Portham

Portham (/portham / [Translation Unavailable]) is a subtropical Town located in Hÿhwyåewg Hold, Bazan Kingdom, within the Sylvanian Empire.

The name Portham is derived from the Sylvin language, as Portham was founded by Trîpí Brimson, who was culturaly Sylvin.

Climate

Portham has a yearly average temperature of 13°C (55°F), with its average temperature during the summer being a warm 28°C (82°F) and its average temperature during the winter being a freezing -1°C (31°F). Portham receives an average of 137 cm/y (53 in/y) of precipitation, most of which comes in the form of snow during the pleasantly short winter months. Portham covers an area of nearly 5 km² (2 mi²), and an average elevation of 4118 m (13510 ft) above sea level.

Overview

Portham was founded durring the early 16th century in fall of the year 1512, by Trîpí Brimson. The establishment of Portham suffered from many setbacks, delays, and obsticles, most notably a group of Portham which required millitary assistance exterminate before the community could finish being built.

Portham was built using the conventions of Sylvin durring the early 16th century. Naturaly, all settlmentss have their own look to them, and Portham is no diffrent. The town's buildings feature timber framed wooden shiethed or brick construction, which gives form to a very formalized, rational, expence effishent arcatectural style based on strictly symmetrical designs which universaly feature pitched roofs, shutters, and the occasional column or pilaster for a decorative touch.

Portham is buildings are speckled and packed arround restrictive baked earthen streets with seemingly no patern to them. It appears as if the town's residents simply built streets as they pleased and squeazed buildings in wherever and howeave rpossible, creating an organic, frustrating to navigate, maze of a town. The town sits behind a stone-renforced palisade wall, with stone gatehouses and timber drawbridges for their trench. Unfortuantly, these would-be-castle fortifications are in extreem disrepair, so much so that one cannot tell if they are decaying from a lack of mantance or damage incured.

A look around Portham seems to be home to a quite vibrant and boisterous community. Everywhere one looks they can see people going out their daily business with a smile and a spring in their step. Children play loudly in the streets, causing untold havoc as youth are want and allowed to do.

Civic Infrastructure

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

Portham 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.

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

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

Portham 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.

Portham 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.

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

Portham possesses an older civil lighting system consisting of street lamps. These lights provide nighttime illumination to most city streets.

Portham has a Parks and Recreation Department, which is responsible for the construction, management, and usage rights for all of its parks and parklands.

Portham 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.

Cultural Notes

Portham 's town hall was built using a different architectural style from the rest of the town. The style used has a sleek, linear appearance with stylized, often geometric ornamentation. The primary facade of its buildings often featured a series of set backs that create a stepped outline. Low-relief decorative panels can be found at entrances, around windows, along roof edges or as string courses. It was best known for its use of smooth finish building materials such as stucco, concrete block, glazed brick or mosaic tile. Decorative details can incorporate various artistic or exotic motifs to suit the building's function or the architect's whim. Chevrons, zigzags, and other geometrical motifs are common forms of ornament.

In Portham the stars are always right.

The Trollkin near Portham are known to be quite timid.

Portham 's citizens partake in a curious ritual relating to their local kami. It takes place in winter and involves ritual combat to channel Conjuration energies of tier 2 via recitation of poetic epics.

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.

Portham Census Data: Year 2000

364 of Portham 's population work within a Foundational Occupation.

• 22 work in Agriculture
• 82 work as Craftsmen
• 31 work as Merchants
• 61 work as Service Workers
• 34 work as General Laborers
• 12 work as Skilled Laborers
• 51 work as Civil Servants
• 35 work in Cottage Industries
• 17 work as Artists
• 19 work in Produce Industries

769 of Portham 's population do not work in a formal occupation, but do contribute to the local economy. 72 (6%) are noncontributers.

Points of Interest

Portham has access to some sort of functioning ancient infrastructure, whether it's an array of wall-mounted arcane energy projectors, running water, moving roadways, community-wide climate control, or some other inherited luxury. This infrastructure may be the result of a still-functional Working, or it could be the product of some venerable occult engine that's still operational, or it may be the fruit of the labors of some specially-designed organism or Blighted populace.

Due to a magical anomaly, Portham is directly accessible from a nearby river, despite the lack of a physical connection between the town's pond and the river.

POI

History

In time immemorial, reportedly some time during the late 2nd century the Kami spared the town from an attack. One of Portham 's local festivals commemorates this miracle.

History