Fort Solomon
From ElanVital
The second-largest human city on Voltumnus, Fort Solomon began its life as a naval base in 394 AT. For many years, it was simply nothing more than a Militia headquarters; thanks to the efforts of Arthur Stocklin, it has since expanded into a hub for trade and exploration, the primary nexus of all sea travel on Voltumnus.
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Demographics
100,000 humans, a few hundred Sessuyan.
Government
The Mayorship of Fort Solomon is given to a Luten chosen by the High Council every five years. The current Mayor, Wulfenbra Petakova, has had the position for 20 years. Drunk, somewhat incompetent and extremely well-loved by his freewheeling people, Wulfenbra mostly holds onto the position through a combination of heavy 'donations' to the House in power and sheer inertia. The real power in Fort Solomon is typically the Admiral of the Navy, currently Elizabeth Hulse - the Admiral is hands-off most of the time, but her presence and the presence of her navy provide a powerful stabilizing force on the chaos of the city.
Society
Less miserable than Charon and less stuffy than Titania, Fort Solomon is seen as one of the happiest places on Voltumnus despite the fairly low incomes of its people and fairly high crime rates. Only Charon has fewer nobles per-capita than Fort Solomon, as little legitimate business is done here.
The Sessuyan settlement in Fort Solomon is something of a mystery. Occupying a less wealthy area known as the Lower Quarter (or the Bugghetto by the derogatory), they seem to somehow be led in an unknown purpose by Croashk, the 'Prophet-Beggar'. Mysterious and often aloof, his influence is mostly felt in the lingering fear of upsetting this known unknown. It remains impossible to determine exactly how many of the natives their leader has under his authority and what his purpose is besides in the short nuggets of knowledge he rarely sees fit to dole out. "We are here to spread the Lady's Light... but also to take it home."
Factions
Several powerful factions balance the city between them:
The Titania Militia provides a major employer and protection against seabeasts. They also serve as the 800-pound gorilla in the room; generally they're hands-off, but if any of the other factions act up too openly they'll pound them back into line.
Ulysses' Ventures, a shipping company owned by Ulric Stocklin, competes fiercely with Arthur Stocklin's Excalibur Group for the wealth of resources found in the islands. These two companies often hire mercenaries as protection against each other's plots - or to interfere with each other in the first place...
The Solomon Gaming Association oversees a robust business of casinos, nightclubs and other entertainment hotspots. Notoriously difficult to pin faces to, the group has come under scrutiny several times due to their reluctance to release information to the public. Those in the street know that, perhaps of all the major movers and shakers in the city, this is a group that you do not cross. Rumor has it that nearly fifty percent of the gangs in the city are actually working for them and one out of every five murders is because one of these shadows said it needed to be done. No one knows if that is true or not.
The many gangs and mercenary troupes of Solomon (foremost along them Clearwater, Two Dames, the Reds, and the Triumph Street Killers) are a power in and of themselves, albeit a fractured one. These organizations take care of business that requires violent solutions, hired by most every other faction in the city at various times. Some are honorable in a fashion, others would sell their mother for a quick five marks.
The Ships' Authority League (SAL) is a union of ship captains to negotiate wages and see to the rights and principles of the men of salt. A rowdy bunch of sailors, led by one High Captain, serving as an official authority but mostly used as an excuse to keep good will between the working men of Solomon and arbitrate between disagreements. SAL covers everything from the common fisherman, to ranging pirates, to the common small-company leased pleasure cruisers - and many of the ships that Ulysses' Ventures and the Excalibur Group sub-contract. It does not need to be said why not pissing off the men of the sea is a good idea in a dock city. Their current High Captain is Micha Odena, the Captain of the One-Eyed Giant. To say she is a legend does not do her justice, as rumors follow her like the smell of fish lingers in the docks. She is the infamous thief who only goes by the name Calm; she vanquished ten pirates with nothing but her bra and a bottle of rum; she once kissed Hulse right on her lips and survived to tell the tale. She's the darling of the city, and Luten Wulfenbra once claimed that she is the only man that could drink him under the table.
Law
Fort Solomon is, to the Titanian eye, considerably lawless. It has far fewer police than Titania - more than Charon, but with the Navy's hands-off approach the police often let things go that would be prosecuted in other cities. The Sessuyan who live in the city in particular are often snubbed by the law, forced to take revenge into their own hands if they are mistreated.
Ship captains in the SAL or Navy are often acknowledged as having a sort of unofficial legal authority; hooligans are more likely to listen to them than official police out of a culture of respect for the sea-farer. Captains also oft serve as informal arbitration for community conflicts.
Economy
The islands of Fort Solomon are extremely rich in metals that are more scarce on the mainland, providing the lucrative trade over which Ulysses and Excalibur tend to squabble.
Seafood is also a major export to the mainland, Fort Solomon providing a vast majority of the ocean fish eaten in Titania. Carinac dragon meat, a delicacy of extremely high cachet and cost, is typically only fished for from Fort Solomon.
