Kreniko

Twin lighthouses and seaside lanterns mark a pincer of marshy penninsulas, beyond which lies the lush Kreniko bay. Through the misty bay, the light of the city beckons. The Movakoi river, slick with urban pollution, juts through the reed and cattails into the bay. Hills on either side of the river hold the excesses of Zerua high above the water: a grand royal palace and fiery spire-temple to the East, and a towering mess of industry and fortifications to the West. The port, scattered across the river delta, waits ahead. 
Kreniko is the capitol of the Vice-Kingdom of Mikena and a prominent industrial city of the Western Empire of Zerua. This is a hub of art, culture, religious diversity, military activity, and power, that draws in thousands of immigrants and visitors for work every year. It is also a deeply stratified city, where the fruits of economic prosperity are mostly for an out-of-reach elite class. Kreniko goes against all of the cultural ideals of Mikena - its geography spits in the face of meritocracy, its industry ignores the sober pessimism of the land. It is for this reason that Mikena as a whole hates Kreniko perhaps more than it loves it; while the people of the region need to do business with this hub, they resent the city that devours their young.

Demographics

Over 100,000 people live here.
Kreniko is densely populated, and demographic numbers are in constant flux. This is both because of seasonal work migrations, and because of the extremely high death rates from disease and conditions.

Government

Kreniko is the seat of power for the Vice-Kingdom of Mikena, and the Prince of Mikena (current Prince Mazaru Eramzir). The Prince is the absolute authority over the city, though most day-to-day governance is done by the mayor. Mayors are appointed by the princess and operate as employees of the monarch. The Mayor coordinates the Ministries (Trade, Balance, Public Health, Movement, Agriculture, Justice, War) to act in the Monarch's interests.
In theory, Kreniko is to be governed by an Arch-Duke under the Prince, but that title is not currently in use.
The current Prince of Mikena is Prince Mazaru Eramzir, an cynical old sorcerer who is as domineering as he is brilliant. A caster to rival the imperial arcanist, Prince Mazaru is a man too well-embedded and successful to remove but too widely hated to promote. The Prince's charisma is one too unrestrained by malice and a desire for power to truly shine in court politics; while Mazaru thrives in the world of blackmail and spies, he has a way of making other diplomats and elites despise him. A commoner by birth, Mazaru makes his insecurity and scars everyone's problems. Mazaru has weaponized the idea of meritocracy to justify crushing his political enemies as well as the innumerable commoners impacted by his desperate pursuit of economic growth.
The current mayor of Mikena is Monzo Bakari, a surly bureaucrat who has become horribly cynical and corrupt over the years. Once a competent lawyer and idealist who rose through the ranks from his keen eye for detail, Bakari was installed to help the Prince sway the imperial bureaucracy in the city towards the Prince. His efforts have left him branded a scheming snake; a reputation that has only strengthened as Bakari embraced the corruption around him. He always had a petty streak, but he has become downright mean and petulant as he has gotten old. Bakari is good at organizing accounts and budgets, and has knack for clever taxation methods, but he is terrible at making friends and maintaining relationships. Bakari's adopted sister, Alba, runs the garrison - but the two are not on great terms.

Industry & Trade

Kreniko is an extremely productive city, exporting steel, wood, sugar, bamboo, textiles, pearls, charcoal, and preserved food for shipping. 
The iron industry is perhaps the most unique among Zeruan cities, with a local iron mine in Ironridge supplying the smelters and water-hammer-mills in Benibiska Mills. The city has special contracts with the Zeruan imperial military supplying weapons from these steel mills, brokered by the Benibiski gentry family. While the Benibiskis also have lucrative contracts with the Iskariba Company (an Ibaishan security and windweaving company), the steel production line itself is largely outside of corporate hands. Low-income workers do most of the steel smelting and processing, but mining is mostly done by a cluster of prism clans tied to the land by multi-generational contracts. The combined Iskariba Company and military contracts also mean that this is a tightly guarded industry; Iskariba mercenaries happily collect debts for ironmonger elites and soldiers are quick to defend the facilities.
Another big corporate-military contract industry in Kreniko is the preserved food industry. Salted and smoked fish, poultry, and vegetables are produced here on a large scale, and huge bakeries produce large volumes of sailing crackers. Salt from the nearby salt-marsh is critical for this industry, as are deepwater fish caught just outside the bay. The Aludarzir Corporation is a big name in this industry, with a few urban gentry groups organizing and controlling labor (most significantly the Adagaris). 
Wood and bamboo are harvested from nearby areas for carpentry, boat repairs, and construction. A large lumber-mill complex in the Benibiski Mills area (owned by the Akuzir gentry family) is the primary processing hub; this mill most notoriously relies on debtor labor from the Itixi, the largest debtor's jail in the city. 
In terms of textiles, much of the much of the activity is concentrated in Webtown. Cotton and wool merchants, mostly tied to either Greenspirit Corp and/or the Alwazirs, mostly rely on the "Putting Out System" - sending out raw materials to many apartments and homes across the city, and then paying various families to spin them into thread to be returned. This thread is then woven in large workshops in webtown. 
Charcoal is burnt from bamboo and wood for fuel in Blackbrick, and is an essential trade for the smelting industry. Another big industry that depends on debtor work, dominated by the Akuzir family. Pearls are mostly harvested by Aquatic people in the bay and acquired and prepared in Pearlport. Sugar is mostly refined out-of-city in the refinery towns up-river and grown in the countryside, but the city serves as a processing middle-man; Kreniko mills a great deal of sugarcane and acts as a distributor to the various refineries, and then serves as the main shipping and sales point for the final product.
The gap between labor and commerce is enormous in Kreniko. More than many cities, Kreniko is divided between workers (from debtors to artisans) and merchant elites.

Districts

Crown Port: The main port of Kreniko, a bustling center of trade. Hustle and bustle, with sailor's taverns and freshly offloaded merchandise to be sold. At the boundary of the crownport and the Pearl Port is the Selkie Admiralty, around which more recent immigrant housing clusters.
Pearl Port: A strip devoted to good storage and ship repair, mostly housing dockworkers, warehouse workers, and retired sailors. Also where the Aquatic species have a communication outpost. 
Reedmarket: An eclectic district, with ancient ruins used as foundations for new housing and shops. A bit swampy and the marshier bits are definitely slums, but the main avenues are raised and quite commercial. Certainly not the best place to live, and a great deal of business has been moving to New Market.
Benibiski Mills: The industrial quarter, where the big workshops, smelters, and mills are. The factorial businesses are distinctly apart from the tenement blocks; the land is firmly owned by the urban gentry, who prefer to keep the workers apart from the shops. Those who live in the apartment blocks here are those working off debts - the conditions aren't great.
Benibiski Slope: The main residential district for workers in either the mills or other low-income wage labor. Slums, but the most well-established and best of the slums, a place where communities can exist and lives can be had.
Stormcastle: A military district, where the garrison and mercenaries are stationed. It is also home to a robust residential community, largely Darakans and Eastern Zeruans. 
Bolen Hill: A very old district, well-established and historic. A place for small-time craftsman, small merchants, and other middling class workers. Hardly wealthy, outside of a few pockets that have been colonized by the urban gentry.
New Market: The commercial hub of the city, a world of shops, markets, residences, and craftspeople. Also the entertainment and services center of the city.
The Commission: A mix of immigrant communities, peddlers, workers, and corporate clerks. An extreme mix of different groups, with temples and private clubs of all stripes. 
Ritesway: The beating heart of the bureaucracy and clergy, a Kamadan center. A mix of middling and lower-elite, with urban gentry and mercantile estates as well as their clerks and servants. 
Izakala: The palatial district, the elite core of the Vice-Kingdom of Mikena. Also houses clerks and servants, though in much more regulated fashion - the district is gated and walled, requiring special permission or status to enter.
Innergreen: Agricultural and mixed laborers. 
Blackbrick: A slum that also contains charcoal works and sprawls outside of the city walls. Notoriously dominated by organized crime.
Webtown: A district of textile workers, well-established workers, and lower-status craftspeople
The Tents: The absolute lowest of the slums, a sprawling district outside of the city that takes in seasonal workers, the truly destitute, and the poorest refugees.
Ironridge: A mining district and center of the local Prism population. A hillside of caverns and houses embedded into the earth. 
Northmoor: A sprawling extension of the city into the Northern hills and the swampy moors that cover them. A place for herding sheep and giant lobsters.
Bugdown Row: Fishing and herding extension of the city, infamously buggy.

Guilds and Factions

Official Powers

The Corporations: A number of powerful central-Zeruan corporations have great power in the city of Kreniko.

• The Aludarzir Corporation, a powerful shipping company, has immense local investments and power
• The Iskariba Family Company, an arms and personnel company, has very close ties to the ironworks and local garrison
• The Greenspirit Stock Company, a government-associated regional corporation with ties to the Ibaishan Krishta Corp controls much of the local agribusiness and sugar production

The Army: The Zeruan imperial military machine recruits heavily from this city, and the local garrison is a major employer and business partner. There is a great deal of crossover between urban policing and the local garrison; also between them, the Iskariba Company, and the Mercenaries.
The Kamadan Temple: The Kamadan temple of Kreniko manages the religious bureaucracy and ceremony. The Kamadan temple is the least influenced of the imperial bureaucracies by the local Prince, and there is an ongoing rivalry between the local Dragon Priest (Soza Nozari) and Prince Mazaru. The Temple has been steadily losing ground, and is currently deeply fragmented in internal factionalism.
The Urban Gentry: The local nobility whose families bind the army, temple, princedom, corporations, and local merchant elites together. The main families and their businesses of interest are:

• Benibiskis: mining, smelting, military contracts, labor control; largest and oldest local clan
• Nozaris: entertainment, education, law; best terms with Ibaishan corporations and imperial bureaucracy
• Akuzirs: shipping, lumber, and infrastructure; most autonomous
• Alwazirs: Textiles, pottery, milling; most opposed to Ibaishan corporations
• Skarziris: Suburban land control, sugar refineries, charcoal, brewing; most rural and opportunistic
• Adagaris: Smallest family, mostly involved in preserved food; keeps its head down and avoids trouble

Informal Powers

The Far Harbor Club: Once, the Far Harbor Club was a group of Maradian Spies - formed first by the Kingdom of Esedeta and then taken over by other Maradian factions. They built an identity and shadow organization for themselves, taking in bards and outsiders of all stripes. Their magical abilities and range of expertise made them useful enough for the princely government to take over, and now they are the dogs of the State. Officially an elite patronized art society, the Far Harbor club dances between being information brokers and a magical resource for elite intrigue. The Nozari family and the Prince seem to compete for power over them, while the Club's leadership walks a fine line of formal neutrality and vague friendship.
The Mercenary Companies, or "Horse-Eaters": The local mercenary community, who gather in the Commission and Stormcastle districts. Dubbed "Horse-eaters" by the locals for the large group of Southern steppe warriors that join this group - this is common mildly deragatory slang for steppe warriors and foreign mercenaries across Zerua, not a term unique to the city. However, the local mercenaries are unique in that they are both unusually settled into the city and unusually local - many Krenikan mercenary companies recruit from the local Heavensent Communities, members of the the Great Darakan religion who fled foreign persecution in Esedeta. Steppe warriors and Heavensent neighborhoods share a common faith, after all; the local vibrant Darakan community leads many steppe mercenaries to marry local Heavensent. And as religious division and xenophobia have grown, mercenary veterans and commanders have stepped up as the wealthiest Darakan community leaders - protecting their neighborhoods and asserting their religious freedoms. These Darakans have similarly welcomed many Ishkibites and even a few people from distant Desmia; never before have the "Horse eaters" been so diverse and non-steppe.
Generally speaking, there are three competing sub-factions for the Darakans/mercenaries - all of whom get along to defend their shared interests, but who would rather be the sole leaders. There is the Darakan Lodgemaster (the religious leader), the Captain of the Goldcloaks (the corporate mercenary head), and the Captain of the Free Company (the top non-corporate mercenary).
The Circles: The Eketari Circle rules the underworld here, though the individual organized crime families are hardly friendly with each other.
The Selkie Admiralty: The Selkie Admiralty is the Khilaia's formal presence in the city. They have their own plot of land in the Pearl Port district, and manage incoming and outgoing selkie trade. The Admiralty is a welcoming presence for complete foreigners with coin or a good trade skill, patronizing those they deem useful and serving as a cultural intermediary. The local Admiralty's willingness to "go to bat" for a diverse array of cultural outsiders has led to them being an easy target for blame in the city; while it can be hard to imagine victory against the Mercenaries or Ibaishan corporations, the selkies are just weak enough to be openly blamed. To keep their property and position secure, the selkies have strengthened their ties to both the Darakan Lodge and the Far Harbor Club.

Quiet Powers

The Council of Catkind: The Council of Catkind unites the sentient cats of the city in harmony and plenty - it is a federation of cat powers and clans that provide rules, boundaries, and a space for cats to negotiate and barter. Rather than cats resorting to duels or skirmishes in Kreniko, they go to court with the Council. Any stray, wandering cat, or cat heretic has a right to go to the Council to demand safety from the aggression of other cats - but they must follow the rules of territory and hospitality themselves.
The cat council has three main players (who have special privileges) and several smaller ones

• Roostclan: the hillside traditionalists of Ironridge and the Innerfields. They are a grand clan of immense size, having absorbed many other traditionalists (who remain families of statues within the clan). They defend the Cat Sanctuary and are the enforcers sent to enact the will of the Council.
• The Goosefeather Court: The greatest of all Jellicles of the city, who dance in merriment in the rafters above nobles and kings. They have unquestioned power in the elite district of Izakala. They are the most magical cats and those most adept at healing; they provide both luxury goods and life-saving magic for the Council. They also run the hospital in the Sanctuary, feeding and caring for desperate cats who invoked the laws of hospitality.
• The Rustborn: The greatest of all stray cat groups, the Rustborn control several large houses and a small manor in the Bolen Hills. They are an enigmatic and strange group who worship their founder - the aristocratic cat known as King Rusty, or the Divine Champion Flame-Prince Rusted-Soul-Grieves-Into-Power. Known for imitating humans in many ways, the Rustborn focus on gathering and storing useful things - they have a great horde of trinkets and treasures and jury-riggged tools, and the largest food-stock in the city. They provide their resources to the Council, but prefer to be left alone in most things.

Lesser cat groups under the Council are the Rogue's Lodge (a federation of diverse strays and shipcats), The Sisters of Twilight (traditionalist heretics), Flowerclan (traditionalists), and the Candelabra Fantasia Majesticals (extremely weird jellicles).
The Gomolo Reef: The Gomolo reef is a small reef in the bay outside of the city, that is now controlled by the Undersea Federation of Alasha. Involved in pearl production.
The Hermetic Fraternity of Astral-Alchemical Explorers of the Ten Illuminated Roses: Also Known as the Rosy Lodge or the Fraternity of Ten Hermits,

History

Ancient History

Kreniko as a general region has long been a center of political power in Mikena; when the Stormlord Federation rose to power in the early Modern Era, their palace-city was to the East of modern Kreniko. Geographic changes in the flow of the river, nearby creeks, and in the slow sinking of the area known as the Saltmire have all led to Kreniko relocating several times. The total destruction of the original cityscape by the army of Makoi also shifted the landscape. Ruins of the old cities can be found in many nearby fields, hills, and swamps. The city finally settled into its modern position after the 935 ME eruption.
Kreniko came together over the 1000s ME from a patchwork of many smaller towns - the Castle-town of Izakala, the mining town of Benibiska, the market-town of Kreniko. This tenuous, decentralized web of settlement rose rapidly, only to come to a sudden halt in the 1090s, when a failed revolt saw Zeruan soldiers sacking the city once again. The recovery over the next two centuries was slow, made worse by flooding and storms. The consolidation of Mikenan authority over the interior in the 1300s and 1400s greatly expanded Kreniko once again as a city of commerce and political authority. Interior lords and clans were forced to send their children to Kreniko, and the bureaucracy of the empire was firmly anchored in the city. New Sonevan cash crops led to rapid market expansion.
The closing of the empire in 1530 deeply affected Kreniko, with city elites wiped out in a domino collapse of debt and broken promises. Factionalism and poor local leadership poured salt into the economic wounds. Finally, in the 1700s, the golden age of Mikena saw Kreniko return to imperial prominence. The embassy temple of Haru the Sun God, a flood of Esedetan refugees, and immense outside investment all came together to see Kreniko become a jewel of the West. In 1900, the city became a crisis point, though, as that prosperity suddenly collapsed. Mass bankruptcy and famine hit Mikena, and the city became a plague cauldron. After the devastating hurricane of 1903, as much as one quarter of Kreniko's population died of cholera, yellow fever, and smallpox.

Modern Kreniko

Since 1940, outside corporations and imperial investment have revitalized the city. A permanent trading and pearl farming outpost with the nearby reef has been built. The expanding military training and supply centers have developed the Northern city more. Imperial housing projects built mass apartments and housing in what is still known as 'The Commission', while sugar refineries up river have increased the trade volume moving along the river into the city. However, much of the city's development between 1940 and 1980 was extractive; cheap labor for refineries and the army, iron smelting for export to other kingdoms, food and luxury good export for other regions. Especially since the 1980s, with the rise of Prince Mazaru Eramzir, the city has become more of a center of production. 
Despite promises of a meritocratic era of art and prosperity, Kreniko's rise has depended on massive amounts of cheap labor. The transformation of Benibiska from slow mining-and-making town into a mess of water-powered mills and workshops has transformed the hills into a vast labyrinth of slums - and it shows no signs of change. The local art scene thrives, the selkie port has grown, and yet the city seems to stagnate for so many.

Points of interest

The Royal Palace: The seat of power in the city and vice-kingdom, the massive fortified hilltop palace with ancient bones and modern ameneties. A true work of art, with tunnels going deep into the caverns of the hill, where ancient Mikenan Stormlords worked their rituals. Famous for its gardens, its art, and its spooky ritual catacombs, which combine to give the palace a special mystique not even present in other Prince's palaces. Also home to the Goosefeather Cat Court, who have a special home in the crypt-caverns below. In Izakala.
The Grand Gallery: A grand palace of artistic vision, a museum and performance space that often hosts elaborate galas and parties. Upkept by the Nozari gentry family, to their great expense, and managed by the Far Harbor Club. In the Riteside district.
The Red Tower: The largest prison of the city, an imposing red tower near the waterworks. In Stormcastle, near Benibiska Mills.
Stormcastle: The center of military strength in Kreniko, connected with the city waterworks. Nearby the Red Tower, but sprawls across the Stormcastle district. 
Dragonfire Tower: The center of religious authority and Windweaver organization. Notable for its tall tower topped with perpetual flame. In Izakala.
Stormcaller Square: Also known as Midcity Square, the central plaza used for executions and city announcements. Also hosts the big bi-weekly markets. In Reedmarket. 

Common Points

Points of Interest that are less oriented towards powerful factions. 
Grand Temple of Passage: A Temple to Isari the Stormlord, master of the seas. While single-god temples are unusual in the Kamada religion, this temple predates Kamadism entirely and has persisted in its particular local traditions. It is well-known for its large hall of shrines, where gods and spirits of all sorts that grant protection in water can be found - river or sea. Warlocks may recognize a few of their patrons tucked away, usually under different names. While water spirits of all kinds are in the halls, the main chamber is still distinctly Kamadan. Found at the boundary of Ritesway and Reedmarket.
The Northern Darakan Lodge: The regional Daraka lodge for Western Zerua. Unusually militaristic and a common hub for mercenaries. Found in Stormcastle.
Bobaska Plaza: The center of nicer inns, lovely cafes, and lovely theater for well-to-do (but not elite) tourists. In the Newmarket district.  
Quartzhall: The center of prism life, a large hall for communal meetings and hospitality for the local prism community. Run by the contracted prism clans that work the Ironridge mines.
Starwater Sanctum: The center of Cat authority, a massive cavern lit only by a large underground pond that emanates a soft starlight by a miracle of the Cat Heavens. This is where the Cat Council meets, holds court, and stores pooled resources. Its existence is a total mystery to most residents. In Ironridge.
The Bondhouses: There are three main jails/clerkhouses in the city for processing debt exchanges and bonds. The bondhouses prefer not to keep debtors for long, but work to speedily transfer debtors into "labor arrangements" or debt repayment plans. Each of the three big bondhouses is a hub of mercenaries (as debt collectors), loan sharks, and labor contractors - these are sleazy places, but curiously social ones. Organized crime, lawyers, government clerks, common laborers, and corporate merchants brush shoulders here, and nearby taverns are common sites for unusual deals.

• The Itixi is the "classic" bondhouse, the model example; it is kept clean, direct, effiicient, and strict. It tends to favor contracts in heavier industries, and is known for having extremely rigid bureaucratic rules and regulations. 
• The Eferexi is the "good" bondhouse, that also acts as a charitable workhouse and dormitory for orphans and beggars. While the aesthetics are friendlier and it has a very nice "greeting room" for higher-society staffers to interview potential servants, the sprawling complex can in some corners be far nastier than the Itixi. 
• The Lob, formally known as The Lumlia Overflow Bondhouse (and informally called the Slumspit House) is the obviously worst bondhouse; it is said that the clerks are corrupt, the debtors are violent, and the conditions are foul. Being taken here is a punishment in itself (unless perhaps you have friends in organized crime). 

Architecture

Buildings tend to have raised foundations, squat bases, and small spires or towers with sloping roofs. Corbelled arches (arches that point upward sharply at the top) and recessed windows (windows that are sunken in the structure wall) are common. Buildings often cluster together, with little to no space between structures. Architecture is dark, though more carefully designed spaces make sure to make the most every window.
Most houses have basements, cellars, and even sub-basements, beneath their raised foundations. These underground spaces tend to be quite wet, especially in the mid-river parts of the city. The wet and mucky floors make them uncomfortable living spaces, but they do have natural refrigeration during the summers. Wet-ground cellars can even be built to fully refrigerate dairy and other spoilable goods.
Speaking of cooling, most houses have chimney-like structures known as windcatchers, which siphon cool winds into the house. Better-to-do houses have movable grates over these that allow them to be closed during winter.
Larger monumental buildings often have domes, spires, or spires on top of domes.

Geography

Kreniko sits on the main route of the Movakoi river as it reaches the sea. The city is insulated from storms by a large bay and a marshy penninsula.

Founding Date

940 ME

Type

City

Population

100,000

Location under

West Zeruan Floodplain

Owner/Ruler

Prince Mazaru Eramzir

Owning Organization

Vice-Kingdom of Mikena

Characters in Location

• Prince Mazaru Eramzir
• Zofara

Related Plots

• Eye of the Storm
• False Fronts
• Getting the Ball Rolling
• Palace Scouting