The Free City of Exen

A mere sixty years after its founding, the Free City of Exen is at once a hope, an aberration, an opportunity or a ticking time bomb to the rest of the continent. Exen sits within its own, limited borders. Its founding is well known, traced to the end of the Swell. After the combined armies of the Baronies drove back the forces of Mal Oran, the final strike of Argem left its tip just inside the coast north of the Vale.

During the Great Divide, the area around the tip of Argem became a point of activity once it was discovered that the Chain could be mined for Iryum. A brief moment of terror gripped the people in the area when the threshold number was exceeded, but it was replaced with awe, curiosity and opportunity when Argem did not react. An understanding was gained in that moment, that gathering within the vicinity of Argem's tip, regardless of number, would not trigger the Chain.

A turbulent few years followed this discovery, with multiple interests trying to claim the area based on proximity to borders, early arrival at the site, strength in numbers and offers to buy out another's claim. Fighting broke out frequently. Argem continued to wreak destruction without ever leaving the site. Without any headway made over those years, the Baronies intervened, indirectly and unofficially sending representatives to the site so as to preserve the enduring isolation of the Great Divide. An agreement was reached, the first of its kind since the Grim Covenant. The agreement gave recognized autonomy to the factions gathered around Argem to choose their own leaders and have their own borders, so long as peaceful cooperation would follow, that no Barony would receive preferential treatment in regard to Iryum yields or any other future exports, and that no military beyond a guard force would ever be raised.

This step, besides offering proof that the Baronies could work together and one day end the Great Divide, also served as a catalyst for expansion. Over the next few decades, a three mile radius was precisely mapped out around the Chain and soon the first buildings sprung up. Architects and engineers, sensing the opportunity of a lifetime, flocked into the area to aid in designing the future layout of the expanding city, the first city humanity has ever seen in recorded history. The Free City of Exen was born.

Today, Exen is a bustling city stretching out from the tip of Argem for two and a half miles in all directions, with a population of one hundred thousand souls and growing a little bit every year. The center of the city is a complex mining operation that attempts to chip tiny pieces of Irym off the Chain, pieces that bring full coffers of gold in trade. The city is home to schools, churches, guilds, markets, taverns and other amenities. It is the only civilized hub without population sigils on its residents. The numbers here don't matter, as long as they don't spill past the city walls.

Exen is carefully watched by the Baronies and indeed by the leaders of the city itself. It is a potentially volatile situation, for if Argem is triggered anywhere else in the world, it is sure to return and devastate this beacon. Exen's residents are peripherally aware of this possibility, but after decades of cultural and economic prosperity, comfort tends to set in and fears tend to be locked away in the mind. No one is ready to leave, which could prove to be the greatest tragedy of all.

Overview
Population:

Human - 80%

Halfling - 5%

Tiefling - 5%

Gnome - 2%

Half-Elf - 2%

Elf - 2%

Dwarf - 2%

Others - 1% Arae: None Food: Limited agriculture and livestock tended closely outside the city walls, seafood, imported foods

Exports: Iryum, scholastic and creative writings, art

Imports: Ripvine, food, lumber, steel Religion: All (no majority exists), Naj (fringe)

People
Mayor: Balen Pouille (human, male, 60s)

Captain of the Guard: Ebenezer Pridestar (human, male, 40s)

Places
Holds: None

Watchtowers: Exen's towers are staged equally distant from each other, half a mile beyond the city walls. They cover every angle of approach.