Fort Amber

Fort Amber (/ˈæmbər/ [Translation Unavailable]) is a subtropical City located in Mallowvale Dutchy, Ipoulan Kingdom, within the Sylvan.

The name Fort Amber is derived from the Sylvin language, as Fort Amber was founded by Brëd Betmead, who was culturaly Sylvin.

Climate

Fort Amber has a yearly average temperature of 21°C (69°F), with its average temperature during the summer being a warm 30°C (86°F) and its average temperature during the winter being a cool 13°C (55°F). Fort Amber receives an average of 279 cm/y (109 in/y) of precipitation, most of which comes in the form of rain during the summer. Fort Amber covers an area of nearly 30 km² (12 mi²), and an average elevation of 892 m (2926 ft) above sea level.

Overview

Fort Amber was founded durring the late 17th century in late fall of the year 1565, by Brëd Betmead. The establishment of the new community went well, with no major obsticles durring construction.

Fort Amber was built using the conventions of Sylvin durring the late 17th century. Naturaly, all settlmentss have their own look to them, and Fort Amber is no diffrent. The city's buildings feature waddle and daub construction with good timber frames and a stone foundation protected by thatched or shingled rooves. Most buildings with second floors are built in such a way as to overhang into the streets on the upper floors for more space, as building size seems to be the primary indicator of wealth within the community. Most buildings are not decorated with any integral features, but instead use ivy, flowers, and other natural elements in planters of on trellices to breathe life into the structure they grow upon.

Fort Amber is buildings are arranged arround a network of crampt split-log ties streets which form a diamond shaped grid, where each diamond verries in size given the proximity of the paralell streets forming each section. The ocasional smaller diamond has been used to construct a park, plaza, and other communal structures. The city resides behind a palisade wall complete with battlments, a moat, and timber gatehouses with drawbridges. The city's robustly designed timber walls have recently undergone extensive repairs and renovations, such that the repairwork is imeadiently apparent and can be spotted due to the diffring ages of materials. One can't help but wonder what brought the need for those repairs to the city.

The first thing you notice about Fort Amber is the large sign at the entrance welcoming you to their humble city. Children come up to you and say hi, some asking if you’ve fought any big monsters, and others just zipping away after their hello. The adults are much the same. By the time you’ve made it a significant way into the town you’ve been invited to a tavern for a pint to drink in exchange for news of the world. You’ve also had no less than three older women give you a sweetroll and direct your attention to their still unmarried children. It would be creepy if it wasn't so sincere.

Civic Infrastructure

Fort Amber possesses a Aethary Link for its accademic, government, and financial institutions. Public Aethary access is available through one or more of these intitutions.

Fort Amber has an animal control department which works to enforce local ordinances relating to the control, impoundment, and disposition of animals.

Fort Amber has an Office of Civil Groundskeeping, which works to enforce local ordinances relating to the construction and upkeep up of all plant life, water features, and other natural decorations within Fort Amber. They are also responsible for the maintenance of these features. Notably, the OCG is not responsible for Fort Amber's parks.

Fort Amber has an Office of Civil Vicary, which is responsible for providing a livelyhood for all officialy recognised religious figures within Fort Amber.

Fort Amber has a government-funded child care program, overseen by the local Department of Nursemaids, which is responsible for providing childcare to working-class citizens according to local ordinances.

Fort Amber has a Gravedigger's Guild, which is responsible for collecting the dead and laying them to rest according to all applicable laws and religious customs.

Fort Amber has a Guild of Nurses, which is tasked with caring for the elderly and infirm in accordance with local ordinances, religious values, and customs.

Fort Amber has a Department of Firefighters, which is responsible for organizing fire fighting efforts during a fire and enforcing local ordinances relating to fire safety.

Fort Amber has a Highwayman's Guild, which is tasked with maintaining the roads and highways leading into town as well as keeping them safe for travelers.

Fort Amber has a Hall of Slayers, which is tasked with maintaining the roads and highways leading into town as well as keeping them safe for travelers.

Fort Amber has a monistary of an order of Civil Monks, who provide divine-related services to the general public and maintain Fort Amber's public wards, blessings, and other arcane systems.

Fort Amber possesses a Galvanic Power Grid, which brings galvanic current to most if not all buildings in town, and permits a great many consumer goods to function within the City. Fort Amber's grid is powered by mana accumulators.

Fort Amber's old civil lighting system was converted to Galvanic Lamps recently, and expanded to provide nighttime illumination to all city streets.

Fort Amber has a library, which keeps a large collection of books, scrolls, and archives all manner of physical items. While not open to the public, the librarians and scholars employed by the library will assist anyone with their research needs, and wealthy individuals can purchase membership to access the library's materials themselves. In spite of being generally closed to the public, the library has a room with several Aether Linked devices available to the public during business hours.

Fort Amber has a Parks and Recreation Department, which is responsible for the construction, management, and usage rights for all of its parks and parklands. They are not to be confused with the Office of Civil Groundskeeping as they do not hold authority over nor responsibility for Fort Amber's natural decorations nor waterways.

Fort Amber has a Guild of Roadworkers, who are responsible for maintaining the roadways and public paths within town. They also have the duty of enforcing all civil laws relating to the roadways.

Fort Amber has a public schooling program overseen by the Hall of Sages who has the responsibility of ensuring access to affordable high-quality education in all basic classes (Reading, Writing, Mathmatics, General Sciences, General Arcana, and Social Education) is made available to all citizens.

Fort Amber has a public septic system, which allows its citizens to have indoor bathrooms. The septic system is overseen by the League of Sewerkeepers, who posses the legal authority to enforce all laws relating to the septic system, and are also tasked with its maintenance and upkeep.

Cultural Notes

Fort Amber's town hall was built using a different architectural style from the rest of the town. The style used is admittedly strange and non-linear style rooted in defiance of symmetrical shapes. It championed the creation of buildings with a unique visual appearance. the structural norms of classic buildings and deforms or moves away from elementary architectural principles. By including non-linear designs processed into its buildings and favoring fragmentation, this style expressed a form of controlled chaos. Its buildings appear out-of-the-ordinary, draw the eye in immediately and sometimes create a feeling of strangeness. These distorted shapes and structure are not reserved to the building’s outer facade, they destabilize interior elements too, favoring minimalism and play on people’s perceptions by injecting a futuristic touch.

In Fort Amber rainbows form quite often above the City.

The Cicada Swarm near Fort Amber are known to be quite timid.

Fort Amber's citizens partake in a curious ritual relating to their local kami. It takes place in summer and involves reenactments to channel Illusion energies of tier 1 via chanting.

Economy

The following information was obtained via the Imperial Census Bureau as part of the Eyom Economic Outreach Program. It differs from Standard Imperial censuses in that many of Tom's citizens, regardless of culture, work in more than one occupation or hold more than a single job. The Imperial Census Bureau has ruled that a job is a job, hence, the intigers within the data presented here can count an individual more than once.

Fort Amber Census Data: Year 2000

2598 of Fort Amber's population work within a Foundational Occupation.

• 137 work in Agriculture
• 583 work as Craftsmen
• 210 work as Merchants
• 395 work as Service Workers
• 263 work as General Laborers
• 106 work as Skilled Laborers
• 386 work as Civil Servants
• 238 work in Cottage Industries
• 137 work as Artists
• 143 work in Produce Industries

4231 of Fort Amber's population do not work in a formal occupation, but do contribute to the local economy. 359 (5%) are noncontributers.

Points of Interest

Fort Amber has been cursed with some blight that makes life difficult, albeit not impossible. An offended sorcerer's vengeful Working, an outraged god's wrath, a local distortion of the Legacy, or a simple history of bad feng shui in the area may have brought the curse about. I(devise not only the curse, but the reason why the locals haven't left for better lands).

Fort Amber is known for its unusual rock formations.

POI

History

In time immemorial, reportedly some time during the early 2nd century an otherwise minor earthquake shifted Waterway Rolling. The resulting flood was isolated to the area around Fort Amber, which was swallowed by the waters for several days. Fort Amber lost 282 people, 389 livestock, and 97 buildings in the disaster. The disaster is remembered as the Grieving Drownings.

History