Craysilt
Craysilt, the eponymous city at the hub of The Unified Kingdoms of Craysilt, is an old city. Built at a narrow place on a huge river, it straddles the water like a titan of urban sprawl. Streets and roads named for forgotten kings and queens abound, as do public squares and well-parks lovingly cared for in the name of countless public servants and civic leaders. Goats abound in the city; the city's Keepers use them for many tasks, such as keeping the grass in these parks and well shorn nice and short. They roam around in packs of six or so with a youngster assigned to a certain neighborhood. The youngster cares for the goats, in exchange for free lodging for their family and a small stipend from the city for cleaning up after the storied fecal fecundity.
Drays and draft horses are plentiful enough, as beasts of burden are allowed in the city as long as they are pulling a load. No one but the Kings people are lawfully allowed to ride their animals within the city limits. This is due to population density; every year people die because of speeding animals. Teams of oxen are heavily concentrated around the river, where the river barges load and unload their cargo. This area is routinely hosed down-literally-with high pressure hose systems that have evolved into a fire suppression and protection system throughout the city. The streets and warehouse floors all have drains and scuppers, where the detritus and jetsam of a crowded city are washed away in the space of three early mornings a week. The people working the hoses work for the city's Keepers.
Wagons, wains, drays and carts crowd the streets nearly as much as the tides of people, moving hither and thither throughout the city as their work days ebb and flow. Crowd control and information dissemination are intrinsically entwined in Craysilt, with news being hailed at eight bells, twelve bells, four bells, and eight bells yet again. The Shouters have reputations for booming voices that can carry on throughout an entire crowd of murmuring populace. They can be recognized by the white and blue sashes given them by the city's Keepers, and also the pommed tam-o-shanters they adopted en-masse at some fuzzy point in the last four hundred years. Another prong in the city's Keepers multi-spoked plan to mitigate traffic issues has been a frankly astounding adoption and adaptation of massive infrastructure projects. Water drainage and sewage control being two of the biggest problems the city has ever seen, the city's Corp of Engineers long ago implemented intricate systems of arched wastewater tunnels and fresh, potable water caches that can be stored for emergencies...and yet, renews itself often enough to not stagnate and sicken the good people of the city.
The cuisine within the city is a fusion of tastes and styles from all over the Kingdoms. Many of the civic leaders and nobles of Craysilt worked actively to integrate architectural styles and artistic sensibilities from all over the lands into neighborhoods of chaotic color and often clashing fashion. There are festivals lauding the cultural differences of the populace, such as sausage festivals and apple pie contests. Lasagna bake offs to honor the pasta and sauce loving Greynorians to the south, on the delta of the same river Craysilt straddles. Venison stews and gumbos, from out west, around Stilton Head, are favorites in the northern parts of the city.
Outside of the city gates, and walls, a ramshackle collection of seemingly drunk buildings lean this way and that. The unfortunate, but inevitable, sight of the slums always bring one back to reality rather quickly.
Demographics
This is the most diverse populace on Pax. People come from far and wide to create opportunity for themselves in the notoriously deregulated business environment, including a few dwarfs from the northern stretch of the Wormspire Mountains , and a brace of halflings from Feynor itself, home to the Summer Court of the Fey Folk. The people here in Craysilt are the most open minded of the kingdom.
Government
The Kingdoms are just that; however, by royal decree of Good King Justinian "Each former city-state will govern itself only to the betterment of its people, with the full support and weight of the crown to help you." Each of the five territories govern a little differently, but they have all become more or less egalitarian as time has worn on...again, the fruits of a civic labor High King Justinian Grey had begun in childhood, called "Good Neighbors", enjoining every citizen to look out for their contemporaries in emergencies "whether you like them or not". The rhetoric of 'love thy neighbor' has been spreading ever since Justinian was twelve years old.
Defences
Surrounded by a thirty foot high curtain wall built out of the plentiful granite provided by the area there, which is manned 24/7 and armed with mangonels and ballistae as well. Trebuchet of immense size stand behind the walls at certain strategic places, as well. The harbors are protected with underwater chain systems and a fleet of small, fast boats. The shacks and huts directly upon the water are known as protective hovels, with ballistae and fire-hurling catapults hidden within. Carrigan's Archways can be lit in the worst of times, to swaddle the city in a protective embrace.
Infrastructure
The roads are built upon well graded and drained roadways of cobblestones, bordered with granite curbs. Bridges cross the little inlets between peninsulae almost nonchalantly, although each is dedicated to the engineer who knocked the final supports out from underneath it.
Districts
- Fishgate
- Norgate
- Eastgate
- North Docks
- South Docks
- Old Keep
- Shelter Market
Founding Date
257NG
Alternative Name(s)
DrayshitDerogatory , CrayfishDerogatory
Type
Large city
Population
90K-110K
Inhabitant Demonym
Silter, Silters
Included Locations
Owning Organization
Related Traditions
Characters in Location
- Annsey Shropshire
- Binton V. Carlsbaad
- Branton Needlemeyer
- C. Evert Scott
- Calomaine
- Carroll Shelby
- Cass Elliot
- Constance Patience
- Dagmar Quagmire
- Dan Scollins
- Elackeem ibn Eladrin
- Farmick Hausenphauffer
- Furio Peacemaker
- Grace Caulker
- High King Artemis ("Artie") Grey
- Klaus Hineyhammer
- Lord and Lady Huffington
- Lord Branagh and his two Lady Wives
- Lydia Hartunian
- Marcel Mercer
- Maya and Tearra
- Merrilyn Soder
- Ms. Sarah Pottingdam
- Nigel Farnsworth
- Nurl Northson
- Paula Hartunian
- Paulo Cobine
- Pine Derby
- Queen Jillian
- Richie the Beat
- Sophia Hartunian
- Sophie Lyons
- Terence Grace and his wife Constance
- The van Tropp Sisters
- Umnomm Elbee
- William (Billy) Grey
Related Reports (Primary)
Related Reports (Secondary)
Related Plots
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