City of Hekmo
Hekmo is a city located in northern Imesse. It is situated on the banks of the Hekloth River, giving it access to the Calas River to the south. It is the ducal seat of the Duchy of Hekmo and home to the Duke, Turl am Nari. It currently has a population of just over 11,000 souls, mostly Human. The city is experiencing a tough decline in fortunes since the former Duke, Torn am Nari, passed at an early age. Supplies are short, costs are high, and the population keeps falling year after year.
When Turl took over the rule of the Duchy, the population of the City of Hekmo was more than 23,000 people, and it was growing every year. River and road traffic were pushing materials and resoources from the north and finished products and rare materials were coming up from the south. Vendors lined the clean and safe streets, inns were full of visitors and traders ready to spend money. The town was as safe as any in the entire north of Imesse, with stout walls and gates protected by trained and seasoned guards. In the more than forty years that Turl has ruled as Duke, the city's population has dropped by more than half. Much of the city is now vacant ruins, and entire streets are left empty and even the homes and buildings have been robbed of usable stone and brick.
High taxes, poorly enacted laws and even worse law enforcement have driven away the best and brightest from the city. The residents that remain are sullen at best, and angry at worst.
Demographics
Government
Duke of Hekmo rules absolutely, but has appointed several local leaders to assist in the daily operations of the city and it's environs. Within the city specifically, there is a rising and unfortunate dislike for any non-Human residents or visitors, and this is quickly contributing to the decline of both business and revenues within the city.
Defences
The city lacks any real defensive capabilities. The City Guard is made up almost entirely of bullies, wastrels, and drunks. In the days of Duke Torn, there were two functional and effective fire fighting machines that could pump water through a nozel that would direct the stream into the heart of a house or building fire. Neither has even been dusted off in the last 15 years, and the brass and copper nozel of one of the machines was taken to be used for a drinking horn by one of the Guard Captains 4 years ago.
Industry & Trade
The City of Hekmo is surrounded by dozens of square miles of some of the finest limestone in all the northern half of the Kingdoms, and not a stone of it is worked currently. Huge stands of tall spruce, pine, hickory and elm grow within an hours walk of the walls, and not a tree is cut for anything other than firewood. Where the river once teamed with fish and wildlife, only a few dozen hardy folk will cast a net now for their daily meals. Hekmo has been reduced to a subsistence-level economy in just a decade.
Infrastructure
Once full of clean, well-paved cobble streets and protected by high, strong stone walls, much of the city has fallen into serious disrepair. Streets are lined with trash, the surfaces are rutted, muddy and difficult to navigate in the dark. In some sections of the city, entire buildings have been torn down for the value of their construction material. While the city walls still stand, and the gates can still be closed, they are largely undefended and what guards and patrols can be seen are lazy and inattentive.
Geography
Hekmo is located in an area of tall hills and thick forests. The topography is difficult in areas, but not impossible. Valleys and plains around the river are fertile, full of farms and orchards that are being left abandoned more and more, and the woods are not being hunted or harvested for food and resources.
Climate
Northern temperate weather, cold winters with significant snowfall, hot and humid summers with variable rainfall.
Natural Resources
The river upstream from the city teams with fish, eels and clams. Downstream, however, the refuse from the city has dramatically altered the waterway's abundance. There are several large quarries that have provided much of the stone that has gone into the city's construction, but recent economic problems have caused these operations all but stop. In fact, many businesses and trades that had been busy and profitable only a decade earlier are now gone completely.
Type
City
Population
11,300, down from 22,000 in just 15 years
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
