Time Zone: Kingdom of Nool
Geography: Jeg is nestled in a fertile valley between hills and mountains to the east, south, and north. It is bordered to the west by the Sebiz Forest. The Nem River flows through Jeg on its way south, and Jeg is where most river traffic from the eastern half of the kingdom gets off the boat, as the passage south by boat is dangerous and not-often-used. It is connected by major roads to the cities of Podox and Sig, as well as the Fortress of Xiv. Agriculture is thriving in the immediate environs of the city, and it has many hamlets under its nominal control. However, the city does not grow enough food to feed its population and must import food to meet the needs of all its citizens. Someone familiar with the city can find their way from one part of it to another part that is roughly known of within four hours, typically (and usually much less).
Economy: The economy of Jeg is ancient and well-ordered. It sits at the cross-roads between the east and west halves of the Kingdom. The Nem river carries an endless stream of goods from the eastern half of the kingdom to the west, and nearly all of it is unloaded at Jeg before being hauled overland to the cities of the west. The merchants of Jeg (and the nominal lords of the area at the Fortress of Xiv) have always lived very comfortably off of the regulation of this trade. It is both dangerous and stupid to try and sell anything in Jeg without the approval of the local Merchant's Guild. Nothing passes through the city without their approval, and them getting their cut. The rulers at Xiv are hands-off, and as long as taxes get kicked up they let the merchants of Jeg run things.
A black market does exist, though. The merchants of Jeg wax and wane in their authority and the strictness with which they run things. Criminals and smugglers have their ways of subverting the system, but it's a dangerous game with serious consequences for those who get caught. Visitors from other parts of Nool are usually surprised by the orderly strictness of trade in Jeg. A constant game of cat-and-mouse exists between organized crime from the rest of the kingdom and the merchants of Jeg. The most dangerous groups of smugglers use the Bakix River where it forms south of Jeg to smuggle goods from Jeg to Vat through the extremely dangerous Great Forest of Gih. Such a journey is dangerous and rare, but if a group pulls it off then they may be set for life when they reach Vat.
Jeg has a thriving agricultural sector, but limited arable land relative to its population. The surrounding farms are not enough to feed the city. As a result, a lot of food is imported from the east. The flow of trade in Nool is generally east-to-west, but goods do make their way in the other direction too (as certain products valued in the east are made only in the west and vice versa).
Culture, Law, and Customs: Jeg is a commercial and administrative hub, and hasn't been the seat of regional political power in a very long time. It is nominally part of the fief of the rulers at Xiv, but this is a very hands-off relationship. The Merchant's Guild runs Jeg and they run it in an orderly way. Outsiders are tolerated and the city is a bustling trade hub, but the guild's spies try to keep tabs on all of the comings and goings and have a tendency to view outsiders as potential smugglers instead of potential assets for the city. Law and order are enforced in a pretty standard way, although like all such cities there are bad neighborhoods and some areas which enjoy more or less legal enforcement. It is generally frowned upon to walk the streets armed and armored, as in most cities of Nool.
The fuedal customs of the land are in force here even if the city itself is not ruled by the class of warrior nobility. The merchant families who hold power here have often married in to noble families and covet titles, regardless of how useful they are in local politics, because of the cultural value of such Status. If a high-ranking noble from some other part of the kingdom visits the town then they enjoy all the rights and privileges they might expect anywhere else, nominally. In practice, the Merchant's Guild as a group harbors their own ideas about the social order but they are neither in a position to change it nor are there any organized plans to try and do so (for the most part, members of the guild would rather become nobles themselves instead of overturning the existing order -- but there are radicals who are exceptions to this). Typically, tensions between the merchants of Jeg and the ruling family of Xiv (and other major families of the kingdom) are low and relations are good.
To do serious business in Jeg or have any political influence at all, a person must have Rank (Merchant) and some connections within the city to the guild itself. Anyone can buy their way into such an association with time, but it's an exclusive club and the merchants of Jeg make it hard for start-ups. Someone trying to make an honest living in Jeg is forced to make those connections sooner or later, or else be forced to deal with the criminal underground. This doesn't apply to people passing through to shop, but it does apply to anyone looking to sell anything within the city, or do any business whatsoever at the docks, or to pass through town with what is obviously a merchant caravan of goods. At the very least, someone passing through town with a merchant caravan will be forced to pay tariffs and grease palms before they leave the city (to the Merchant's Guild or to smugglers). Jeg's Town Guard are well-equipped, well-trained, and largely in the pay of the Merchant's Guild (although no small amount of corrupt guards are in the pay of smugglers as well).
Control Rating: CR4. When dealing with the Merchant's Guild it can feel closer to CR5, but in general Jeg is CR4.
Population: About 12,000 souls within the city and several more thousands outside of it in hamlets, small villages, homesteads, farms, etc.
Technology: TL3. There is no TL4+ tech known to be found in Jeg, although that doesn't mean there isn't any. The city's industry and services can provide almost anything commonly found at TL3. The Merchant's Guild is aware that there is advanced technology out there, but as far as anyone knows they haven't managed to secure any. Jeg is smack in the middle of the kingdom, and so would be the last place to sponsor expeditions beyond the frontier. While it is very close to the portal at Sig, that portal is rarely used and the peoples on the other side seem no more advanced than the residents of Nool. Nevertheless, as a commercial hub for the whole land, it's not impossible that advanced technology is secreted away somewhere in Jeg. Only an Outlander would likely be in a position to consider the possibility. For the Merchants of Jeg, advanced tech is just so much legend (even more distant than magic).
Magic, Psionics, and the Supernatural: There are plenty of resources in Jeg for those who want to study magic. The Library of Jeg is vast, public, and contains a lot of what is known to learned people about magic, psionics, and the supernatural. That said, it's not much. While there are certainly spell-casters within the city walls (and probably its government and criminal underbelly and everywhere in between), they aren't public figures and there has not been a public display of the supernatural in Jeg in many years. It would be an occasion of note if such a thing were to occur, but not necessarily a cause for hostility; it would all depend on context. Attitudes towards magic, psionics, and the supernatural range from indifference to being very pro-or-against in the minds of those who give thought to it at all, but most don't. For the average citizen of Jeg, the supernatural is a real but distant thing.
Religion and Philosophy: Most of the major Religions of Nool have representation in Jeg, as it is a commercial center at the heart of travel between the two halves of the Kingdom. That said, the local culture is very strong and there are local flavors of most religious strains. While there are more religions than can be listed (if it can be imagined, someone is believing in it), no particular religious group holds enough sway to be a major player in local politics. Religious beliefs in Jeg are either passed down through families and cultural ties, or are the result of trends coming and going, and people don't usually let them define social interactions. A traveler to Jeg could find some establishment (a temple, shrine, church, group meeting, whatever) for their given religion without too much trouble, unless it is something violent or taboo (and even then, probably not too much trouble).
What exactly people believe in and around Jeg depends on who they are. The nobility of the region (including Xiv) tend towards ancestor worship and polytheism, while the citizens themselves believe in a wide array of things (including that, but also everything else). The Merchants of Jeg skew towards more rationalistic beliefs, but then again some of them are inclined towards conspiracy theorism and sensationalism, or even apocalypticism.
In particular, the major political powers in Jeg (the Merchants Guild and the various cartels who organize smuggling against them) are prone to secret societies and radical belief systems (sometimes rationalistic and/or well-meaning, and sometimes violently irrational and/or nihilistically callous).
While this paints a picture not too different from most cities in Nool, Jeg is famous for the bizarre beliefs of its secret societies (who throughout history have gone on to influence the Nool-wide "conspiracy culture", such as it is). This aspect of the local religious landscape has very little effect on the vast majority of people.
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