Ozaren (Oh-zah-ren)

Rainbow algae blooms splash across the great width of the Suress river, giving it the distinct look of a slowly drifting Jackson Pollock painting. The river guides many travelers East from the richness of the coast towards the glory of Ozaren. For Ozaren is the home of honor, the capital of the Kingdom of Hain and the proving ground for knights and politicians alike.
The riverside road takes pilgrims and merchants through many miles of lush farmland, preserved forest, and past many bustling villages. The land is flat and green, but doused in random bright colors of lovingly curated mutations. You can tell that the city of kings grows nearer when you finally see hills and mountains in the distance, and as they grow closer you can see the city's walls peaking out between them. The city rises into the mountains like a layer cake, with wall after wall of defenses rising with the city districts. Below the city is a lake, a pooling of the river that continues out to the East in a shimmering, colorful plain.
Generally speaking, there are three main segments of Ozaren: out-town, innertown, and oldtown. Each segment is made of individual boroughs, self-governing neighborhoods with their own culture and style that are separated by yet more walls. Militarized stretches of fortification cut the segments apart, rising above the petty neighborhood walls.

Ozaren's Boroughs

Out-town is the largest and most disorganized of the three segments, and it is divided between three main boroughs: Utmell, Kensmund, and Newwick.
Those who travel by land will likely enter through Kensmund, a sprawling district with a will of its own. Kensmund grows and acts by its own logic; the city only builds walls to contain whatever the people there choose to build. Aside from the main road, it has little internal order; livestock is everywhere, and smaller communities turn local neighborhoods into villages within a city. Walled gardens, or 'Hains', act as focuses of power that draw together these clans and villages, bringing order to the urban chaos. Small parks dot the district as well, as it is forbidden to build on or disrupt the old burial mounds that dot the borough. Kensmund has a lot of movement between the townsfolk and the countryside, and people regularly migrate between this borough and the countryside depending on available work. It is effectively ruled by the Weaver's Guild, with some presence of the Outfitter's Guild. If you are low class and intend to move to Ozaren, Kensmund is where you'll likely end up.
Newwick is the Western riverport, the poorman's dock for shipping produce or fishing. Those who arrive by some small river vessel are likely to disembark here. It is a vibrant town, where the peasants of the countryside go to drink, gamble, and socialize after selling their goods. The Guild of Meats has dominance in this borough. Utmell, on the opposite side of Kensmund, is also the culture opposite of Newwick - it is an old, conservative township that existed before Ozaren absorbed it and is damn proud of it. It is a fortified hill town, with a large fortified windmill at its center. It is also intensely religious and has a strong sense of community identity.
Out-town is divided from the rest of Ozaren by a long, narrow district known as the Tower Hamlets, or simply 'The Towers'. The Towers cling to the massive inner wall and augment it with many walled gardens and smaller fortifications of their own. Many military training grounds can be found here, and any warrior of Hain can find a bed to rest in at one of the barracks. Many shops selling weapons, animals, and salves can be found here. The Guild of Medicines and the Guild of Metals vie for dominance among the townfolk here.
The two largest and most populated boroughs in the Inner city are Lowtown and Fiveroads. Lowtown is the large lakeside dock, the official riverport of Ozaren where the big merchants and river barges go to play. The buildings are densely packed, with a haphazard infrastructure warding off springtime flooding and rickety apartments rising high. The Big Guilds - the Gilded Seven - cut up Lowtown like gangs, and often do employ street gangs to defend their turf. The smelters chug out smoke, the butchers pour blood into the lake as the algae feeds, and the Dungwagons make sure that the water is unusable for several miles.
Fiveroads, meanwhile, is the inland portion of the inner city. It has the broadest streets, the largest pavilions, the grandest markets, and the most lavish public holiday feasts. Fiveroads is the heart of Ozaren in the public imaginary, the "true" essence of the city - and the most publicly curated. Fiveroad's Central Market is the place where you can find whatever you need found. The district's St. Minessa Square is where honors are displayed by victorious knights, where the city's Frelden Festival (springtime holiday) is held, and where angry mobs form if they must. The Uvaran temples there are truly grand, and some of the most diverse in Hain. This is where one might find the Cult Temple of Vetka the Wanderer, a mystery cult dedicated to the ancient Saint Vetka. This cult manages the production of healing potions, marches during parades, and hosts public celebrations of the First Druid every mid-summer. It also hosts the tiny local Samvaran community, most of whom work for the Cult. Nearby that unusual cult is the Grand Temple of Ozaren, and across from that is the Headquarters of the Spring Knights. The Spring Knights are Hain's greatest heroes, the best of the best who wander the world slaying evil. And, lastly, Fiveroads has the Testing Grounds: Hain's premier arena for jousting, sport-fighting, and racing. The jousts in particular are a grand event that attract lancers and tourists from across the kingdom, but the Grand Melees are no less beloved by the residents of Ozaren. If you want to get noticed as a lancer, a swordsman, an archer, or a racer, the Testing Grounds are where you can transcend the social order and prove your worth to all the kingdom.
Beyond Fiveroads, climbing into the mountains, is Oldtown. Oldtown is the original heart of Ozaren, the refuge against chaos from which it all started. It is divided into two parts: the mountainside prism district known as The Eld, and 'Lordstown', or the palatial district. Both Lordstown and the Eld have a lot of crossover, with the main differences being that Lordstown is lower and greener and the Eld is higher and more carved into the mountain. The Eld does some mining, and Lordstown has some Hains, but both are divided between large estates and spheres of elite influence. The Eld has the Crown Treasury, the heart of the royal bureaucracy run by the prism-monks of Ozaren. And Lordstown has the royal palace and the Crown diet (or royal legislature). A place of interest for adventurers in Lordstown is the Hall of Memory: a massive museum of honors and valiant deeds that all knights hope to gain entrance to. Those who hunt particularly dangerous monsters may find the Slayer's Wing to be particularly inviting. This Wing of the museum is a massive complex of taxidermied monstrosities, with podiums describing the monster's power and the glory of those who killed them. To be admitted to the Slayer's Wing is to be a verified Lord of the Hunt, a notable for whom many doors will open.

Demographics

20,000 humanoids live in Ozaren. The population is 20% human, 20% dryad, 20% prism, 20% starspawn, 10% hybrid, 5% Kobold, and 5% other.

Government

Ozaren is ruled by the monarch of the Kingdom of Hain, who resides in the royal palace in the city. The monarch and royal government tend to have more pressing concerns than urban management, and so leave most of the concerns to the Junker, the bureaucracy, district communities, and the burghers.
Theoretically, the Junker of Ozaren is supposed to act as the central ruler of the city, but the position has a long history of being removed from actual local leadership. Strong central city governments have traditionally been tied to coups in Hain, so Junkers who are too competent and involved tend to be removed for political reasons. To protect both the Crown Diet (royal legislature) and monarchy from being threatened or influenced by concentrated power, Junkers have overwhelmingly kept to the richer parts of town and management of the royal court.
Underneath the Junker is supposed to be the Burghers, titled gentry who are in charge of guilds and trade activity. The Burghers have a council, but are too divided to work together as a governing power. For the most part, Burghers and Guilds stick to their respective seats of power within the city, which they rule like tiny urban fiefs.
There is also the royal bureaucracy, which is more attentive to the city's everyday needs but stretched too thin to meaningfully govern. The bureaucracy is a small group that are overwhelmingly prisms, who are "gifted" by their families to the state for service as for-life state employees (kind of like monks). Almost all of these are from the Eld, the prism-hold in Oldtown Ozaren that has been a part of the city since its founding.
And then there is the priesthood, which is ingrained in local government and waxes and wanes in power within the city. The city's spiritual leader is the Rosgen, or high priest.

Persons of Interest

The current personalities in charge are: King Zenalim Dezuren of Hain, Junker Kovra Tevorel, and Rosgen Sandor Yulahosk.
King Zenalim is a Half Prism of the Dezuren family, with strong ties to the city and its surrounding areas. Zenalim is astonishingly young for an elected monarch, but has proven himself as competent across the board - especially in matters of political maneuvering and intrigue. While he has established himself as a capable governor, strategist, and administrator, his imperious attitude and inexperience in battle has drawn much resentment from the older warrior elites. Many point to his avoidance of dueling and questing as a sign that he is a coward, though few would dare say that to his face. Whispers that he did not earn the throne swirl around him, and will undoubtedly haunt his reign for years to come. 
Junker Kovra Tevorel, meanwhile, is a new hire tied politically to young Zenalim. She is a starspawn from the Northern borders of the Kingdom, who has all the war medals and scars that Zenalim lacks. Kovra is stoic, even-handed woman known for her immense patience and stubbornness. She is an excellent war-leader, though her difficult life on the frontier has left her with fewer limbs and more gem-torn joints than she would like. This is intended as her retirement, though she has embraced her position with patriotic zeal and has been doing her best to try and actually make a functional urban infrastructure. Many worry that this will drop her into a political rat's nest she is not ready for, and she has only survived this far into it thanks to Zenalim's protection.
Rosgen Sandor Yulahosk, meanwhile, is a priest born of aristocrats who embraced the Uvaran religion with his whole mind and soul after a traumatic expedition into the Deverkel wastes. Sandor is a mystic that brims with charisma and energy, whose family privilege has allowed him to experiment with the faith in a way most priests cannot. He was sent to Ozaren to temper his personality, but he has only embedded himself in the city and its communities and grown more passionate than ever.

Defences

Ozaren is incredibly defensible and well-fortified, despite not being directly menaced in centuries. The geographic location, with mountains and a winding river limiting the angles of approach, is already a point in the city's favor. The outer walls are impressive, and further walls block off each individual district. Between the outer districts and the inner districts, a narrow district known as The Towers acts as a wall in itself - The Towers house military garrisons and a large number of walled intersecting gardens. Within the heart of the city, the Eld (prism-hold) is easily fortified and mostly subterranean, and the royal palace is not far from the old Keep. Add in walled gardens throughout the city to be manned by militias if need be, and you've got a city that will cost any attacker dearly to assault. The greatest weakness of Ozaren is its poor infrastructure, which makes the city vulnerable to disease and famine during long sieges.

Industry & Trade

Ozaren is a minor manufacturing center, where local guilds coordinate the small-scale production of metal goods, textiles, medicines, woodworks, and the like. These guilds also run local community operations and serve as vehicles for local elite families, so efficiency isn't always the primary goal. While there are guilds for just about anything, the Gilded Seven, the big seven guild alliances, rule the city's artisans and keep a watchful eye over most trade. All smaller guilds must seek patronage with one of these alliances, which provide help provide river shipping and contacts in other Hainish cities.
In terms of specialty trades, Ozaren's Medical Guild has a small handful of alchemists loosely affiliated with the Borim Healing Circle. These alchemists provide healing potions, Monstercrafted magical potions, and magical poisons.

Infrastructure

Ozaren's urban infrastructure is a patchwork mess. The sewer and water systems only function thanks to a loose network of small community groups, businesses, and charities that haul water and waste via wagon. The roads are functional, but can dissolve into muddy alleyways with no clear definition of road and building in some parts. The infrastructure here "just works", which is to say that the weak local government and distant royal government both pretend they don't see it. Some burghers have a hand in the system, but they aren't united enough to actually fix it. The only group with a real understanding of how the city actually lives are the royal prism-bureaucrats, who do their best to try and fix problems when they arise.

Guilds and Factions

The Royal Court: The royal court, based out of the crown palace in Lordstown, exerts great influence over the city. Especially under the current monarch, the court has great soft power over the city's factions, and many courtiers can be found working in other parts of the city under suggestion of the king.
The Crown Diet: The Crown Diet, or royal legislature, also has pull within the city. Most of this comes from the Diet's internal factions, all of whom have local allies and areas of investment. There are the Friends of the Crown (monarchical absolutists, who tend to prefer focusing on developing Hain), the Conservatives (who oppose all change), the Expansionists (who want more military influence over greater Stildane), and the Reformists (who are a rickety alliance of people who want radical social or political change). 
The Burghers: The local merchant-gentry, who own the largest workshops and have legal control over the Guilds. The Burghers have a united council, but are mostly divided by old rivalries and ties to factions within the Diet. Seven great Burgher families dominate Ozaren, tied to the top seven guilds - the "Gilded Seven". These top guilds are more of composite guilds, where allied guilds were smushed together by ambitious Burghers. They are: The Guild of Metals (miners, smelters, smiths), the Guild of Meats (butchers, tanners, ranchers), the Guild of Weavers (weavers, shearers, cottonworkers), the Guild of Outfitters (tailors, cobblers), the Guild of Dyes (dye-makers and luxury merchants), the Guild of Medicines (doctors, apothecaries, monsterworkers), and the Guild of Masons (architects, construction workers, brickmakers, plasterers). 
The Priesthood: The Uvaran priesthood manages the courts, the schools, spellcasting, and local ritual. It is a centralized bureaucracy that presides over a collection of independent cults, chapels, and monastic orders. These have been growing more unified and powerful of late.
The Prisms of the Eld: The old prism families of the Eld (the ancient prism-fort) are believed to have been blessed by the Gods with supernatural clerking and money-counting abilities. This was largely thanks to them being able to mine the precious metals and organize more coherently in the ancient days, but the belief stuck. Given this, the old families have a special privilege to run the King's treasury - but not directly. The families must send their best children as monks to act as the king's treasurers, accountants, and bureaucrats, and these monks are forbidden from granting inheritances to their children, owning property directly, or ever leaving the city. The bureaucracy of prism-monks is an insular group, but one that is at least trying to organize the city. They do their best to manage all the important things: tax collection contracts, water supply issues, local budgets, etc.

History

Ozaren began as a small, isolated settlement in the 200s ME. In those early days, it was a shared market and refuge created by many local alliances working together. It had no government or allegiance, only a shared culture defined by its struggle against the chaos wastes. Generally speaking, there were two Ozarens early on: a prism-hold in the mountains, and a dryad-human settlement in the valley below. Both were dependent on one another for defense, trade, and emergency food support, and the boundaries between the two societies slowly blurred as the decades went on. In the mid 300s, the elites of the many component groups merged into one oligarchical body: the United Clan of Dezuren. Not all groups felt represented by these new elites, or felt comfortable with the growing stratification of society, and many of these exiles left together to become their own clan - the Hueshtob. 
Ozaren was far enough inland that it never fell to the ancient Empire of Andrig, though it did periodically pay tribute and trade with it. It was the Kivish Invasion of 495 that really brought Ozaren into the broader Hainish culture. The Dezuren were one of the last groups to join the Hainish League of Eight, and only did so when the ancient druid-saint Vetka the Wanderer intervened directly. Once they joined the war against the Kivish, the Dezuren gave it their all; they welcomed in refugees, organized guerilla campaigns, and supplied weapons for the other clans. In 500 ME, the Kivish sent a force to scour the Southern reaches of Hain and cut off the flow of weapons and supplies to the Northern clans. Through the courage of their warriors and the aid of Vetka, the Dezuren defeated the Kivish outside of the city in 501. 
After the Kivish wars, the Dezuren were permanently merged with the League of Eight. The populations and elites had so thoroughly intermixed, and the threat of the Kivish were so constant, that there was simply no other choice but to become part of greater Hain. Ozaren was still on the fringes of Hain, perilously close to the Deverkel Wastes and not in nearly as fertile a province as neighboring Vruhafen. Growth was slow. Setbacks, such as monster attacks or Mageplague, were frequent. But, over the centuries, Ozaren built itself into a city. 
Southern Hain became safer and more populous steadily from 1200 to 1600 ME, and Ozaren flourished as the center of manufacturing and administration in the center-South. The Dezuren clan, having endured the turmoil of early Hain, rose with it as a major noble house. When civil war tore Hain apart in 1600, the Dezuren gambled everything siding with the faction fighting for elected monarchy, and it won the crown. The capital of Hain was moved to Ozaren in 1605, and the newly formed electoral system would be based out of the city as well.
Since becoming the capital, Ozaren has grown in wealth, size, and importance. While not as large or rich as Vruhafen, it has become a center of Hainish culture, prestige, and power. The Diet (the parliament) has become synonymous with Ozaren in the public imagination. Vruhafen may be gold, but Ozaren is honor.

Tourism

Many knights from across the land come to Ozaren seeking to have their deeds recognized as Honors by the crown, to socialize with other knights, to prove themselves in the Grand Tourneys, and to dabble in court intrigue.

Architecture

Half-timbered and brick buildings with tall, steeped rooves and large basements are common in Vruhafen. Buildings tend to be stocky but often reach up to three or four stories, with either white plastered brick and black-brown wood framing or orange-tinted brick and black framing. Large, open frontal facades are common, as are small towers or spires.

Geography

Ozaren occupies the defensible position between the Hohenvern mountains (a small range of mountains in South-central Hain) and the Golingel lake, which sits along the Saress river. Ozaren (and the Golingel lake) is at the end of the navigable part of the Saress - further upriver, and a series of waterfalls and rapids make traditional navigation impossible.

Natural Resources

Mineral deposits sit in the nearby Hohenvern mountains, including iron, copper, marble, salt, lead, and clay. None of these are in particularly remarkable quantities.

Founding Date

220 ME

Type

Capital

Population

20,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Ozarener

Location under

The Hainish Heartlands

Owning Organization

The Kingdom of Hain