Dornhall

Demographics

Primarily humans, most of which are either inheritors of vast wealth or are living in poverty. In addition to the major human population, there are small groups of kenku and ratkin that live in the bowels of the town. It is also fairly common to find water genasi, lizardfolk, tortles, and tritons throughout the city acting as merchants, sailors, and deckhands.

Government

Dornhall is run by a council made up of the leaders of the towns major guild and overseen by the oldest descendant of Johann Dorn. The council is divided into three groups, each of which focus on one aspect of managing the town. The first group is made up of the Jeweler's Alliance, the League of Fishmongers, the Merchant's Guild, and the Mariner's Guild and handles taxes and trade in Dornhall. The second group is made up of the Adventurer's Guild and the Order of Storms and handles defense of the city and maintaining law within it. This group's decisions are often influenced by both the Mariner's Guild and the Merchant's Guild. The final group is limited to the oldest descendant of Johann Dorn who acts as the representative of the town and oversees the decisions of the other two groups in order to maintain balance between the two within the town.

Defences

Dornhall's primary method of defense is the Order of Storms, a group of soldiers organized under the leadership of paladins. The geography surrounding Dornhall grants it an additional layer of defense since it is bordered by sea on one side and mountains on the other. Dornhall also seems to be blessed by strategically advantageous weather, prone to large storms forming as an enemy prepares to attack.

Industry & Trade

Dornhall is a popular trading town in the Garyan Empire and is known to export exorbitant amounts of fish, gold, and jewelry. Because of its sparse surroundings, Dornhall imports large quantities of lumber and textiles. Most Dornhallians make their money primarily through trading with foreign merchants or by being part of one of the town's guilds.

Guilds and Factions

There are seven major guilds in Dornhall in addition to a number of smaller, less official organizations. The seven guilds are the Adventurer's Guild, the Jeweler's Alliance, the League of Fishmongers, the Lords of the Deep, the Merchant's Guild, the Mariner's Guild, and the Order of Storms. All of the guilds are members of the Town Council except of the Lords of the Deep, the local thieves guild. The Order of the Storms compromise the towns primary defenders: numerous soldiers led by a small number of paladins.

History

Dornhall was founded by Johann Dorn when he heard rumors that there was a massive sunken city filled with gold off the Northern coast of Untarland. After discovering the cove, Dorn hired a band of dwarven mason's to build a large manor atop a nearby hill. Upon its completion, Dorn used the manor as a base of operations to send out dozens of expeditions to discover the sunken city. By the time of his death, Dorn had accrued a plentiful fortune, although he never discovered the sunken city.
Alex Dorn, Johann Dorn's oldest son, followed in his father's footsteps, sending out five more expeditions in a last effort to find the sunken city. The first four expeditions returned with random treasures discovered around sunken ships, but no news of a sunken city. The ships from the fifth expedition, however, returned heavily laden with gold and gemstones. The captain of the expedition, Elliot Bane, claimed that one night, just as the men were preparing to turn back, they saw an eerie glow coming from beneath the waves. A small number of men swam down towards the light and were gone for an inhuman amount of time. Eventually, two of the men returned to the surface, dragging behind them large sacks of golden coins. Moments later, the other men came to the surface with more gold and a large bag of gems and pearls. Alex was ecstatic and requested that Bane prepare his men to return to the city and retrieve more gold. Bane, however, refused to set foot on his boat. He spoke very little about why, saying only that Alex could have all of the riches he had recovered and that he was retiring.
Alex took the riches and used them to secure a comfortable life for him, his wife, and all of his decedents for decades. After word got around that a city of Alex's riches, hundreds of people seeking to secure a fortune for themselves traveled to the cove and built the town that became Dornhall, named after Alex Dorn, who many believed had been the first to discover the sunken city. The town grew rapidly for many years, although none of the people who moved there ever saw the sunken city or secured much wealth. The cove, however, provided plentiful fishing opportunities and it was not uncommon for fishers and sailors to discover gold trinkets that have been pulled into the cove from the sea.
For hundreds of years, very little was heard about the sunken city apart from rumors of weird glowing and piles of golden treasure on the seafloor. The town has seen many of Dorn's descendants come and go, most of them being strongly liked by the inhabitants of the town and using their wealth to support the town's infrastructure and industry. Now, however, Valamir Glas, the oldest of Dorn's living descendants, has taken to secluding himself in his manor and neglecting the town. There are also rumors throughout town that Valamir is preparing for another expedition to find the sunken city and the treasures it holds.

Type

Town

Population

Approximatelly 2750

Inhabitant Demonym

Dornhallian