New Gork

Official flag of the city of New Gork

New Gork was founded in late 2323, three years after the Battle for Kanara, at the start of season 3. It's a town of adventurers and is open to all. In the mid 2370s, between seasons 5 and 6, New Gork tore away from the continent and ascended into the skies.

## Founding

   Following the Battle for Kanara, the archipelago became rather less friendly to adventurers, due primarily to Kairosian influence. Thus, late in 2323, simultaneous with Kairos' official outlawing of all adventurers, the *SS Guildhall,* under the direction of Zendar Goldmane, the head of the Kanaran Adventurers' Guild, set sail for the continent.

Before it had quite made landfall, the ship was hit by one of the continent's infamous storms and dashed upon the rocks of the bay. The survivors, of whom there were many, made their way to shore and set about making the place inhabitable. Although the initial goal was to go to Dragonsreach, a former, failed settlement, and reclaim what was left of it, by the time people were in any shape to make the journey along the coast, the current location seemed to work just fine and no one was in any particular hurry to move.

The settlement was named after the treefolk Gorp, who aided the initial settlers when they came across him following the shipwreck of the *Guildhall.* They misheard his name as "Gork," however, and the mistake was realized too late to change it, the name having long since entered the common vernacular.

A few weeks after arriving on the continent, a constitutional convention was called, and a government was formed, although it was still minimal at the time.

## History

Being on the continent, New Gork has faced countless dangers over the years. Notable among these are the Great Storm of 2324, not even a year after the city's initial founding, during season 3, the Deathstrider's threat in 2329, during season 3.5, and the Seeker's attack in 2345, during season 4.

At some point between 2372 and 2380, in the intervening years between seasons 5 and 6, a great rumbling was heard, and the entire city tore away from the continent and ascended into the sky. Fortunately, casualties and damages were relatively light.

The Navigators' Guild was founded to discover a way to steer the city's course, though such attempts proved futile, and the guild eventually changed its name to the Cartographers' Guild. As the Cartographers' Guild, it sends scouts ahead of the city's perceived course to gather data with which they can prepare the city for any approaching dangers.

Although many have looked into it, the cause of the city's ascension remains unknown.

As time went on, the city's movements became more chaotic, its range increasing. By the 2400s, the start of season 7, it ranged over not just the jungle, but also over the sea and archipelago.

## Government

New Gork is headed by an elected council with five members. The first councilmembers were Alboba Sawyer, Head of Infrastructure; Bonkvrk(a), Head of Administrative Affairs; Gestalt Redin, Head of Maritime Affairs; Ilmia, facet of the changeling Reign, Head of Defense; and Vernon Dale, Head of International Relations. There is a separate judicial system, originally headed by Auris Sunwolf Oretharos, who was named by the council as the first Chief Justice of New Gork. Law enforcement falls to the Defense Force; the Head of Defense is the de facto captain thereof. In 2344, at the start of season 4, the Head of Defense and Captain of the Defense Force was Dawn, a warforged from the Frontier Forge.

## Layout

Over the years, New Gork has grown from village to town to city, and now boasts several districts. With the ever growing population and the reduced cost of transport between cities, New Gork's infrastructure has increased in robustness to reflect these changes. Its buildings have grown upwards and infrastructure expands underground through the tunnels, adding new refurbishing and more wyvern and airship launch points.

### Old New Gork

This is the original area of New Gork, home to the town's first tavern (still referred to simply as "the tavern"), the hospital, the courthouse, and the Defense Force headquarters. During the Seeker's attack in 2345, the library here suffered major structural damage, but the Knowledge Temple spearheaded efforts to restore it to its former glory. Old New Gork also has a number of the older houses, some of which have been transformed to other purposes after their original occupants left, others remaining just as they were.

New Gork's original town wall surrounds Old New Gork, shaped similarly to a boat's hull. This shape was designed by Alboba Sawyer, New Gork's first Head of Infrastructure, and helped to protect the buildings from strong sea winds.

#### The Tavern

Although many establishments have been set up in New Gork, if you merely say "the tavern," most people will know what you're talking about: the first one established in New Gork and which now shares a building with the Adventurers' Guild New Gork headquarters. As adventuring became more acceptable again in the years following the Battle for Kanara and the Adventurers' Guild grew, the Guild pulled off a marvel of modern magic: the headquarters of its branches in each of the three major cities in the archipelago contain an enchanted door through which the New Gork tavern may be accessed. No matter how a person leaves the tavern, they exit into the city whence they came.

#### Merfolk Fountain

A gift from the king of the merfolk kingdom located somewhere off the continent's coast, the waters of this fountain will glow when the king wishes to contact the people of New Gork and a brief spoken message will begin when approached, generally including a summons for adventurers and a short description of the task.

### Residential District

Located on the eastern side of the city, the residential district holds houses that are, in general, more durable than the ones in Old New Gork. Most of the city's residents have their homes here, but there are residences and inns scattered throughout the city. The primary dueling arena, colloquially known as the "fight pit," was originally constructed outside city walls but now falls within the residential district. Although some frown on this, there are enough who think it a benefit, rather than a detriment, to fill the houses around it.

### Industrial District

On the opposite side of Old New Gork from the residential district, to the northwest, the industrial district is where the majority of New Gork's production happens. It's generally noisy, and some of the workshops give off odors relevant to their crafts. Perhaps one of the more notable sites in the industrial district is the airship construction yard, if only for sheer size.

### Business District

The business district can be found in the southwest portion of the city, though it blends into the industrial district without clear boundary between them. Any number of shops can be found here, mostly selling smaller, day-to-day goods. Larger goods tend to be purchased from the industrial district, where the bigger workshops can be found. There's a bustling marketplace here where farmers bring their food and foreign traders hawk their wares.

### Temple District

The primary temples of New Gork can be found to the north of Old Town. Given the wide variety of beliefs of the city's denizens, the temples were established around common domains, rather than specific deities, and followers of any given tradition may be found in multiple temples.

### Outside the City

Before the city's ascension, a long strip of land between the beach and the jungle was cultivated as farmland, stretching out on either side of the city. A long, empty meadow served as a buffer between the northernmost fields and the jungle itself. The Dragonpeace Initiative had its primary stables in this no-man's land, housing a sizeable fleet of wyverns as well as two young dragons. These were unfortunately left behind when the city ascended, but were soon replaced by a series of caves and tunnels in the rock below the now-flying city.

The main docks were located on the beach directly south of the city. Port authority duties were contracted to Fool's Gold, a combination mercenary company and private investigating firm that dates back nearly to the city's founding. The docks still see use for the small settlements of the Crater Agricultural Township, located in the crater left behind following New Gork's ascension, and Livbringaren, located further into the continent.

## Constructs

Shortly after New Gork's founding, adventurers discovered a nearby entrance to the abandoned underground City of Lights. Although its sapient inhabitants are long gone, the city is still home to many large, ant-like constructs that maintain the city's infrastructure. Danara Willanora, the first Head of the New Gork Forge, used these as a basis to create a fleet of helper constructs for New Gork.

New Gork's helper constructs are quadrupedal and have two arms. Each one is specialized to a certain task and can follow logical instructions, though they aren't sapient. They can communicate telepathically with each other and with special relays set up throughout the city, allowing them to collaborate on tasks without direct supervision.

## Flag

A number of flags were designed for the city when it was just starting and although only one was chosen as the official flag, any of them might still be seen about the city.

The official flag displays a green tree, representing the treant Gorp (misheard as Gork by those who first spoke with him), for whom the town is named, over a yellow circle, representing a beach, with the field behind split horizontally, the lower half blue, to represent the sea, and the upper half black, to represent the stormy sky. It's been said that the black also represents the difficulties the city has faced, while the tree represents the city's strength and the gold, its good fortune and continued prosperity even in the face of challenges.

One of the suggested flags shows a deep orange background with a black triangle pointing inward from the left side, a thinner red triangle within it. This flag represents the people of New Gork pushing forward through the dark challenges of the continent to the golden rewards beyond.

Another suggested design consists of three horizontal stripes of white, black, and green, from top to bottom, with three small white triangles over the central black stripe. The green represents the jungle, the black, the dangers of the continent, and the white, the light of hope given by adventurers in ensuring the safety of the city.

The final suggested design has a heavy black X across it, sectioning the flag into four triangles. The left and right triangles are white, the upper is green, and the lower is blue. The black X represents crossed swords; a willingness to fight, to defend, to survive. The color also represents the dangers of the continent, as well as (in accordance with traditional heraldry) wisdom, constancy, and prudence. The white represents a light of hope; not only will the people of New Gork survive on the deadly continent, but make a true home there and prosper. It's also said to represent truth, sincerity, peace, innocence, and purity, while the shape of the triangles represent forward movement and progress. The blue represents the sea, as well as loyalty, truth, and strength, and the green represents the jungle, as well as abundance, joy, and hope.

## Neighbors and Relations

The people of New Gork have encountered a number of beings and societies on the previously supposed "uninhabited" continent. They established official diplomatic relations with a nameless kingdom of merfolk off the coast in 2323, during season 3, and had similar relations with Dorocuil, a nation of undead elves, until that city's abrupt disappearance.

Fey, grung, and octobuds have also been encountered, as well as warforged from the Frontier Forge, though no formal relations have been established.

## See Also

* Continental Swift Postal Service
* Judicial History of New Gork
* Outposts of New Gork's Tempest Temple