Refugees

The second general social change is the problem of refugees. Nearly 10,000 people have fled to the Free City during the wars, for a variety of reasons. Nearly half the influx has been of Nyrondese who have abandoned their impoverished and threatened land. The displaced also include Furyondians and Urnst people escaping conscription, Bandit Kingdom folk with no home left to them, Tenhas who are unhappy in Urnst, and exiled Shield Landers.

A minority of these people do not present a problem, since they are skilled artisans, scholars, scribes, mages, and suchlike. Some create political problems for the authorities by their very presence and activities; but, more generally, the bulk of unskilled and semi-skilled refugees has created social tensions in the city.

Overcrowding in the poorer parts of the city (River Quarter, Old City, Shack Town, and also the Foreign Quarter) is a problem, since many refugees who could bring a few of their belongings to Greyhawk have ended up there. Of course, overcrowding breeds disease, conflict between national groups, and worse. Native Greyhawkers blame the newcomers for a long list of problems: stealing their jobs (many refugees will work for a pittance undermining Union and Guild authority (refugees have been used to attempt to break the monopoly of weaker Guilds and Unions in order to drive down wages crime (outsiders are prime targets for blame disease (“they brought the pox with them” and much else of what goes wrong in their day-to-day lives.

Some of the social institutions of the Free City have managed to absorb some of these tensions. The Beggars Union has accommodated disabled war veteran refugees, for example, but anyone shamming gets short shrift (comically, only native Greyhawkers are allowed to sham by the Union). Refugees with real skills have accepted the authority of native Guilds and been taken into membership for the most part. Priests of deities such as Rao and Pelor have worked hard to mediate disputes and head off conflicts between natives and newcomers. Some refugee groups have informally elected councils that meet with representatives of the Directing Oligarchy and the temples in order to smooth things out.

Still, Greyhawk‘s reputation as a cosmopolitan city is under strain these days. Social tensions break out into violent conflicts from time to time. The drunken revels of Needfest 585 CY degenerated into the locals killing 32 Tenha refugees in Shack Town, angry at losing work (insecure at the best of times, as simple laborers) and fed up with what they saw as the arrogance of the newcomers. This was exceptional, but serious assaults due to similar causes are almost a daily occurrence in some city areas.