Frostadt
Frostadt boasts the largest metalworking industry of any city in Praedor, with several mining towns providing the constant stream of ore and coal needed to fuel the many forges found throughout the city. As a result plumes of smoke can be seen rising into the sky at all times of day, and the sound of hammers forging steels rings out constantly. Many people from Frostadt have developed deep and rough voices from breathing in the fumes from the forges all day. The metalworking has also attracted many different artisans and inventors, and several smiths have specialized in creating custom parts to meet the needs of the more unusual craftsmen.
The city sits in one of the coldest parts of Praedor, along the banks of Lake Icegleam, as it receives its water directly from the snowmelt of the Voiceless Mountain to the north. It warms up to some degree in the summer, but the city still has to rely on fast growing crops and fishing for much of its food.
The people in Frostdt tend to be on the gruff side, as the cold weather means that working hard is important if one wants to stay alive. This is especially important in the border towns, as while the Frostadt guard are well trained and well equipped, they are relatively small in number and dangerous beasts are known to frequently wander south, especially during the winter when food is scarce. As such, many in the regions around Frostadt tend to adopt a “Do your job and mind your own business” style of attitude. With as many dangers as there are in the North, there is no need to go out looking for any more. This attitude also means that not as many Frostadt natives go out and become mercenaries, but a good number do find themselves to be a poor fit for the fairly strict lifestyle generally found in Frostadt, or they get tired of the cold and go seeking adventure in warmer lands.
The city sits in one of the coldest parts of Praedor, along the banks of Lake Icegleam, as it receives its water directly from the snowmelt of the Voiceless Mountain to the north. It warms up to some degree in the summer, but the city still has to rely on fast growing crops and fishing for much of its food.
The people in Frostdt tend to be on the gruff side, as the cold weather means that working hard is important if one wants to stay alive. This is especially important in the border towns, as while the Frostadt guard are well trained and well equipped, they are relatively small in number and dangerous beasts are known to frequently wander south, especially during the winter when food is scarce. As such, many in the regions around Frostadt tend to adopt a “Do your job and mind your own business” style of attitude. With as many dangers as there are in the North, there is no need to go out looking for any more. This attitude also means that not as many Frostadt natives go out and become mercenaries, but a good number do find themselves to be a poor fit for the fairly strict lifestyle generally found in Frostadt, or they get tired of the cold and go seeking adventure in warmer lands.
Demographics
65% Human, 20% Dwarf, 10% Gnome, 5% Other
Government
Frostadt does not have a singular leader. Instead the leaders of the different industrial guilds found in the city each have a voice on the Allguilds Council, which governs the city and mediates disputes.
Defences
Frostadt has a relatively small military force, with only about 100 soldiers, but the use of gunpowder and other inventions have allowed it to maintain its status as an independent city, and exert influence over the surrounding area.
Industry & Trade
The Iceships that can traverse the Great Northern Lakes at all times of year remain an important source of income to Frostadt, and keep it connected to a flow of supplies from the outside world. They bring various goods including ore, pelts, and ice down from the North to the southern cities, and play a large role in allowing the city to fund technological research. Much of the research is kept within the city, but in recent years more developments have either slipped through due to espionage, or have been allowed to be exported out for commercial sale.
History
Frostadt has spent most of its history as a midsized trading port where goods from the north were transported through the Great Northern Lakes and then further throughout the Empire. It developed a stable industry based around ships capable of surviving the dangerous ice flows that fill the lakes in the winter, but due to its relatively niche demand, it was never a truly prominent city until much more recent history, at least publicly.
In the last century of the Empire several large deposits of of the materials needed for gunpowder were discovered by Imperial troops near the city, however the locations were kept secret as gunpowder technologies were still early in development and being kept a secret. The knowledge of these deposits and of the technologies that was being developed was kept in a series of hidden forts scattered through the north called the Castra Arcestrum, and a central, extremely secretive location, called the Castra Primus. These hidden forts served as repositories of knowledge and technology, as well as centers of research. Unfortunately, in the chaos of the Empire's fall the locations of these forts were lost, and with them the knowledge they contained.
Things changed for Frostadt few decades ago, when some lucky adventurer lost in the mountains, stumbled into a fort hidden away in a crevice. This fort turned out to be one of the Casta, and thought the ancient defenses left within prevented immediate exploration, the adventurer put together a team to explore the Castra, and returned to Frostadt with a host of knowledge that he used to transform the city from a trading port, into the rapidly emerging technological capital of Eastern Odoris. Within the discovered Castra was only a few basic blueprints for rudimentary firearms, and some basic clockwork creations, but records indicate there are still several more that remained hidden. Two more Castras have since been found and explored, with Frostadt paying large sums of money to the individuals who had discovered them, but the crown jewel that is the Castra Primus, still remains lost.
Today those old industries remain an important part of the traditions of Frostadt, but more and more the city has become focused on the development and research of the Castra's and the technology within.
In the last century of the Empire several large deposits of of the materials needed for gunpowder were discovered by Imperial troops near the city, however the locations were kept secret as gunpowder technologies were still early in development and being kept a secret. The knowledge of these deposits and of the technologies that was being developed was kept in a series of hidden forts scattered through the north called the Castra Arcestrum, and a central, extremely secretive location, called the Castra Primus. These hidden forts served as repositories of knowledge and technology, as well as centers of research. Unfortunately, in the chaos of the Empire's fall the locations of these forts were lost, and with them the knowledge they contained.
Things changed for Frostadt few decades ago, when some lucky adventurer lost in the mountains, stumbled into a fort hidden away in a crevice. This fort turned out to be one of the Casta, and thought the ancient defenses left within prevented immediate exploration, the adventurer put together a team to explore the Castra, and returned to Frostadt with a host of knowledge that he used to transform the city from a trading port, into the rapidly emerging technological capital of Eastern Odoris. Within the discovered Castra was only a few basic blueprints for rudimentary firearms, and some basic clockwork creations, but records indicate there are still several more that remained hidden. Two more Castras have since been found and explored, with Frostadt paying large sums of money to the individuals who had discovered them, but the crown jewel that is the Castra Primus, still remains lost.
Today those old industries remain an important part of the traditions of Frostadt, but more and more the city has become focused on the development and research of the Castra's and the technology within.
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments