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The Kingdom of Zeretan - Zeretan</b>

Overview: Zeretan is a large city, built on the edge of the desert. The Inky River runs through the city, bisecting it and cutting off the eastern third of the city. Three bridges cross the river; the Relway Bridge, the Zeretan Bridge, and the Purdaya Bridge. The Relway bridge lies near the city wall, the Zeretan Bridge is about halfway across town, and the Purdaya bridge is near the harbour.

Zeretan's city is structured based on its dominant trade patterns. The western half of the city is poorer, sloping up into the mountains and the warrens of the ratmen. The eastern side of the city is richer, and there are in fact guards posted on all the bridges who make sure that people crossing over are of the appropriate sort. The dominant language in Zeretan is Flametongue. Many locals, however, speak Riverspeak to deal with the merchants of the Guild, Seatongue to converse with many of the sailors, or even High Realm, the dominant language of the Realm garrison. Less common is Old Realm or Low Realm, or the barbarian tongues of the lionmen, ratmen, or tribes of the deserts south of the kingdom, and Skytongue and Forestongue are essentially unused.

Neighbourhoods:
East of the River: Ivory Flats, Stormside, Eastfield and the Barracks

Stormside (Resources 3): In the early days of Zeretan, Stormside was the predominant middle-class location of the city. Its placement on the eastern part of the city meant that, along with the Eastern Walk (now renamed Ivory Flats), it was in a mainly prosperous area, but the constant storms that overlooked the coast meant that the land was not very valuable. As such, it was occupied by traders and minor nobility too poor to afford Eastfield, along with anyone else with some, but not too much, spare money. In modern times, Stormside has held onto its title. It is an eclectic neighbourhood, occupied by many peformers, thaumaturges, rich guardsmen, poor nobles, middle class merchants, and all manner of other people. Stormside stretches much farther south than it once did; as the city expanded, so too did Stormside. It is worth noting that both the Zeretan and Purdaya bridges connect to Stormside in modern times. Stormside's population approaches 8,000 people, with around 1,000 being slaves.

Ivory Flats ("Shelltown") (Resources 4-5): Stretching from Stormside south to the city walls, Ivory Flats was originally known as the Eastern Walk, being the region of town near to the river. When the Sea of Storms died down, and the pearls were discovered, the newly rich merchants started buying new land. They couldn't get into Eastfield, so they built their new mansions around it, and their burgeoning neighbourhood slowly squeezed out any poorer people. Now, Ivory Flats, known derisively as Shelltown to both the poor and the nobility, takes up a decent chunk of the city, and is both quiet and peaceful. Guards patrol its borders, and the Relway Bridge is carefully watched to insure that undesirables don't cross over. Ivory Flats has a population of roughly 6,000. About 1,000 of them are slaves.

Eastfield (Resources 4-5): The easternmost section of Zeretan is surrounded by its own, smaller, yet even more gleaming wall. Behind that wall lies Eastfield, home of Zeretan's nobility. Land in Eastfield is not sold - it is only given, and the king's approval must be granted to any would-be receiver, because ownership of land in Eastfield translates to automatic titles of nobility. Each of Eastfield's small number of extremely large estates is home to one of Zeretan's noble familes, most of whom also own land along the River Towns or in the Black Farms. Eastfield is also home to the king and his family. Anyone who wishes to enter the neighbourhood requires a script of passage; nobles, of course, are recognized and memorized by Eastfield's Royal Guard, an elite branch of the Zeretan town guard.
There are exactly 39 noble houses in Zeretan at the moment. The total population of the district is roughly 3,000 - but most of these are servants or guardsmen; only a few hundred are actual nobles.

The Barracks (Resources 2): Taking up the southwestern corner of the eastern side of the river, the Barracks is by far the smallest neighbourhood, being the location where the Realm's defensive troops are garrisoned. The Barracks contains only about a thousand people, and as such is the smallest area of town. Half the locals are soldiers, and the other half are their wives, children, concubines, and those who serve them, and the region has a number of inns and stores that serve soldiers primarily.

West of the River: Zeretan Harbour, Riverside Walk, The Highlands, The Warrens, and the Trade District

Zeretan Harbour (Resources 1-2): Zeretan Harbour is a mix of two cultures. Its permanent residents are fishermen and pearl divers, who go out each day and provide the food and pearls that fund the city. The fishermen sell their fish at the market, and the pearl divers almost all work for the merchants of the Guild (or, in rarer cases, for independant merchants), who sell it for a vast profit. The fishermen are fairly poor; the pearl divers, on the other hand, are usually better off. Finally, the harbour also has a large number of taverns, inns, brothels, and other attractions for sailors from the Realm and the West. There are about 12,000 people in the Harbour region, over half of whom are pearl divers, and about 1,500 of whom are slaves.

Riverside Walk (Resources 2): Riverside Walk is another middle-class community, sandwiched between the harbour and the Trade district. Most of its population work either down in the harbour, manning the various amenities for the sailors, or northwards in the Trade District. Others work as various mostly skilled labourers. In some ways, Riverside is a quieter, less eccentric version of Stormside, and disturbances tend to get something ofa police presence. There are about 6,000 people living in the district. There are perhaps 500 slaves, and no household has more than one (or, very rarely, two).

The Highlands (Resources 1): The working poor in the town come from the Highlands. Working at whatever jobs they can get, the 12,000 inhabitants of the region are mostly cleaners, hire on to caravans, take up odd jobs doing simple repairs and courier services throughout towns, and similar distasteful but basically productive tasks. Many of them spend their time working at the breweries, the tanneries and the opium plants in the western part of the city - the plants alone hire almost 3,000 people. Guardsmen don't care much about the Highlands, aside from the major businesses such as the breweries and plants, and are slow at best to react to trouble.

The Warrens (Resources 1): In the far western part of town, the hills become riddled with honeycomb caves. This is where the ratmen live. Slightly over 5,000 ratmen live in the caves, along with maybe 1,000 of the poorest people in the city. The Warrens are a dangerous area to live unless you are a member of one of the many gangs that the ratmen have formed; the town guard never even visits the area. It is, however, quite clean; the ratmen are careful about that.

The Trade District (Resources 2): The southwest corner of town, the Trade District is primarily known as the area where the caravans unload their goods, which are taken through the district to the Harbour to be shipped out. The Trade District is also where most people from the Highlands and Riverside Walk come for serious shopping; while foodstuffs can be gotten in many areas, and arcane ingrediants are usually found in Stormside, the Trade District is where most other materials are sold. The Trade District is also home to the slave markets, which although quite small open once a week to sell a few slaves each time. The Trade district, all told, has a population of about 6,000, along with a number of other workers who travel in from Riverside Walk - it is quite bustling during the day, but very quiet at night. There are nearly 1,000 slaves in the Trade District.