Tarmalune

The largest of the Windrise Ports, Tarmalune was a huge, cosmopolitan port city located in the southeastern shores of Laerakond, considered by its inhabitants to be the rival of Faerûnian Waterdeep in wealth, tolerant outlook, entrepreneurial spirit, the ambition of its residents, and the sheer number of constantly unfolding opportunities that presented to the inhabitants of the city. The city bustled with activity and its streets were crowded day and night with merchants, traders, adventurers, nobles and commoners alike.

History
Tarmalune was originally named Tarmhaven, and like the other Windrise Ports, was part of the domains of the Dawn Titan Achazar. Most inhabitants of Tarmalune were descendants of the humanoid clans of the Sword Lands.

Eventually, Achazar fell into a deep sleep and the slaves declared themselves free. Dragons shunned Tarmhaven out of fear of Achazar, who sleep in the form of giant pillar of fire amid the city, allowing Tarmhaven to grow in wealth and influence across Abeir. In time the city became known as Tarmalune Great Port, and later just as Tarmalune.

In 1479 DR, Tarralune merchants arrived in Neverwinter in hopes to arrange permanent trade routes between Returned Abeir and Faerûn, and to outmaneuver their rivals from Lylorn, who arrived in Luskan with similar goals.

Government
Tarmalune was ruled by the twenty members of the Council of Tarmalune, an assembly of traders of many races and both genders, although human males were predominant among its ranks. The head of the Council was known as the Lord Speaker. In 1479 DR, the Lord Speaker was Hamminas Dorn.

Defenses
The city had no standing army but the Vigilant order acted as the city watch. If needed, the Vigilant hired adventurers or mercenaries to supplement their own forces.

Law and order
Tarmalune had a lot of lenient laws that were limited in reach. City clerks avoided to bring matters before the Council when they truly believed ignorance of the law played a part in an incident, and the Vigilant guided themselves by a "let Tarralune be Tarralune" philosophy rather than trying to control citizens through enforcement. As such, the Vigilant only arrested people when either they caught them actually committing a crime or when there was solid proof of their involvement in one.

In the rare occasions when a criminal was caught, or when a conflict was brought to the law to be resolved, the Vigilant brought the involved individuals to the "Court of the Council". Only four members of the Council were needed to judge any legal dispute, but however many councilors were present in the Court, three-quarters of them had to agree on a verdict or the accused party could go free of charges. The Council disliked having to make such judgments, however, so usually city clerks or even individual Vigilants tried to solve problems by talking with the involved individuals whenever possible.

No lawyers worked in Tarmalune, but professional orators hired themselves to speak on behalf of people who could not defend on their own. Members of the Council allowed such orators because they were fun and also made those sessions go faster. It was forbidden for the city or the councilors to hire such services, however, and opposing parties rarely hired orators to argue against each other.

No set penalties existed for any crime, and usually many crimes where settled by paying fines, or by seizing goods if the accused individual refused to or was unable to pay. Major crimes, however, warranted imprisonment, exile, and even maiming. In such instances, all sentences were made public knowledge and recorded in the city records.

Tarralune laws forbid visiting ships to dock in the harbor for more than two nights at a time, and untying the ship to try to avoid to pay the fees for using the docks earned the offender to pay a triple fee as a fine.

Cargo Taxes
Tarmalune authorities did not tax shop sales or goods carried by land, but they did tax unloaded ship cargo. Black-uniformed city inspectors known as "ravens" were in charge to record any unloaded goods in the docks and issue the orders for merchants to pay the respective taxes. Harming or hampering an inspector earned imprisonment, seizure of all goods and city properties, and exile from Tarmalune; also, if an inspector resulted injured, an identical injury was inflicted to the injurer.

Society
 Citizens of Tarmalune were a people of hard workers, ambitious and strongly individualists, who believed that ties of any type—family, friendships, work partnerships—were all tools to be exploited if one has them. They preferred to be and deal with entrepreneurs over lawkeepers, and greatly distrusted bureaucrats of all kinds.

Tarmalune was in a constant state of change. As such, each new month brought changes in fashion, ways of making things or doing business, and new faces rose to the center of attention in society, or even seized real power among investors and traders.

Despite being free of draconic influence, Tarmalune wasn't a kind city for escaped slaves. Not only did slaves own nothing, and thus were unable to live in a city were money was so important like it was in Tarmalune, but also Tarralune feared that dragons eventually would believe that Tarmalune had become a haven for escaped slaves and decided that the city had to be destroyed.

Social classes
Tarmalune didn't had any formal nobles. However, in a city were money was so important as it was in Tarmalune, wealthy families had the same political power and influence. The older families were called "highcloaks" or "old wealth" by commoners, while newly risen rich families were called "new coins".

Customs
Commoners lived in rented apartments, as only the wealthy were allowed to own properties in Tarmalune. Rent contracts were renewed annually, usually in midsummer, unless a person lost wealth or prestige, being forced to get a less expensive home. As of 1479 DR, the number of citizens in Tarmalune was increasing as such rate that public houses were becoming scarcer and more expensive.

Pets were forbidden for commoners, but wealthy Tarralune could had pets, usually exotic animals. However, even the humblest Tarralune keep a few caged chickens for fresh eggs, or to eat them if needed.

The highborn Tarralune also employed permanent maids and "hands" (servants who performed multiple tasks, such as taking care of animals, provide personal protection, or do menial work). Servants working for people of lower status only did it as part-time jobs.

Religion
Religion was uncommon in Tarmalune, like in the rest of the Windrise Ports, and the following of minor cults dedicated to the Dawn Titans or to dragons, as well as general superstition, were more universal than worshiping the gods, that were a novelty introduced in Laerakond since the Blue Breath of Change. Among the major cults of Tarmalune was the Seekers of Scales, a cult that worshiped dragons in general.

However, thanks to their cosmopolitan nature and their trade with Faerûn, the cities of the Windrise Ports were more open to the concepts of religion and the gods than other places of Laerakond. Although there was no preferred religion among Tarralune, the most influential religions established in the city were the faiths of Bahamut, Sune, Tempus, Tiamat, Umberlee, Valkur, Vergadain, and Waukeen.

Trade and business
As of 1479 DR, Tarmalune was the prominent and most successful merchant hub of the Windrise Ports. The city was known primarily for trading and transactions, but it also for its variety of craftsfolk and skilled artisans who made a good living off their crafts and repairs.

The city shops hold just anything, and as the old Abeiran saying goes "One can buy anything in Tarmalune". Tarralune merchants imported anything that promised to be a quick selling, or copied (or at least tried to copy) any popular goods they cannot import.

A popular tendency among investors of the last decades of the 15 century DR was to "sponsor" or "partner in" with merchants and shop owners, creating small communal business. The word "company" was unknown in Tarmalune. The equivalent terms were "tarneld", a private shop in which investors had little control over the business operations; and "skoun" (pronounced SKOON), full partnerships between shop owners and their investors. Skouns were the most popular of the two business modalities in 1479 DR.

Because of their way of living, it was unusual for Tarralune to prepare their own food. Usually most of the citizens, and people visiting the city, dined in the street from "simmer wagons", wagons that were positioned across the city and sell all kinds of food and drink. A few Tarralune preferred to eat on bake shops, taverns, inns or darren. The wealthy Tarralune, on the other hand, were able to employ cooks and enjoy homemade food.

Darren
Darren, or drinking, gambling, and wenching clubs, were important everyday meeting places where wealthy Tarralune and visiting traders met to gossip and flirt." Darren provided meals and drinks, as well as gambling games, but their main function was to allow merchants, traders and others to make new business contacts, and invest in various ventures brought in by "tarn-traders". Tarn-traders were independent sponsors, brokers, and hucksters, usually former merchants who had retired from their business or had sold their tarnelds, and had enough resources and contacts to successfully arrange mercantile deals for third parties.

Darren shifted constantly in popularity, with the least desirable disappearing for a time and then reopening with new names and sponsors (named "varth darren"). As of 1479 DR, the most frequented darren were the Golden Teacup and the Black Boot.

Trade with the rest of Laerakond
Tarmalune had traditional trade ties with the Sword Lands and the other Windrise Ports, and also traded frequently with the merchants of Gontal. While they disdained Eskorn, seeing it as a backwater kingdom, they also traded with them. They had trade deals with their sworn rivals, the cities of the Dusk Ports, as well, but such deals were uncommon and problematic.

They avoided to trade with the rest of the nations of Laerakond. They saw the dragon empire Skelkor a problematic nation full of dragon masters and slaves that were not good trade partners. This point of view became more severe after Gauwervyndhal tried to kidnap Halagothra the Healer some years before 1479 DR. Relmaur and Fimbrul were viewed as uncivilized places not worth the time.

In 1479 DR, some Tarralune merchants were starting to travel to Melabrauth, even if was a dragon empire as well, because they saw a chance of getting good deals in the trade of old relics and rare herbs.

Trade with Faerûn
Of all the Windrise Ports, Tarmalune was the one that traded the most with Faerûn. Tarralune merchants had trade deals with many of the important cities in the Sword Coast, including Athkatla, Baldur's Gate, and Waterdeep. Tarralune merchants also traded with the nation of Tethyr and many nations of the Shining Sea, among them Tashalar and the cities of Tharsult. By 1479 DR, they had started to sent merchant ships to the port cities of Chult.

Tarralune merchants avoided to trade with the people of Calimshan and other slaver kingdoms, seeing them as no better than Skelkor. They also avoided Evermeet altogether, distrustful of the elves living there.

While in the first years of trade deals between Laerakond and Faerûn, they avoided the Sword Coast North, as there were no important settlements there in the years following the Spellplague, they began to venture there in the late years of the 15 century DR. In 1479 DR they started to trade with Neverwinter.

Layout
Tarmalune was once described as "jaws about to close around as much sea as they could swallow," because the form the city had if viewed from the sky. Nestled in a well-protected harbor, most city houses were narrow, high-peaked stone buildings four stories tall, bristling with dormers as the spontaneous fires caused by the Raging Flame had resulted in laws banning roofs made of inflammable materials.

The streets of Tarmalune were broad enough to turn a cart without any problems. Most of the time, the streets were full of people, and cart traffic barely abated in night hours. There were no sidewalks, and rather than having a central sewage to shed water to side gutters, streets sloped down from flanking buildings to a slimy open drainage running down the center of the street. Thanks to abundant suckertails, however, Tarmalune was a clean city free of garbage and bad odors.

Businesses typically were re-purposed houses, with a shop in the cellar, another at street level, and rooms for rent on the upper floors. Most dwellings had their own small rear stables. Being a city that changed with the seasons, however, Tarmalune had a few different buildings, from special shops and grand mansions to small stone towers akin to citadels, and architecturally strange experiments.

Aside from the Raging Flame, Tarmalune major landmarks were the two fountains, Fairwynd Plume and Duthsummer Plume, located in open squares north and south of the harbor, respectively.

Tarmalune consisted of five major neighborhoods, called “wards:”


 * Arendenmore: Named for the gnomish builder Arenden, this ward housed the city's most opulent mansions, where the "highcloaks" lived.
 * Copperstreets: Many of the city's laborers and shopkeepers lived in this ward.
 * Dawnside: This ward was inhabited by Tarmulane's newly rich.
 * Fishstink: This ward was home to fishermen and fishmongers, and smelled like its name.
 * Maerhavel: A well-to-do residential ward of successful merchants.

Inhabitants
As of 1479 DR, Tarmalune's population was of about 70,000 residents, but it was increasing exponentially by the day. The Tarralune were mostly human, although Tarmalune had also a sizable population of dragonborn, dwarves, genasi, eladrin and halflings. Tarmalune was very open and accepting of other races, even allowing members of more monstrous races to live in the city as well. As of 1479 DR, a minority of goblins, minotaurs, and orcs had been living in Tarmalune for more than three generations.

Notable Inhabitants

 * Lord Speaker Hamminas Dorn, the leader of Tarmalune in 1479 DR.
 * Belyssa Erstros, captain of the Devastating and formerly a whaler.
 * Candy, hostess in the Golden Teacup darren.
 * Gasker Haerocloak, a human wizard who, according to rumors, practiced necromantic arts. He was believed by some to be a member of the Firequench Order.
 * Halagothra the Healer, an old woman who had healing powers but was not a priestess.
 * Ildamar Yeskrel, an influential member of an old wealth family.
 * Karadandel the Sly, a tiefling broker and information lender.
 * Lindelsan, bartender of the Black Boot tavern.
 * Morlgorn Rionthas, a semi-retired human adventurer.
 * Onster Glarrak, a fat, unlovely human member of the Council.
 * Rathgar Malynd, a mercenary captain who led the Battle Hound mercenary company who was known for his ruthlessness and was openly critical of the Vigilant.
 * Roraven, a senior member of the Vigilant.
 * Tammess Eldrake, a kindly human wizard was known as a champion of the poor.
 * Tarlask Mhorauk, a member of the city Council.
 * Skelmur the Stalker, the ghost of a dead pirate in search of revenge on those who killed him.
 * Valek, a city clerk in the Haven Towers.

Organizations
Alongside the Vigilant, other prominent orders existed on Tarmalune.


 * The Firequench Order: This cabal of wizards was extremely secretive. They were well liked by the populace because they acted as the city's fire fighters, magically extinguishing any fires in the city.
 * The Haveners: The city staff, conformed mostly by females, who were charged to report to the Vigilant or to the Lord Speaker himself every suspicious movements made by members of the Council and other city clerks, allowing the Lord Speaker to maintain corruption levels as low as possible.

Trivia
A popular fashion among Tarralune in 1479 DR was to wear scale mail made with actual dragonborn scales, willingly donated by their former owners.