Mephit: As a Czech saying goes - Komu čest, tomu čest. - Who deserves honour, let him have honour. Such tasks are always demanding and time consuming. I am quite busy at work and I am eternally grateful for every piece of game information that I don't have to create myself. And if it is so thorough and enlightened like your work is... And another reason why I am so excited - my campaign takes place in the Eldeen Reaches and I made the Aundairian influence into one of the central plots. The PCs will have to journey to Aundair one day, probably Fairhaven. And then I discovered this thread. So: thankyouthankyouthankyou etc. :-)
:embarrass Wow, I mean... Wow, thanks you guys! I really just wanted to give back to this community and wanted to make it easier for other DMs, and it sounds like things have worked that way so far. It's really 90% due to feedback that it's still going, though, so thanks for helping out! If there are any specific parts you liked and think there should be more of, or parts that you thought were overdone, I'd love to hear about 'em!
I must confess that I enjoyed the Marble Halls part the most, but then I'm biased. I absolutely love urban crime, and Fairhaven hasn't been given much love on that part, methinks (actually, none of the major Khorvairian cities have, save Sharn), The all-encompassing, in-depth descriptions you grant every part of the city is very satisfying and most enjoyable to say the least. The last part ('What Brings You to Fairhaven?') was very compelling as well! Which city is next on your list (if any ^_^)? Wasn't it alphabetically organized?
@Jabberwocky: (What a frabjous name!) Thanks for the high praise, and I know what you mean about resources. For the NPCs in the games I DM, more than half of them are sample characters from prestige classes, etc. I really like writing plots (as you can see here) and the mechanics are saved for last when sometimes I don't have time. Which leads me to a question: How much crunch should be in this? I'm avoiding it for two reasons. A) It's a bit time-consuming, and not a very efficient use of my resources. B) The less crunch that's in here, the more 4e-friendly this'll be when the time comes.
@Tharkan: Well goo news, there are many more nests of urban crime in the city. Eventually I'll put up what I have for the "Guilds and Organizations" section, but for now consider the "Hiding" section above for some bread crumbs. You're right about the imbalance of crime too, though I think that may just be a details thing. To describe real cities, you'd think crime was all but gone. New York in a paragraph would cover the five boroughs, Empire State Building, maybe a couple of the bridges... but not a lot about criminal organizations. But anyone who's been there knows that crime is an issue in more than a few areas, it's just not a big feature of the city. Actually, the Dark Dagger Gang in Five Nations is more than I'm going to have to work with for most of these cities. Korth, for instance, has absolutely nothing but about four lines of tantalizing contraband and drug sources. Wroat doesn't even have a table like the others, though the Swords of Liberty likely play a big role in the city's underground. As for what city's next, I was envisioning doing all the Five Nations in alphabetical order (starting with Aundair) but I'm pushing Breland back one since it's already got Sharn fully detailed. My plan, then, is Korth then Wroat then Flamekeep.
@Wed: Gracias, amigo! Aprecio las palabras amables, y me gusta que puede ayudarte. Como deci arriba, uso muchas cosas en mis juegos que obteneo de libros o estos repartos. Simplemente, escribo regalos por mis compadres aqui. Gracias un otra vez!
Sovereign Ward Of all the Five Nations, Aundair is probably the one with the most active population of Vassals who pursue the tenets of the Sovereign Host. From a modern perspective this makes sense: hemmed in as the country is by zealous Thrane, necromantic Karrnath, and the druidic Eldeen Reaches, Aundairians feel that they need to respond with just as much fervor. The character goes back even farther, though, to the very founding of Aundair as a refuge for human settlers seeking religious tolerance. One need look no further than the short distance between the royal palace of Fairhold and the stunning temples to the Host in the Sovereign Ward to see that religion still has a powerful place in Aundairian culture. Despite this heritage, the neighborhoods of the Sovereign Ward are slowly slipping away from the church leaders of the Sovereign Host. Secular powers, including the Dragonmarked Houses, the city governor, and Queen Aurala herself, have taken over leadership of more than a few local power centers. Most of this occurred during the Last War as Aundair’s powerful (and popular) monarch’s felt the need to have more and more of the country under their direct control. The Sovereign Stars liturgical council has responded by fanning the devotion of their faithful and promoting the church in the eyes of the people. While most of the city’s population remains unaware of the power struggle, many have noticed a shift in sermons over the last decade or so and the larger city seals that have appeared on civic centers throughout the ward. Population: 9,300 Social Class: Upper class. Character: Stately houses and stunning temples are to be found throughout the ward. In many ways, the Sovereign Ward is the face of Fairhaven, and it’s classical architecture is certainly the image that most people, even Aundairians, picture when they think of the City of Lights. Residents are generally friendly and helpful, though many of the aristocrats who make their homes here are less inviting and certainly keep their distance from travelers. Districts: Average residential, civic district, elf neighborhood, garrison, inn district, park district, shops (2), temple district, Businesses: Fine shops selling expensive products and religious items; gold piece limit: 100,000 gp. Key Personalities: Hraida ir’Blorreuvi (NG female dwarf expert 4/artificer 2), High Priest Banau Chardil (LN male half-elf cleric 9), Cyul Jhaelian (LN male elf wizard 5/rogue 3), Torak Mroranon (NE male dwarf expert 8), Herun Naliamos (LN female gnome rogue 6), Captain Kleris ir’Ostren (LG male human fighter 5/paladin 3), Teura Vhialonn (CN female elf adept 10/lorekeeper 3). Watch Detail: 252 guards of the Watch: 86 on day shift (67 patrol, 19 stationed), 95 on evening shift (72 patrol, 23 stationed), 101 on night shift (76 patrol, 25 stationed). These guards are responsible for the Whiteroof Ward as well as the Sovereign Ward. Sovereign WardShow
Endower District Type: Average Residential Buildings: average residences (234), fine residences (32), poor residences (28), shrine (Sovereign Host) First Impression: Quiet district with colorful banners hanging from windows and small clusters of citizens taking a break from the noisier neighboring streets.
Endower gets its name from being the last neighborhood (the End Tower) of the Sovereign Ward. It is a cheerful neighborhood and what many older residents of the city say Marble Halls used to be. Most of the residents of Endower work in various parts of the Sovereign Ward and so the district is fairly well off despite being somewhat removed from the central districts of Fairhaven. The buildings are quaint, most dating from early- to mid-tenth century, and there is a tradition in the district to hang bright banners from windows which are changed every month. Some families can only afford seasonal banners, but the residents consider intrinsic to Endower’s character. A low wall runs the length of Endower’s easternmost extent to provide some sort of divide from Marble Halls across the great avenue, and it also serves to block through traffic since it turns the neighborhood into a dead-end. A beautiful community garden is maintained along the wall’s base and helps the residents of Endower pretend the neighboring ward isn’t really there. Set into the wall is a shrine to the Sovereign Host said to have been dedicated by Saint Flerentia of Fairhaven. Whether this story is true or not, pilgrims occasionally come to stop at the shrine, especially as an alternative to the busier temples during feast days.
Halls of the Host District Type: Temple district Buildings: average food (12), average lodging (8), average services (57), average trades (25), exotic trades (15; 3 magic item dealers), fine food (8), fine lodging (3), fine residences (22), fine services (25), fine trades (13), temples (10) (see below), shrines (Sovereign Host deities) First Impression:Stately cathedrals and ornate buildings. Images of the host line every street and people in pilgrim’s clothing can be seen wandering and praying.
The central block of this richly ornamented neighborhood is the great nine-sided Stronghold of the Host. It’s architecture reflects its name as the large building seems more like a fortress than a temple. In fact this is a very recent occurrence. The Stronghold was rebuilt following an act of arson in 957 YK which ruined most of the interior before the fire was controlled. The culprits are still unknown though the official line is that the arson was the work of Eldeen extremists, probably the Ashbound terrorist organization which was plaguing many towns in western Aundair at the time. Historians now are unconvinced, with many even in Aundair citing the monarchy’s need to cast the druids of the Eldeen Reaches in as bad a light as they could in the tumult just before the rebellion. The priests of the Stronghold of the Host, however, are absolutely convinced and this is a major reason for the estranged relationship between the druids and the Sovereign Stars liturgical council. Diadem Temples: In the streets around the Stronghold, more temples to the Host can be found including nine dedicated to individual gods of the Host. These temples, collectively known as the Diadem, are for the most part the largest structures in Khorvaire dedicated to one Sovereign in particular (with notable exceptions such as the massive Korranath in Sharn) and the rivalries between them are understandably pronounced. None of these rivalries amount to more than friendly competition and the Sovereign Stars council has made it clear that this not about to change. The most heated event of the rivalries, in fact, is the highly lauded Diadem Parade on the Feast of Saint Flerentia, the patron saint of Fairhaven. Over the years, the parade has become more and more ostentatious and now is clearly much more about the grand displays put on by the Diadem temples as they try to outdo each other than it is about Saint Flerentia. Stronghold of the Host: with battlements running around the edge of its red-tiled roof and the iron doors at its nine entrances. Inside, each entrance leads to a short hallway where acolytes of the Host welcome worshipers to services and these passages lead to the large domed hall that makes up most of the building. The ceiling of this massive room is ringed around with nine stained glass windows that feature each of the symbols of the Sovereign Host. Before the fire which ruined much of the original Grand Hall temple, this central chamber was the entirety of the structure. The narrow hallways and battlements were added afterwards by clergy worried about more reprisals. The leading priest in Fairhaven, High Priest Banau Chardil (LN male half-elf cleric 9), supports this viewpoint even to the point of requesting audiences with Queen Aurala to discuss the “druid threat”. Chardil was a company chaplain in the Aundairian army in his early years and approaches his appointment at the Stronghold much like a military post. He also met Lord Darro during his time in the army, and the two are still deeply entwined in both their philosophies and ambitions.
Lorekeeper’s Square District Type: Civic District Buildings: Average trades (70), bureaucratic offices, exotic trades (45), fine food (30), fine lodging (15), fine services (66), fine trades (69), library, monument, guard post, temple (Aureon) First Impression: Orderly and tidy neighborhood with many seer shops and booksellers.
It is probably more a tribute to the prestige of the University of Wynarn than a criticism that Fairhaven also contains the internationally well-known library of Lorekeeper’s Square. The Library of Aureon in this district is unaffiliated with the library, though scholars from both institutions trade information and visits frequently. In fact, the Library of Aureon is unaffiliated for the most part with both the Stronghold of the Host and the Diadem Temple of Aureon in the Halls of the Host district, though this was not always the case. At its construction, the clergy of the Sovereign Host had hoped to gain a definitive foothold in city politics by placing a library dedicated to the Sovereign of lore and law in the important civic district already bearing his name. Instead, the bureaucrats of the nearby Census Hall and other civic offices appropriated the library’s positions citing jurisdiction and public convenience. Despite it’s close proximity to the temples of the Halls of the Host, Lorekeeper’s Square has become an increasingly secular district and today is probably the area of the Sovereign Ward which is most free of control by the Sovereign Stars liturgical council. Fairhaven Census Hall: The city records for Fairhaven can be found in this surprisingly small granite building. Thick pillars line the dramatically deep steps of the front entrance, giving the hall an old-fashioned appearance, and every person walking between them seems to move with a definite purpose and solemnity. Though civic records are usually quiet places, the Fairhaven Census Hall has seen an impressive increase in business in recent years due to reshuffling of noble holdings in Aundair. Though Fairhaven itself never came under attack during the Last War, Aundair’s territory was dramatically shuffled during the conflict and even more noble officers died. As a result, Queen Aurala has sponsored two land raffles in the last three years since hostilities ended and requests for information on these properties normally go through the Census Hall. The surcharges for such requests, low after reduced activity through the difficult years of the war, are now increasingly slowly and bringing in a surprising amount of revenue for the city. Library of Aureon: Images of open tomes and black-and-white Octograms can be still found throughout the library despite its current role as a seat of secular power within the Sovereign Ward. The building is shaped somewhat like an Octogram, in fact, with a long central section that stretches back from the front lobby and three wings on either side that form cross chambers for more storage. Typically visitors can find whatever they need in the public archives of the long series of central rooms and searching the more specialized books to be found in the wings requires the help of a librarian. The temple attached to the library is obviously not intimately connected, and in fact is somewhat estranged from the temples in the neighboring Halls of the Host. Whereas the clergy of that district, even in the Diadem Temples, honor the Host as a whole, the temple at the Library is staffed by a number of self-proclaimed Disciples, worshipers of the Host who offer prayers to one Sovereign above the others. Orthodox Vassals tend to keep these unconventional worshippers at arms length, but the Disciples at the Library Temple are tolerated by the Sovereign Stars council for political reasons. Only a small fraction of the priests there subscribe to this new ideology and the liturgical council needs to hold onto its remaining foothold at the Library of Aureon more than it needs to make an example of this temple. See Also: Information on Disciples and other variant sects of the Sovereign Host can be found on pages 26-27 in Faiths of Eberron.
Orchid Court District Type: Shops Buildings: average food (15), average lodging (12), average residences (105), average services (19) average trades (23), Ghallanda enclave, exotic trades (13; 2 Jorasco apothecaries), fine food (15), fine lodging (5), fine services (23; 7 spellcasters for hire), fine trades (16), poor trades (7), shrines (Sovereign Host deities) First Impression: The scent of flowers fills the air no matter what time of year it is. Well-trimmed shops with slightly smaller doorways line the streets, painted with pastoral hues.
Orchid Court is one of the most unique neighborhoods in Fairhaven. Its gnome and halfling residents live in a sort of fusion culture, combining the strong sense of gnomish community with the hospitality of halfling families. In addition to this, the neighborhood is one of the best flower markets in Aundair with fresh blossoms grown in magically heated greenhouses on the roofs of houses. Almost every family in Orchid Court has a flower shop on the ground floor, apartments in the back or in the floor above, and a glass enclosure full of flowers. The gnome-halfling neighborhood of Orchid Court developed from two different neighborhoods of each individual race which met along the broad street of Orchid Court. Rivalries began to form between the neighborhoods, which both relied heavily on produce markets shipped in from outlying farming communities. Things only got worse in the seventh century YK when the marketplace in what would become the Grangehall Ward starting to become more important to the residents of Fairhaven. Ironically, this economic proved to be the best thing to happen to Orchid Court as it inspired House Ghallanda, House Jorasco, and House Sivis, who all had vested interests in the communities around Orchid Court, to take an interest in its well-being. They managed to heal the communities’ rift, promote cross-residency, and shift the local markets to flowers instead of produce. The result is the cooperative, flowery neighborhoods seen today. Greenfield Tavern: This tavern, run by House Ghallanda, is almost garish. It is covered with bright murals and hanging windchimes that ring day and night in even the faintest breeze. The interior is covered in flowers no matter the season, and the menu includes many different salads with flower pedals among the normal Ghallanda fare. The Greenfield Tavern bills itself as the “perfect stop for shopping” and gets most of its patronage from shoppers in the flower markets of the neighborhood. Naliamos Brothers: This flower shop is owned by a long line of gnomish flower merchants, in business for centuries. The current owners are actually a pair of sisters named Alia and Jetra Naliamos, but they defer often to their mother Herun (LN female gnome rogue 6) because she is the head of the other business run out of the shop: the local cell of the Trust. When the nation of Zilargo formed during the Last War it saw immediately the need to have eyes and ears in other nations. The Naliamos family, with a long history of loyalty to the gnomish communities of their homeland, made an obvious choice of contacts in Fairhaven. Herun had even trained as an operative briefly for the King’s Dark Lanterns in Breland before rejoining her family in Fairhaven. Her loyalties always were and likely will always be to the gnomes of Zilargo and she has instilled this loyalty in her daughters as well.
Seat of the Hearth District Type: Inn District Buildings: average food (55), average lodging (88), average services (56), average trade (55), poor food (98), poor lodging (132), poor services (64), poor trade (69), temples (Boldrei, Olladra, Onatar, Kol Korran, Dol Arrah, Dol Dorn, Silver Flame) (6), shrines First Impression: Cheerful, tidy neighborhood of inns and taverns as well as shining, roadside shrines.
The Seat of the Hearth district has long had a reputation for hospitality and finery together. Must of the patrons of the neighborhood’s inns before the Last War were pilgrims coming to visit one of the many religious centers of the Sovereign Ward, but that traffic dropped off somewhat during the conflict. Today as many guests in the Seat of the Hearth are affluent visitors to Fairhaven as there are pilgrims. It is even becoming a popular place for adventurers to stay or buy a house, particularly groups that want to stay away from the chaos of Almenn Town and Escape. Still, the Seat of the Hearth continues to be a destination for pilgrims, and has several temples scattered throughout the district as well as roadside shrines. Not all of these are devoted to the Sovereign Host either: the Undying Court, Path of Light, Blood of Vol, and even the Silver Flame have places to worship in this district. Boldrei, Sovereign of Hall and Hearth, is understandably well-respresented since the district was named in his honor, and many intersections have shrines to him. Church of the Cool Fire: The name of this temple comes from a passage in the holy texts of the Silver Flame which describe it as a cool fire which refreshes the faithful while punishing the wicked. The passage was chosen specifically to be non-confrontational because the temple was only constructed on a provisional basis a few years ago. Since the early years of the Last War, temples dedicated to the Silver Flame have been disallowed in Fairhaven after initial conflicts between Thrane and Aundair. Local Flamists have been petitioning for decades to erect new temples, but they have only succeeded in securing approval for small shrines. The Church of the Cool Fire is an experiment in that respect, the first large-scale structure devoted to the Silver Flame that was constructed after the start of the Last War. The Seat of the Hearth was chosen as the area for its construction because of the wide spread of religions represented in the neighborhood and because of its somewhat transient nature. In this way it is afforded only a marginal existence as far as the authorities of Fairhaven are concerned. To the worshippers of the Silver Flame, however, the building represents everything. Aside from a few scattered shrines in Almenn Town, Escape, and other cosmopolitan neighborhoods, there are no other centers of worship for the Purified in the City of Lights. So many Thrane expatriates live around the church, in fact, that the running joke among the residents of the Seat of the Hearth is that the Thranish embassy in the Chequer’s Ward gets its orders from the Church of the Cool Fire rather than Flamekeep. To Thranish residents of Fairhaven, though, the situation is not so clear-cut. While residents of the Seat of the Hearth may feel that they have forged a new home for themselves around the Church of the Cool Fire, residents of the refugee neighborhood of Craelia in the Eastway Ward generally feel that they have sold out in trying to please the Aundarians. It’s true that the Flamehaveners, as the Craelia Thranes call them, have acquiesced to a lot of the statutes set out by the Fairhaven government, but their more embattled countrymen who live alongside Cyran refugees feel that they deserve some of the wealth of the Seat of the Hearth and see it as a betrayal that they haven’t received much. While it isn’t as rich as many of the other neighborhoods in the Sovereign Ward, the Seat of the Hearth does not have a lot of money to spend. To the Thranish residents of Craelia, however, the situation is too reminiscent of the classism which undermines neighborhoods in Flamekeep and the two neighborhoods remain estranged. Torak of Mror, Ltd.: The owner of this gem shop is Torak Mroranon (NE male dwarf expert 8), the son of the Mror Holds ambassador to Aundair. Torak bought the failing shop from another Mror dwarf and renovated it into the well-known dealership it is today with a miser’s sharp eye. The shop is sharply decorated and refurbished at least once every two years to keep the interior in the current style. The only thing that never changes is the traditional Mror triangular altar to Onatar, Dol Dorn, and Kol Korran which is located in the middle of the showroom. Torak’s father comes by occasionally when he is in town, but his son lives year-round in Fairhaven and enjoys being away from overbearing parents. Years ago, Torak joined the Aurum because of his father’s insistence but he has begun to chafe under the group’s heavy-handed nature. For the time being, he is going along with the requests of the organization’s more senior members, but should he decide to use some of his wealth against the Aurum he could do some damage.
Sovereign Square District Type: Park district Buildings: exotic trades (21), fine food (27), fine residences (90), fine services (75), fine trades (36), shrines (Sovereign Host, Undying Court), small parks First Impression: Wide plazas with rows of trees and small, private parks throughout.
The plazas and promenades of the Sovereign Square district are famous throughout Aundair. They include some of the best and most modern architecture in Fairhaven, as well as beautiful fountains and fashionable cafes. The major avenue which runs toward Fairhold and through the largest plaza which gives the district its name hosts the large parade every Feast of Saint Flerentia with extravagant displays hosted by the Diadem Temples. Even when it is not hosting some parade or festival, Sovereign Square is usually crowded with citizens and visitors coming to visit its many shops and restaurants. While it may not compare to Skyway or Azure, many of the restaurants in Sovereign Square could hold their own against the legendary establishments of Sharn. Blorreuvi and Co.: This famous establishment is run by Hraida ir’Blorreuvi (NG female dwarf expert 4/artificer 2), a master craftswoman and lifelong devotee of Onatar. The interior of the shop is lined with banners in red and orange and engravings of the Forgelord’s hamer-and-tongs can be seen throughout. What is notably lacking, however, are wares to be sold because the dwarven craftsmen of Blorreuvi and Co. work entirely on commissioned pieces. Examples of their work, owned by the noble Blorreuvi family, can be seen hanging on the walls but is not for sale. Hraida grew up in the Sovereign Ward and entered the ecclesiastical college in the Stronghold of the Host at a young age. After completing most of her studies, the young dwarf had a vision and left the school to invest a considerable amount of her family’s fortune into a craft shop in the prestigious Sovereign Square. The shop was an overnight success and now adventurers and nobles from across Khorvaire come to Blorreuvi and Co. to commission pieces. Despite not having a standing stock, the shop regularly makes several thousand gold pieces on each work. Roeden in Gold: This restaurant, named somewhat humorously after the character Roeden in Aundairian folktales who wore a long cloak of gold thread, is famous throughout the nation. The current owner, a gnome named Uris Ouranne (N male gnome expert 4), bought the franchise years ago and managed to make it flourish even during the hardest of the war years. The food is generally agreed to be the best in Fairhaven and visitors come as far as Korth and Sharn to try the leek pastries and duck with boysenberries for which Roeden’s is best-known. It is also notoriously difficult to secure a table at Roeden in Gold as reservations fill up at least a week ahead of time. For feast days, and especially the Feast of Saint Flerentia, reservations fill up weeks or even a month in advance. For Saint Flerentia’s feast day, the restaurant contracts with several neighboring farms to ensure that they have enough mutton on hand for their signature dish, lamb with clovers, although they nearly always run out after the main dinner crowd has come through. Roeden in Gold is also famous for its wine selection and Mr. Ouranne also maintains a wine shop next door where many of the Sovereign Ward’s well-to-do residents go to stock their own cellars.
Torenni District Type: Elf Neighborhood Buildings: exotic trades (11), fine food (16), fine lodging (20), fine residences (86), fine services (22), fine trades (39), temple (Undying Court), shrines (Undying Court, Aureon, Onatar) First Impression: Trees line the boulevards of this breathtaking neighborhood and shining glass sculptures can be seen surrounding the doorways. For all the beauty, though, the streets are strangely quiet; almost sepulchral.
Torenni, like many elven communities, is quiet but beautiful. Activities in the neighborhood tend to center around the temple to the Undying Court in the rough center. While most elven temples are important facets of their communities, the Torenni temple is especially integrated and serves as a community center in addition to a place of worship. Like the ward around it, Torenni is dominated by religion and the elven residents have resurrected some older customs such as the practice of hanging shimmer chimes in front of the doorways of their homes. These glass sculptures are generally thin and dendritic, some of them free-hanging, and are said to reflect the light of Irian itself. Whether this is true or not, the streets of Torenni glow with sparkling light no matter what the weather is like, dimming only during the night. The decorations fell out of fashion in Aerenal over two centuries ago, but the Torenni elves have grown quite attached to them and ignore the comments of elven visitors that the neighborhood is behind the times. Deathless Halls: The five levels of the ziggurat structure of this Undying Court temple are lined with silver aspen trees. Their silver-green leaves flutter in the breeze year round, magically maintained by the priests of the Court, while the gates leading into the structure are lined with shimmering glass sculptures. The whole thing is designed to enrapture and entrance visitors and draw them in. The elves of Torenni frequently have meetings in the grand hall of the Deathless Halls to discuss important decisions as a group. This practice that has only increased in importance after the Last War ended and Queen Aurala’s spy network increased its activities in Aundair. The elves, as obvious outsiders with clear national loyalties to Aerenal, are seen as a possible source of dissidents and the Royal Eyes have informants throughout the neighborhood, including some Thuranni agents who relish the chance to get back at their distant cousins. The high priestess of the temple is Teura Vhialonn (CN female elf adept 10/lorekeeper 3), perhaps the most influential non-Aereni elf on Khorvaire. Though she doesn’t like others bringing it up, Teura was born in Sharn to descendents of a minor bloodline though she has visited Aerenal several times in her adult life. Perhaps in response to this, she absorbed as much of the culture and tradition of her people as she could find growing up and is more learned on matters of the Undying Court than some true Aereni. It is Teura’s influence that brought shimmer chimes to the streets of Torenni, and her charismatic leadership that has the Royal Eyes watching the temple so closely. House of Boughs: The entryway to this tavern is made of stone columns carved to look like slender willow trees. Inside is a two-level circular common room with a large open space in the middle, allowing patrons sitting at tables on the second floor to see down to the ground floor. The open space is also built around a large living maple tree growing in a large enclosure of soil set into the floor and is lit from above by a glass globe with a permenant daylight spell. The tree is tended by Jesla Hintarre (CG female half-elf druid 4), a kindly middle-aged Liotian half-elf who oversees the kitchens of the tavern as well. While the House of Boughs serves a wide variety of authentic Aereni dishes, Jesla’s fusion Liotian-Aereni dishes have proven just as popular. In particular her fish dishes, a food group not well-represented in Aerenal, cooked with subtle elven spices over traditional Liotian pilafs draw a considerable number of patrons. Jesla’s husband, Irial Dhoreatar (NG male elf adept 2/expert 6), is the owner of the House of Boughs, a business he built from scratch over eighty years ago. Born in Aerenal, Irial left his homeland after rejecting his parents tried to pressure him into the tradition of alchemically treating his body to become half-living. He came to Khorvaire seeking his fortune and more temperate communities and ended up in Fairhaven where he fell for Jesla and married her. While he still worships his ancestors according to the teachings of the Undying Court, Irial enjoys the friends he has made in the druidic circles that his wife introduced him to. In the aftermath of the Eldeen revolution, Irial and Jesla secretly participated in sheltering druids in Fairhaven from the Royal Eyes, sometimes having the druids use tree stride to appear in the House of Boughs from elsewhere in the city. Ironically, because both Irial and his wife have a terse relationship with the very traditional Teura Vhialonn at the Deathless Halls, the Royal Eyes did not pay as close attention to the House of Boughs and are still unaware of the druids who use the tavern as a secret entrance to the city. Violes Mordai: In Elven the name of this apothecary shop is “Wine of the Dead”, a reference to the poetic name that elves use for the chemicals necessary to become one of the half-living. The shop does carry these reagents as well as mordrei’in leaves and other exotic substances from Aerenal. While Violes Mordai has the fortune of being the only source for Aereni living in Fairhaven for many important religious materials, it makes most of its money selling exotic items to the city’s wizards who are constantly searching for rare spell components. The shop has been in Torenni for almost two centuries so most magic shop owners will send those in need of very rare components to the Violes Mordai. The owner of the shop encourages this, but not for the reason most people suspect. Cyul Jhaelian (LN male elf wizard 5/rogue 3) is a member of the Deathguard of Aerenal and orchestrates the organization’s activities throughout all of Aundair. He purposely tries to attract necromancers to his shop in Torenni by selling exotic components they need for their spells, and then assigning other elves to trail and kill them. Having undergone the ritual half-living treatment common to the Jhaelian line, it is easy for Cyul to look like the old man he claims to be instead of a spry and dangerous young elf. Though Teura Vhialoon isn’t connected to the Deathguard herself, she considers it an honor to occasionally distract the Royal Eyes from the activities of Cyul’s compatriots. See Also: The Aereni tradition of half-life is detailed on pages 20-21 of Player’s Guide to Eberron and the Deathguard can be found on page 20 of the same book. More information on the Undying Court can be found on pages 138-143 in Faiths of Eberron, including information on the mordrei’in leaves.
Vaucote District Type: Garrison Buildings: average food (12), average lodging (13), average residences (108), average services (28), average trades (26), fine food (5), fine trades (14), garrison building, poor food (9), poor lodging (5), poor residences (27), poor trades (4), temple (Sovereign Host). First Impression: A large, square tower of grey stone dominates the skyline of this stern-looking neighborhood.
This district was known many years ago as Valor Coterie, the largest and most prestigious of the dragonhawk coteries throughout the city. Prior to the Last War, nearly all of the dragonhawk aerial cavalry divisions in Aundair were stationed in Fairhaven to consolidate the specialists required for the difficult training of dragonhawk knights. After the start of the conflict, however, King Wrogar quickly realized the need for battalions throughout the realm that could more quickly respond to invading forces. The famous Sky Battle of Daskaran in 909 YK was a result of this redeployment as Thranish forces moved to engage a dragonhawk division being stationed on their border. Just as that battle is still considered a symbol of lost chivalry, stories are still told of the great flocks of dragonhawks leaving their coteries to take up new roosts in the name of the king. Chapelroost Tack and Breeders: Though the House Vadalis enclave is in Dragonhold in the Chequer’s Ward, Chapelroost Tack and Breeders is the house’s greatest asset in Fairhaven. Sessin d’Vadalis (CG male human ranger 4/Vadalis beastmaster 2), the proprietor of the business, and the house heirs under his employ are the best breeders of dragonhawks in Khorvaire and personally oversee all of the aeries which raise dragonhawks for the Army of Aundair. Chapelroost is best known, however, as one of only a few establishments where civilians can purchase trained dragonhawk mounts and mastercraft tack for them. Sessin himself is an expert dragonhawk trainer and rider and is the official host of the aerial jousts that House Vadalis and Governor Aurad ir’Wynarn sponsor every spring outside of the city. In his youth, Sessin one first place in the race around the city five years in a row before he retired to make room for younger winners. The latest rumors around the Sovereign Ward are that the Chapelroost breeders are attempting to create some specialty mount for one of the competitors of the Race of the Eight Winds in Sharn, a transnational effort that would have seemed impossible only five short years ago. Even wilder speculations are that Sessin d’Vadalis himself might take over as manager of one of the event’s riders. While most scoff at the idea that the skilled breeder would ever leave his post at Chapelroost, others remember the wild-haired youth who outflew members of the First Dragonhawk Legion with an ecstatic grin. Vaucote Garrison: Though it is officially just another garrison for the Fairhaven Watch, most residents still call this enormous tower “Vaucote” and treat it a dragonhawk coterie. The structure is square on all sides and rises eighty feet in the air to a broad, crenulated cap. Narrow windows are the only openings for most of the tower but the cap on top is mostly open with wide, arched doorways on all four sides. Inside are roosts and tack for twenty dragonhawks, with rooms for more than thirty riders in the tower below. Captain Kleris ir’Ostren (LG male human fighter 5/paladin 3) commands the coterie and also the First Dragonhawk Legion that roosts there. His grandfather was commander of Aundair’s forces when then-Prince Wrogar took the throne and the ir’Ostren family has produced some of the most valiant soldiers its country had during the war. Unlike many heirs of military families, Captain ir’Ostren is fiercely loyal to his queen and has no desire to reenter the war until she orders him to. Kleris has an old-fashioned nobility to him and is more often saddened by war than invigorated by battle, and he found just as soon ride his dragonhawk Sun Red through the spires of Fairhaven than against invaders. Queen Aurala knows that he is her man, but she still favors Captain ir’Ostren and his men with honors and prestige to protect them from falling into the machinations of Lord Darro or Lord Adal. See Also: Information about the Sky Battle of Daskaran can be found on page 16 of The Forge of War and information on the Race of the Eight Winds can be found on page 30 of Sharn: City of Towers. The Vadalis beastmaster prestige class can be found on pages 130-133 of Dragonmarked. Information on politics in Fairhaven as well as House Vadalis’ interests in the city can be found in Chapter Three: Power and Politics.
Whitecrown Arch District Type: Shops Buildings: banks (5), exotic trades (35), fine food (21), fine lodging (14), fine residences (81), fine trades (89) First Impression: Expensive shops and fine restaurants on roads lined with bright flowers and decorations.
The neighborhood of Whitecrown Arch is one of the most expensive non-residential areas to buy property in Fairhaven. It’s shops cater to the very rich of the Sovereign Ward and sell many expensive items including rare imported goods from all over Khorvaire and even items recovered from Xen’drik. While it isn’t widely publicized, several shops in Whitecrown Arch are major clients of the Wayfinder Foundation and buy much of the items auctioned by the organization. Several shops in particular specialize in goods from exotic locales, including the Shadow Marches and Q’barra in addition to Xen’drik, and they are all fortuitously located within a few blocks of each other. This small cluster, known as Expedition Corner, has developed in just the past five years or so as exotic relics come into vogue among the social elite of Fairhaven. The variety found in the Distant Exchange is not the case here, but Expedition Corner has at least as many beautiful pieces from Xen’drik as it does beautiful replicas of those pieces. Some collectors actually prefer it because the shop owners of Expedition Corner frequently don’t know how rare the specimens they have are and even their exorbitant prices are too low. Other areas of Whitecrown Arch include a cluster of mastercrafters of musical instruments, a beautiful garment district known for its classical style, and a string of restaurants with fine Liotian-inspired foods can all be found in this neighborhood.
New addition! You might notice that this one is a bit thinner than the others: this is on purpose. I've been thinking through this project, trying to figure out where I can streamline things to make it go more quickly, and I remembered that City of Towers said that in Sharn all the districts are four times as big as they are in the DMG. If Sharn can be four times, I've decided that Fairhaven can have districts twice as big as normal. So, I'm going to be going back to trim down the two existing wards and then start on the next. What exactly does this mean for people who want to use this information in their games? Well, firstly everything that's currently up here will be in the final version of the city. That said, some things are going to be jumping wards to reduce the populations of Grangehall and Marble Halls. I wanted to get some new stuff up before I started taking things down, but the real silver lining here is that the next ward (Rordan's Gate) will be up in less time than I've typically taken to finish a ward, especially because a number of districts in it are already written for other wards. So... More to come soon!
Rordan’s Gate Stretching from the busy Fairhaven lightning rail station in the north to the tangled streets of the Grangehall Ward in the south, Rordan’s Gate contains a vibrant middle-class area. The combined influence of all the well-traveled populations found in the ward makes this area of Fairhaven a boisterous one and residents from all over the city flock to Rordan’s Gate in the evening to have a few drinks in entertaining bars. While other sections of the city contain exotic services and goods, notably the Distant Exchange and Wayfinders Foundation in the Chequers Ward, it is on the streets of Rordan’s Gate that most citizens of Fairhaven see these wonders. Taverns and inns display strange Xen’drik carvings around their doors to entice customers and serve exotic food and drink, giving the average customer a glimpse at the world beyond the city that they might otherwise never encounter. Population: 7,400 Social Class: Low to middle class. Districts: Adventurer’s quarter, average residential, garrison, halfling encampment, magic district, marketplace, red light district, tavern. Businesses: Flashy stores and loud marketplaces catering to adventurers and travelers; gold piece limit: 35,000 gp. Key Personalities: Genesis (LN female personality female personality warforged magewright 4), Joslan Haarta (CN male halfling expert 3/warrior 3), Jarren Houstro (CN male half-orc barbarian 5), Larishea Lindamar (NE female gnome wizard 8), Erix Nailo d’Lyrandar (LN male half-elf expert 4/dragonmarked heir 2), Weren Nailo (CG male half-elf expert 3/cleric 2), Sithov d’Orien (LE male human expert 4/dragonmarked heir 3), Tabin Roole (LG female human bard 6), Singer Aron Silverwright (NG male dwarf cleric 7), Yukiri the Swordsman (CG male human expert 4/fighter 2) Watch Detail: 332 guards of the Watch: 96 on day shift (71 patrol, 25 stationed), 118 on evening shift (76 patrol, 32 stationed), 118 on night shift (76 patrol, 32 stationed). These guards are responsible for Nealford and Besalle’s Ward as well as Rordan’s Gate. Rordan's GateShow
Avalier District Type: Tavern District Buildings: average food (16), average lodging (10), average services (10), average trades (10), poor food (47), poor lodging (49), poor services (29), poor trades (25), temples (4) (Sovereign Host, Boldrei, Dol Arrah, Olladra) First Impression: Cheery common rooms and welcoming bars line the streets with crowds of locals and travelers milling about with laughter and songs.
Avalier offers a cleaner, more low-key alternative to Dusklight (see below) for locals and visitors alike. It also is a crossroads of social classes and customers of all sorts can be found in the taverns of Avalier. Young nobles from Nealford sit in booths next to middle-class merchants from Curmesteau or Chalice Center and even working-class residents of the Grangehall Ward will come up to join in. Adventurers from Escape also filter into Avalier regularly, bringing with them a range of income levels from just scraping by to flush from a recent expedition. The Drunken Wyvern: This tavern, on the border of Escape, is popular among members of the Gatecrashers adventuring guild. It’s known throughout Rordan’s Gate as a fun and boisterous establishment, chiefly because of the antics of the tavern’s owner, Chey (NG female changeling expert 7). In addition to being an expert singer, Chey is a world-class impressionist and generally performs looking like a famous Fairhaven personality. Sometimes she changes to look like politicians to sing lurid or satirical songs and sometimes she gives a serious performance looking like a renowned singer and performing well-known arias. The act is so good that Chey has had to start shifting into the person she is mimicking on stage to stifle rumors that she is simply hiring the musicians to play and claiming the act is an impersonation. Starpeaks Ale House: One of the few ale houses in Fairhaven, the Starpeaks is a well-respected restaurant as well as a tavern. The owner, Red Mornagan (LG male dwarf expert 6), learned to brew ale from his father who lived in Karrnath before the war and Karrnathi adventurers traveling through Fairhaven generally make a point to stop for an “authentic” drink. Though Red offers several different types of ale, his tavern is generally known among residents of Fairhaven for the Winterhearth Port that the dwarf also produces. Whether or not Red’s claims that the drink includes powdered garnets from the Starpeak Mountains are true or not, even connoisseurs from Nealford will order bottles.
Cestman Circle District Type: Average Residential Buildings: upscale residences (20), average residences (140), poor residences (20) First Impression: A large, open circle of bricks is lined with neat-looking houses. In the middle, a statue of a man in armor is covered with roosting birds.
Cestman Circle is a quiet neighborhood centering on a brick plaza with a statue to General Aronne Cestman, a prominent Aundairian military officer in the middle part of the war. After he played a brilliant role in the Second Siege of Korth in 939, Regent Marlex commissioned both the plaza and the statue in Cestman’s honor. The general became a bit of a folk hero in his native Grangehall Ward because of the statue and because of his country roots. Because of this and the long interval between Cestman’s career and Eldeen independence, the usual antagonism one would expect towards a military statue in the Grangehall Ward is absent. Cestman Arms: General Cestman’s descendents still run a weapons and supply shop on the edge of the plaza, one of the only such establishments in the ward. After the general the Cestman family fielded several officers but the youngest member of each generation was expected to take over the shop. The current owner, Klara Cestman (LN female human expert 3), is the last surviving member after her two uncles died in battle. She has hired a dwarven smith to use the old forge out back and supplies many adventuring parties with cheap goods. The Royal Eyes keep an eye out for dissidents being supplied from the shop, but the truth is that Cestman is fiercely loyal to her country, though she likes to keep her politics to herself. See Also: For more information on the Second Siege of Korth, see Forge of War page 25.
Chalice Center District: Marketplace Buildings: average food (30) average lodging (5), average services (39), average trades (87), exotic trades (8), fine services (8), fine trades (29), open-air market, poor services (62), poor trades (25) First Impression: A large brick plaza stretches from the lightning rail station to the airship tower, lined with shops and vendors’ stalls.
Chalice Center is the largest marketplace in Fairhaven and the first part of the city that wealthy visitors see. This only touches on the plaza’s importance in the culture of Fairhaven. Chalice Center is not a place that most residents commonly go, but about a third of the goods sold in other shops and marketplaces throughout the city arrive through Chalice Center. Aside from the burgeoning mercantile community that exists in the district, several large wholesaler companies in the warehouse districts of the Eastway Ward move large shipments through Chalice Center and it’s not uncommon to see several wagons laden with goods travelling out of the plaza and toward the eastern city. Chalice Center is also the battleground for two of the most active Dragonmarked Houses in Fairhaven. Both House Orien and House Lyrandar have invested significant amounts of money into the plaza with their respective centers of travel, and it is in the district in between that the growing rivalry between the House of Passage and the newly interested House of the Storm plays itself out in the City of Lights. Fortunately for the merchants of Chalice Center neither house wants the rivalry to get too public and scare off potential customers, but there is plenty going on under the surface. Chalice Market: The large red-brick plaza that lies between Fairhaven Station and Lyrandar Tower (see below) is filled with stalls and street vendors eager to sell to tourists arriving through either center of travel. Most sell items travelers may need, including shawls and scarves for travelers arriving from the south, traditional Liotian flatbread wraps for a “taste of Fairhaven”, and pendants they swear were crafted by magewrights in Arcanix itself. While the tactics of these vendors may be less-than-honorable, real crime is all but absent in the Chalice Market. The plaza is well-patrolled by the Fairhaven Watch, something that both House Orien and House Lyrandar makes sure of, and most merchants carrying valuable cargo hire extra security as well when traveling through Chalice Center. More permanent storefronts along the periphery of the plaza offer more sophisticated wares including watch lamps and alchemical substances. Here adventurers hoping to unload bizarre items can generally find buyers who will ask few questions. Because they can sell these items to buyers at the Distant Exchange many merchants in the Chalice Center are willing to purchase items, though adventurers may only get about 75% of the actual value (Diplomacy checks can increase this percentage). The shops around the edge of the Chalice Market plaza include the gem shop of Hinneji Artaum, known as “The Squint” for his close examination of gems and thick spectacles, though many suspect he’s more than a simple elderly jeweler; the Starfall Wine Shop where visitors can buy real Aundairian wines at relatively cheap prices, though the quality is nothing like in Nealford; and Avaril’s Canvases, an art shop owned by the renowned Avaril d’Medani who sells some of his own abstract works and also those of prominent Fairhaven artists. Fairhaven Station: The lightning rail station at the western end of Chalice Center is typical as far as city stations go, but it is much grander than lightning rail stations in the small towns of Aundair. Visitors arriving by lightning rail are treated to a broad view of the city as they crest the escarpment to the west of the city. Depending on the season, the Feast Sojourn (see below) may also be visible against the western wall, providing a shock of color and noise juxtaposed with the more somber skyline of Fairhaven itself. The lightning rail station has one broad platform with a line of conductor stones on either side so that it can accommodate two lighting rails at once. This has more to do with maintenance of rail cars than with lightning routes, although the frequent lightning rails passing through the station to the house bastion at Passage means that sometimes both tracks are used at once. The stationmaster of Fairhaven Station is Sithov d’Orien (LE male human expert 4/dragonmarked heir 3), a harsh and exacting man. He earned the position of stationmaster principally by undermining and criticizing his superiors to the house leaders in Passage, which has done little to ingratiate him to his fellow Orien heirs in Fairhaven. However, Sithov is a very efficient stationmaster and is completely immune to bribes, as the Dark Daggers found out soon after his appointment. He may be a selfish person, but Sithov is fair and completely loyal to House Orien. Lyrandar Tower: The airship tower at the Chalice Center is the tallest structure in Fairhaven except for Fairhold itself. It serves as a landmark for many visitors and residents in Rordan’s Gate and Besalle’s Ward, something House Lyrandar enjoys immensely. Signs reading “Head to the Tower” are seen throughout the city, capitalizing on a common directional phrase in Rordan’s Gate to attract patrons to Horizons Tavern at the base of the tower. The towermaster of the airship docks is Erix Nailo d’Lyrandar (LN male half-elf rogue expert 4 / dragonmarked heir 2), a sour Khoravar from Sharn. After growing up walking the precarious and exhilarating docks of Lyrandar Tower in Sharn, Erix considers this appointment a sort of ostracism. He couldn’t afford to turn down the offer of a position in Fairhaven, considered a stepping stone to a position at Stormhome, but Erix would have much rather taken a position in the City of Towers where he grew up and every year without the promotion he hopes for makes the many a little pettier. The Horizons Tavern at the base of Fairhaven’s Lyrandar Tower is owned by House Lyrandar but run by Weren Nailo (CG male half-elf expert 3 / cleric 2), Erix’s younger brother. The two don’t get along all that well since Weren considers his dragonmarked brother a stick in the mud and Erix considers the tavernmaster a loose cannon. Weren possesses no mark himself, something that he considers extremely good luck when he sees how miserable the duties make Erix. While family connections allow Weren a comfortable lifestyle, he only has to be as involved in house affairs as he’d like to be and at the moment that means an entertaining job maintaining the Horizons, which he happens to be pretty good at. Even before following his brother to Fairhaven, Weren loved the atmosphere of taverns and restaurants enough to devote himself to Boldrei. As a result, the Horizons always has plenty of unity wine on hand for Khoravar guests. He’s also become involved romantically with the beautiful Lyza Toussen, a talented harp elven player and singer who performs regularly at the tavern. Both Weren and Erix, though, would be shocked to know that Lyza’s real name is Sha’an d’Phiarlan (CN female elf bard 7), undercover at the Horizons to feed information about the airship’s traffic to her contacts in the Phiarlan network. Erix is aware that there’s an informant involved in tower business somewhere, but he doesn’t know who. “Lyza” takes advantage of the brother’s estrangement to avoid notive by the towermaster and it’s possible she could keep her position for years. See Also: More information about Chalice Center, including time tables for the lightning rail and airship routes, can be found on pages 29-30 of Five Nations. Information on unity wine can be found on page 73 of Player’s Guide to Eberron, and information on watch lamps and other arcane tools useful in urban adventures can be found on pages 169-171 of Sharn: City of Towers.
Curmesteau District Type: Shops Buildings: average food (22), average residences (66), average services (41), average trades (58), exotic trades (50; 9 magic item dealers), spellcasters for hire (25) First Impression: Boisterous streets with carts rolling by and groups of residents chatting outside of exotic-looking shops.
Merchants from all over the continent maintain shops in Curmesteau, taking advantage of the neighborhood’s reputation for exotic goods. The district has developed into a “first stop” for merchants with goods heading eventually to the Distant Exchange. Traders dealing in exotic goods using the lightning rail also sell to the shops in Curmesteau, providing exotic items that the magewrights and wizards of the district craft into myriad items. In the inner city, prices remain high as the Artificers of Aundair, the League of Independent Arcanists, and others seek to outdo the Arcane Congress’s subsidiaries. Curmesteau, on the other hand, is a frequent stop for adventurers looking for simple or specialty items. Experienced Fairhaven adventurers know that the Distant Exchange is dominated by art pieces and adventuring items are to be found at the more practical shops of Curmesteau. First Light Imports: The warforged Genesis (LN female personality female personality warforged magewright 4) is one of the most well-connected rare items dealers in Fairhaven, though one wouldn’t know it from the appearance of her shop. First Light Imports is located in the basement below an unassuming bakery which Genesis also owns and rents to a dwarf couple. The shop’s reputation has traveled only be word of mouth as the warforged’s collection of specialty items has grown. For years, Genesis has been the only merchant in the city with a large collection of warforged components for sale, some purchased from Wayfinder expeditions returning from Xen’drik and others created in Cannith laboratories in Fairhaven. In fact, Genesis may have schemas for a few designs herself; she does have a workshop in back where she creates a fair amount of items for sale in her shop. As might be expected, Genesis has a very close relationship with the warforged population of Iron Square in nearby Escape, especially because her shop is the only reliable store to purchase warforged components in Fairhaven. They are expensive, of course, but the adventuring constructs of Iron Square consider the price well worth the power that a battlefist or an essence of the scout disk. Yukiri the Swordsman: This craftsman needs no other introduction; nearly everyone in Fairhaven has heard of the swordsmith of Rordan’s Gate. Yukiri Kaastau (CG male human expert 4/fighter 2) was born in the Lazhaar Principalities during the Last War and learned the art of the forge in the small community of his parents. They were part of the wandering tekanoi population of eastern Khorvaire, displaced Sarlonans who arrived on the continent generations ago but never settled permanently anywhere. Following the need for expert smiths in the wartorn Five Nations and fleeing the increasing conflicts in the Principalities, Yukiri came to Fairhaven by way of Stormhome. He may have left his homeland behind him, but Yukiri retains the classic tekanoi hatred of all things Riedran. As a member of the Fabricator’s Guild, Yukiri is only tangentially connected to House Cannith on paper. However, the smith has been adopted in all but name into the auspices of Cannith West and is fiercely loyal to Jorlanna d’Cannith. There is no question in Yukiri’s mind that she should be the leader of House Cannith in general and he has proven surprisingly useful to her in her struggles. Yukiri may not be in a tekanoi community any longer, but the loyalty of that people is legendary and his distant cousins in Sharn and Karrnath have provided plenty of intelligence to use against Zorlan and Merrix d’Cannith. Yukiri has also proven to be a surprisingly useful ally to the kalashtar in Shangha, particularly his good friend Laanaskai. The two have a jocular rivalry, but their shared hatred of the Riedrans is a powerful bond. See Also: More information on Iron Square can be found in the description of Escape below. Warforged components can be found on pages 267-270 of the Eberron Campaign Setting, pages 148 and 149 of Secrets of Xen’drik, and pages 175-178 of Races of Eberron.
Dorncall District Type: Garrison Buildings: average food (12), average lodging (15), average residences (129), average services (33), average trades (29), fine food (6), fine trades (15), garrison building, poor food (10), poor lodging (6), poor residences (33), poor trades (6), temple (Dol Dorn) First Impression: Severe buildings clash with friendly crowds and cheerful voices. Patrols march regularly through the streets but they are met with waves and smiles instead of avoidance.
The garrison of Dorncall is perhaps the most easygoing in the city. While Two Points in the Grangehall Ward is not very active, it’s Watch members are on constant alert for threats from the seedier parts of the ward. By contrast, Dorncall is responsible for sections of the city that are notably peaceable and well-regulated. The garrison itself is also very well-integrated into the surrounding neighborhood and there are even a number of “Watch families” who have had several generations serve in the Fairhaven Watch. During the Last War, the garrison went through a flux as stalwart Watch members enthusiastically volunteered for service in the armies of Aundair. Now that peace has been declared, however, a feeling of homecoming has settled on the district and the memorial wreathes that hang in many windows are brightly decorated to the point of seeming like decorations. “Being from Dorncall means knowing true loyalty,” is the saying around the district, and the rest of Rordan’s Gate certainly doesn’t argue with it. This is more likely due to the opportunity to have jovial Watch officers in the street who won’t harass adventurers out celebrating than for a real respect for the Watch families’ lineages, but the sentiment is there anyways.
Dusklight District Type: Red-Light District Buildings: Temple (Olladra), average food (15), average lodging (6), poor food (60), poor lodging (51), poor services (105; gambling halls, festhalls, pawn shops, brothels), poor trades (57) First Impression: Bright lights and loud sounds from the raucous storefronts of the streets vie with the yells and peals of laughter from the crowds that fill the streets.
While the whole of Fairhaven is known for the everbright lanterns that give the City of Lights its name, the district of Dusklight stands out from the rest of the city. The lanterns lining the streets here are set with red glass instead of the usual clear panes and thus the streets are filled with pools of rose-colored light. Most brothels have their own lanterns of deeper red, the international sign of their trade, but other venues counter the rosy glow of Dusklight with flashy lanterns of other colors, making the streets of the district almost disorienting with all of the different hues represented. In addition to creating a lurid atmosphere, the red-tinged lanterns of Dusklight give anyone a +2 circumstance bonus to Move Silently checks when sneaking about the streets of the district. To the rest of Fairhaven, though, Dusklight is a red glow toward the western edge of the city which gives the red-light district its name. While most citizens of Fairhaven consider Dusklight a seedy neighborhood full of vice and pickpockets, though the truth is that it is far safer than the River’s Call district in the Whiteroof Ward thanks to Watch patrols from nearby Dorncall. The Paradise Room: This exotic bordello is very popular among adventurers of the Wayfinder Foundation, particularly those who have spent a lot of time in Stormreach. This is the concept that Jarren Houstro (CN male half-orc barbarian 5) set out to capture when he opened the franchise six years ago. Jarren was born in Stormreach but left after a long career with the Blackwheel Company, and relocated to Rordan’s Gate where his father was born. When he did, he brought with him six drow women to work in his bordello and built the Paradise Room to resemble the giant ruins that are found throughout Stormreach. Like many adventurers in Xen’drik, Jarren finds drow particularly appealing and he knew that, with the ranks of the Wayfinders frequently coming to Dusklight, there would be plenty of clientele for such companionship. The Paradise Room is known throughout Fairhaven as an exciting establishment, for the bordello as well as the bar in the front room that specializes in liqueurs made from fermenting tropical plants. Despite persisting rumors that the drow in the establishment are really changelings in disguise and that Jarren is hiding something, the Paradise Room is a favorite hangout for adventurers visiting the Wayfinder Foundation but tired of the stuffy air of the Chequer’s Ward The Ringlight Escape: The owner of the Ringlight Escape, Tyman Arendt (NE male half-elf magewright 6), is man of many faces. To the patrons of his tavern, he is a courteous businessman with fine robes and an aristocratic air. This lends him an air of respectability and Tyman is also one of the most well-known Syberites in Fairhaven, particularly because he built himself up from growing up on the docks of the Whiteroof Ward. Despite his somewhat informal training among the ship mages of the Whiteroof Ward, Tyman is a skilled spellcaster and crafts all of the myriad illusions found throughout the parlor of the Ringlight Escape. From the moment that patrons walk into the Ringlight Escape they are surrounded by disembodied tunes of flutes, glowing sprites, and blossoming flowers of lights. The wait staff even where special rings enchanted with a faerie fire effect, making the servers appear to be wreathed in purple flames. Some of the back rooms are even more intense, with magical effects that create synethesia so that patrons can see what color their voices are and taste the sound of wine being poured. More perplexing, perhaps, are the completely empty rooms at the very back of the establishment. These rooms are where Tyman conducts his other business: dreamlily trading. Complex illusions could terrify someone doped up on dreamlily, so Tyman only uses real entertainment in these rooms. The dreamlily and the changeling dancers that entertain clients in these back rooms are provided by the Dark Dagger Gang, which Tyman and his mentor Baane ir’Ostriel work with. Like Baane, Tyman uses his respectable front to cover up his criminal activities and selfish ambitions. Tyman even helps the Watch with information he picks up on pickpockets in the ward. He just doesn’t tell them that the information is picked up from Kreelo and his gang members. See Also: Information on dreamlily can be found on pages 160-161 in Sharn: City of Towers as well as pages 138-139 of Secrets of Sarlona.
Escape District Type: Adventurer’s Quarter Buildings: average food (16), average lodging (20), average residences (20), average services (18), average trades (20), poor food (48), poor lodging (36), poor residences (60), poor services (46), poor trades (48), shrines (Sovereign Host, Dol Dorn, Dol Arrah, Onatar), temple (Dragon Above), upscale trade (2) First Impression: The crowds on the street are varied and busy, milling past tall, slender towers. People from a dozen nations and several continents move about on various errands, giving the district a vibrant and cosmopolitan feel.
Of the two adventurer’s quarters in Fairhaven, Escape is the newer and most busy. Almenn Town has been around for some time and its history weighs on its inhabitants, a situation personified in the traditionalist attitudes of the two adventuring companies in the district. By contrast, most of the buildings in Escape were renovated in the past twenty years and the Gatecrashers adventuring guild is a new and untamed group. The population of Fairhaven is generally still trying to adjust to this new face of Escape: decades ago it was a sleepy residential of Brelish expatriates called New Galethspyre. As the Last War dragged on many of the residents with family in Breland left the city, so many that the district was renamed. About thirty years ago, adventurers began to move into the district, attracted by the proximity to the Chalice Center and Avalier, yet at its heart Escape still seems Brelish. This character is accentuated by the slender towers that stretch upwards from the street, some even having stone bridges which span the street below, and the number of Brelish accents still heard on the streets. Altar of the Dragon Above: This magnificently-wrought building is the center of worship for members of the Siberite Cult. In fact, it’s the only major building dedicated to Siberite worship though the silver decorations at the spire’s tips and the beautiful stained glass windows outshine some temples to the Sovereign Host in the city. Singer Aron Silverwright (NG male dwarf cleric 7) presides over the temple and the worshippers that come to visit, freely providing healing to the adventuring groups of Escape to spread the influence of the Dragon Above. He welcomes donations to the church (and for powerful healing it may be required) but in general the Altar of the Dragon Above is well-funded due to the original wealth of his predecessor Teah Dragontongue. Aron is on very good terms with the trustees of the Wayfinder Foundation, especially his childhood friend Vikan Burikal, and sometimes uses church funds to sponsor trips to Xen’drik to find Siberys dragonshards. The Crow’s Nest: The tavern and inn is built to resemble a treehouse, capitalizing on the original tower structure of the old Brelish-style building with a wide ring of rooms built around the second floor. The first floor remains narrow, but is amply furnished with tables, dart boards, and benches to the point of being crowded. The Crow’s Nest is a favorite place in Escape to just sit and grab a beer, particularly among members of the Gatecrashers adventuring guild who sometimes use it as a meeting place. The franchise is owned by Kras “the Crow” Delethorn (CN male shifter rogue 3/expert 2) who can usually be found drinking and gaming alongside his customers. He is easy to pick out because of his unusual high-pitched laugh. As one of the rare swiftwing breed, Kras is covered with soft black hair which somewhat resembles feathers giving the tavern owner and his tavern their epithets. Kras is a bit of a card shark and spends most nights in the common room of the Crow’s Nest where a good portion is left over for tables where games of Nine Wands, Ghalt Roundtable, and other popular types can be found. Born in the Warren of the Grangehall Ward, Kras has spent most of his life within the limits of Fairhaven and he loves the city unconditionally despite the Eldeen surname his parents gave him. The Royal Eyes don’t see it that way, though, and Kras has to deal with a nosy Watch officer at least twice a month as the patrols keep trying to catch him breaking some law. The Gatecrashers: Escape’s resident adventurers guild is a fairly disorganized affair, lacking both a clear headquarters and even charter. The guild is administrated by Tabin Roole (LG female human bard 6), a merchant whose Brelish family stayed in Escape even after their neighborhoods had left for the south. Tabin had an exciting adventuring career and goes on trips with her old companions occasionally, though she never joined the Wayfinder Foundation. Most Gatecrashers think privately that this was because she never got an invitation, but in truth Tabin never pursued one. Many Gatecrashers hang out at the Crow’s Nest, including Tabin, and others frequent the Paradise Room in Dusklight where they alternately flatter and eavesdrop on adventurers who belong to the Wayfinder Foundation. Iron Square: The collection of streets known as Iron Square is very different from anwhere else in Fairhaven, a fact immediately obvious with just a look around the streets. Nearly all the residents are warforged, the largest population of living constructs in Fairhaven and perhaps the densest anywhere in Khorvaire except perhaps the rumored encampments in the Mournland. Over one hundred warforged (close to a tenth of Escape’s population) live permanently in the blocks surrounding the crossroad plaza of Iron Square, but the total population rises and falls by as much as twenty throughout a given year as warforged come and go. Many services dsigned for warforged can be found here including blacksmiths, magewrights, jewelers, a shrine to Onatar, and even a warforged druid who can shape livewood. Aside from being a tightly knit community in its own right, Iron Square has become a sort of pilgrimage for warforged from across Khorvaire and beyond. The Iron Watch of Stormreach is supposedly very interested in the warforged of Iron Square and, while the Fairhaven warforged have no codified philosophy like the Stormreach group, correspondence between the two are steady. Lindamar’s Elixirs: This small potions shop is a common destination for adventurers before they head out on expeditions. Larishea Lindamar (NE female gnome wizard 8) is a chatty gnome who knows how to play exactly to her customers’ needs and is always well-stocked in healing potions and boosting potions for the adventurers of Escape. However, Larishea’s more profitable business, and the one that intrigues her more, is trading in information which the alchemist also keeps well in stock. Usually, Larishea sells information that she gathers from Escape’s adventurers to the agents of the Arcane Congress at the University of Wynarn. She’s willing to sell to anyone who has the money, however, and occasionally buyers show up to Larishea’s shop and the gnome rarely has questions once she sees the coin. Signet’s: Though it is on the edge of Iron Square and is most commonly frequented by warforged, Signet’s is a favorite nightclub for adventurer’s in Escape. The building has a large stage and nightly bands, including a house band of warforged percussionists. No food is served inside and warforged clientele don’t buy drinks so there’s a cover charge of 3 cp to get in the door. Living customers, however, are often surprised at the wide selection of Aundairian wines and Brelish liquors offered inside, and the prices are reasonable after the cover charge. Generally, drinks cost 75% of what other establishments might charge, and the quality is enough to satisfy all but the pickiest customers. The owner of the club, Signet (NG female personality warforged expert 5), is an outgoing host and insists on being present for every performance and introducing any of the bands. Putting on a show every night can be a big task, but Signet is always on the lookout for new talent and PCs could earn extra money by convincing her to let them play (see page 18 of Sharn: City of Towers and the Perform skill). One thing Signet has no patience for, however, is fighting in her club and anyone engaging in even a shouting match can expect to be expelled by her warforged enforcers. Multiple offenders may no longer be welcome and few residents of Escape are willing to stand up for people in Signet’s who could get them banned. See Also: Information on the Iron Watch can be found on pages 117-120 of City of Stormreach, and a description of the swiftwing shifter trait can be found on page 27 of Races of Eberron. Vikan Buristal and a description of the Wayfinder Foundation can be found on pages 47-53 of Explorer’s Handbook. Information on the Siberite Cult of Fairhaven can be found in Chapter 4: Guilds and Organizations.
Feast Sojourn District Type: Halfling Encampment Buildings: average food (32), average lodging (17), average residences (196), average services (42), average trades (59), carnival tent, temple (Boldrei) First Impression: This loud and chaotic encampment is hard to miss, clinging to the outside of the city walls. The air is filled with the smells of tangy food and the sound of loud music.
The Feast Sojourn appears to most westerners as an exotic place straight out of the Talenta Plains. To Talenta halflings, it appears to be a foppish caricature. The colorful tents are nothing like the dun-colored tents that the nomadic Talenta tribes use and the “authentic dishes” sold in many of the merchant tents are bland and cloying compared to food from the plains themselves. Still, the tent city found against a scarp outside of Fairhaven’s westernmost gate (the actual Rordan’s Gate) is the closest thing west of Gatherhold to traditional Talenta culture. The halflings who make up the bulk of the ragtag district’s population hold no illusions that they are living like their ancestors, but they try to live at least according to their philosophies. While the tent city is relatively permanent, its size, design, and population shift seasonally as halflings leave or arrive. The semi-nomadic band of halflings contain a number of heirs and associates of both House Ghallanda and House Jorasco. Other residents live the rest of the year in farming communities throughout northern Aundair and come to the Feast Sojourn to sell their wares and trades with other halfling merchants. Some merchants come from as far as Sharn to trade, or to interact with their fellows and celebrate the heritage of the Talenta Plains. The Feast Sojourn offers halflings from western Khorvaire the chance to follow a way of life more similar to that found in the Talenta Plains than they would normally get the chance to experience short of totally relocating to eastern Khorvaire. It’s also a popular destination for tourists and residents of Fairhaven alike who come to gawk at the bright tents and to buy exotic goods from the halfling merchants. The temple to Boldrei, actually a large tent, has clergy who are also excellent cooks and exotic Talenta fair is available for a donation. Fastieth Messengers: Despite the tent city’s proximity to the lightning rail line, the halflings of the Feast Sojourn gets on wonderfully with House Orien and halflings of the band are sometimes hired as freelance couriers by the House of Passage. This is mostly done on a freelance basis for individual expeditions traveling to areas that a halfling merchant knows well, but the halflings of Fastieth Messengers have a permanent contract with the House and a membership in the Couriers Guild. Joslan Haarta (CN male halfling expert 3/warrior 3) owns the messenger service and lives at the Feast Sojourn year-round. He was born in the Little Plains neighborhood of Sharn, but traveled to the Talenta Plains when he was young to discover more about his heritage. There he learned to ride fastieths across the dunes and soar the clouds on the backs of the glidewings, but he was too used to living in a city to stay. Braving the conflicts of the Last War, Joslan moved to Fairhaven and set up shop in the Feast Sojourn with several dinosaur mounts he had brought back with him. Today the unique dinosaur-mounted couriers of the Feast Sojourn are in high demand by customers looking to make an impression with their messages. As members of the Couriers Guild, the Fastieth Messengers can guarantee service and have access to cheap magic items to increase their speeds. While most of the messengers live in the Feast Sojourn near the magically heated stables where the fastieths are kept, a few live in the city near the Orien enclave in the Chequer’s Ward. Joslan managed to buy and transport five glidewings to Fairhaven four years ago and the House of Passage is utilizing them as urban couriers to compete against House Vadalis’ new gargoyle messengers. Spring of Health: The sparkling fountains of this large tented enclosure are filled with sparkling water which cascades enticingly but are none-the-less entirely movable. The Jorasco healers who operate the business specialize in potions, but they offer healing at the usual prices courtesy of two skilled dragonmarked adepts devoted to Boldrei. They also operate a stall in the open-air market of the Chalice Center, though both locations are closed up during the winter season.
Chequer’s Ward The bustling mercantile heart of the city is the Chequer’s Ward north of Fairhold. The ward has always been important to the city’s economy but its influence has only grown since the collapse of the merchant districts in Marble Halls. The Chequer’s Ward contains Dragonhold, the seat of power for most of the dragonmarked houses’ activities in Fairhaven, as well as including the powerful financial district of Golden. It shouldn’t be surprisingly, then, that this ward often finds itself the battleground for political struggles played out by the aristocrats and plutocrats of Fairhaven. Interestingly, the ward also contains districts such as the Distant Exchange offer an easy egress into the ward by commoners which only complicates the situation, making the Chequer’s Ward a truly dynamic area. Population: 6,600 Social Class: Upper to middle class. Character: Professional and busy with both rich estates and crowded marketplaces. Districts: average residential, embassy district, financial district, garrison, guildhall district, marketplace, wealthy residential (2) Businesses: bankers, specialists, high-end merchants; gold piece limit: 80,000 gp. Key Personalities: Commander Erben Alyea (NE male human warrior 5), Jorlana d’Cannith (LN female human wizard 8), Bellas d’Deneith (LG female human warrior 5), Dusklighter (LN male giant owl druid 3), General Merrin ir’Hoen (LE female half-orc fighter 4/expert 3), Kanshaq’irtal (LG male half-orc expert 5), Dulaen Elorrenthi d’Phiarlan (N male elf bard 7/dragonmarked heir 3), Marise Turiane (LN female expert 5/artificer 3), Galec d’Vadalis (LE male expert 4/dragonmark heir 2) Watch Detail: 204 guards of the Watch; 92 on day shift (69 patrol, 23 stationed), 109 on evening shift (81 patrol, 28 stationed), 108 on night shift (80 patrol, 28 stationed). These guards are responsible for Pine Hill and the Eastway Ward as well as the Chequer’s Ward. Chequer's WardShow
Ambassador Court District Type: Embassy district Buildings: diplomatic residences (40), embassies and consulates (10), exotic trades (14), fine food (34), fine residences (30), fine lodging (28), fine trades (30) First Impression: Stately buildings bearing standards from nearly a dozen nations line the street with busy messengers hurrying between them.
The embassies and consulates of Ambassador Court represent the most concrete part of the outside world in Fairhaven. Ten nations maintain embassies in the district: Breland, Cyre, the Eldeen Reaches, Karrnath, the Lazhaar Principalities, the Mror Holds, Thrane, Zilargo, Aerenal, and Riedra. All of them are filled with diplomats and clerks to maintain correspondence to and from their parent countries, but the contents of these letters are the business of the third type of employee: the spies. The so-called Shadow War is played out in the shadows of Ambassador Court as the agents of each nation try to gain information from the others. The ever-present specter of the Royal Eyes, who keep a close watch on everything that happens in Fairhaven, means that these embassies rely even more on outside agents than normal. House Phiarlan and, to a lesser extent, House Thuranni both make good business acting as spies that can’t be tied to specific nations, though their prices are steep. During the last years of the war, some nations even turned to criminal organizations to do their spying for them. The officials at the Lazhaarite embassy in particular have a healthy working relationship with the Dark Dagger gang while the ambassadors of the Eldeen Reaches have long received their information through the Saverne, even before they had an official embassy. The Wardens’ Glade: The newest embassy in Ambassador Court is that of the Eldeen Reaches, only recognized by Aundair as a legitimate nation in the Treaty of Thronehold. The massive hedgerow walls and spreading trees of the compound grew almost literally overnight, cultivated by representatives of the Wardens of the Woods. The embassy is ostentatious in its splendid, druidic construction, and this is the exact effect that the Wardens hoped to create. Disputes still abound between the nations and if the Last War is to start anew the Eldeen-Aundairian border is a likely spot. However the druids realize that the simple creation of an embassy in Fairhaven gives them a legitimacy which can be used as a diplomatic weapon against Aundairian aggression into the Reaches. Still, they have no intention of making the Aundairians comfortable and to this end they have appointed a very unusual representative. Dusklighter (LN male giant owl druid 3) is a competent speaker and skilled diplomat, and he excels at putting the Aundairian officials he meets with ill at ease. The awakened giant owl has a well-known habit of clacking his talons against the floor while in meetings with the Queen’s diplomats, and his bodyguard of two awakened dire bears never fails to cause a scene when he travels from the Wardens’ Glade to the castle on business. The Riedran Embassy: The exotic looking buildings making up the compound of the Riedran embassy have a patched together look to them still. Twenty years ago, the building was all but destroyed in a massive explosion which rocked the whole district. Many Riedrans died in the blast and the foreign nation nearly severed all ties with Aundair because of the incident. Only through careful diplomacy was Queen Barvette able to maintain the valuable trade relationship with Riedra. Even today, however, relations between the two nations remain cool and the embassy is a daily reminder of this to the Riedrans that work in the building. See Also: The spymaster prestige class in Complete Adventurer is a useful tool for creating diplomat characters, and information on spy adventures can be found on page 118 of Sharn: City of Towers. Information on the Shadow War and the business of spying can be found on pages 87-89 of Forge of War. Descriptions of foreign nations’ interests in Fairhaven can be found in Chapter 3: Power and Politics. See the Shangha district in Marble Halls for more information about the kalashtar presence in Fairhaven.
Distant Exchange District Type: Marketplace Buildings: average food (36), average lodging (6), average services (100), average trades (105), exotic trades (9), fine services (15), fine trades (35), open-air market, poor services (19), poor trades (31), temple (Kol Korran) First Impression: A hundred shops from a hundred different places crowd the streets, attracting some of the largest crowds to be found in Fairhaven.
The Distant Exchange is one of the largest and certainly the most varied market in the City of Lights. Obviously, it gathers most of its reputation from the exotic treasures that many of its merchants sell, relics from far-off Xen’drik or Sarlona as well as the Five Nations or the wilds of western Khorvaire. Next to these are dozens of more mundane tradesmen, from magewrights and carpenters to produce sellers and portrait painters. However, even these shops specialize in exotic styles and goods, following the long-standing tradition of the Distant Exchange: nothing sold here can come from Aundair. In addition to the well-known merchants below, the Distant Exchange features a Varden’s Liquors, one of the only places during the war to buy Karrnathi brandy; Southern Finery, selling exotic jewelry from Xen’drik about half of which are real; Aeldren and White, a perfume dealer with products from across the Five Nations and beyond; and The Lake and Loon, a tavern run by two retired adventurers from Breland who hosts contests once a month where participants are challenged to identify a drink’s origin after one sip. Aritificers of Aundair: This cartel has a large store at one end of the enclosed Distant Exchange building. The business is the joint venture of several powerful artificers who specialize, according to the Exchange’s rules, in uncommon magic items. They cater mostly to adventurers and are one of the best options for parties headed into dangerous areas. The shop is maintained by a woman named Marise Turiane (LN female expert 5/artificer 3), a much better merchant than she is an artificer, but she expertly manages her associates’ work and approaches every deal like it’s the last one she’ll ever get. Among the artificers who contribute to the wares in Artificers of Aundair is are experts specializing in magical and mundane poisons, Dhakaani tomb traps and puzzle wards, protective amulets against the dangers of the Demon Wastes, arcane protection against the dangers of Khyber, and a host of other esoteric areas. Aundairian Army Supply Depot: This stone building just outside of the Distant Exchange complex sells weaponry produced by the army blacksmiths. The weapons are generally fairly basic, but they are well-crafted attractive if not exactly beautiful. Queen Aurala occasionally promotes the business as proof that she is slowly dismantling Aundair’s standing military once more, but the truth is that the Supply Depot is a convenient way to keep a market going for crafters employed by the military in business and most of the “surplus” weapons have been replaced already with newly-crafted items. Should the Last War start again, the Aundairian army may have lost a small amount of equipment through the sales, but its production lines will be not only primed by already in motion. Because it isn’t under the Exchange’s roof, the Supply Depot can and does sell mostly unremarkable weaponry, but it does have a few magical items in the back. The Royal Eyes sometimes use the store as a front to create a fabricated sale of magical items to independent agents. Whenever the Eyes need to distance themselves from a mission, a simple sales voucher from the Supply Depot will show anyone interested that the adventurers just “happened” to buy the weapons from the business. Chered and Gordau: Generations ago, the competing gnomish inquisitive services of the Chered and Gordau families were legendary, as was their feud. For reasons unknown, the families both had arrived long before from Zilargo with a rivalry already in place. Eventually it got to the point where each family’s principle business was in foiling the other’s investigation and business was being lost rapidly. So the gnomes decided to set their differences aside and form a joint inquisitive service, sealing the deal by marrying the heirs to each business. Today Chered and Gordau is known throughout Fairhaven as an innovative and effective inquisitive service and the firm gets business from Besalle’s to the Whiteroof Ward. The extended gnome families still control the inquisitive service and all ten of their inquisitives are full-blooded members of one or both families. While they have a good working relationship with the Zilargo embassy in Ambassador’s Court, and has conducted more than a few clandestine investigations on behalf of the Trust, they’re interactions with House Sivis are strained at best. Some people say that the families are just so used to having a feud that they have turned on the dragonmarked house, and Chered and Gordau has done nothing to dissuade those rumors. Durmond’s Dyes: The small cart of this outlandish Q’barran merchant is filled with vibrant dyes from the jungles of his homeland. He is in the Distant Exchange every day, selling to cloth merchants and seamstresses alike, but his real business is kept in the small chest behind his cart. Jeul Durmond (NE male human expert 3) imports not only dyes from Q’barra by the drug known as dragon’s blood, smuggled by the Saverne into the city through lycanthropic contacts in Droaam. Durmond is only one of a several dealers throughout Fairhaven, though the one with the highest profile and thus he doesn’t generally carry more than a vial or too. Like most cities in Khorvaire, dragon’s blood is illegal in Fairhaven, but some dragonmarked heirs can’t resist its promises and many stop by Durmond’s cart to inspect his dyes and secretly purchase some of the drug for themselves. The Saverne traffic the drug specifically to target dragonmarked houses whom they still blame for being complicit in the Lycanthropic Purge. This is enough of a reason for the gang leaders to break their normal silence and risk exposure by selling drugs. Fairhaven Husbandry: This outpost in the Distant Exchange is run by House Vadalis and has a number of exotic animals for sale. Those interested in buying magebred mounts or labor animals are generally directed to the house enclave in Dragonhold or the Vadalis enclaves in the countryside around Fairhaven. In Fairhaven Husbandry, most of the animals are smaller and intended for pets or at least household animals. Beautiful parrots from Q’barra, exotic snakes from Xen’drik, or powerful guard dogs domesticated from the wild packs of Droaam are all available for sale in the shop. Animals from such varied locales are impossible for Vadalis heirs to economically sell, and the shop frequently hires independent trappers. Anyone capable-looking who enters the shop is likely to be approached by the charming Galec d’Vadalis (LE male expert 4/dragonmark heir 2) and his golden-furred pet monkey. Galec is very well-traveled and likes to insinuate that he has been through many dangerous expeditions himself, though he is nothing more dangerous than a traveling salesman. He is ambitious and self-interested, however, and also on the lookout for collecting wares he doesn’t have to pay for himself. Kanshaq the Tailor: While Fairhaven is a city that places a fair amount of stake on formality, there are some who prefer more comfortable finery. Between the newly landed adventurer residents of Leis Row and the often eccentric tastes of dragonmarked heirs living near Dragonhold, the Chequer’s Ward has more than its share of such wealthy patrons and Kanshaq the Tailor has cornered the market, so to speak. Located just outside the Distant Exchange building, Kanshaq’irtal (LG male half-orc expert 5) specializes in more subdued formalwear than one normally finds in the fashion shops of Nealford or the Sovereign Ward. In addition he has created some fine but outlandish suits and dresses inspired by dress from his native Shadow Marches, and even has some outfits made of glamerweave and dolweave. He even has some courtier’s outfits and noble’s outfits made of darkweave cloth which is popular among the adventurous residents of Leis Row, and Kanshaq the Tailor’s shop is the only place outside of Besalle’s Ward where one can buy a genuine Lormann Coat. While ex-adventurers may find the outfits at Kanshaq’s to be refreshingly loose and comfortable, the more traditional nobility of Fairhaven has little tolerance for the “Leis style” and it is certainly not the way to make an impression. See Also: More information on the Distant Exchange can be found on page 30 of Five Nations. Descriptions and the effects of dragon’s blood can be found on page 161 of Sharn: City of Towers. Glamerweave and darkweave can be found on page 122 of the Eberron Campaign Setting and dolweave can be found on page 129 of Magic of Eberron. Lormann Coats are further detailed in the Silvertorch district of Besalle’s Ward.
Dragonhold District Type: Guildhall district Buildings: average lodging (17), average food (33), average residences (126), average services (39), average trades (59), dragonmarked house enclaves (13), fine services (18), fine trades (17), poor services (10), poor trades (18) First Impression: Stately buildings with intricate iron-wrought designs on their front gates dominate the main avenue here. People on the streets in the livery of dragonmarked houses move through the streets, on errands elsewhere in the city.
As the seat of power for the dragonmarked houses in Fairhaven, Dragonhold has a somewhat deserved reputation for intrigue and politics. All of the houses have enclaves in Dragonhold, though the building devoted to House Orien is relatively small because of the extensive house resources already devoted to the lightning rail and house offices in the Chalice Center, and House Lyrandar has most of its interests concentrated by the docks in the Whiteroof Ward as well as the airship tower in the Chalice Center. House Thuranni also has a very small enclaveand in fact has a diminished sphere of influence throughout Aundair in general due to its feud with House Phiarlan. Of the remaining houses, House Cannith, House Jorasco, and House Phiarlan hold important positions in Fairhaven and all of them administer their interests in the city out of Dragonhold. Cannith Forgehold: House Cannith’s headquarters in Fairhaven may not be the most ornate of the dragonmarked enclaves in the city, but it is certainly one of the most active. Before Day of Mourning, when House Cannith’s primary enclave of Whitehearth in Eston was completely destroyed, the Forgehold in Fairhaven was seen as almost the edge of civilization to many Cannith heirs. Today this is far from the perception. Baron Jorlana d’Cannith (LN female human wizard 8) has proven herself a powerful leader and an expert negotiator and many Cannith heirs see the enclave of Cannith West as a source of major innovation. The long-standing alliance of Aundair and Cyre during the Last War brought an influx of refugees after the Day of Mourning and among them were more than a few very capable Cannith artificers. The house also actively poaches skilled artificers from the ranks of the Arcane Congress and the Academy of Arcane Arts at the University of Wynarn, offering well-paying jobs in the Fabricators guild. While it lacks the immense resources of Cannith South and the raw ambition of Cannith East, House Cannith in Fairhaven has heirs which have a growing and well-deserved reputation for business savvy. Halls of Memory: The large building which houses the House Phiarlan enclave is dominated by the massive library which gives the edifice its name. The Halls of Memory is a storehouse for historical texts of all kinds, from recovered tomes of the Kings of Dakhaan to the first writings of humans on the shores of Khorvaire to detailed histories covering the entire span of the Kingdom of Galifar. The Phiarlan library rivals even the Library of Korranberg in Zilargo for rare texts and between it and the magical libraries in Arcanix a scholar can find plenty to read within the borders of Aundair on any subject that he might choose. In particular, the Halls of Memory house all of the public writings by Phiarlan heirs about the Last War and scholars from across Khorvaire come to Fairhaven to read them. The smaller oratory halls of the enclave are also popular among the city’s residents, making the Halls of Memory nearly as popular during the summer season as the theaters of Nealford. It’s unclear whether the Aundairian penchant for rhetoric and poetry predates the establishment of the Demesne of Memory in Fairhaven, but the two complement each other nicely. The enclave and library are both run by Dulaen Elorrenthi d’Phiarlan (N male elf bard 7/dragonmarked heir 3), Lord Seneschal of Aundair and Viceroy of the Demesne of Memory. Dulaen was known throughout the Last War for his moving oratories on the tragedy of war and the sorrow of nations riven were immensely popular among citizens of Fairhaven. He was also known among adventurers involved with the Wayfinder Foundation for paying to record veterans’ experiences during the war or abroad. House Phiarlan scribes were always firm that the telepathy magic they used to record these passages only targeted the memories the subject wanted to give, but some adventurers were wary of the process anyway. House Jorasco Citadel: This old building was built centuries ago by a noble family, and the influence can still be seen in the castle-like architecture of the edifice. House Jorasco bought the building over two hundred years ago and has refurbished it to serve as a house of healing. The Jorasco Citadel is run by Haneela d’Jorasco (LN female halfling cleric 13), a powerful devotee of the Siberite Cult who can cast several high level clerical spells including resurrection for adventurers willing to pay the somewhat steep prices. The enclave also boasts an altar of resurrection for when Haneela is busy, and does a brisk trade in healing potions created by Haneela’s two apprentices. Despite the warm décor in most of the halls, the Jorasco Citadel has a reputations among the house’s scions for being a somewhat spooky station to serve in. Whole wings of the enormous citadel have never been redone and they remain silent and empty, entered only by cleaning staff once a week or so. The cellar of the citadel is closed off entirely, sealed nearly a century ago after it was discovered that parts of the old basement were open to catacombs underlying the city. When she first arrived at the enclave, Haneela converted one of the empty sections into a chamber of worship for the Siberite Cult. While the faith certainly comes after House Jorasco business in priorities, it is becoming an increasingly popular place of worship for Fairhaven citizens. Many of the more audacious residents of Leis Row have come to the sensationalist ceremonies of the cult and Haneela’s chapel has begun to give the religion some legitimacy among the more traditional residents of the central wards. See Also: Information about Jorlana d’Cannith’s history and plans can be found on pages 18-20 of Dragonmarked. More information on the demesnes of House Phiarlan and about Dulaen d’Phiarlan can be found on pages 68-69 of Dragonmarked. More information on the House Jorasco Citadel can be found on page 31 of Five Nations and information on the Siberite Cult can be found in Chapter 4: Guilds and Organizations as well as many districts in Rordan’s Gate. The altar of resurrection magical item is detailed on page 261 of the Eberron Campaign Setting.
Golden District Type: Financial District Buildings: banks (5), exotic trades (24), fine food (40), fine residential (80), fine trades (100), moneychangers (30), temple (Kol Korran) First Impression: Everything sparkles here, from the buildings to the people, and the streets are filled with well-dressed merchants and armored guards.
The financial heart of Fairhaven is the aptly-named district of Golden. Fairhaven is prominently situated in a prime mercantile position between rich farmlands to the north and west, river trade to the east, and highways to Breland and Thrane in the south, and the city has always enjoyed a healthy trade since its earliest days. Golden, however, is a very new district, barely forty years old. Before the Last War, the district was a professional district with a large amount of money lenders, but mostly trade crafters working with the markets of the Distant Exchange. After the collapse of the major financial districts in Marble Halls, however, Golden suddenly boomed with money and it grew into an opulent center of wealth and commerce almost overnight. The buildings are all either new or refurbished with the sudden influx of money, and the change in atmosphere has added an excitement to the city that’s almost palpable. Blademark Guildhouse: While the main headquarters of House Deneith in Fairhaven is found in the house enclave in Dragonhold, the Blademark Guildhouse in Golden is a close second. No official house business takes place here, but the merchants of Golden are some of the largest employers of Blademark guards in Fairhaven. During the Last War, Fairhaven was typically cut off from the main house enclave in Karrlakton and House Deneith had to recruit from local mercenaries to fill the ranks of the Blademarks. As a result, the Blademarks in the Golden are almost a private extension of the city Watch and many of the guild’s mercenaries are citizens of Fairhaven. Many of the merchants throughout the district hire the Blademarks to guard important or valuable shipments in Fairhaven, and administrators in the Guildhouse sometimes negotiate contracts between financiers and the Defenders Guild members in the main house enclave in Dragonhold. The administrator of the Blademark Guildhouse is an enigmatic woman named Reimes d’Deneith (LG female human warrior 5), the highest-ranking unmarked member of House Deneith in Fairhaven. Little is known about Reimes, who came to her current position during the Last War and several rivals within the Blademarks Guild are convinced she has a secret, though there are few clues as to what it might be. Kundarak Bank of Fairhaven: The Kundarak Bank in Golden, like the rest of the district, is new and shining. It was built several decades ago after the Vaults of Onatar in Marble Halls was closed as a bank, and has taken over that previous institution’s position at the center of mercantile power in the city of Fairhaven. House Kundarak wields enormous power behind the throne of nearly every nation in Khorvaire, and Aundair is no exception. The dwarves of House Kundarak have many secret deals with many parties in Aundair, deals they use to influence the commerce and government of the nation. Operating under generations of tradition, the house has many excuses for keeping its records safe, but the Royal Eyes continue to try to find out what exactly they are up to. Now that the Kundaraks have moved so much closer to the Tower of Eyes, the spy organization may decide it’s time for more direct measures. See Also: The districts of Marble Halls include many references to the shift in mercantile interests in Fairhaven, particularly in the description of the Vaults of Onatar in Crown Crossing.
Leis Row District Type: Average Residential Buildings: average food (18), average residences (216), fine residences (60) First Impression: The stately homes and rich decorations along the streets clash somewhat with the eccentric young residences that stroll the streets like they’re looking for someone to challenge them.
Leis Row was always a nice neighborhood, but recently it has become the home to the new upper class of landed adventurers. During the Last War many soldiers and adventurers in the service of Aundair distinguished themselves and were rewarded with noble titles by the monarchy. While they are counted among the “landed” aristocracy, these former adventurers usually didn’t receive any actual estates for their titles but most never wanted to leave the energetic lifestyle of Fairhaven anyways. As a result, Leis Row has filled with young aristocrats, reveling in their new titles and wealth. What started out as a small annoyance for the other residences of Leis Row has affected the upper class throughout the city as these “upstarts” overturn tradition and propriety. They attend galas in styles borrowed directly from their more common backgrounds and go out carousing in the taverns of Olladra’s Gate and Avalier. A few taverns have even opened up in the previously quiet streets of Leis Row, to the annoyance of the business owners and professionals who also share the neighborhood. The most serious consequence in the eyes of the city government, however, is the back-alley dueling which grows increasingly common in the district. While most of the nobility merely grumbled over the Queen’s outlawing of duels of honor, the decree is still defied in the back alleys of Leis Row. The duels are usually not lethal and many are just “for sport” instead of honor, a diversion to keep the former adventurers satisfied, but occasionally one gets out of hand, such as the duel behind the now-infamous Green Jack Tavern which led to the exile of Prince Jurian ir’Wynarn. See Also: Information about Prince Jurian can be found on page 23 of Five Nations.
Northcall District Type: Garrison Buildings: average food (12), average lodging (13), average residences (108), average services (28), average trades (23), fine food (5), fine trades (13), garrison building, poor lodging (5), poor food (4), poor residences (28), poor trades (5), shrine (Sovereign Host) First Impression: The tall garrison building is surprisingly quiet, lacking in the usual rhythm of marching boots. The building is obviously still functional, however, and many people move in and out through its tall doors.
The Northcall garrison is responsible for the patrolling of the northeast quarter of the city, but it is remarkable quiet for such a responsibility. The Watch stations throughout the Chequer’s Ward, Pine Hill, and the Eastway Ward handle most of the patrol assignments and most Watch activities at the garrison itself are limited to training Watch members. A good portion of the garrison building is given over to bureaucratic offices, however, and Northcall plays an important role as the location where business owners and traders from Rordan’s Gate to Besalle’s to the Eastway must come to obtain licenses for their trades. Offices in the Governor’s Towers in Fairhold see most of the licensing, but merchants have been handled by the offices in Northcall for decades. The commander of the Northcall garrison is a selfish man who owes his position more to political maneuvering than actual competence. Commander Erben Alyea (NE male human warrior 5) has made a career out of sycophantism and gathering cronies and is firmly supported by the men under his command. In fact, anyone who expresses doubt in their commander will soon find themselves transferred to another garrison or running afoul of a mugger while on patrol. Unlike Sharn, the Fairhaven Watch is not very corrupt and Erben has to tread carefully to avoid notice but he has proven remarkably skilled so far. This is no doubt partially because of his secret deals made with Kreelo of the Dark Daggers Gang which allows both parties to use the other’s resources for their own ambitions. Erben also has an aide who has proven very resourceful and extremely knowledgable. Yorr Souland is the persona used by the rakshasa Ki’axianol who is controlling Erben through suggestion to allow the Lords of Dust to spread their influence through Fairhaven. The commander has no idea where his aide gets his information from but, after the man’s first few plans led to his fortune he stopped asking questions. Ki’axianol is simply pleased to have connections with both the Watch and the Dark Daggers afforded by a single position and has apparently ready access to more secrets from his dark patron.
Thellin Court District Type: Average residential Buildings: average residences (234), fine residences (30), poor residences (30) First Impression: This neighborhood is filled with quiet streets and smaller houses, though many have excellent gardens.
The district of Thellin Court is a quiet, out of the way haven in the bustling Chequer’s Ward. The residents are generally people who moved here to find this quiet and few of them enjoy rowdy adventurers or merchants from the ward’s other districts coming in to disturb the peace. Besides this stuffy reputation, Thellin Court is known for its magnificent gardens that bloom every spring. The residents quietly compete for the best garden and visitors in this season are likely to find passive aggressive attitudes in the air as well as the scent of flowers.
Wrogar’s Arch District Type: Wealthy residential Buildings: average residences (26), fine residences (170) First Impression: Brilliant white marble houses arranged along wide avenues that all radiate from a central plaza with a tall monument.
The wealthy neighborhood of Wrogar’s Arch is the home of rich citizens of Fairhaven who want privacy more than reknown. The district is somewhat removed from the politics and gossip of similar neighborhoods in the Sovereign Ward or Nealford so the aristrocrats who choose to make their home here are generally trying to get away from all of this. At the center of the neighborhood is Wrogar’s Arch itself, a large monument erected by the first King of Aundair a century ago. It is a squared monument covered with carvings depicting periods of Aundair’s past and the edifice is formally known as the Arch of Noble Aundair, though it is much more commonly known by the name of the monarch who created it. A bronze statue of King Wrogar astride a regal horse was commissioned in the 950s and stands now in front of the arch, waving his famed greatsword in a victorious gesture. Because of the military monument at its center and the distance from the rest of Fairhaven’s upper class makes Wrogar’s Arch a popular area of the city for retired military men. Since the Last War’s beginnings, generals who retire from the army have wanted to find a place to get away from the attention of the public and the other nobility and Wrogar’s Arch provides the perfect place. Today the most well-known resident is General Merrin ir’Hoen (LE female half-orc fighter 4/expert 3), known as “the Boar” during the war for her brutal tactics especially against the armies of Thrane. Merrin the Boar was actually called up on charges during the War Tribunal of Thronehold and though she was eventually acquitted the event prompted her retirement from the army. Despite her self-imposed removal from society, rumors persist that the general is not satisfied with her retirement and maybe it was not entirely up to her.
