Absalom (AB-sah-lahm)

For more than 4,000 years, Absalom has been the City at the Center of the World, a metropolis-sized showcase of the greatest treasures in all Golarion. The importance and influence of Absalom upon the Inner Sea and the whole of Golarion can not be overstated. The city not only holds a key strategic position for both commercial and military endeavors in the region, but encompasses the site of the ascension of four deities and claims to have been founded by none other than the Last Azlanti, the god Aroden. It is not without reason that the passage of time throughout the Inner Sea region is counted in Absalom Reckoning.

Demographics

More so than anywhere else on Golarion, Absalom plays home to every conceivable type of inhabitant. While primarily a human settlement, members of all races, religions and homelands can be seen in (and under) the streets of the City in the Center of the World. The specific demographics of each individual district vary greatly, but there are few (if any) peoples who are not represented somewhere within the city, even the mysterious gillmen of ancient Azlant and travelers from other planes.
The earliest inhabitants of Absalom were wise and brave nobles, merchants and adventurers from the lands nearest to the Isle of Kortos, thus the influence of the nations of Andoran, Cheliax, Osirion, Qadira, Taldor and Thuvia remain most pronounced in the city to this day. Due to influence of nearby Osirion and Qadira, many of the city's inhabitants speak Kelish or Osiriani in addition to Taldane.
Halflings are the second largest racial group in the city after the humans making Absalom one of the main halfling settlements in the Inner Sea region. Halflings from many countries come to Absalom joining the indigenous community. The main halfling districts are The Coins, Eastgate and the Foreign Quarter; few halflings live or travel to the Puddles where the height of the water can be dangerous for them.
Elves are relatively uncommon in Absalom, mostly consisting of adventurers or outcasts; more common are their half-elven descendants, many of whom can be found around the Pleasure Salon of Calistria.
Many of Absalom's residents organize themselves into houses, which are similar to clans organized by national origin.
62% human, 11% halfling, 8% half-elf, 7% gnome, 5% dwarf, 2% elf, 1% goblin, 1% half-orc, 3% other ancestries

Government

Absalom is ruled by the Grand Council which is chaired by the primarch, a position currently held by Lord Gyr of House Gixx. The Council has twelve high seats (including the primarch's) and a variable number of low seats. Most of the city's administrative positions are filled by members of the Council, the more sought after titles going to members of the High Council. The position of primarch is held for life and decided upon by the High Council. It has additional privileges unique to the position granting the holder considerable power over the Council, and by corollary, the City at the Center of the World itself. Much of the day-to-day administration are handled by the district councils of Absalom. The district councils are headed by a nomarch, who is appointed by the Low Council with the approval of the primarch.

Defences

Absalom is defended by a complicated web of military and law enforcement organizations, each of which has differing mandates. The First Guard serves as Absalom's army. They man the city's walls, gates, and forts and protect it from external threats. The Starwatch is a military, intelligence, and law enforcement organization headquartered at Starwatch Keep outside the city. They enforce the Grand Council's decrees, investigate crimes that cross district lines, and look into misconduct by the city's other military and law enforcement groups. Absalom's Navy is the largest of the military branches and protects the city from attacks by sea and also oversees the hippocampus-mounted Wave Riders. Finally, the various district guards or watches investigate crimes committed only within the various districts of the city.

Industry & Trade

Absalom's great wealth is driven by trade, so the city's rulers strive to craft policies favorable to commerce (and their own interests), but otherwise take a relatively laissez-faire approach to regulation. Taxes in the city are very light, although Siege Taxes during wartime may be significantly higher. There are no property taxes, although the city charges for access to roads, sanitation, and other public infrastructure. Modest taxes on foreign merchants, fees for pilots through the Flotsam Graveyard, and docking fees, are generally sufficient to supply the city's needs.
Absalom's economy can be divided into three basic parts: craftsmen, who manufacture goods; traders, who buy and sell physical goods; and laborers, who provide services. While craftsmen and laborers are organized into guilds that provide legal and illegal products and services, traders are prohibited from organizing to prevent collusion and price-fixing. The city's laws require that goods to be sold must be owned by a single merchant, who may operate a single commercial outlet for them. Absalom's currency consists of pennies, silver weights, crests, gold measures, and platinum sphinxes.
The city is a major hub for commerce on the Inner Sea, and its most common trading partners include the cities of Almas, Cassomir, Katheer, Niswan, Okeno, Oppara, Oregent, Ostenso, and Sothis. However, Absalom has varying relations with and regulations concerning trade with them. For example, Almas views Absalom's ships as unwelcome bullies, while Vudrani traders from Niswan are celebrated, and ships from Oregent must prove they carry only glassware and silverware or face a 100% tariff. Other ships come from all over the world, as far away as Tian Xia. Absalom acts as a hub for these countries and disseminates these goods to ships on their way to other ports across the Inner Sea.
Due to Absalom's size and scale, beasts of burden are important elements of the city's commerce and transport. Regular bench-wagons allow commoners to ride around town for a copper, and halfling porters with dog travois can be hired for a similar price. Horses are rare on the Isle of Kortos, since the centaur tribes regard them as invaders and the harpies like to eat them. Consequently, the most prominent beast of burden is the camel; farmers use them for agriculture, drovers use them to pull wagons and chariots, and many district guards field a camel cavalry. Camel barding is more commonly available than barding for horses in the city. After camels, axe beaks are most common mount and beast of burden, faster and better able to defend themselves than camels. Dogs, lizards, elephants, and monstrous centipedes are also found; before the establishment of Hackamore House, much saddle and tack had to be custom made or ordered from dozens of shops due to the diversity of animals used in the city.

Exports

Even though goods from across the world are traded in Absalom, it also has several important exports that originate in and around the Isle of Kortos. Lumber is harvested in the Immenwood and brought via the Deluge River to Diobel or overland to Otari. Diobel's shallow harbor also has plentiful oyster beds and are considered some of the finest in the Inner Sea region. Iron is mined in the Isle of Kortos' interior (most notably in the dwarven settlement of Galizhur) and supples Absalom's countless craftspeople that sell their goods across Golarion. Finally, various skymetals are harvested by Low Azlanti on the ocean floor or harvested in the Diobel Hills.
Absalom is also famous for its shellfish: oysters, clams, scallops, crabs, and lobster.

Districts

A city the size of Absalom could not function as a single cohesive unit, thus it has been divided or split naturally over time into a handful of distinct districts, each a city unto itself both in terms of sheer population and overall atmosphere, and each having its own district council to run its day-to-day affairs. From the high-class havens of the Petal and Ivy Districts to the dangerous and destitute districts of the Puddles and Precipice Quarter, Absalom's neighborhoods run the gamut of both the economic and social spectra. Additionally, austere monuments of historical and spiritual significance draw thousands of people to Azlanti Keep, the Ascendant Court and Wise Quarter on a daily basis.

History

Over the past 4,700 years, the tomes and volumes detailing the history of Absalom have grown to fill even the largest of libraries. Many important events in Absalom's history, however, remain unrecorded. Most notable among these lost tales is that of the city's founding; as a result, a complex, powerful myth has developed surrounding the city's genesis.[citation needed] Founding and early history
Aroden, at the time still an Azlanti mortal, raised the Starstone from the depths of the Inner Sea to its current location in 1 AR, making it the focus of what would become the City at the Center of the World. Whether or not the Last Azlanti also raised, or created, the Isle of Kortos has been the subject of debate for millennia. That he did so remains the pervading belief of the natives and of many religions, although no supporting records date back farther than 1450 AR. The confusion regarding Absalom's origins is not unfounded. Aroden performed his task alone, and spoke little of it afterwards. Records of the first few centuries of life in Absalom are spotty at best: the Founding Law of Absalom was written in stone within Azlanti Keep, but no other original documents survive. Four millennia of mold, accident, and possibly intentional sabotage have destroyed every book, scroll, or tablet kept before 400 AR. Copies of copies, each claiming to represent the original text, can be found throughout the city, but even within Forae Logos, editions rarely agree with one another. As a result, much of the first millennium of Absalom's history is less history and more mythology.
Regardless of the city's actual origins, its whole-cloth creation allowed for quick settlement, and Aroden gave the best and the bravest of the Inner Sea region the task of protecting the Starstone from any who might move it. Most of the people who heeded his calling came from Taldor (including its provinces of Cheliax and Andoran), Osirion, Qadira, and Thuvia. In the following millennia, Absalom drew heavily on the cultures of these nations for its identity, and many of the city's noble houses still trace their lineages back to them.

Centuries of siege

Due to Absalom's superb location and undeniable influence, along with the hope of immortality promised by the Starstone, a number of ambitious nations and greedy warlords have set their sights on the walls of Absalom since the earliest days of its existence. For centuries, the city was almost constantly besieged by one army or another, each attempting to bring Absalom to its knees. Despite this relentless onslaught, the city has never fallen, although relics of ancient wars still litter the plains of the Isle of Kortos, and sunken warships clutter the floor of the harbor.
The warlord Voradni Voon was the first to unsuccessfully besiege the city in 23 AR, an event now known as the First Siege of Absalom.

In 166 AR, the mage Nex assailed Absalom with his armies. Aroden himself indirectly guided the defenders.

During the Pirate Siege of 430 AR, the city was attacked by a confederation of pirates from across the Inner Sea, who sought to take advantage of Aroden's recent departure.

In 1298 AR, the Postern Gate was nearly breached in the Siege of Prophets. Starwatch Keep was built specifically in response to the crisis this assault created.

The unsuccessful Reborn Rebellion, led by Garev Halfhand, marred the year 1464 AR.

In 1619 AR, the unsuccessful Radiant Siege occurred, led by Kharnas the Angel-Binder.

In 2850 AR, the city came under attack by the Arclords of Nex, who unleashed the Conjured Siege upon them. Once again, Absalom eventually prevailed.

In 3637 AR, the Numerian "Machine Mage" Karamoss assaulted Absalom, constructing a huge metal citadel with alien technology. The city was besieged by metal automatons until finally defeated by the city's druidic order.

Ras-Jajan, a self-styled Necromancer-King, assailed Absalom with an undead army in 3692 AR.

For her seventh miraculous act, the then-mortal Iomedae called upon the Starstone to light the city through a terrible storm. This allowed the defenders of Absalom to halt a vicious attack from a pack of sea-ghouls that had invaded. This event occurred in the early 3800s.

In the early 40th Century AR, Taldor attempted a military operation called the Silent Tide, in which Taldan agents would infiltrate the city, cripple several vital targets, then signal for the Taldan navy to begin the siege proper. As the plot was foiled before the signal was given, this technically was not an actual siege.

The Chelish Siege in 4137 AR also failed to take Absalom, although Cheliax almost certainly harmed the city's trade by taking possession of the Arch of Aroden, thereby restricting trade to the city.

Lure of the Starstone

The promise of immortality has brought countless hopefuls to Absalom over the millennia who hoped to pass the Test of the Starstone. Only three humans are known to have successfully completed it (Norgorber in 1893, Cayden Cailean in 2765, and Iomedae in 3832 AR), but that has not stopped thousands from attempting it. The followers of the Ascended, along with the cults of those who failed, have added a thriving religious community to Absalom which continues to this day.

Slavery

Slavery is a complicated subject in the City at the Center of the World. It is looked down upon in the upper-class neighborhoods despite the law allowing slavery, the Flesh Taxes, being reinstated in 4635 AR. The buying and selling of chattels is always allowed on Misery Row, a street in the Coins neighborhood, and most of the city's slave trade takes place there. Slaves are rarely taken in Absalom itself, but are brought in from outside the Isle of Kortos; they are generally criminals or those with excessive debt. The pits are loosely "guarded" by city guards - actual security is left to the slavers themselves. City guards will ignore anything that happens to slavers unless bribed to look into it.

Recent history

Much has changed in Absalom in the past century. Rioting and violence became widespread in the streets after the death of the former Primarch, who was strongly influenced by Cheliax. Lord Gyr of House Gixx stepped into the power void; using his own troops and personal influence, he calmed the city and established an equilibrium between its factions. In 4660 AR, he was elected Primarch of Absalom's Grand Council.

Geography

Situated on the southern coast of the Isle of Kortos, Absalom is the largest city in the Inner Sea region and quite possibly the entire world. The ice-capped peaks of the Kortos Mounts are among the highest known in the world, stretching high above treeline.
Countless abandoned siege engines and constructions of war from the numerous failed attempts throughout history to take the city by force lie scattered throughout the surrounding countryside in what has become known as the Cairnlands and the wreckage of armadas of unsuccessful attempts on the city from the sea all but block the wide harbor in a mass known as the Flotsam Graveyard.
The city itself is enormous: it stretches more than seven miles from the Starwatch Keep to Azlanti Keep and more than five miles from Westgate to Eastgate, and Absalom has three times as many residents as the capital of Cheliax, Egorian.

Greater Kortos

More than just a city, Absalom controls all the land on and around the Isle of Kortos (though much of the isle remains wilderness). Many places show the sign of Absalom's great age, from the ancient forest of the Immenwood, to the aging Aeon Towers of the Swardlands.

Cairnlands

The Cairnlands are a wasted plateau surrounding the city of Absalom that are littered with the siege castles from thousands of years of failed invasions. These attract treasure hunters from around the world and are home to many creatures, brigands, and undead. The greatest of the siege castles is the Spire Nex, a mile-high spire located 10 miles north of the city.

Diobel

Diobel, the smaller of the two settlements, is a bustling port town located on the western coast of Kortos. The town is a center of trade in its own right, acting as a hub for fishermen, traders and smugglers wishing to bring illicit goods into the City at the Center of the World via overland caravan instead of through the closely watched harbor of Absalom proper. Because of its important position as an alternative shipping route into the city, control of Diobel is very valuable and rising factions wishing to gain power in Absalom can often be seen first across the Isle in Diobel. The city is currently ruled by Scion Lord Avid of House Arnsen, a rival and childhood friend of Absalom's own Lord Gyr.

Escadar

Escadar is a vital military town located on the Isle of Erran off Kortos's northern shore. Originally founded as a shipyard and warehouse to aid Absalom against naval blockades, the town quickly grew as workers and naval officers moved to Erran. Beyond its continuing function as a reserve navy for times of siege, the fair-sized military base operates throughout the Inner Sea and as far south as the Obari Ocean in constant efforts to hamper piracy in the region. Escadar's governing body, the Lesser Council of retired ship captains and young relatives of members of the Absalom Grand Council, has also been known to grant letters of marque to civilian ships committed to fighting piracy in the waters around the Isle of Kortos itself.

Shadow Absalom

Every major city on Golarion has its dark mirror opposite on the Plane of Shadow, and none are greater than Shadow Absalom. Inhabited by fetchlings, various other humanoid races, and intelligent undead, the city is a thriving community of both natives from and visitors to the Shadow. The mirror opposite of the Ascendant Court holds a permanent portal to the Material Plane, making Shadow Absalom a popular destination to those trapped on this plane. The city is ruled by Argrinyxia the Shifting Lady of Ebon Scales, a powerful umbral dragon.

Maps

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  Absalom

Alternative Name(s)

City at the Center of the World, Patchwork City, City of Buried Treasures, Jewel of the Inner Sea

Type

Large city

Population

3,000,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Absalomians

Characters in Location

• Kriston

Vehicles Present

• The Griffin's Haul