be kept in the district, housed and fed by the buyer for a period of time until it can be. This is to prevent their cheating the buyer, as outsiders could otherwise just leave before the buyer discovered the trick. Unaware sellers even of legitimate items can be caught in the district for much longer than intended due to this. This also covers circumstances such as property destruction.
* **4. Your punishment for breaking the rules is decided by the community of those slighted.** If it is an accident or a small breach of the rules toward one person, often the victim will simply reprimand the perpetrator for their action and forget about it. If the breach is large or the perpetrator is a repeat offender, the victim's community will decide their punishment. That is, the victim(s) and those who live in their area, more people for more serious breaches. For outsiders, others not from the Gaidth district are normally considered close enough to be community. If it is determined that the accusation is false, the accuser will be punished for attempting to cheat the accused. If there is no evidence that the breach occurred, no punishment can be meted either way. Most of the time punishments are some form of community service, the scale dependent on the severity of the breach and the opinions of the community judging. Occasionally a monetary value may be requested, especially for breaches in the market. For very serious violations, the punishments meted may include up to even life imprisonment or execution. These punishments are subject to the rule against cheating as much as anything else, you cannot cheat a perpetrator by demanding unreasonable recompense.