Oldmar
The town of Oldmar is best known as an alternative on the Imperial Bay to docking in the Imperial City itself or anchoring in the Bay. The port facilities are not as vast or elaborate, but they are less regulated and taxed, which makes them a favor alternative with those who have plenty of time, but not plenty of money. The town is often in dispute with the Banking Coalition of the Imperial City, but they remain independent and pleased with their development. They are loyal subjects of the Empire, and ships with nonhumans in their crew are forbidden from docking in Oldmar.
Demographics
The town of Oldmar is almost entirely human, with the exception of a handful of halflings. Local laws forbid nonhumans from being within the town walls after dark, even the halfling residents and high elves from the Imperial City. Jakonian humans are the majority, with other ethnicity humans being persistently viewed as suspicious, especially Bahamis and Nasites. Ownership of homes in the town is carefully regulated, and those who wish to live here often must be vouched for by at least five current residents. This has become a favored home for wealthy and upper middle class individuals who work in the financial sector of the Imperial City, as a place they can get away from the chaos of the big city.
Government
The city is governed by a representative of House Jakson, the official owners of the community, as with the rest of the Fruitlands. They administer both the docks and admittance into the city, through use of the Imperial bureaucracy. The Jakson representative is the final authority in the city, acting as the appointed mayor. The town is governed by the strictest of laws proposed by the most fundamentalist approach of the Church of the One Sun, preserving its purity of mankind, against the tainted chaos of the Imperial City. Although the mayor is absolute word in theory, in fact there is the Council of Citizens consists of a self-appointed group of local wealthy individuals, who act as advisors. The Council drafts laws for passage, and the mayor for the most part rubber stamps their recommendations, as House Jakson is not eager to offend such moneyed individuals.
Defences
Originally the town was defended by the Imperial Army, but in 956 AF they were permanently recalled. For nearly the past one hundred years, the wealthiest citizens of the town have paid for the creation of a paid organization known as the Oldmar Defenders. Essentially a mercenary company with a single task, the defense of Oldmar, they consist primarily of Imperial Army and Marine veterans who have since retired or been discharged. They are given the finest in weapons and uniforms, often outshining even the Imperial Army in appearance and precision. They are charged with preserving order and protecting the town walls. The town walls themselves are nearly twenty-five feet in height and painted with brilliant white paint that allow them to shine from a distance. The wall is mostly charged with keeping out derelicts, rather than being viewed as a defense against a true offensive army.
Industry & Trade
Commerce in Oldmar is mostly based upon those seeking to avoid the proportionately harsh customs of the Imperial City. They are focused on providing a clear advantage to captains that have a strictly human crew, in order to further enforce the teachings of the Church. Commerce is overall significantly smaller than the Imperial City, but that is suitable to those who reside within. For the most part, the town imports many goods from the Imperial City, for the purchase of its wealthy residents, many of whom own offices in the Imperial City financial sector. The town is therefore geared towards providing a luxury life for its wealthy inhabitants, which is the task of the poorer folk who live here.
Infrastructure
Oldmar has received the finest developments of its infrastructure, with much of it donated by wealthier residents or even by the Church of the One Sun. The Oldmar Cathedral is perhaps the most opulent and luxurious place of worship in the entire Church faith. The roads of the city are paved, sewers allow for indoor plumbing and unobtrusive flow of waste, and the nights are lit by oil lamps that provide a constant glow in the darkness. The docks are made of stone, rather than wood, and the dockside areas and streets are kept clear by a full time staff of cleaning public servants. A shipyard exists for the sole purpose of maintaining and building yachts and luxury ships for the rich of the Imperial City.
Assets
Oldmar's priorities are strictly towards shops that provide luxury goods for the town's wealthy inhabitants. This has led to the creation of two marketplaces, the Gilded Market and the Pumpkin Market. The Gilded Market is the location of high end shops and storefronts that offer some of the finest goods and luxury items available in Emicara. Most of these groups have multiple shops located in the Imperial City, but they often preserve their best pieces for display in Oldmar. The Pumpkin Market is towards the town wall, well away from the center of the city, and offers the day to day items required by servants and peasantry to provide for their betters, including spices and foodstuffs, as well as a good assortment of general goods. The town has forbidden blacksmiths due to the soot they create, so metalwork goods have to be brought in from the Imperial City for sale in the Pumpkin Market.
Guilds and Factions
The Council of Citizens is the battleground in which the fights for the future of Oldmar are fought. It should be clear, however, that factions in the Council are equally conservative in their fundamentalist beliefs in the Church of the One Sun. Most of the battles fought are minor in nature and mostly involve minor procedural issues and debates, as well as individual families and houses jockeying for power within the existing Council. Few of the decisions made in the Council will ever have a dramatic effect on the wider Empire, but on occasion, sometimes a debate over zoning ordinances can take a lethal turn. Feuds among houses have been known to develop over minor issues and last for decades.
History
Oldmar was the original town that survived the destruction of old Tampa when the Fruitlands were created. Its inhabitants were the first to discover what had transpired in the ruins of the old Nameless Empire city, and they were the first to taste its fruits. They fought back when the Jakonians arrived, but being outnumbered, they were quick to surrender and soon assimilated into the much larger ranks of the Jakonians. Oldmar existed on the very edge of the Fruitlands and therefore did prosper a bit, with their crops growing more quickly, if not as large as they would in the heart of the region. Most of the locals remained and contributed their yields and sons to the growing empire.
As the Imperial City grew in size and chaos, quite a few of those living within grew tired of the constant noise and bustle. Especially when the high elves arrived and moved their banking and trading operations into Jakonia, did these humans seek out a refuge. Oldmar became that refuge, and starting in around 700 AF, the people of the town worked towards a place that humans could demonstrably call their own without alien influences. The Church of the One Sun encouraged these efforts, and helped pay for a new wall around the town. Over the next three hundred years, Oldmar took its current form, slowly adhering to all of the principles of the Church, and is now propped up as a beacon of the wondrous prosperity that awaits any community that is willing to expel its nonhumans and take a traditionalist approach to their faith.
Natural Resources
The farmland surrounding Oldmar was somewhat influenced by the explosion that created the Fruitlands. Although they do not have a constant growth of crops daily, they are usually able to harvest two or three times a year. This slight increase in yields has enabled local farmers to provide for Oldmar itself, rarely exporting many goods of their own. Luxury food items and spices usually have to be imported, but Oldmar is perfectly capable of providing for its own people.
Type
Large town
Population
9,400
Related Ethnicities
Inhabitant Demonym
Oldmaran
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
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