Nacl Oceanium

...The massive pit in the center of the city I found to be quite disconcerting. Now, I've never lived underground, and I've never lived in a dwarven city even, but I could tell that this place is one giant slum. The guards accompanied me the whole time, as if I were plotting against the crown! Or council, or whatever rules this dreadful place. I asked how deep the hole was and in response the guard just threw a torch into it and we watched it fall and fall until I saw it stop getting smaller. A yell of surprise echoed back up, and I asked the guard how he could be so careless, clearly he could have killed whoever that was! I couldn't believe what he did next, you know, the absurdity! He simply shrugged his shoulders and said "He probably wishes it did" and walked away. I don't think I will return ever again. To think what it must be to be a mine slave in that city... Barbaric. In any case, the salt is as cheap as it comes, a real steal!...

--From A Merchant's Guide to Vashyl by Sir Nadelus Cuiran

  Across the Shimmering Sea from the famed Port Gushti is a little-known mountain city called Nacl Oceanium. And yet this relatively small city has an impact that reverberates throughout our world -- they mine salt. Now, myself being a druid and animal lover, you may assume that I would know nothing of how to properly salt and prepare a pork flank, but I can assure you, my love of animals does indeed extend to my tastebuds, and my druidic training has, rather than turning me against the consumption of animals, like so many of my brethren, offered me great insight as to the best ways to cook an animal, and how to best prepare it for a meal, but I digress.   Nacl Oceanium is located on the eastern side of the Shimmering Sea on the continent of Vashyl Minor, at the border of the Golden Marshes and Farro's Paradise, which most of my readers will be familiar with. The inhabitants are primarily dwarves and drow, and the city has the peculiar characteristic of being built from underground upwards rather than being carved into the mountain from the surface. This rather curious design has left a gaping hole into the underdark serving as the center of the city. The entrance to the city is atop the Million Steps of Red Nightal, directly in front of the market district of the city. From the market district, the city proceeds downwards rather than backwards, and below it, we find successive rings, each harboring certain classes of citizen (the society of Nacl Oceanium is notoriously brutal and oppressive, but tolerated because of its importance, as discussed later). The middle rings are generally reserved for lowly servants of the aristocrats -- artisans, enforcers, lesser merchants, and the like. At the lowest levels of the city, not yet in the underdark, dwell the slaves. They live just outside of the mines in which they toil, and are only allowed to live outside of them because constant contact with the salt would kill them too quickly. Below them, in the Underdark proper, live the aristocrats -- wealthy Drow and Duergar that run the city from the comfortable depths.   Society in the city is deeply divided. Slaves, of course, have no rights, are expected to die very young, and, most importantly, are almost entirely normal dwarves. These dwarves were obtained from the neighbors of the Duergar in the early years of the city's construction, and are now bred for an endless supply of future slaves to bring the city wealth and prosperity -- if only for the wealthiest denizens. The merchant class seems to live above the other artisans and workers in status, as they are the chief negotiators that bring money into the city. Only the most smooth-talking and devilish of the non-slave population are chosen by the aristocrats to become merchants (you will find that the aristocrats control everything that goes on in the city -- they fear revolt if they do not). These merchants are closely guarded and monitored by loyal aristocratic servants (often minor aristocrats themselves) much as a dog monitors his favorite chew toy. Any skimming or scheme to cheat the aristocrats of their cut of the profit is quickly discovered, and the perpetrator sent to the mines. Below them, the artisans, enforcers, and other skilled workers are the bulk of the city's free population. Many of these citizens work in the mines, but as overseers and quality inspectors, not as actual miners, that is slave work. These citizens are neither well-liked, nor trusted to operate without direct aristocratic supervision, and as such, are required to check in with their local administrator multiple times a day to ensure no foul play. At the lowest rung, of course, are the slaves, who have little to no rights, and not much needs be said about their lot. They live and are treated brutally -- those babies deemed unfit to ever rise above the rank of miner are blinded by drake acid and forever sentenced to the mines, never to mate, and never to be free. This cruelty dually serves to keep the other slaves in line and to simply demarcate those unfit for reproduction. Slaves who are not marked may rise out of the mines to become enforcers and minor members of society that function in entirely servile roles. Some may even obtain their freedom by demonstrating their loyalty and worth to an aristocrat who is willing to take them into their service. This brings us, finally, to the aristocratic class. Every detail of life, down to where and when a man or woman can take a break from working, is dictated, in detail, by the aristocrats. Servants and spies of the rich litter the city, frequently reporting back to their masters. Indeed, the few outsiders that have been to the lowest levels of the city have reported long queues of informants waiting at the doorstep of their lord, preparing to give their report.   It may seem strange to you, my dear readers, that such a brutal and seemingly barbaric society would be allowed to partake of our global trade and communication, but Nacl Oceanium cannot be so easily cut out. For one, they are one of the largest, cheapest sources of the salt that is so necessary to ship food throughout our world. Think, for example, what would happen to that famed kingdom of Nörn if the food shipments stopped. Not only this, but the city lies on a strategically important location, and the city could easily cut off the Port Gushti from the rest of the continent if angered. Thus, the city has the world in somewhat of a bind, and so we turn a blind eye to its barbarism in exchange for cheap salt and no trouble.