Havenport

The city-state of Havenport consists of one of the worlds largests cities, along with small outlying villages and plenty of farmland. It is protected by a massive marble wall, that is the result of the carving out of the famous White Harbor. The wall has an inner part, that was the original wall, and then it has an outward bowing part after the city needed to expand its walls. The bowing part is three times larger than the inner part, and holds most of the residential areas, while the inner part houses guilds, artisans and the council building. Most building have marble used in them in some way, due to the large amounts constantly mined either for trade or for expansion of the White Harbor. Being able to keep the marble of your house clean is seen as a status symbol, and in some extreme cases, can get you named a criminal for disgracing the town. It has a population of roughly 150.000 people, and estimates say that over 20.000 people come through each month for trading. Havenport is also known as the City of Guilds, as many guilds have esthablised headquaters here. This is due to Havenport not having a guild tax, leading to guilds being able to earn money everywhere in the world via trading and other means while keeping it all for themselves. Being located in the middle of the Stony Shore and no other true harbor along the shore existing, Havenport only continues to grow as the trade flows through it.

Originally just some farming villages, Havenport was esthablished after a group of stone masons and fishermen decided they needed easy access to the sea. Not knowing how to work with wood, and in fact not having much of it, they decided to carve out docks in the marble cliffs along the coast. It was a big project, and took years before it resembled anything, but as the towns grew and they worked together more and more, progress on the harbor came along. 4 decades after the first stone was struck, the initial harbor was complete, a massive staircase leading down to the sea and twenty jettys carved out of the marble seaside. The White Harbor was born, and with it trade started flowing, more and more each year. Quickly the collection of towns moved closer to the docks and esthablished a city, using the left over material from the harbor to build walls. After five years of hard work, tall marble walls had been built. Twice as large as they needed to leave room for expansion. In just fifty years Havenport became the largest citystate in the world, and they had to expand not only the harbor but the walls. So they got to carving the harbor, and ripping down part of the old wall to build it bigger, into what it is today. Each year more and more ships came to trade. Soon the guilds started appering, making Havenport their home, and needing a proper system of governance, the people decided to have the guilds lead them, believing they would do whats best for Havenport. Thus esthablishing the Guild-Council. Other towns and villages have tried esthablising other harbors, but none have been successful. Rumors say that pirates that mysteriously only attack those that try to make their own harbor, always appear before they have even a chance at defending themselves.

Havenport is ruled by a council. This council is made up of the heads of each guild and powerful individuals, like a rich merchant. Every 3 years, the council appoints a representative, this representative acts as the ruler of the city. They have veto rights on any proposals and is who is sent for diplomatic reasons to other city-states or kingdoms. If the representative abuses their power, they can be made to stand down after an unanimous vote from the council.
The following is a list of guilds and individuals whom have a spot on the council:

• Artisans Guild
• Mages Guild
• Traders Guild
• Banking Guild
• Mercenaries Guild

  Havenport's size means they are able to field a large amount of soldiers. They employ 3.000 guards in the City-Watch, 4.000 soldiers who patrol the lands around Havenport and stand ready for war and 8.000 sailors manning their trade fleet of 100 ships. While having only few official soldiers, the City-Watch and the sailors of the trade fleet are all trained as soldiers first and foremost, and can therefore quickly turn into a fighting force of 15.000 if needed. Far from the most elite soldiers in the world, they are primarily trained in seige defense, with their main goal being keeping Havenport safe, not attacking others. This focus makes relations with other sovereign states easier.
Appointed by Havenports representative, the Grand-Marshall has complete and ultimate control over any part of the military. Just like the representative, if this power is abused they can be made to stand down by the council after a vote.