Welcome to Dænavar, a coastal city where political conflict threatens to spill into violence in the streets, where technology vies with sorcery to control the future while the religions in the city hide an ancient and terrifying secret, and where stalwart adventurers who can keep their wits about them can change the course of history. This is my #City23 project inspired by the #Dungeon23 challenge posed by Sean McCoy of Tuesday Night Games. A good overview of the challenge can be found on Gizmodo.

For my #City23 challenge, I have the following goals:

• 1 District each Month (for a total of 12 districts)
• 4(.3) Streets each district
• 7 things for each street

For each day, pick one thing that can be found on the street to create each day from the list, just a couple of sentences (I will most certainly fail on the “just a couple of sentences” part):

• Location (goal: 2 per week)
• NPC (description, role, motivation, secret) (goal: 2 per week)
• Faction (goal, location) (goal: 1 per week)
• Monument or landmark
• Rumor
• Creature
• Legend
• Festival/holiday
• Magic Item

Background

Before I start detailing districts, a (hopefully) brief overview of the city and its history is in order.

For longer than anyone can remember, a lonely temple to a near-forgotten god has stood on the bluff overlooking what would become known as Camerlon Bay, a natural bay at the foot of rolling hills and timbered mountains. The Laurents, a non-navigable river empties into the bay near here. Mild weather and plentiful water, the area supports bountiful agriculture, and the nearby forests of oak, pine, madrone, and sequoia means that timber is plentiful. However, lack of easy access to other cities meant that the villages in the area grew very slowly. The trade port here was often overrun by pirates preying on ocean-going merchant ships.

A wealthy trader, Lambertus Auch, took a liking to the area and had a keep built on a promontory adjacent to the docks. He named it Dænavar, after his late wife. A small city grew up around the keep, and over time they raised money to improve the port facilities and to begin construction on a road through the mountains to the east, hoping to encourage trade with the inland cities.

A generation later, the city’s leaders grew complacent, and a pirate captain named Telford Middlegorn attacked the town, taking it for his own. He ruled there for nearly twenty years, never wisely nor well. Trade dropped off, and the people suffered. Residents of the city secretly made their way to other nearby cities, begging for help to repel Captain Middlegorn and his cronies. Eventually, the newly crowned Emperor Zacharius II of the nearby Empire of Phalan agreed to send troops over the mountains and rout the pirates. In exchange he would be given special trade arrangements and be allowed to establish a garrison in the city. When the city was freed, they kept their word.

A century later, the city had grown considerably. It was a trade hub between the other cities along the coast and the inland cities. Its favorable trade agreement with the Phalan Empire continued, though sometimes the guild masters of Dænavar chafed under the established discounts. A University of Sorcery was established and attracted talented people from all over the land. Discovery of ores in the nearby mountains led to the establishment of several metal foundries and smiths. And the city’s agricultural production grew by leaps and bounds.

Then a prospector in the mountains to the northeast made a discovery: an ore never seen before, near black with crimson flecks throughout. It quickly became a popular stone in fashionable jewelry. It would take decades before its true potential would be discovered. A metal wright by the name of Michiel Dubuisson, refining the ore attempting to crystallize it, accidentally subjected it to a strong thaumatic field. The ore burst into flame, burning both hotter than coal and longer, producing much less smoke. It was shortly dubbed Incendium.

The practical uses Incendium ore were many, including becoming the primary energy source for steam-driven constructs of all sizes. When (carefully) ground into fine powder and mixed with certain other chemicals, it produces a powder that burns quick and hot, producing copious gas. It wasn’t long before Incendium-based firearms were developed, catalyzing an arms race with other cities on the continent.

Sensing an impending shift in the balance of power, the then Emperor of Phalan sent several armies to Dænevar to bring it under imperial control. Defenders of the city fought well, but surprise and overwhelming numbers of forces arrayed against them meant they could not prevail. The empire annexed the city and installed a governor to run it.

It’s been sixty years since Dænevar was forcibly wed to the Empire of Phalan. Various attempts to overthrow the governor have been ruthlessly shut down, but separatist movements continue to flare up. The technologists of the Fog Town district continue to invent mechanical marvels now aided by the Goddess of Innovation who walks among them and even helps work the furnace bellows from time to time. The Arcanists of the Arcane University continue their studies and Wizarding Society continues to infiltrate local politics attempting to use the levers of political power to maintain dominance over their rivals, the technologists. The noble families work to flatter the imperial representatives with expensive trinkets and fêtes all while secretly funding the separatists. And the priests and bishops of Way of the Temples warn of an impending calamity while being tight-lipped as to the nature of it.

The city is a powder keg, waiting for the spark that will cause it to explode.

Walk carefully, keep your wits about you, choose your alliances (and enemies) wisely, and be ready for anything..,