Fairhaven

The alabaster spires of Queen Aurala’s palace, Fairhold, dominate the city skyline. Yet despite their grandeur, the denizens of Fairhaven scurry about their business, oblivious to the architecture that towers over them. Cask-filled wagons, tasseled stallions, and scurrying pedestrians crowd the streets, and the shouts of vendors and laughter of revelers fill the air.

Fairhaven is the social and cultural center of Aundair as well as its capital city. Accordingly, it’s also the center of intrigue for the region and fertile ground for adventure. Characters who come to Fairhaven can establish connections with the Royal Eyes, smuggle for the black market, or bid on exotic wares in the famed Distant Exchange.
Fairhaven lies near the headwaters of the Aundair River some 80 miles west of the Thrane border. City planners divide the city into a dozen wards, the most prominent of which are described below.
The immense palace of Fairhold in the center of the city is practically a ward unto itself, and rare is the point in the city that doesn’t afford a view of the massive castle.

Notable Features

Fairhaven has places where anyone can find employment, buy and sell rare and powerful items—and sneak into or out of town when need to avoid unnecessary entanglements.

Chalice Center

This red brick plaza is the first part of Fairhaven that well-to-do travelers see. At one end of the square is the docking tower for House Lyrandar’s airships. Airships depart daily. One route goes to Wroat (78 hours, 1,560 gp) and Sharn (100 hours, 2,000 gp), and another goes to Korth (29 hours, 580 gp) and Krona Peak (92 hours, 1,840 gp). A third airship route goes to Flamekeep (18 hours, 360 gp) and either Taer Valaestas (100 hours, 2,000 gp) or Trolanport (88 hours, 1,750 gp). There’s also a twice-daily express that connects Fairhaven to the Lyrandar enclave at Stormhome (32 hours, 640 gp)
The other end of Chalice Center contains House Orien’s lightning rail station. Lightning rails depart every hour for the Orien hub at Passage (360 miles, 12 hours, 180 gp). Within 2d12 hours on any given day there’s a lightning rail going through Passage and on to Wroat (1,844 miles, 61 hours, 922 gp) and Sharn (2,300 miles, 76 hours, 1,150 gp), or in the other direction to Thaliost (900 miles, 30 hours, 450 gp). Prices are for first-class accommodations.

Fairhold

Queen Aurala's palace takes up acres in the center of Fairhaven. Parts of it are open to the public, including a museum, extensive public gardens, and a large winery. Other parts of Fairhold, such as the royal family residences and the detention center within the Courts of Justice, define high security and bristle with both mundane and magical guardians.
The centerpiece of Fairhold is the Crown’s Hall, where Queen Aurala holds audience on a daily basis. The arena-sized hall has gold-leaf decorations on nearly every surface—so much shiny gold that the very walls seem to radiate a warm light of their own.
The head of the palace staff is Castellan Adele Fulirno. She manages more than a thousand workers—everyone from the cooks to the bedchamber servants to the royal executioners. She also keeps the queen’s daily schedule; few ever speak to the queen without Fulirno’s assent.
Fairhold also houses the Royal Collection of Aundair, a peerless collection of historical texts. Of particular note, the Royal Collection has expansive and rare works detailing Galifar or the original Five Nations. Doing research at the Royal Collection requires permission from First Warlord Adal, Castellan Fulirno, or Queen Aurala herself.
The Tower of Eyes can also be found here, though few people actually understand the purpose or significance of that particular alabaster tower.

Distant Exchange

The city has larger marketplaces, but none are as vibrant and exotic as the Distant Exchange. Caravans from House Orien and independent merchants pull up almost daily to sell wares from far-off lands. By law and custom, nothing sold at the Distant Exchange can be found within Aundair’s borders. Shoppers thus find everything from Karrnathi brandy to Q’barran ebony carvings. Many of the vendors offer exotic food, drink, and clothing, but more than a dozen antiquities dealers have shops on the streets that surround the Distant Exchange. Treasures from Xen’drik often turn up here, though they rarely stay on sale for long.

Sovereign Ward

The Sovereign Host has a sprawling temple in the ward to which it lends its name. The temple has a central Hall of the Assembled Host that seats almost two thousand worshipers. Individual shrines to each of the deities that comprise the Sovereign Host surround the central hall; Arawai and Olladra’s shrines are particularly large and well attended.
The surrounding buildings provide residences for the acolytes and priests of the temple. In the south part of the ward, a number of vacant buildings denote the crumbling emptiness of the Church of the Silver Flame.

Abandoned Cathedral of the Silver Flame

Thrane and Aundair were frequent enemies during the Last War, and relations between them haven’t improved much since the war has ended. This tall, imposing cathedral was one of the largest outside Thrane’s borders, and it was a frequent sendoff point for many Silver Flame missionaries to the west. But when the Church of the Silver Flame seized control of Thrane after Thalin’s death in 914 YK, King Wrogar ordered the cathedral closed, and its clerics fled rather than face arrest.
The cathedral has lain vacant ever since. A few looters have explored its many chambers, but most Fairhaveners regard the place as haunted. Few children willingly walk within the cathedral’s shadow, believing that “Thrane ghosts” will get them if they do. Even adults regard it as bad luck to stand within the cathedral’s shadow—or even to acknowledge its presence. The entire city does its best to pretend that the cathedral isn’t there.
One of Fairhaven’s most powerful criminal syndicates, the Dark Dagger Gang, has seized the opportunity that the city’s deliberate amnesia presents. The changeling head of the syndicate, Kreelo, has moved his headquarters into the cathedral. Now the Dark Dagger gang plots to rule Fairhaven’s underworld from amid the tattered tapestries and shattered stained-glass windows of the former cathedral.

Whiteroof Ward

Named for the light gray slate roofs on many of the buildings, the Whiteroof Ward handles much of the city’s river shipping. A rough-and-tumble part of town, Whiteroof is home to Fairhaven’s transient half-elf population. The “river elves” of Whiteroof spend about half their time idling in Fairhaven and the rest of it fishing the Aundair River or shipping cargo downriver to Scions Sound. The half-elves have a reputation up and down the river as schemers and con artists, but as canny business owners as well. Most Aundairians say that you’ll either get the best deal of your life from a Whiteroof half-elf, or you’ll get cheated and left empty-handed.
The Whiteroof half-elves tend to be more cosmopolitan than most Aundairians. They’re among the few Aundairians who regularly trade with Thrane, for example. Many an Aundairian bard, half-elf or not, traces his love of story and song to an encounter with a Whiteroof “river elf” that told magical tales of life on the Aundair River.

Knowledge Ward

The University of Wynarn dominates the Knowledge Ward. The rest of the ward is given over to meager student housing, inexpensive public houses, and a small enclave of several hundred kalashtar.

House Jorasco Citadel

Adventurers naturally want to know where to go to have a slain comrade raised from the dead. Fairhaven’s most potent healer is Haneela d’Jorasco. She’ll perform raise dead immediately for 6,000 gp in goods or coin as long as she’s convinced that she’s not raising a wanted criminal. Given 24 hours notice, she can cast resurrection for 11,000 gp in goods or coin. Haneela channels divine power from the spiritual remnants of the Dragon Above, so she’s affiliated with no particular deity.

Demographics

Humans 65%, half-elves 15%, gnomes 9%, elves 7%, changelings 2%, other 2%.
Many of the half-elves ply the Aundair River, so their population shifts upward or downward by as much as a thousand, depending on fishing and other river trade.

Government

Fairhaven has no city government to speak of; Queen Aurala ir'Wynarn rules it as her personal domain within the nation she also leads.
Aurala’s brother Aurad is the governor for Capital Affairs and handles the day-to-day operations of the city. But major public works projects and law enforcement activities happen only with the queen’s approval.

Defences

Typical City Watch A typical member of the city watch has chainmail armor, a heavy crossbow, a ranseur, and a sap. Two to six members of the watch comprise a typical patrol, depending on the neighborhood.

Aundairian Capital City

Alternative Name(s)

City of Lights

Type

Metropolis

Population

92,500

Owner/Ruler

Aurala ir'Wynarn

Owning Organization

Aundair