Blackbourne

Port town, Blackbourne is Archana's trade point with the kingdoms North. Although it is the most important profit spot for the kingdom, Blackbourne is also a wound in Archana's peace. Since its beginning, the city attracts all kinds of opportunists who wish to take advantage of the city's growing market. From pickpockets and pirates to drug dealers and powerful mafia, Blackbourne is home to the kingdom's scum, the pride and shame of Archana's people The situation, however, is more delicated than a common citizen can see: not only the criminals' power is stronger than the local law (researchers confirm that in a frontal war the Guard would be annihilated) but the Black Market and gambling houses attract adventurers who are passing by, filling the pockets of tavern and inn keepers, making this situation harder to revert.



Structure
Blackbourne has a simple aspect. Built in an U shape around the Blackwater Bay, its houses are made of wood sustention and grout walls, mostly all painted on a light beige color. The walls that protect the city are made of common stone, while the castle and few of the surrounding houses are decorated with the finest marble from Vilennor. The port, always with the endless coming and going of ships, is the favorite stop of the captain of the fastest cargo ship in the region, the Son of Stones II.

People & Culture
As one could expect from a port city, Blackbourne has people coming and going from several neighbor lands, influencing the city in a few ways. Nevertheless, this influence isn't for the best - pirates roam freely around the port, and their combat experience and violence keep the citizens terrified as well as the Guard, who know that if they try to stop them, the city would become a battlefield and their forces would be too few to drive the pirates away. And so the people of Blackbourne live under the tyranny of the outlaws, most of the times resorting to crime in order to make a living.

Humans are predominant, but Elves who come from other kingdoms seeking freedom from their old ways often get stuck in Blackbourne and don't have the money to leave, and so they can be found in greater number in there than most of the other cities, though they are still very few. Sordethn are almost none, Blackbourne stands for everything most of them are against, but a few of them can be found among the pirates. It is often that outlandish people can be found, such as the mysterious tall pirates who are always covered in clothes. Also, at night, many have reported the sightings of assassin-like fellows whose skin are dark, but all of the witnesses were considered delusional.

Geography
Blackbourne's geography is quite simple. The coastline is slightly sloping, reaching a maximum height of 100 meters from the sea level and 200 meters into the countryside, where from there on it turns into vast plain. The Blackwater River, coming from southwest, goes through underground caves, disemboguing in the Blackwater Port.

Few, but there are small forested areas around Blackbourne, with conifers, a few creepers and fruitful bushes. Animals are very few, nothing besides wolves and deers, that are contant targets in hunts.

Swindler's Alley
Most infamous spot in Blackbourne. The Swindler's Alley was given this name as it is always crowed with criminals, where one can find countless gambling houses, burglars and drug dealers. Many people, specially adventurers, come by to indulge their compulsions for gambling or give a chance for a last, desperate try to earn money.

Bellenare's Square / Market District
Named in honor ro the first and most famous independent Countess in Blackbourne's history, the Square is no doubt the most crowded trading district in Archana, only behind Novarooch, the Royal City, in goods quality. In the center of the Square full of market stalls, Countess Bellenare's statue is the main tourist attraction of the city.

Whispers' Alleyway
The word that can describe this place most properly is "mistery". The Whispers' Alleyway, unlike the rest of the city, is not a point of attraction, but repulsion, of people. No citizens, guards, criminals or travelers dare to go in there. No one is really sure what is the great evil that lies in this place, and anyone who tries to investigate, or were just passing by, never came back to tell the story. Rumors tells that this area is the place of great mafia leaders, demonic cults, or even a secret society of assassins. In truth, no one really knows who, or what, inhabits the Whispers' Alleyway.

Blackwater Port
The crown's jewel, Archana's doors to kingdoms overseas, the Blackwater Port! Built by the bay of the same name, the port was the main reason for the establishment of the city of Blackbourne, that started off just as a small port and warehouse for shipments and grew larger into the region-wide famous city it is today. This is the port where some of the most famous, and infamous, ships around spent most of their time alongside.

Black Market
If the city has its market district for the honest, so it has one for the dishonest. Ilegal, rare, goods with doubtful authenticity... There is almost nothing that cannot be found in the Black Market. Anything that the pirates and other criminals can loot from vilages and steal from innocents ends up there, where it is sold for high prices and no one cares where they came from.

Blackbourne Castle
The home of Blackbourne's Count, Arenti Illenos. A relatively big and well adorned castle, it stands out among all the wood and grout buildings in the city. The main building has three floors, being the lowest for the throne room, dinning room and servants's living quarters, the second for the Count's family rooms and the third, and highest floor, the Count's bedroom and library. Two side towers, the Guard barracks, are linked to the intern corridors hidden in the outer walls, which the guards use to switch posts and walk around the town in safety.