Nurem
In a land where common law is all but gone, where empires meet in a no-man’s land and demand that you bend the knee to their new rule or die in the wilds, adaptation to a new world is vital for survival. For those that unable, or unwilling, stands the free city of Nurem.
Home to a great faith, great commerce, master craftsmen, the rich, and of course the poor. And this great urban cauldron has become a breeding ground for all those criminally inclined.
Nurem is the busiest cities in Pallas, and indeed, on the continent. It is fairly compact, however, and nearly 20,000 people are packed within its confines on any day.
Nurem is known for a number of things, most notably its many Guilds, which are so influential their operations can be seen even in Avea, thousands of miles away. It is also renowned for the Royal College - where the largest organisation of mages in Karthica calls home and trains future wielders of the arcane.
Up until recently, the former trade and commerce capital of Pallas was ruled by squabbling noble families - four of them to be exact, who were collectively termed as “The Four Lords”. The joint rulers of the city preferred to enjoy their independence than be absorbed by one of the two great superpowers knocking at their doorstep.
However, in the advent of the new year of 1246, a group of heroes uncovered a sinister plot orchestrated by Lord Gert Wilders and the city's criminal organisation - the Underguild - to dispose of the other three lords and deliver the city to the Republic of Libertia, with Wilders ruling in their stead. The heroes managed to avert this plot, leading to the Siege of Nurem where General Tradd of the Libertian Army attempted to wrestle away a city he had expected to be handed over to him by Wilders. The heroes, with the help of Lord Hans Klaid and the Black Company, stopped the Libertians and ended the crisis, but a new crisis was just beginning. Now, Nurem is ruled by Lord Klaid, with the last two remaining rulers of the Four Lords in exile. As the new claiment king of Sardoron, Henrik, postures up against Lord Klaid in a preparation for conflict, rumours abound are that Lord Klaid intends to re-found the old Kingdom of Vienar, which was absorbed into the Kingdom of Pallas in 1170, over seventy years ago.
Demographics
Like most of Karthica, Nurem was a settlement founded by humans. While humans represent roughly 60% or more of the population, Nurem has many other races living within its small realm compared to other cities of its size. High Elves and Hill Dwarves are the next most prominent races, but halflings and gnomes are not an uncommon sight either.
Government
Many Lords who owed fealty to King Ethar have undergone a change in position after his death. While House Klaid has held the city by appointment of the kingdom since its founding, Lord Steward Klaid was not in Nurem when the war ended, and in his absence, House Straus, House Wilders, and House Munst rushed to restore order in the rioting city as the law of the Kingdom collapsed. By the time Lord Klaid returned, he had but a small portion of the city left to obey his rule. The rule of the Four Lords consequently began; a poor alliance made out of necessity rather than desire.
Nurem was occupied by the Libertians for three months at the war’s conclusion. After the end of Nurem’s occupation, order in the city fell apart and it was only the intervention of the noble families that prevented total anarchy and dictatorial gang rule.
Nurem has been divided into four vague districts, and each of the Four Lords owns the land within their district. The only exception is the House of Obligation, an unassuming townhouse not far from the Baston owned neutrally by the Chief Administrator to the Four Lords. It is here that the city’s rulers meet to discuss business, politics, and to settle disputes.
The four districts are the Common District, the Docks, the Small District and the Castle District.
Law under the Four Lords suits a city that many say is more free than the cities of Libertia. Common law based on those of the old kingdom form the basis of law in the city, but each of the Four Lords has different ways of running their respective districts.
Lord Klaid runs the Castle District in a way to attract wealthy merchants and minor nobles to his realm, while Lord Wilders sets a low tax rate upon the smallfolk living in the Small District.
Defences
One of the few things the Four Lords work together on is the protection of the city. The finest mercenary company in the known land, The Black Company, are the best line of defence against would-be conquerors. The Black Company have been in the city for nearly five years by 1245, and for as long as the Four Lords continue to pay them a monumental sum of gold, they show no signs of abadoning their contract.
The City Watch are the guards of Nurem. They are traditional guarding and peacekeeping force in the city, and have been for centuries. The walls of Nurem themselves house the guard, with many barracks built into them around the entire city. Many of the lowborn in Pallas join the watch. They are always led by a noble lord, but otherwise they are made up entirely of the people. There are currently about 1400 guardsmen enlisted in the watch. The current Watch Commander is Commander Samuel Moss.
Nurem is protected by thick stone walls that stand around 20ft in height. The stonework bears the scars of a history of sieges. Many stone towers rise above the perimeter of the walls, where archers and crossbowmen have a vantage point against aggressors. Inside the city itself, several towers for the purposes of defence stand freely, where the City Watch is able to keep an eye on any crimes happening around the city.
Guilds and Factions
Nurem was an independent city state for centuries before becoming the capital of the Kingdom of Vienar, and later before the cities of the region consolidated into the Kingdom of Pallas, and it has never quite lost its unique charms and quirks. It is a bustling medieval metropolis, with vast craftsmen districts, guilds, shoppes, docks and all manner of drinking and brothel establishments.
Nurem is known as “The Merchant’s Cradle” for good reason - it is filled to the brim with them. In wider society, the only way to escape the life of the smallfolk, or peasants, is to establish one’s trade into a larger enterprise. Nurem has become the destination for those seeking to climb out of society’s muck. Craftsmen, merchants, and skilled labourers make up the largest portion of the population. As these workers streamed in to the city, they began to organise themselves into guilds; loose affiliations of workers with common trades.
First was the Guild of Artisans, who’s stonemasons, carpenters, blacksmiths and many, many subtypes were responsible for Nurem’s rapid growth. Then came the Guild of Merchants, whose diverse portfolio of import and export began by selling on the goods produced by the craftsmen, which made them richer, and gave them leave to begin their own unique enterprises.
Soon enough, Nurem had so many guilds that it was said there were more of them than people in the city. It was the Lord of the city who profited the most, however, by ensuring that the law accounted for the guilds and taxed them, to only a small margin. It was the sheer success that the guilds found, that made Nurem’s aristocracy rich. Soon enough, more nobles came to the city, and many in the growing merchant class obtained minor titles and married into the aristocracy themselves.
Guilds, in some form or other, are present all across Pallas and portions of the wider world, but the guilds of Nurem dwarf them in scale and influence - they are legendary institutions. Nurem conducts the majority of its trade with Libertia, who certainly have a distaste for the guilds. The Guild of Merchants regulates all trade in and out the city, on the authority of the Lord of Nurem. They set the prices for the goods and services that they control, which is almost all of the vendors in Nurem.
Geography
Nurem sits at the foot of the River Olga that flows out into the Royal Sea after its long journey west from the Skyward Mountains. The river has been meticulously crafted through the centuries to make room for more buildings, with a great deal of land reclaimation from a previously large river delta. The land is mostly flat, however a hill has given way to the construction of the city's castle: the Baston.
Alternative Name(s)
The Merchant's Cradle
Type
City
Population
21,312 (circa 1210 census)
Inhabitant Demonym
Nuremi
Location under
Included Locations
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
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