Riven

Riven is a city located in the continent of Bigboy.

Overview
Many people who feel they don't fit in or belong anywhere wind up with a life on the sea, making a home and family out of the other misfits of the world. As the primary city of fisheries, divers, and trainee seamen in the Freeholds, Riven draws all of the people who don't feel they belong in proper society, largely because they don't have societies and cultures of their own to draw from, or because they're torn between multiple cultures. In large part, these misfits are half-breeds, in particular those who feel rejected by both of their parents' cultures. In addition to that, though, Riven also attracts many Lizardfolk with its humid clime and comfortable sea breezes.

As an industry town, Riven doesn't have much touristry, but their biggest diversion available to those who actually live in in the city and its outlying areas are the Sea Races, races that take place using one-man windsurfers around natural obstacle courses formed from the rocky outcroppings surrounding Riven's cliffs. There are plenty of amateur and professional Sea Race leagues, and you're hard pressed to find a Riven who doesn't know someone who participates in the races in some capacity. Riven's lifeblood is the richly populated sea it sits near, and many merchants have made their fortune supplying the Free Cities with just about its entire supply of seafood. Mages are hired on to keep the shipping containers in the caravans icy cold until they reach their destinations, ensuring the fish are as fresh as when they were caught upon arrival. There's a huge industry in guarding fish caravans, though most particularly the guarding comes on the return trip, when money and extra supplies for sale are brought back to Riven.

Riven is run by its Merchant Council, a group of the wealthiest and most successful merchants from the city, who run the city with much as they would a business with multiple partners. They all have sway based upon how much they’re willing to ‘invest’ in the city, which is a nice way of saying only the rich have real power in Riven, but they also have to give up quite a lot of money for the good of the city. As a result, the city is run heavily bureaucratically and trade is within it exceptionally strictly regulated, but Riven has some of the best infrastructure of all the Free Cities.