Dregden

The makeup of Dregden's people are about as diverse as one can find. With no prevailing Idoran authority, and a lack of old Cabali influence, all races and ethnicity willing to travel and settle their lives down in the port-city are welcome to do so, as long as respect is paid to the Auril Council in the form of 'donations.' Due to its ancestral value, Krenian Dwarves and Kobolds are represented slightly more within some of the deeper sections of Dregden.

Dregden is mostly made up of working-class people while most of the wealthy folk come in from out of town. Fishermen wanting to avoid the high toll associated with Kradence's docks often migrate south towards Dregden, albeit running into more competition as a result. Mercantile businesses are the most common with traders coming from all over Kerine to peddle their wares. Due to a great influx of travelers moving in and out of the city, hospitality businesses are quite popular from taverns and inns to high-class hotels and resorts. Smithing professions are rare, with the few present being of no merit or The Ruby Scabbard, one of the finest blacksmithing shops in all of Kerine. Other than that, entrepreneurs enjoy Dregden's opportunity and affordability should one look in the right places.

Dregden is currently run by the Aurul Council, a loose association of criminal organizations that extend enough of a hand out to each other that they publicly exert enough power to avoid a hostile takeover from other factions. The council is made up of six individuals, one from each of the major crime families and organizations of Kerine: The Vendrossi Syndicate, The Strands, The Kapra-Kahnz, The Dorrin Family, The Xin'Tafa, and Faelin's Clutch. These individuals have usually been the leaders of their respective organization, occasionally using advisors to govern in their stead. Surprisingly, the council has overseen the well-being of Dregden successfully for decades now. Unsurprisingly, cooperation between each of the organization leaders fluctuates often.

Dregden is split into six territories or districts. All homes and businesses are required to provide a 'donation' to the particular organization that oversees the territory they reside in, and that organization has more sway over business practices, demographics, and opposing organization activity. Laws are enforced by gang members associated with each organization, with higher ranking officers delegating tasks and priorities.

The laws themselves don't differ terribly from other cities across Kerine. However, where they do differ is the willingness to enforce them, or rather the cost of enforcement. Murder, assault, and grand theft are about the only crime objectively punished, and even then should it benefit the gang whose territory it occurred in, they still may even look the other way. So long as no crimes are committed against the organization that runs the territory it happened in, there is a good change one could deal or pay their way out of punishment.

The city is surprisingly defensible compared to others. Naturally, as it was initially carved into a solid basalt stone cliff adjacent to the Trackless Sea, there are few natural ways of entering the city without notice, let alone with a large fighting force. The stone itself acts as strong enough of a fortification, and scouts placed about all major entrances and roads leading into Dregden allow for notice of enemy movements near the city. Burning oil traps and manufactured cave-ins are tools that can be employed as well should attacks become dire.

Dregden does have a semblance of a standing army that answer directly to the council. The Brass Troop are made up of individuals from each organization that are appointed by the leaders themselves. These are high positions of privilege, as they are granted many amenities without much responsibility. They are not sanctioned to enforce the laws of the city, nor to police its citizens. They are only there to protect the city should it come under attack and, since Dregden has not been attacked for several decades, have not had to do much.

Trade, fishing, gambling, and hospitality are the lifeblood of Dregden. While there is a smattering of other occupations and professions about the city, those four industries drive the economy of Dregden the most. Some of the nicest spa and resort experiences can be found in this city, acting like oases.

Of course, due to a strong presence of each crime organization of Kerine, illicit activities and substances are widespread and drive a good amount of traffic into the city.

Major exports from the city include seafood, narcotics, health products, and alcohol. Dregden imports most everything, taking pride in their market of goods from across Kerine.

There are six major crime organizations that have a strong presence in Dregden. The leader or a high ranking official from each organization makes up the whole of the Aurul Coucil that governs the city. In terms of each organization, their motivations and specialties are as follows.

1. The Vendrossi Syndicate: Run many gambling halls and both legal and illegal fighting rings. Often shake down their territory for higher 'donations.' Engage in contract killing at a high price point.
2. The Strands: Illicit substance manufacturers and distributors. Operate drug dens that provide new product in a more controlled atmosphere, though not by much. Brew some of the more lethal toxins both on and off the market.
3. The Kapra-Kahns: Raiders and marauders, acting as a loose confederation of highwaymen that operate throughout Kerine. Known more prominently as privateers engaged in flesh markets. Seen as the most volatile of the organizations.
4. The Dorrin Family: Internally, they are a mercenary company, more professional than a common sellsword, but less so than the best the Vendrossi offer. They run any betting the Vendrossi steer away from, as well as run gambling halls themselves. Outwardly, they are a number of successful entrepreneurs that use their money and influence to further their own goals
5. The Xin'Tafa: Plunderers of ancient history and thieves. Some of the best traders for fencing goods, and have access to many of the markets both known and unknown across Kerine. They dabble in narcotic manufacturing as well.
6. Faelin's Clutch: Pleasure ring, run the red-light districts of many cities. Prostitutes, consorts, and companions, provide the face of the organization. Beneath the mask, however, the Clutch are known for being hired as spies, manufacturing poisons, and kidnapping targets of import.

The Founding of Drak-Kazan

Around 400 BAL, the area that would come to be Dregden was nothing but a cliff side facing the Trackless Sea. Kobolds were the first to settle there, digging tunnels and caverns around a freshwater aquifer several hundred meters inland. This group of kobolds would come to be known as Clan Mudyap. As the tunnels grew more intricate and vast, the population grew, as goods left the settlement, rumors of untapped riches within the hard walls of the coast traveled with them. Soon, all manner of prospectors and teams began to migrate towards this kobold settlement with dreams of finding gems and gold. Those hoping to make a profitable discovery, however, would need to pay the kobolds for the rights to a section of the settlement. The kobolds were showered in money and goods while others toiled to make up for their losses and then some. Despite the kobold's gracious hospitality towards each of them, none found much success and quickly gave up.

Then, a small, mostly unknown clan of dwarves arrived at the settlement. They were called Clan Taydrum, and proposed a deal with the kobolds. Instead of paying for the rights to mine in a particular area, they wanted to clear a large portion deeper into the settlement, splitting any potential valuables found during the dig between the two parties. Additionally, instead of leaving the areas as stripped mines, Clan Taydrum would settle there as the kobolds neighbors. Since the dwarven clan had nothing of value to offer besides their word, the kobolds negotiated a higher proportions of any profits and agreed to the deal, and the digging commenced.

Years passed, and the dwarves dug deeper and deeper into the cliff side without finding much of anything. While the influx of dwarven settlers brought increased trade and improvements to settlement planning, Clan Mudyap began to question if their deal was a mistake as they've found nothing of value. It wasn't until the dwarves found liquid 'gold' that this perspective began to change.

Kobolds hold subterranean freshwater bodies of water paramount to most anything due to their importance in the kobold's way of life, including agriculture, livestock, and survival. When Clan Taydrum dug into the cliffside, they found a freshwater stream flowing beneath the aquifer Clan Mudyap settled around. Further yet, the bed of the steam was rich in spinel and ruby deposits that glowed in the darkness like no other. Both clans rejoiced, and began to work in tandem to collect the valuable gems, now called Kazite and Ruby Kazite, and preserve the stream so that new generations of kobolds could settle around it. With the profits from the gems collected, infrastructure of the settlement improved more and more. Soon, other races began to settle there and open shops at the modest settlement flourished into a multicultural city. The two clans then named the settlement-turned-city Drak-Kazan after their gems they claimed glowed like dragons eyes in the darkness.

The Salt Riots

Unfortunately, all was not destined to remain prosperous. While the kobolds were content with the valuables they found, the city they founded, and the stream they've now settled, Clan Taydrum believed they could uncover more valuables should they dig even deeper. Despite arguments against it, the kobolds trusted the dwarves' judgement and dug deeper into the city. Occasionally, they would find additional deposits of Kazite, which would drive the dwarves to continue onward with their prospecting.

In 180 BAL, Clan Taydrum had dug too deep and would cause the destruction of the settlement. During their excavation, the dwarves dug through the bottom of the vast cavern, exposing it to a deep cave system that ran into the Trackless Sea. Thinking nothing of it, they simply moved outward and not deeper. It wasn't until a great storm that they would realize their mistake. As waves crashed against the cliff side walls of Drak-Kazan, water from the sea flowed into the deep cave system dug by the dwarves. The waters rose and continued to rise, with many of the clan's prospectors getting caught and drowning. Attempts to close the mine were unsuccessful, and the water level continued to rise until it reached the freshwater stream. Saltwater poured into the stream, overflowing and destroying kobold homes built around it.

As the storm passed, teams were sent into the destroyed mine to find any bodies that remained. Kobold homes that were established along the stream were destroyed, and the stream itself had been contaminated with saltwater. Furthermore, the storm was able to create further connections through the mine to the freshwater stream, requiring extensive repairs in order to block. Even so, it would have taken decades for the saltwater intrusion to reverse if it could at all. Clan Mudyap was irate at the over extension of the dwarves and the consequences that they had wrought. While Clan Taydrum ensured that they would remedy the saltwater intrusion and pay for any damages, this event formed a rift between the two founding clans.

Years passed and the desalination efforts proved to be more and more unsuccessful. Enthusiasm from Clan Taydrum for this project deflated, and was met with increased fury from Clan Mudyap. Riots and civil unrest from the kobold population began to grow, soon becoming too much for both clans to effectively handle. Then, the disobedience turned violent, resulting in deaths from both clans. From here, the conflict escalated until the city was fully engulfed in a civil war now called the Salt Riots. Many districts of the city were destroyed, and further damage to the sealed Kazite mines exposed more of the city to the sea. Homes built by residents and shops were used as staging grounds for attacks from both sides. While the vast cavern of the city itself managed to avoid much of the damage, the buildings within bore the brunt of the conflict.

The Aurul Takeover

Years passed, and the Salt Riots began to end. Major drivers of the conflict from both sides perished years prior, leaving new and younger generations to keep the fight going on behalf of their ancestors. In 159 BAL, a young kobold by the name of Villi Snout formed a coalition of other young kobolds and dwarves to try and end the fighting. Within the year, both clans agreed to end the conflict, striving to continue building towards the future as their ancestors did during the city’s founding. With fresh wounds still aching, Clan Mudyap and Clan Taydrum began rebuilding the destroyed districts of their city.

Around a century and a half passed, and the city regained much of its former splendor. However, more outsiders had begun to settle in the city, many of which bearing ill intent. Gangs and other criminal organizations took root in the darker corners of the post-war city. A lack of guards at a particular district resulted in a stronger foothold for a criminal enterprise to flourish. Additionally, animosity between the clans was not gone, but severely diminished. This would not last for long, as in 15 AAL, Tirian pilgrims from central Kerine migrated down into Drak-Kazan. While some merely wished to start a life away from their kinsmen in Kradence, others had more vile intentions. It was at this time that the six major criminal organizations were able to firmly establish themselves in Drak-Kazan and in Kerine as a whole. The tensions between the clans and a lack of resources going to certain districts created the perfect environment for darker organizations to prey on areas and people still suffering from the conflict more than a century later.

Some time later as the year is uncertain, the Aurul Council was formed, though it did not rule over the city. Believing they could utilize the city better, enjoying the idea of a semi-underground city, they chose to destabilize the region in order to consolidate power. The council stoked old feuds and grudges between the ruling clans, reigniting conflicts throughout the city, then moving in to resolve them in a manner which gave them land, buildings, or supplies. Once again, buildings and homes were destroyed, though the original occupants were not the ones cleaning up the wreckage and moving back in. Residents of the city began to move out, including those of Clan Mudyap and Clan Taydrum. By the time the clan leaders had realized what had been happening in their city, it was too late. By 40 AAL, the Aurul Council had aggressively negotiated for ownership of Drak-Kazan, obtaining it, and renaming it Dregden. 

Since then, the council has repaired and renovated much of the city. The mines which flooded the old freshwater streams have been completely carved out, building a saltwater port where it connects with the sea. The long caverns and crevices are prime locations for illicit activity away from the public face of the city. Members of Clan Mudyap and Clan Taydrum still reside within Dregden, but at a much lower number than before.

The architecture of Dregden is mainly of two different types. One is carved directly into the basalt cavern the city lies in. These consist of the outer walls, many longstanding shops, and most of the more expensive housing are very old carvings into the basalt interior of the cavern. Built on top of that are the majority of shops, homes, and other buildings, which are a mix of imported wood from around Kerine in more of the middle-class areas. For poor and slum-like areas, buildings are a mix of scrap, miscellaneous wood, driftwood, and parts of ships that wreck themselves along the coast.

Structures are typically adorned based on the culture of the people that reside there. Though, citizens who share a particular familiarity with one of the two former ruling clans do decorate their homes out of respect. For those respecting Clan Mudyap, eight containers holding fresh water are placed outside there home, sealed but available for use for anyone passing by. For those respecting Clan Taydrum, loose stones are laid out along the front of their building like gravel, showing that we all come from humble beginnings. For most other homes, adornments are usually personal or related to the criminal organization that supervises the territory they live in.

The geography of Dregden is mainly a dense range of interlocking basalt columns. These columns continue deep beneath the earth, and act as the main structural supports for the entire city. Outside, beaches and grassy plains surround the city. There is access to the city via roads and a saltwater port named Port Black. Freshwater is mainly derived from a freshwater aquifer that the settlement was initially founded around by kobolds long ago. The rock formations, grassy plains, and beaches make the settlement look stunning during the warmer seasons.

Dregden remains relatively cool compared to other subterranean cities. The breeze from the Trackless Sea flows through the port into the city proper. The weather is relatively stable, though during the spring and summer seasons the city enjoys more storms than usual. Though, due to its layout, much of the city is unaffected by the weather.