Zobeck

The Free City of Zobeck, also known as the City of Gears and the Clockwork Capital, is an independent city-state lying to the north of central Yore and the Borderland Provinces, with a current population of around 20,000. It was founded at the end of the 5th century NE and became a vassal-state of Bard’s Gate in the early 14th century.
In 1680 it won its freedom from Yore with the help of The Shadow Fey, who allied themselves with the wealthy Stross family of Castle Shadowcrag on the outskirts of the city. These Elves of the Shadowlands, or Lantawathesti or Scáthesidhe, traded riches for human souls, and it was another century before their stranglehold on the city was usurped, the seeping nebulous border between Zobeck and the Plane of Shadow closed, or nearly closed, and their capricious and malevolent influence replaced by the Free City Council after the Citizens’ Revolt in the early 1800s.
Since then Zobeck has enjoyed much prosperity, located as it is on a major river, founded on fertile soil, and trading with the Dwarves of the Ironcrags, the merchants of Bard’s Gate, Endholme and Tyr, and Reme, Lankhmar and Nuria beyond. The Elves of Qualimor begrudgingly allow passage of merchant vessels through their lands as the River Argent winds its way through the Galentaur forest to the east. Its main trading quarter, the The Shimbles, is a bustling street where all manner of creeds and colours may be found – even the Archmage Mordenkainen the Magnificent has a storefront here.
It is not without its problems, however, being located close to the wildlands in the foothills of the Icespires to the north, and sandwiched between the enchanted fey forest of The Old Margreve Forest to the west, and The Festering Marshes to the east. Its many outlying villages, such as Utherwick upriver to the west, are regularly raided by goblins and worse, and within its city walls are many factions that do not always have the city and its inhabitants’ best interests at heart.
The city’s vibrant and varied districts include the Old Docks, the New Docks, the Kobold Ghetto, the Temple District, Upper Zobeck and the Citadel, the Merchant and Gear quarters. Other notable areas include the City Square, which is home to the Great Library of Zobeck and other grand public buildings, and the Cartways – an undercity that was once Old Zobeck, but now built over and home to thieves, vagabonds, spies and criminals.
The city is famed for its Griffon Riders, an elite force of airborne militia, and its Gearforged, mechanical heavy infantry force whose clockwork bodies house the reborn souls of deceased heroes. It is known also for the presence of a large number of Kobolds, who were once a mining population enslaved by wealthy families like the Strosses, but who have since been given freedom of the city (although many still treat them as second-class citizens).
It is not uncommon either to see Karivian travellers and fortune-tellers from the Rothenian plains beyond the mountains, Tian Xians from the far east, Nurians from the south, northern traders from Wolfheim, Ironcrag Dwarves, Shadow Fell halflings, half-orcs and half-elves. Less common are Kenku, Tabaxi, Goliaths, Bearfolk, Dragonborn, Aasimar and Tieflings.
The thriving Black Network of the Rat King in Zobeck is controlled by a shadowy and seemingly eternal figure known as the Mouse King by the fearful, and the The Rat King of Zobeck by the bold. Other factions include the Red Mask Assassins Guild, members of which can be found throughout Yore, and the sinister Cloven Nine, a secretive group of gangsters and smugglers associated with the Archdevil Asmodeus, although recent rumours suggest there are various splinter cells within the group devoted to Demon Cults such as the Cult of Orcus, Demon Lord of the Undead, and others just as foul.
The city is governed by a small group of elected consuls and law and order maintained by a standing city militia, supported by a cohort of Gearforged. The Griffon Riders maintain a constant presence within the city, and also at various outposts in the outlying lands. Some maintain, however, that it is the Rat King who is the real power in Zobeck; others whisper that the Shadow Fey still hold sway behind the scenes. The majority of the population do not care very much, so long as the city continues in its trend of prosperity and peace.