Selenica, the Crossroad City

 

(map by Giovanni Bondini translation and additions by Simone Neri, source here)

Selenica is a city of 39,000 people in eastern Darokin, not far from the Emirates of Ylaruam,, Alfheim, the Grand Duchy of Karameikos and the dwarf Kingdom of Rockhome. It is in a unique position, not only being close to the borders of those other 4 nations but also being reasonably close to Thyatis, the Five Shires and the Northern Reaches. It is ideally placed for overland trade, and not only do Darokinian merchants set out from here, but foreign merchants also come here, bringing their wares from far away. But as well as the massive mercantile economy, there is also a significant military and diplomatic presence here in Selenica. The city is close to the notorious Orclands in the mountainous northeast of Darokin and although Fort Hobart stands between the orcs and Selenica, the city has enough defences should threats come from either a different direction or bypass Fort Hobart. 

Selenica has quite a substantial write-up in Gaz11: The Republic of Darokin so I won't repeat it all here. Here are some of my own ideas: 

• Street crime is not as prevalent as in other cities - there is no Thieves Guild (see below) and there is a substantial city watch. However, not all the watch are above bribery, and the merchants houses pay the biggest bribes, so some of the watch are more loyal to particular merchant houses than to impartially upholding the law. These crooked watch members rarely do the dirty work themselves, but will turn a blind eye or redirect patrols while agents and thieves working for merchant houses go after the assets of rivals. 
• The Central Bank of Selenica is a prime target for the boldest thieves looking to make a reputation for themselves. However, the vaults are not actually underneath the bank but in a demiplane in the Ethereal plane, and can only be accessed by a portal guarded by an array of different traps and constructed creatures that obey the bank manager's commands. 
• The city is surrounded by a large stone wall studded with watchtowers. The defences are manned by troops from Fort Hobart - typically a legion of 1160 soldiers and officers. There are also 300 city watchmen who are more focused on crime than military invasion but they can join in a fight if necessary. There is also the Mercenaries Guild (see below) as well as various armed citizens who can rush to the ramparts in an emergency.
• The sewers under the city are substantial and extensive. The good news is that compared to less advanced cities, Selenica looks and smells clean, with animal and human waste draining down off the streets into the sewers. The bad news is that the sewers are frequently infested with various scavenging monsters that may emerge from the sewers and attack the townsfolk. Carrion Crawlers, Otyughs (see AD&D Monster Manual), giant rats, gelatinous cubes and ochre jellies have all caused problems in the sewers over the decades. 
• Although Selenica is not a very religious city, it does have a few temples including one dedicated to King Halav (popular with resident and visiting Karameikans),  two smaller temples of Kagyar maintained by dwarven clerics, a mosque to the great prophet Al-Kalim of Ylaruam, a veritable cathedral to Bassallia (a Neutral Exalted, a merchant princess of Darokin who became an Exalted by becoming a Polymath - she is considered a patron demigoddess of merchants and traders), one Church of Law and one Temple of Neutrality. Worshipping Chaos is strictly forbidden and chaos cultists can expect to be executed if found guilty. 
• As well as the two main merchant houses of the city (Al-Azrad and Hallonica) there are other smaller merchant houses and companies. Some of these have banded together to form the Selenica Cooperative, an affiliation of Darokin merchants and traders who have decided to work together by sharing caravan guards, business contacts, warnings of threats to trade or life and useful services (translators, wheelwrights, mule-handlers). They are of course based in Selenica, but they have trading posts in various big cities and towns in eastern Brun, including Penhaligon and Specularum.   
• Selenica is an excellent base from which to go on adventures. All types of mundane equipment (except large sea vessels) are available here, as well as quite a few magic items. There is also a variety of services such as sages, animal trainers, alchemists and lots of mercenaries, and experts in adventuring classes who can train adventurers as they advance in power. Clerics in the various temples can cure diseases, remove curses and even raise the dead - all for a donation to the temple coffers. And of course there are plenty of merchants who will buy loot from adventurers. Some of these will be careful not to handle stolen goods - they don't want to be labelled fences. But others are not so fussy. 
• The Selenica Arcane College is not as extensive or powerful as some of the establishments in Glantri or Alphatia but they have an adequate spell library with all the standard spells and some new ones as well. They also will identify magic items for a modest fee (50gp per item). The Dean Marius Borrisus (human male, MU19, neutral) is of Alphatian descent and still corresponds with family in Alphatia while the vice dean of arcane research Tellerine Sapphire (human female, MU16, lawful) is good friends with members of the Magician's Guild of Specularum and the world famous Glantri Great School of Magic. Whatever conflicts may be between mages of different nations, the Selenica Arcana College is viewed as something of a neutral meeting ground.
• Hippogriffs are sometimes seen flying around one of the towers in the south of the city. This is the home of Corrigescu's Aerial Travel. An enterprising Karameikian, Yakob Corrigescu (human male MU10/Mer4, neutral), has tamed a clutch of 4 hippogriffs and has trained riders. Although expensive, they are an excellent way of travelling all over the Known World, with each hippogriff carrying Corrigescu's own rider and one paying passenger, and can fly up to 72 miles per day.
• The guilds have become quite powerful, including the Wainwrights' (wagon makers) Guild, the Coopers'  (barrel-makers) Guild and the Muleteers' (mule-handlers) Guild. Although not quite as powerful as the merchant houses that use their services, the merchants are careful not to upset the guilds as any merchant barred from the guilds' services will find business more difficult than usual.  The Mercenaries' Guild and the Bodyguards' Guild are rivals, each vying for the lucrative caravan guard business, so a merchant would have to anger both guilds to be refused caravan guards. 
• The Mercenaries' Guild is a useful contact for adventurers, as they are sometimes contacted with job requests that are too dangerous or specialized for either the Darokinian army or the Bodyguards' Guild. It can also marshal more conventional armed forces, and if the city is in real danger then perhaps 900 armed men (of various types) can be hired to bolster the city defences. 
• The Darokin Diplomatic Corps (DDC) maintains a large office here, with diplomats and trade emissaries travelling out to nearby countries, typically joining a trade caravan. The DDC sometimes gets involved in internal disputes as well, between merchant houses, or guilds or civil powers and the military. About 30 diplomats are based here at any one time. 
• Selenica is officially part of Darokin but it is far from Darokin city, and often acts and seems like an independent city-state. The current Lord Mayor Thanya Berrigord (human female, Ftr12/Mer6 neutral) considers it easier to ask forgiveness than permission from the government in Darokin. She has even developed her own contacts with both the dwarves of Rockhome and the elves of Alfheim. These aren't proper diplomatic relations but more like back-channels. Although Thanya does not intend to announce secession or full independence, she does expect Darokin City to allow her city a certain level of autonomy. She has actually used the DDC based in Selenica to negotiate aspects of this so as not to antagonise the central government. 
• As an international hub of trade and diplomacy, there is inevitably a certain amount of espionage as well. Nearly every nation in the Known World has some sort of agent keeping an eye on things in Selenica - even if things do not happen directly in the city, news will reach Selenica quicker than most cities. It is not just nations either - merchant houses and other groups will have their own people watching other people. Usually this is just a matter of gathering information, but sometimes it escalates into more direct action, in which case adventurers may get involved as expendable proxies. The DDC is not officially an intelligence agency, but it is still often alerted to the more drastic activities of various agents. The DDC and the City Watch in turn may hire adventurers to stop these activities, or at least keep the peace within the city. 
• Currently there is no proper Thieves Guild - it was banned, with senior members arrested and executed and its headquarters ransacked after it tried to assassinate senior city officials (and succeeded in killing the deputy Lord Mayor and the Captain of the city watch) in an attempted coup on 24 years ago (976 AC). However, some members survived and there are gangs of thieves run by former guild members around the city. They keep a low profile, and the surviving former guild members have a deep hatred and distrust of Glantrian wizards - according to them, the coup was not simply the Thieves' Guild acting on its own, but in partnership with a circle of renegade Glantrian wizards. These wizards failed to go through with their part of the plan and instead teleported out of the city, leaving the Thieves Guild on its own in a battle with the city government. 
• The city does not have a river running through it, so its main source of fresh water is a series of deep wells that go down into the bedrock to some subterranean lake. Generally speaking this is simply accepted without question, but every now and then the buckets hauled up contain something more than fresh water - a blind white fish, a weird sort of aquatic fungus, some organic detritus or the severed hand of a scaly humanoid (admittedly the last one has only happened once but it immediately caused a commotion). A sage wants to hire adventurers to go down to the bottom of the well and investigate this underground lake.