21 - Bryce's Landing

Bryce's Landing

Bryce's Landing is a city of transportation.  Located on the leftmost bank of the Harton River Delta, it boasts access via sea, river, and road.  In addition, the city center has a public teleportation circle with a regular schedule of outbound and inbound trips. There, those who can afford it can quickly reach other places both in the realm and, for a greater price, more dangerous and exotic locations. 

Products

Bryce's Landing started generations ago as a remote fishing village and quickly grew due its diverse food sources.  The fisheries at the mouth of the river and around the islands of the delta have been consistently productive.  In addition, the large wetland areas of the delta provides habitat to a diverse collection of fauna. The “Swamp Folk” of Harton Delta make frequent river crossings with their boats laden down with shrimp, crawdads, and various other edibles. Agriculture primarily consists of rice and other wet climate produce.  The land along the floodplain of the Harton river is famously fertile.  In addition, a strip only a few miles wide between the sea and the much wetter inland area is particularly well suited to agriculture.  This area is mostly larger farms planted in cash crops within a day or two’s cart ride of the city, giving way to a collection of subsistence farms farther out.

Hardships

Recent:

During the current lords governance, a band of miscreants backed by cultists attempted to overcome the tight security of the teleportation circle and use it to open a portal to Hell.  Although this was ultimately unsuccessful, property damage in the area was high, and much of the logistical capability of the administration was disrupted.  This allowed an opening to organized crime, which was already established in the city, to gain a piece of the daily operation of the Circle.

Rat's Flats

50 years ago rival forces laid siege to Bryce's Landing and were successful in breaching the long eastern wall of the city. The neighborhood between the wall and Municipal Mount was at the time known as Shadyside, as much it was shaded either by the city walls in the morning or the tall government buildings in the afternoon. Shadyside was a battleground for 30 straight hours as Bryce forces poured forth from the governmental center to meet the advancing horde. The invasion was eventually repulsed, but Shadyside was by that point completely engulfed in flames. Although the walls were repaired, no serious effort was put into rebuilding Shadyside or keeping order in the days and weeks after the fire burnt out. Surviving residents returned were able to build little more than shacks. People from outside the wall who were displaced by the invasion were also shunted toward this area and the neighborhood became a massive shantytown with no order. The area has yet to recover and is now colloquially known as Rat's Flats. Residents view the fact that the lord's manor looks over all the city except Rat's Flats as evidence of abandonment, often saying, "Even Bryce himself turned his back on the Flats."

Other Neighborhoods

Lower Ward

The majority of Bryce's Landing sits relatively far from the water's edge and has several meters of elevation above high tide. The western area of the city is situated close to the water's edge and is known officially as the Lower Ward. However, this neighborhood is known colloquially as Old Town, as this was the site of the first permanent structures of the original fishing settlement.

The Circle

The entire area of the city around the public teleportation circle is a gated community, a city within the city. Security is generally tight, and anyone in The Circle must openly display credentials at all times. These are typically in the form of badges on cords worn around the neck. There are even credentials for residents, although The Circle has few permanent residents, in part due the severely inflated property values as well as the continual annoyance of dealing with security forces.