Camber
Known as “The Heart of Shardar”, “The Pit of
Depravity” or “That Cursed Place”, depending on who you are talking to,
Camber is the largest, the busiest and the most crowded city in Shardar.
In fact, by long tradition, it is the only community that has ever been
called a city, everywhere else have always been called towns.
The reason for this is not remembered but it has probably just been the
whim of a previous High Lord.
With a
population of more than 10,000 permanent residents, Camber is constantly
growing, despite the strain that the war has put on it’s economy.
Merchants and traders come from all across the land for the vast markets
in Camber. Farmers, hunters,
trappers, loggers, miners and dozens of other tradesmen all try to sell their
goods for the best possible prices and, if you know where to look, virtually
anything can be bought in the Camber markets.
The largest
market is the general bazaar in the centre of the city.
Stalls are set up and sell everything from apples to swords, narcotics to
oil paintings. There are several
other markets, more specialised ones, that cater for live-stock mostly. These markets are located outside the city walls but are
still bustling places where it is easy for an outsider to become lost or to lose
their money.
The ultimate
ruler of Camber is High Lord Calloway, but the High Lord is a busy man and has
very little to see to the day to day running of such a large city.
This is generally left to the City Council and especially to Fletcher
Kilm, First Minister for the city. Fletcher
is a small, quiet man who has his junior Ministers in a state of constant fear
in case they make any mistakes. He
does not tolerate anyone who cannot perform their jobs to perfection and he does
not tolerate anything that prevents his city form functioning as smoothly as it
should do.
The Camber
militia are far more organised and efficient than the majority of other peace
keepers, as anyone stepping out of line within the city bounds will find out.
Most offences are punishable by imprisonment and fines, but both the High
Lord and the First Minister have the power to pass death sentences, slavery
orders or the forced joining of the army on anyone they think deserves it. Most offences are dealt with by one of the junior Ministers
and only the greatest of transgressions will be brought before the attention of
the more important men.
Many of the
Lords and Barons who travel through the city and even some of the richer
merchants employ guards to protect them from beggars, thieves and murders.
It is common to see large processions of heavily armed and armoured men
warily making their way through the city streets and, on several occasions,
there have been conflicts between different groups of body-guards.
When the militia is involved as well, it evolves into a small war within
the city streets and this sort of misdemeanour is heavily punished by the
Ministers.
The walls of
Camber are high and strong but there are a large number of buildings that have
been put up outside the city walls. These
all started off as shanties and lean-tos but, over time, they have developed
into proper buildings and the city outside the walls is just as organised as the
city within. There are taverns and
inns, shops and houses, all the services that you would find within the true
city. Officially, only the
buildings within the walls are part of Camber but for every purpose, the city
includes everything, inside and out.
The criminal
element within Camber is more organised than anywhere else within Shardar and it
is almost certain that there is a large Thieves Guild operating within the city.
The average citizen knows nothing about this Guild, apart from the fact
that they should not cross them, but rumours abound that the Ministers know more
about it than they are prepared to say. Since
High Lord Calloway became engrossed in his conquest of Dargoth, crime rates have
risen and corruption has become more common place.
Many of the Ministers are quite open to bribery and even more of them
have fallen to black-mail and threats. It
is possible to get almost anything you want from the City Council, if you know
who to ask and have the proper bargaining tools.
A stranger
arriving in the streets of Camber could find it to be a bewildering place of
sights, sounds and smells. Vendors shout out their wares in competition with the beggars
who demand alms for the poor. The
smell is a mixture of animal and human and can be more than a bit overpowering
at first, but people do become used to it very quickly.
Children will hang around by the city gates and offer themselves as
guides to newcomers who look even slightly confused by everything around them,
but it would be best to be very wary of offers like this.
Most of the children would quite happily lead the stranger into an ambush
where their pride would be the least of their losses.
In certain areas
of the city, low life prostitutes and killers for hire stand openly on street
corners or in dark taverns. People
sell their bodies or evil services for the price of a tankard of ale and life is
very cheap in these areas. The lake
side area of the city is by far the worst but there are other areas where it is
almost as dangerous to walk. A
guide would be able to inform a stranger of these sectors, but the stranger
would be very lucky to find a trustworthy guide.
The militia are less than helpful when it comes to lost out-of-towners
and most people would rather walk on by than get involved in anything that
doesn’t concern them.
The best advice
that a newcomer can take it to stay to the better parts of town and never, never
take anything on face value. Camber
has also been called “The Rose of Shardar” and like any rose, it has many,
many petals hiding what lies in the centre of the flower.