Keys

By far the youngest city within the Empire, Keys was until a scant two or three years ago simply the coastal village of Armastas. Settled and expanded by a group of ten Noble and Merchant Houses the site was chosen due to the nature of its natural harbour. Though not large it was found to be the source of the curious trade currents along the east coast. So strange are these that they flow both into and out of the harbour such that skiffs, sloops, barges and cogs heading for Keys are swept along with relative ease. It takes an experienced trader or sea captain to make use of the Lowing Current (that going away, that coming in is the Wellowing Current) but given the way the city has grown most have taken the time to acquire such skills.

When the Ten Houses sent craftsmen to the city they sought out the best and made it clear that they would pay top grull for materials and supplies. With the land being free of anything other than an easily cleared village the houses and buildings were made large and sturdy. Cheap to the craftsmen they settled there with those that protected them. Well paid for their work the traders became interested and then the Sires were courted by the new Council. They had to be of course – the city was intended to be the trade capital of the Empire and there may be an argument made that this has indeed become so.

Near from the day of its inception, Keys has been governed by a consistent Council. Baron Drago (or ‘Mother Drago’ as local slang would have it) embarked on an ambitious and successful plan that has seen Keys rise from little more than a muddy frontier town to a compact city of shining buildings, clad streets and Guild after Guild, after Guild. The facilities for trade are second to none and the Council has ever been at pains to welcome, aid and facilitate trade on whatever level. As a result the citizens have become rather rich and business thrives on every street.

Keys is very young and this shows both in the newness of even the most simple dwelling to the way it rises suddenly amongst the wilds about it. Other cities see a gradual change from urbane civilisation into rural dependant villages, to settled lands and then wilds. Such a blur across the landscape is not seen in Keys. Within its simple fortifications lies the city, directly without a northern wasteland with little to recommend it! Sparse and cruel, the territory of Keys is hardly Imperial at all – most of the few folk living there being tribal at heart and certainly with little in common with the citizens themselves.

The closest city to the Far North it might seem to have been an odd location for a trade city. But it gives good access to the Far North and excellent berth to shipping along the populous east coast of the Empire. The best roads in the Empire lead to Alguz – which was itself once the centre of trade for the Sallow Princes and those that came after. The Northern cities of the Empire have all based much of their policies on trade and certainly there are many, many traders whose routes centre purely on Keys, Deci and Eartholme. If the Northern cities weren’t in such stiff competition with one another they’d doubtless be able to buy the other cities in a few years…

Or at least be able to swap Deci for a good ox, only slightly lame, one careful owner.