Before relations with the Eldeen Reaches soured during the Last War, there was a healthy trade of population and goods between the rich heartland of Aundair and the forests of the druids. Rulers, including Wrogar the first king of Aundair, learned early to ignore the western forests at their peril and construction began in the 870s on a neighborhood for Eldeen immigrants in south Fairhaven. Called the Grangehall Ward, this neighborhood formalized the growing community of farmers, traders, and druids which was perched against the southern wall and extended the city’s defenses to include the neighborhoods. The cost of relocating the wall was great but clearly worth it as the rustic houses began to expand themselves, adding merchants and taxpayers to the city’s coffers.
While the ward has changed in many ways since hostilities began between the Five Nations, its attitude and feeling have not. As the houses shifted from wooden country homes to apartment buildings of marble and granite, the popular opinions of the residents have crystallized as well. Many in the ward secretly agree with the complaints of the Eldeen Reaches, others do publicly. The Grangehall Ward finds itself increasingly estranged from the rest of the city as uncertainty and suspicion grow. A schism also exists within the ward as those with relatives or ties to the Aundarian territories around Wyr either grow embittered toward the Royal Army or toward the Eldeen Wolves as one or the other commits a violent attack. This schism is closing in the face of suspicion from the rest of the city, however, as Grangers think of themselves as citizens of the ward first and citizens of Fairhaven second, if at all.
Population: 8,300
Social Class: Middle to lower class.
Character: Rustic neighborhoods, almost like country hamlets transported to the city. Residents are proud of their ward and consider it almost a separate entity.
Districts: garrison, goblinoid neighborhood, guildhall ward, inn district, marketplace, park district, shifter neighborhood, shops, temple.
Businesses: Family-run groceries and open-air markets, informal and simple goods; gold piece limit: 14,000 gp.
Key Personalities: Bayr (Denarre’s Court), Elder Roteal (Totem Row), Brentas Hurmero (Oldtown Hollow), Hurstak (Kaeltusk), Jelaan the Tall (Kaeltusk), Kleris Merchiot (Oldtown Hollow), Lhevk Reesh (Kaeltusk), Rava Moonshadow (the Warren), Royal Eyes Inquisitor Vaal (Two Points), Tannelle Dekker (Denarre’s Court), Taryth Threestone (Denarre’s Court).
Watch Detail: 283 guards of the Watch; 87 on day shift (69 patrol, 18 stationed), 101 on evening shift (81 patrol, 20 stationed), 100 on night shift (80 patrol, 20 stationed). These guards are responsible for Five Domes as well as the Grangehall Ward.
Clayton
District Type: Guildhall District
Buildings: average food (30), average lodging (15), average residences (89), average services (33), average trades (41), fine foods (10), fine services (18), fine trades (14), guildhalls (9), poor services (12), poor trades (15)
First Impression: The neighborhood is dominated by the gigantic Clayton Hall, with narrow, even streets surrounding it full of shops and restaurants.
Before the Grangehall Ward was incorporated into Fairhaven proper, Clayton was a small community just outside of the city where skilled craftsmen who couldn’t afford to live in the central wards or didn’t want to could make a living. Taking advantage of both the needs of Fairhaven citizenry and the farmers who came to trade in the Oldtown Hollow, Clayton, which formed around a prosperous clay field, grew until it eventually met up with the city walls. When the city government started to extend the city’s walls around the new ward just before the Last War, the sprawling Clayton Hall was designated as its western extent.
Today, Clayton has been fully absorbed into the city, though Clayton Hall still stands somewhat apart from neighboring buildings. Originally this structure was an exterior fortress for the city guard, and rumors persist of secret tunnels which run from Clayton Hall to Fairhaven Watch barracks in the central wards. The curtain wall which protected the various piazzas and courtyards of the structure was dismantled to assist in the city wall renovations and much of the remaining stonework has a chipped and cracked look which makes the building seem older than it is. Within Clayton Hall, the interconnecting breezeways provide a semi-indoor promenade along which lie several successful businesses and some of the civic guilds of Fairhaven.
Imperia Magewrights: This guild of artificers and magewrights specializes in providing low-level, cheap magic to the poorer neighborhoods of Fairhaven. They are members of the League of Independent Arcanists which has allowed them the financial security to open branches in Pine Hill and the Whiteroof Ward. The guild’s members, all goblinoids, charge about 10% less than the listed price for spellcasting services (although full price for any material components) but usually have not mastered any rituals above 3rd level. In the wards where there are Imperia Magewrights shops, they have a near-lock on the common populace’s magic needs, undercutting the more powerful magewright services.
Despite this achievement, the goblinoids of Imperia Magewrights have several sources of difficulty. First, the guild has continuing problems in the Grangehall Ward with shifter gangs that target them for alleged connections to the Kech Motrai. While not officially allied with the group, the Magewrights are very sympathetic to the Dhakaani nationalists and have aided them a number of times over the year. The guild has also recently had difficulty with the Royal Eyes of Aundair who demanded that they be allowed to search the guild’s shops several times in the past few months. The Eyes have not found anything incriminating since any Dhakaani artifacts in the Imperia Magewrights’ possession are stored in Kech Motrai safehouses, but the spy service has not revealed why it is searching either. Imperia superiors suspect that the guild is being framed by some other group, most likely in the Grangehall Ward, but they have no clues as to who might be behind it.
Jorasco Healers Guild: Although there are a number of healers guilds in Clayton, including one started recently by the Wardens of the Wood, the largest and by far most prominent guild is the Jorasco enclave in Clayton Hall. The enclave takes up a whole wing of the Hall and has occupied the space for nearly eight decades. The House of Healing found Clayton Hall a convenient staging ground for sending healing companies hired by Aundair south through the southern gate with the Aundairian soldiers. It’s also close enough to Rordan’s Gate for Jorasco healers to be sent quickly by lightning rail and far enough away from the Sovereign Ward to avoid direct competition with the cathedrals of the Host.
Red Rose Adventurers’ Corp: Originally the Red Rose Company of Fairhaven, this military unit decided to remain in its Fairhaven barracks in Clayton Hall after being decommissioned after the Treaty of Thronehold, becoming a mercenary and adventuring company instead. Red Rose members now come from all over Aundair and are not exclusively veterans. The majority of the Corp, though, remains formers soldiers of the Red Rose Company and so a strong sense of community exists unlike other more mercenary adventuring societies. The Red Rose assists the Fairhaven Watch in Clayton and is the unofficial police force for the district more often than not. Beyond Clayton, Red Rose members occasionally work in other areas of the Grangehall Ward as bodyguards and are frequently contacted by the Wayfinder Surplus enclave in Denarre’s Court and elsewhere in the city.
Denarre’s Court
District Type: Shops
First Impression: Colorful shop signs hanging in front of windows featuring goods aimed at adventures.
Denarre’s Court is full of shops catering to travelers and adventurers leaving Fairhaven through the southern gate. What can’t be found in Oldtown Hollow, either because of expense or size, can generally be found in Denarre’s Court which is full of permanent shops rather than temporary stalls. In particular, several armorsmiths and weaponsmiths can be found in the shopping district, rare trades in the Grangehall Ward.
Most travelers arriving in Fairhaven arrive from the north or south on the Aundair River, which is much cheaper to ship goods along than caravan routes, or along the Eastway from the more crowded urban areas of northern Thrane and western Karrnath. Those who can afford it tend to arrive by lightning rail into Rordan’s Gate or by airship into the central city. The southern gate is therefore a gate by which people typically leave through only, and for this reason Denarre’s Court caters to adventurers. There are a fair number of inns to be found throughout the district and the innkeepers have banded together to form the Gateway Patrol which tries to keep the pickpockets in the busy marketways away from the inns. Though the inns are not as good as in Greenhollow, they are at least as safe thanks to the Patrol.
Bayr’s Supplies: The broad-shouldered razorclaw shifter Bayr is known as well as an expert craftsman as he is for being an unusually patient shifter. Though his grandparents were from the Eldeen Reaches, Bayr was raised in Fairhaven, apprenticing for one of the artificers of Magecraft, Ltd. in Marble Halls. Though his mentor was a tolerant person, others proved less accepting of a shifter artificer and Bayr eventually back near his relatives in the Grangehall Ward.
His shop is popular among shifter residents and adventurers alike because of Bayr’s skill at making shifter-related items, particularly primal items. While Bayr’s specialty is mostly his desire to bring legitimacy to his people’s traditions, it could obviously be construed as purposefully arming the shifter populations of the Grangehall Ward and the Royal Eyes occasionally put the shifter under observation. While Bayr’s patience is remarkable, his temper is dangerous when provoked and Bayr has wound up in jail overnight for picking fights with Fairhaven Watch members whom he feels are harassing him. As the artificer’s reputation grows, of course, so do the protests at his incarcerations, but eventually Bayr might find himself having to choose whether to give up producing shifter items or whether to accept the role of instigator that has been forced on him.
Taryth’s Oddities: Though she has a reputation as a bad-tempered and stingy half-orc woman, Taryth Threestone also has a reputation for high-quality and rare items. Her cramped shop is filled with rare flowers, dried and pressed, bark from exotic trees which Taryth promises will cure all sorts of maladies, beautiful birds from the distant tropical swamps of the Shadow Marches, and skulls of many dangerous beasts. She has many exotic spell components available and is an excellent source for consumable spell components for magic-users.
Taryth claims that she acquires all of these items from friends she maintains abroad which is true to an extent. In reality, Taryth is an initiate of the Children of Winter sect and maintains the shop as a front for these druidic nihilists in Fairhaven. Her basement, which is entered only through a secret door in her apartments at the back of the building, holds a shrine full of skulls and has several small rooms for housing Children who are operating in the city. While they have no real political aspirations, the Children of Winter occasionally make strikes against the Aundairian government to sew seeds of distrust in hatred. The Royal Eyes have begun to connect these scattered crimes and came dangerously close to uncovering Taryth Threestone’s secret. The ranger managed instead to incriminate the goblins of the Imperia Magewrights down the street.
Wayfarer Foundation Surplus: This enclave of the Wayfinder Foundation sells excess weapons and goods commissioned by the Foundation or treasures liberated by Wayfinder agents that are not worth keeping for a museum. The manager of the Grangehall Surplus enclave, Tannelle Dekker, is a subtly conniving elven woman. Though she has proven herself more than adept at running the surplus enclave in Denarre’s Court, Tannelle’s real strength lies in maintaining contacts to her advantage. She began her career in the Wayfinders adventuring with the changeling Shellek (Explorer’s Handbook page 57) and the two remain such close friends so that Tannelle receives some rare Xen’drik artifacts from her friend that the Wayfinder Foundation never even finds out about. Tannelle also has contacts in the Kech Motrai and occasionally contacts adventurers to retrieve Dhakaani treasures that she has heard about. Once she has them, Tannelle trades the items to Kech Motrai in exchange for access to their magic items and goblinoid magic secrets. Eventually, Tannelle hopes to gather enough power from Xen’drik artifacts, Dhakaani secrets, and even magic pilfered from Arcane Congress to force her way into the upper echelons of the Wayfinder Foundation.
See Also: Information on the Wayfinder Foundation can be found in Explorer’s Handbook pages 47-57.
Greenhollow
District Type: Inn District
First Impression: Tightly packed buildings of eclectic design. Winding, narrow streets with a similar range of people and clothing styles.
The crowded, winding streets of Greenhollow form the center of the Grangehall Ward and is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the ward. Predating the incorporation of Grangehall into Fairhaven proper, Greenhollow was a simple collection of inns and restaurants catering to farmers hoping to find a cheap room while in town selling their vegetables and to travelers hoping to avoid the more expensive rates in Pine Hill or Rordan’s Gate. That tradition continues today and most places in Greenhollow are much cheaper than in the central city, though usually of a much simpler quality.
The Sheaf and Sickle: This cheery inn and tavern has a large central fireplace where sheafs of wheat hang as symbols of welcome. The interior is decorated with slate greys and oranges of Boldrei and icons of the other Sovereigns are scattered throughout the room. Kaeros, the owner of the inn, is an extremely patriotic Aundairian and is very particular about his patrons. Anyone overheard talking about seditious topics or even complaining about the government is asked to leave. Anyone who puts up resistance is forcibly removed by the half-orc bouncers that Kaeros employs. He doesn’t go so far as to ban shifters from his establishment but they get distinctly chillier service from the normally cheerful innkeeper.
Despite this attitude, the inn has been a popular stop for Grangers since the ward’s inception. The food is exceptional and the family which passed the Sheaf and Sickle down are all trained magewrights, using magic to improve service and atmosphere in their inn.
The Twin Boughs: A classically rustic inn with excellent service and a good reputation, the Boughs is a frequent stopover for druidic pilgrims traveling to or from the Eldeen Reaches. The owner, a burly, jovial half-orc named Justran, is Aundairian but takes after his parents who were both Reachers by birth. Anyone displaying a Gatekeeper symbol can get a room for free, though a large group with only a single Gatekeeper in their party may have to pay half price. Justran is a vegetarian, buying most of his produce at the local farmer’s market, and so is all the food in his establishment.
Kaeltusk
District Type: Goblinoid Neighborhood
First Impression: Cluttered streets with scrap piles everywhere and blocked sewer drains.
While Kaeltusk is the poorest district in the Grangehall Ward, it is not entirely the fault of the residents. Fairhaven officials have little time for the goblinoid neighborhood huddled against the southern wall, one of the farthest areas from the central wards. The goblinoid citizens of Kaeltusk have little income and tend to live in tenements, but the civic offices also rarely come to maintain the streets or drains. This is the only area of the fabled City of Lights that is sometimes dark and forboding in the night as everbright lamps go dark without Lightwarder magewrights servicing them for weeks.
The goblinoids like the dark, of course, but situations like this are a constant source of ire from the citizens of Kaeltusk. Several outspoken groups exist within the neighborhood, including a few cults, who advocate self-governance for the district.
Blackheart Cult: The Blackheart Cult, or “Va’khoral” in Goblin, is a dark shadow of the goblinoid religious practices in Totem Row. Where the Kuraal Rhun is a blending of goblinoid traditions with the deities of the Sovereign Host, the Blackhearts blend goblin practices with those of the Dark Six. The shadowed gods of the Six are hailed as fierce goblin warriors, proving through strength that they will not bow to the controlling powers of the Host. Though the cult does not claim to worship the Dark Six outright, the globlinoid names for the deities they do worship more or less translate to the Dark Six’s titles in Common. The Devourer, the Fury, the Mockery, and the Shadow all have a place in the worship of the Blackhearts and crude graffiti resembling their symbols can be seen in alleyways throughout Kaeltusk.
Hurstak is the leader of the group and one of the most outspoken anarchists in the district. Preying upon civic failures in Kaeltusk, some of them staged by Blackheart agents, Hurstak calls for a rejection of the “human robber barons” who have conspired to keep the goblinoids oppressed as slaves. He is by far the most aggressive of the goblinoid leaders (even than Jelaan of the Dask cell) and his followers have started attacking Fairhaven Watch patrols moving through the streets of Kaeltusk at night. Several sections of the district are now unpatrolled from dusk until dawn because there were too many incidents with Blackhearts, and simply wearing the goblinoid rune “Vha” (for “Va’khoral”) is enough for a Watch member to arrest someone in Kaeltusk.
Daask: The criminal syndicate, based out of Droaam, has not had as much success in establishing itself in Fairhaven as it has in Sharn. Jelaan the Tall, the leader of the Fairhaven Daask cell, has seen his vision of a powerful gang roaming the streets of Fairhaven fade as he realizes the difficulties of entering as tightly knit a community as the Grangehall. When the hobgoblin arrived in the city from Droaam three years ago with a carefully picked group of bugbear enforcers, the idea was to blend into the Kaeltusk populace and gather the already present goblin gangs into a powerful force.
In the intervening years, however, the gangs have proved too distracted by feuds with the Warren shifters or intimidated by the Kech Motrai and the going has been slow. Still, Jelaan has proven in the past year that Daask is capable of making changes in the community, starting a string of robberies in the Marble Halls district that was successfully blamed on the Dark Dagger Gang. The resultant crackdown on Kreelo’s band of thugs allowed Daask to gain some power away from the changeling. Still, Daask in Fairhaven is mostly a nascent criminal organization with little influence beyond Kaeltusk.
Kech Motrai: The Mantlebearers, as the goblin name translates, are a group of goblins dedicated to the resurrection of the Dhakaani Empire. They are not a gang, really, but their strong-arm tactics for securing Dhakaani artifacts from adventurers sometimes make them seem so. Some artifacts they attain from legitimate sources through intermediaries (or nearly legitimate sources such as Tenalle Dekker in Denarre’s Court), but occasionally the Kech Motrai finds itself racing adventuring parties to Dhakaani ruins in western or southern Aundair. In more than one instance, parties have found themselves beset by an unusually organized gang of goblins as they attempted to reenter the city through the Southway Market, valuable treasure in hand.
Despite their competition with adventuring groups, and the conflicts that a group like the Kech Motrai fosters with the Royal Eyes, the Mantlebearers are actually a powerful stabilizing force in Kaeltusk. The leader of the group, Lhevk Reesh, insists on keeping his followers’ activities as secretive as possible so as to avoid large-scale conflict with the Fairhaven Watch. Ambushing adventurers is generally a last resort, and petty crime is punished severely among those loyal to the Kech Motrai. As such, Lhevk Reesh has nothing but disdain for the roving gangs of goblinoids that skirmish with the Warren shifters and with the more pressing threats of Daask and the Blackheart Cult. The Kech Motrai has some limited contact with the Dhakaani clans in Darguun’s Seawall Mountains, and they have cooperated with some of these groups in the past, but by and large the Kech Motrai is a lone operation.
Oldtown Hollow
District Type: Marketplace
First Impression: Worn cobblestone streets and antique-looking signs frame the open-air stalls where farmers sell produce, candles, pies, and other products.
Before the Grangehall Ward was a part of the urban landscape of Fairhaven, it was a collection of roadside inns surrounding this little creek valley. The hollow was the scene of farmer’s markets from early spring well into the winter. Eventually, some merchants set up shops in the hollow where they could buy and store produce from the farmers during growing seasons and sell them to city-dwellers during the winters when vegetables and fruits became scarce. This was the origin of the Grangehall Ward and remains the principal occupation in the market neighborhood called Oldtown Hollow.
The open-air market remains the focus of the hollow, with the storehouses forming a wide ring on the districts edges, and irregular islands amid the stalls and carts of the visiting farmers. Despite being in the middle of a city now, the hollow remains a very seasonal place, packed full during the warm months and then all but deserted during the winter. Merchants with storehouses set up outdoor stalls to sell their stores and apothecaries from Curmesteau and Denarre’s Court likewise move in during the winter to more visibly hawk their wares. Still, this trickle is hardly enough to fill the same space as summer’s flood and large sections of Oldtown Hollow remain empty and somewhat ghostly during the winter months.
Crown of Coins Temple: This gaudy temple to Kol Korran stands at the northern end of the marketplace and is one of the first sights that travelers see as they enter the marketplace on their way out of Fairhaven. It’s walls are carved stone down at street level but have polished brass gilding farther up that catch the sun all day long. It’s a smaller temple, especially compared to the cathedrals of the Sovereign Ward, but it attracts a large number of worshipers thanks from the marketplace hoping to prosper.
The head of the temple is Kleris Merchiot, a toadying and oily man. He treats his appointment by the clerics in the central churches as an invitation to make business for the church, of which he gives himself a considerable cut. Merchiot makes a point of pressuring visiting merchants and adventurers into making donations to the church for good fortune, even going so far as to send junior priests into the market to look for any rich-looking individuals. If this doesn’t work, Merchiot works secretly with the Dark Dagger Gang and tells Kreelo’s men who to attack in the city. Not only does Merchiot get a percentage of anything the gang members steal, but with any luck the individuals will take the attack as a sign and come back to donate at the Crown of Coins.
The only outward sign of Merchiot’s malice is typically his racism against goblinoids. He tends to view shifters and halflings as lightfingered and uneducated as a rule, but goblinoids he considers a blight on civilized society and is the chief instigator of unrest between the central cathedrals and the Kuraal Rhun. The fact that the City Watch supplements its enforcement in some wards with goblinoid mercenaries from nearby Kaeltusk also doesn’t sit well with Kleris Merchiot and he has begun to think about using his connections to change this.
Merry Finch Wine Shop: One of the only druids to live regularly in Fairhaven, the gnome Brentas Hurmero is the proud owner of one of the most exotic wine shops in the city. While most connoisseurs prefer the master vintners in the central city, others enjoy visiting the bubbling atmosphere of Curmesteau and also the unusual offerings at the Merry Finch. As an initiate of the Greensingers, Brentas approaches winemaking with the same carefree attitude as he approaches life. His wines usually include bizarre flavorings such as peppermint, smoke-flavoring, or caramel, and patrons generally describe the wines as “acquired tastes”. Brentas freely admits to knowing no one who professes to enjoy all of his creations, himself included.
The real draw for business at the Merry Finch, however, are the magical wines that Brentas creates. Using druid spells and his natural intuition in brewing magical distillations, the gnome makes a number of vintages which include the effect of various spells. These include badgerhole red (which has the effect of a level 4 potion of resistance) at 40 gp a bottle, the popular thrush’s song wine (elixir of aptitude) at 50 gp a bottle, and the gnometongue vintage (level 7 potion of mimicry) at a steep 100 gp a bottle. Recently the Greensinger learned the secrets of making goodberry wine as well, though he imports this more than he creates it himself. Usually Brentas only makes one of his magical wines a year and doesn’t like making the same one too often. There’s a chance that he’s made a wine which acts like a heroic-tier potion in recent years, though of the fifty or so bottles he makes of a given vintage, only one or two may be left after a few years.
See Also: See Totem Row below for more on the conflict between the churches in the Sovereign Ward and the goblinoid temple of Kuraal Rhun. Information on the Dark Dagger Gang and its operations can be found in the description of Marble Halls, in Chapter 4: Organizations and Guilds, and in Five Nations pages 30 to 31. Goodberry wine is described in Five Nations page 82.
Queen’s Park
District Type: Park District
First Impression: A thick, green park seems to grow here like a rainstorm. The streets around it don’t cut into the park so much as it seems to have grown out to meet them.
The Queen’s Park is a new name for an old park in Fairhaven. Until forty years ago, the park was called Wardens’ Park and was a place for visiting allies from the Eldeen Reaches to rest in a non-urban area while coming to meet with the king or to trade with the magewrights of Fairhaven. A druid circle called the Fairfriends met in the park and most of its members lived there. Even at the height of friendship between eastern Aundair and the Reaches, this was a secondary purpose and the grove outside of the city (before the creation of the Grangehall Ward) was a common place for young lovers to visit, for nobles to hold ceremonial unmounted hunts close to home, and for locals to find wild produce such as mushrooms or wild herbs. After the Grange grew out around the grove, it retained this purpose and was a common place for a spring afternoon walk. The Wardens’ Grove could not survive the declaration of Eldeen independence, however, and the Royal Eyes focused on it as much as on the established druid shrines in trying to turn the city against anything Eldeen. They changed the name quickly to the Queen’s Grove, giving an excuse for royal guardsmen to ride through it regularly on the pretext of holding royal hunts. At the same time, the Royal Eyes began to spread rumors that the park was full of dangerous wildmen from the Reaches who sought to bring the rebellion right into the capitol, and with vicious shifter guerillas who had no respect for the monarchy or for their human and half-elven neighbors.
The campaign succeeded in creating an exodus of shifters from districts around the park into the rambling neighborhood now called the and nearby areas, which allowed the Royal Eyes to keep an eye on them all more easily. The druid presence in the park simply went underground, sometimes literally. The Fairfriends maintained a series of underground tunnels for members to meet and live, and many more of them moved into residences close by, coming into the Queen’s Grove after dark to hold ceremonies. The Royal Eyes were aware of the druidic presence, even if the druids’ magic prevented the spy agency from finding all of their shelters. The Treaty of Thronehold removed some of the pressure, but even as the ceasefire between the Wardens and Aundair remains, the fight between the Fairfriends and the Royal Eyes continues.
Hall of Oaks: This tall building, made of magically grown oak trees which knit into a roof at the top, serves as a cultural focus for Fairhaven citizens who follow druidic traditions. Though an old fixture in the ward, the interior of the Hall of Oaks appears remarkably new since the hall was closed for a number of years during the war. Before the Eldeen Reaches gained their independence, the grove was merely a stand of oak trees offering shelter for travelers and a place to place offerings. As soon as Western Aundair broke off, however, the Fairhaven Watch closed public access to the trees and barricaded the streets leading to it. Though they could not undo the druidic magic that protected the trees, the oaks withered with neglect over the next decades and druidic worship either took place secretly in the parks of Queen’s Grove or outside the city in secret shrines scattered throughout the Aundairian countryside.
It was not until after the signing of the Treaty of Thronehold that Queen Aurala reopened the grove for citizens to worship in. A delegation from the Wardens of the Wood has repaired the neglect shown to the trees and built a small stone shrine inside. Delegations sent from the Eldeen Reaches to negotiate with Aundair usually stay in the Hall of Oaks, but it is no longer a common place of worship. Druidic practitioners in the city still rely on the shrines that grew up in the absence of the Hall, and the Royal Eyes keep close watch on the grove for signs that it is attracting rebellious groups.
Totem Row
District Type: Temple district
First Impression: Busy streets with through traffic lined with stately, if simple, temples and tall poles bearing shamanistic representations of animals or deities.
A major stop for druidic practioners traveling to the west, Totem Row is a historically rich area of Fairhaven hidden behind a simplistic name and façade. The most striking feature of the long boulevard that lends its name to the surrounding neighborhoods is the long line of tall poles bearing shamanistic images that line it. These features are carved by druids and other holy men in the ward, depicting either nature spirits that have spoken to them in visions or else traditional representations of figures such as the dragon Vvaraak, Oalian the greatpine, or heroes from legend. There are also a few poles depicting primitive images of the Sovereign Host, most notably the large goblinoid icons which sit in front of the Kuraal Rhun.
Totem Row serves as the spiritual heart of the Grangehall Ward, a place of tolerance where even more traditionalist worshipers can come and now they are on neutral ground. Most Grangers agree that the temple-lined street is the most quintessentially Grange thing in the ward, although all agree that the nearby Oldtown Hollow is at least even.
Kuraal Rhun: Amid the rustic, simple styles of most of Totem Row’s temples, the goblinoid structure of Kuraal Rhun, with its jagged spiked decorations and curious gargoyles, certainly stands out. Even the totems out front are strikingly different from the myriad other styles to be found in the carvings along the street. This temple, whose name means “House of Spirits” in Goblin, is the place of worship for most of Fairhaven’s goblin population. It’s clergy ally themselves officially with the Church of the Sovereign Host, but the ceremonies blend traditional Dhakaani rituals, Vassal celebrations, and some druidic practices as well.
Standing in front of the Kuraal Rhun are four tall pillars flanked by a number of smaller, plain poles. One is carved to resemble a fat goblin woman nursing two infants, with sheaves of grain and a curved horn at her feet. Next to her is a strong goblinoid warrior, bearing the bow and curved knife of a warrior. On the other side of the doorway stand a wizened elder hobgoblin with a long scroll and a cloaked figure with a fang-shaped pendant. At the base of each of these statues are carved the goblin names for Arawai, Balinor, Boldrei, and the Keeper. These four deities form the core of worship at the Kuraal Rhun representing the classic images of goblinoid women and men in the figures of Arawai and Balinor. The Keeper and Boldrei represent, respectively, the inevitability of death and the remembrance and respect shown to those that have passed. The smaller poles are for goblinoid families to make special sacrifices on, while the rest of the Host is depicted on the front walls of the temple.
Though the leader of the church, Elder Roteal, serves the Sovereign Host and maintains that he has had nothing but goodwill toward the other churches of the Host in Fairhaven, the rich temples of the Sovereign Ward do not share his feelings. They see Kuraal Rhun as a perversion of the Host’s word, as bad if not worse than sects to the Dark Six. Pointing to the large depiction of the Keeper standing outside of the temple and to the animal sacrifices frequently seen on the offering poles flanking the icons, the traditional Vassal priests claim that Elder Roteal is using the church to coerce Fairhaven citizens to worship the Dark Six, or worse.
While hurtful to the elderly hobgoblin, these accusations have no real basis and Roteal tries to ignore them. For the moment, cool heads prevail in the ruling circles of the Sovereign Stars liturgical council, which oversees most of central Aundair, and complaints against the goblins’ worship are muttered grumbles and occasionally veiled insults. Many in Fairhaven are troubled by what might happen if the churches in the Sovereign Ward were given a looser rein, or if Hurstak of Kaeltusk’s Blackheart cult made a bid for control of Kuraal Rhun.
See Also: Faiths of Eberron pages 27-32 for information on variant sects of the Sovereign Host and the gods of the Host themselves.
Two Points
District Type: Garrison
First Impression: Clean streets, much straighter than other parts of the Grangehall Ward. A cluster of old stone towers lie at the center, marking Two Points garrison.
The old stone towers of Two Points, located on the edge of Five Domes and the Grangehall Ward is responsible for patrolling both of these wards. The walls are still strong, especially in the two largest towers that give the garrison its name, but they have a worn and friendly appearance. Watch members who serve at the garrison tend to be competent but easygoing sorts. They are friends with Granger neighbors and frequent the farmer’s markets and taverns of the ward.
What most Grangers, and some of the Watch, don’t realize is that the garrison has been specifically staffed this way. To the public, it is a simple garrison in a quiet ward, but to the Royal Eyes of Aundair it is a perfect location for rooting out sedition. The Grangehall Ward has historically been sympathetic with the Eldeen Reaches and Five Domes is full of activist groups and quiet planning. From his position within the low-ceilinged dungeons of amicable Two Points garrison, Vaal the local inquisitor and spymaster for the Royal Eyes sends out agents to infiltrate these groups and keep an ear out for plots against the queen. During the war fully one-third of the garrison was made of Royal Eyes agents, some of them carrying out duties as normal Watchmen while simultaneous reporting back to Vaal. Though that fraction has been reduced since the Treaty of Thronehold, Two Points is probably the largest concentration of Royal Eyes agents outside of the central city.
The Warren
District Type: Shifter neighborhood
First Impression: Crowded streets winding through ramshackle buildings that seem to be held up by nothing but their neighbors.
By far the largest shifter neighborhood in Fairhaven, the Warren has a reputation as a crime-ridden district. While confrontations on the street are not an uncommon sight, this description is a little misleading. Most of the altercations are posturing among the shifter gangs, defensive anger towards outsiders, or simply loud arguments between neighbors. To outsiders, any shifter argument might seem like its about to come to blows but in reality the rambling streets of the Warren are no more dangerous than any other poorer neighborhood. In fact it’s considerably safer to walk through the Warren than in some of the more eastern Fairhaven neighborhoods where the Dark Dagger Gang holds sway.
Still, there is an element of truth to the Warren as a source of crime, though it is what the residents call “honest pickpocketing” instead of the complex protection rackets of Kreelo and his Dark Daggers. Various shifter gangs, or packs, operate through the neighborhood, dividing the Warren and some of the surrounding neighborhoods into four large territories. For the most part these packs are determined along family lines, or at least perceived family lines, and only matter to outsiders who come into the Warren. Anyone wandering through the shifter neighborhoods are quickly shadowed by pack members who make sure they find their way back out quickly. Strangers who linger a while can expect to be confronted by a pack member and questioned about their business. If any attacks are made against Warren residents or if any insult to the shifter community is observed (including displaying symbols of the Silver Flame), pack members may skip the questioning and simply ambush the interlopers, overwhelming powerful foes with their numbers and ferocity.
The other source of conflict within the Warren is rivalry with the Kech Motrai goblins of Kaeltusk. Because of the labyrinthine streets of the Warren function as well as any fortress to trap interlopers, and because the shifter packs are both large and vicious, actual street fights between the two groups are rare. Small-scale raids back and forth, however, are not and every few months reports of goblinoid-shifter conflict in the Grangehall Ward hits the Fairhaven papers, strengthening the grim reputations of both neighborhoods.
Dreams of the Night: Dreamsight shifters are rare and usually well-respected individuals in their tribes. The shifter Rava Moonshadow is well-respected throughout the city for her powers as a seer. Other spellcasters may be more capable, but Rava’s traditional herbs and relics seem to give her metamagic enhancements to her divination spells that not even Haldran or Larishea can duplicate. Her small shop, Dreams of the Night, is nestled between two ragged-looking shifter homes and is dimly lit with the cloying smell of herbs and poultices. Rava moved to Fairhaven fifteen years ago, and became an overnight celebrity with the magical skills she claims to have learned from fey sorcerers in the Twilight Demesne.
Despite her notoriety, Rava remains a bit of a recluse, sometimes denying entry to would-be patrons for no other reason than vague suspicions. She is very paranoid of the Arcane Congress, which has tried on several occasions to steal her secrets. As such, any characters who appear to be wizards are usually denied entrance to Dreams of the Night, and anyone asking too many questions is immediately evicted from the shop. Recently, kalashtar from the neighborhoods in Marble Halls have approached Rava with what they say are urgent messages. The druid has heard too many tales about Riedra, however, to let any Sarlonans near her shop.
Lurro’s Souphouse: Most visitors to the Warren come to eat at Lurro’s, one of the only places in the district where non-shifters are seen in any great number. Lurro is a gregarious and boisterous shifter woman, a far cry from the stereotypically callous truedive shifter. She spent her youth working with the half-elven river guides of the Whiteroof Ward and has picked up the best qualities of the Khoravars and of her native shifters. She also has a number of contacts at the docks still which allow her to buy spices from the south at extremely low prices, one of the secrets to her renowned soups and stews.
The interior of Lurro’s is always steamy, giving it the foggy atmosphere of a jungle, and the sharp tang of spices always hover in the air. Lurro makes sure to great all patrons personally, but keeps a close eye on the kitchen as well to make sure that her assistant cooks aren’t getting overwhelmed. Lurro’s Souphouse is a common place for adventurers to meet in the Grangehall Ward because the loud conversations can cover up any shady dealings. Lurro’s also features large tables instead of booths so customers regularly eat side-by-side with complete strangers. Even the Royal Eyes sometimes meet contacts in Lurro’s Souphouse, using a seemingly chance meeting between patrons to exchange reports and instructions.
See Also: The truedive and dreamsight shifter traits were introduced in Races of Eberron pages 26-27.
| Fairhaven: City of Lights | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Districts | Besalle's Ward • Chequers Ward • Eastway Ward • Five Domes • Grangehall Ward • Knowledge Ward • Marble Halls • Nealford Ward • Pine Hill • Rordan's Gate • Sovereign Ward • Whiteroof Ward Fairhold • Brickenhall |
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| A Visitor's Guide to Fairhaven | What Brings You to Fairhaven? • Population and Demographics • History of the City • Festivals and Diversions | |||
| Life in Fairhaven | Districts and Wards • City Architecture • Getting Where You're Going | |||
| Power and Politics | The Government of Fairhaven • Foreign Powers • Dragonmarked Houses | |||
| Guilds and Organizations | City Guilds • Adventurers Guilds • Arcane Orders • The Circle of Song • Cult of the Dragon Above • Kech Motrai • Mercenary Services • Organized Crime | |||
