Absalom

Demographics

194,496 human, 33,429 halfling, 24,312 half-elf, 21,273 gnome, 15,195 dwarf, 6,078 elf, 3,039 half-orc, 6,078 other races

Government

Conventional (Grand Council) Absalom is ruled by the Grand Council which is chaired by the primarch, a position currently held by Lord Gyr of House Gixx. The Council has twelve high seats (including the primarch's) and a variable number of low seats. Most of the city's administrative positions are filled by members of the Council, the more sought after titles going to members of the High Council. The position of primarch is held for life and decided upon by the High Council. It has additional privileges unique to the position granting the holder considerable power over the Council, and by corollary, the City at the Center of the World itself. Much of the day-to-day administration are handled by the district councils of Absalom. The district councils are headed by a nomarch, who is appointed by the Low Council with the approval of the primarch.

Industry & Trade

Absalom's great wealth is driven by trade, so the city's rulers strive to craft policies favorable to commerce (and their own interests), but otherwise take a relatively laissez-faire approach to regulation. Taxes in the city are very light, although Siege Taxes during wartime may be significantly higher. There are no property taxes, although the city charges for access to roads, sanitation, and other public infrastructure. Modest taxes on foreign merchants, fees for pilots through the Flotsam Graveyard, and docking fees, are generally sufficient to supply the city's needs. Absalom's economy can be divided into three basic parts: craftsmen, who manufacture goods; traders, who buy and sell physical goods; and laborers, who provide services. While craftsmen and laborers are organized into guilds that provide legal and illegal products and services, traders are prohibited from organizing to prevent collusion and price-fixing. The city's laws require that goods to be sold must be owned by a single merchant, who may operate a single commercial outlet for them. Absalom's currency consists of pennies, silver weights, crests, gold measures, and platinum sphinxes.
The city is a major hub for commerce on the Inner Sea, and its most common trading partners include Almas, Cassomir, Katheer, Niswan, Okeno, Oppara, Oregent, Ostenso, and Sothis. However, Absalom has varying relations with and regulations concerning trade with these cities: for example, Almas views Absalom's ships as unwelcome bullies, while Vudrani traders from Niswan are celebrated, and ships from Oregent must prove they carry only glassware and silverware or face a 100% tariff. Other ships come from all over the world, as far away as Tian Xia. Absalom acts as a hub for these countries and disseminates these goods to ships on their way to other ports across the Inner Sea.
Due to Absalom's size and scale, beasts of burden are important elements of the city's commerce and transport. Regular bench-wagons allow commoners to ride around town for a copper, and halfling porters with dog travois can be hired for a similar price. Horses are rare on the Isle of Kortos, since the centaur tribes regard them as invaders and the harpies like to eat them. Consequently, the most prominent beast of burden is the camel; farmers use them for agriculture, drovers use them to pull wagons and chariots, and many district guards field a camel cavalry. Camel barding is more commonly available than barding for horses in the city. After camels, axe beaks are most common mount and beast of burden, faster and better able to defend themselves than camels. Dogs, lizards, elephants, and monstrous centipedes are also found; before the establishment of Hackamore House, much saddle and tack had to be custom made or ordered from dozens of shops due to the diversity of animals used in the city.

History

Founded in 1 AR by the god Aroden when he raised the Starstone from the depths of the Inner Sea, there is nothing ordinary about Absalom's history even from its very first day in existence. Its whole-cloth creation allowed for a quick inhabitation and Aroden tasked the best and bravest from throughout Inner Sea region to protect the Starstone and prevent any from moving it. But given Absalom's tactical positioning and its undeniable influence, countless ambitious nations or greedy warlords have set their sights upon the walls of the city over the millennia, and the guarding of the city and the Starstone within has never been easy. For centuries on end the city was besieged by one army after another, attempting to bring Absalom to its knees and wrest control of it from all others. Despite the relentless onslaught, the city has never fallen. Relics of these ongoing wars still litter the plains of the Isle of Kortos surrounding the city and sunken warships clutter the harbour.

Geography

Situated on the southern coast of the Isle of Kortos, Absalom is the largest city in the Inner Sea region and quite possibly the entire world. The ice-capped peaks of the Kortos Mounts are among the highest known in the world, stretching high above treeline. Countless abandoned siege engines and constructions of war from the numerous failed attempts throughout history to take the city by force lie scattered throughout the surrounding countryside in what has become known as the Cairnlands and the wreckage of armadas of unsuccessful attempts on the city from the sea all but block the wide harbour in a mass known as the Flotsam Graveyard. The city itself is enormous: it stretches more than seven miles from the Starwatch Keep to Azlanti Keep and more than five miles from Westgate to Eastgate, and Absalom has three times as many residents as the capital of Cheliax, Egorian

Type

Megalopolis

Population

303,900

Inhabitant Demonym

Absalomians