(population 67,000) Often called "the City of Thieves," Stormhaven is a bustling seaport, with a rather unsavory reputation. It is the second largest city in Orel, located along the western shores of the Thannish Estuary.
Stormhaven, also known as the “City of Thieves,” is an important and influential city not only in the Kingdom of Orel, but perhaps in all of Corwyn. A truly marvelous cosmopolitan city of great culture which as attracted the most talented artisans, artists, and scholars from across the known world, as well as a vital commercial hub for financial interests throughout the Heartlands.
This grand city is currently ruled by Grand Duchess Inara Andradi, assisted by a sixteen-seat council of merchants and nobles who answer directly to her. Stormhaven is first and foremost, a city of trade. For all its culture and supposed splendor, its real value lies in the coin and trade that happen within its walls. Stormhaven is a city of wealth, and moreover, it’s a city where the richest people gather to trade among themselves. And that concentration of fortunes creates a sort of critical mass which serves as a fiery economic engine that powers the infamous "City of Thieves."
Trade
The city of Stormhaven derives its wealth and power from trade, which comes overland from neighboring cities such as Ordana, Morathad, Ormath, and Ashara, or through its vast harbor, which at any time holds hundreds of merchant vessels hailing from ports across the known world. The city is accessible via the Stoneway, which connects it to Westgard Keep. There is also a ferry service that carries travelers to the Gwynnish city of Kholis, located on the eastern shores of the Estuary.
Culture
Due to its size and influence, Stormhaven is a cosmopolitan city with a diverse population of citizens. While humans comprise the vast majority of its populace, it is home to large minority population made up of elves, dwarves, halflings, and half-elves. Most citizens tend to be social, stalwart and outspoken people who maintain a somewhat enlightened perspective of other cultures throughout Corwyn. While most are proud of their city’s history, Stormhaven residents typically refrain from dismissing foreign cultures out of hand. Like many Orellians, the people of Stormhaven seek to improve their lives solely through the accumulation of wealth and self-importance, rather than military conquest. As a whole, most Orellians look unfavorably on military conquest and warfare, and most prefer to achieve success through commerce.
Stormhaven’s culture often uses clothing as an outward display of status. While all manner of dress can be seen on the city streets, guild members usually only don their livery when conducting official business or meetings, during important holidays or while ventures outside the city. Nobles usually display their crests or coat-of-arms only in subtle affectations, such as a signet ring or other understated jewelry, while their household servants often wear clothes fully emblazoned with their house heraldry. In contrast, wealthy women of Stormhaven are widely known to maintain a high sense of fashion, often wearing elegant silk gowns, furs and sparkling jewelry.
Religion
Stormhaven has such a huge variety of faiths, it’s easy to assume that if any deity is worshiped somewhere in Corwyn, he or she has a temple, shrine, or at the very least, a small group of followers gathering somewhere within the city walls. The largest temples located in Stormhaven are dedicated to Myrival, Shua, Aleyssia, Ethenghar, and Enom. On a darker note, like many large cities across western Corwyn, Stormhaven houses several secret places of worship where devotees of dark powers exercise their secretive faiths. These evil faiths are forbidden from open worship by the city’s laws, and are therefore forced to conduct their ceremonies in secret.
Law and Order
Stormhaven maintains two separate armed forces: the Dragoons, which are part of Orel's military, and the Guardia, a police force commonly called “the Watch.” The current strength of the Army garrison is about 2,000 dragoons, and the Guardia has a force of about 750 members. The garrison serves as Stormhaven's soldiery and its members man the city gates, walls and towers, conduct road patrols, and man watch-posts, and are assigned as guards to the Ducal palace. The Guardia, or “Watch,” serve as the city’s police force, patrolling the city streets and alleyways within the city walls. Their most common duties are to capture criminals, settle petty disputes, stop tavern fights, and use their presence to deter street crime against citizens. All serious crimes are thoroughly investigated by the Watch, who employ a veritable army of informants and spies. Overall, the Watch is considered a highly-effective, professional police force and their officers are both feared and respected.
Rulings on the city's laws are issued by the Magistrates, whose duties include running both the civil and criminal courts and issuing sentences to those found guilty of various criminal offenses. Those who are convicted of sentences involving death of life imprisonment can make a final appeal before the City ruler, Duchess Inara Andradi.
Guilds
It was said that the Grand Duchess rules Stormhaven but does not truly run it. This adage is quite true, because much of the city’s power lies in the hands of its guilds. These powerful merchant and craft organizations control the life-blood of Stormhaven’s economy. There are more than 40 recognized guilds spread throughout the city, and each has a strict set of rules and regulations which govern its members. Disputes within the guilds commonly arise, which are then hashed out daily in the massive Merchants’ Hall located in the city center.
Nobility
The Nobility of Stormhaven is highly influential in both the city economy and politics. It consists of 76 families of varying degrees of power, most of whom can trace their lines back before the founding of the city itself. For a full list of the Noble Houses of Stormhaven, click here.
Merchants
Apart from the nobility, the city also has a thriving and wealthy class of merchants, made up of buyers and sellers in thousands of trades not controlled by the city’s Guilds. These include everything from massive caravan operators to the lowliest shopkeepers, who offer a countless variety of different goods.
City Districts
The Castle Ward, predictably, is where the center of government happens. This ward includes Mount Stormhaven (at the very back of the map), where Castle Stormhaven is built. Castle Stormhaven is a nigh-unassailable fortress, protected by catapults and siege weapons ready to unleash their might on any who would threaten the city. Well, the Castle, at any rate.
The Dock Ward is where trade happens. Like most of the cities we’ve talked about before, the docks are a place of filth and poverty and crime. This is where actual work happens, and as such, it is basically untenable, described as smelly, clumsily built, dangerous, and “a riotous, nigh-perpetual brawl that covers entire acres, interrupted only by small buildings, intermittent trade businesses, an errant dog or two, and a few brave watchguards, the whole lot wallowing in the stench of rotting fish.” Because heaven forbid anyone actually make any money for the business magnates out there.
The North Ward is where all the wealthy middle class merchant families live. Lesser nobles and the like hang around this Ward’s presumably cobblestone-and-gold-lined streets that aren’t constantly ablaze with brawls.
But even the North Ward is looked down on by the inhabitants of the Sea Ward. The Sea Ward is the wealthiest ward in the city, home to actual noble families that have expansive estates. Here the elite of the city gather amongst the broad streets, wondrous statues, bright and expensive shops, and even the ward’s own arena.
The Southern Ward, sometimes called Caravan City, is where more regular work happens. This is where caravans are loaded and unloaded with goods and services. the City Watch patrols here regularly, for this part of the city teems with tourists and travelers, who are easy prey for the city thieves and pickpockets. What makes the Ward so busy is this area is where all commerce happens. This is the part of the city that never sleeps–candles, lanterns, and oil lamps, keep this part of the city lit all hours of the night
City History
Stormhaven has a history stretching back thousands of years. Its first settlers were a people known as the Vilshi. Little is known of them other than their penchant for worshipping the Dark Gods, and their seamanship. The only remnant of Vilshi culture is the series of ancient temples located in a series of damp caves, east of the city walls. Known today as the "Forbidden Temples." These antediluvian structures of glossy dark stone and weathered pale rock were built long ago and the city founders beheld them with a mixture of profound respect and abject fear. Some say the city founders breached one of the temples and discovered the actual resting place of the Dark Gods of Corwyn. What eldritch bargains may have been struck in the mists of history will likely never be known, but the city and the eldritch fanes have dwelled in uneasy cohabitation ever since.
The region that would later be called Stormhaven was originally a trading stop utilized by the local tribesmen called the Vilshi and traveling merchants from all along the coast. Early accounts of permanent farms being established in the area varied slightly; most sages believe they were first observed as early as the late Second Age.
The actual name "Stormhaven" was first used circa the mid-Third Age by sea captains to refer to the warlord-controlled town at whose port they docked. It did not become a true city until the Year 570 of the Third Age, when Agaron Red-Axe became the first Lord of Stormhaven. His official coronation is the date from which the Stormhaven calendar begins.
Over the next three centuries, the size and population of the city grew at a tremendous pace. By the late Third Age, most of Stormhaven’s famous guilds had taken root in the city and construction of the massive sea gates had begun. Stormhaven's guild-masters seized control of the City shortly after, in the year 1230/3, beginning an era of great turmoil and political conflict referred to as “the Reckoning.” This dark period ended after a few decades, and the more modern form of governance was put in place in the “Year of Shattered Swords.”
As the city grew, people from all across what is now the nation of Orel and beyond traveled to Stormhaven to take their chance at earning wealth and renown. They were afforded their chances by the city's stable and fair system of government, its stalwart City Guard and truly honest government. of the Watch. By the end of the Third Age, Stormhaven had earned its reputation as a place of tolerance for the myriads of different cultures, lifestyles, and religions associated with the Thannish people. In the late Third Age, the city rulers joined with five other neighboring cities to create the legendary Orem Confederacy, a mercantile giant unlike anything ever seen before on Corwyn.
When the Time of Troubles came to the city, Stormhaven became a battleground, but its rulers’ keen abilities in diplomacy assured its survival. Stormhaven did not face ruin as some other cities did when Valden the Conqueror invaded the region. The city was saved from destruction because its rulers wisely opened the city gates to Valden’s armies and negotiated a favorable peace treaty which has endured to this day.
Points of Interest
The Jagged Caverns: located below the city streets are a vast network of natural caverns and expertly carved passages. Whether these dungeons were dug by the Vilshi, or some subterranean race in unknown. Today, they serve as hideouts for thieves, dark cults, and smugglers.
