Who Rules: King Tasden Copperring (CE, Human Male, F22) is a cruel, sadistic statesmen who is very fond of cutting the heads off of those who fail to accomplish what they are supposed to. Tasden maintains his title of King through brute force and with the poisoned blades of assassins. With his own personal merchant companies and fleets having exclusive rights to all government contracts he has more than enough wealth to stay King. He also pays his soldiers nearly double the standard rate, so they are fiercely loyal to him.

Who Really Rules: King Copperring is the absolute ruler of Quelph.

Population: 29,500 (99% human, 1% mixed other races. Racism runs high in Quelph).

Major Products: Trade, fish, ship repairs, perfume, sails, nets, chains, woodcarvings, pearl, bloodstone, rock crystal, and Candle Wick Ale.

Armed Forces: 2,500 (1,000 cavalry of all types, 500 infantry of all types, 500 arches, 250 artillerists, and 250 marines). Quelph as has a fleet of 11 warships of varying sizes and types.

Notable Mages: Queen Edana Copperring (CE, Human Male, W21) is a tall (6'), extremely beautiful, pale-skinned red head whose sadistic streak matches that of her husband. Fortunately for the King the Queen has no desire to rule a city. She is content doing spell research, practicing necromancy and torture, and trying to crossbreed different species. She is currently working on crossing cockatrices with eagles! Rumors say that her initial tests have looked positive. She is also fond of seducing solitary strangers and when they are asleep she drugs them and carries them off as slaves for her experiments.

Gaxan Redmorning (CG, Human Male, W25) spends most of his time secretly trying to right some of the more heinous wrongs that the King and Queen perpetrate. They let him do this as it keeps the populace happy. He is also an expert on dolphins and aquatic spells.

Elmilris Mapleleaf (LG, Elf Male, W18) is a secret agent of the Harpers. He lives a life of solitude in his tower and secretly oversees a mages school, letting his assistants do most of the work. He is an expert in magical and non-magical disguises.

Notable Churches: Bane, Bhaal, Besheba, Myrkul, Tempus, Torm, Waukeen, and Umberlee

Notable Rogues' and Thieves' Guilds: The Lurkers, led by The Knife (LE, Human Male, T16) survives only because they forward a percentage of their profits to the King. So long as the King gets his stake, the guild is not deliberately persecuted. However, the city doesn't turn a blind eye. If a thief is caught, he is punished, and murder, while common, is still illegal, and carries the death penalty. Almost half of all thieves are caught in their first year, and of those, nearly half are executed. The rewards, though, make the risk an acceptable one

Equipment Shops: Full.

Adventurers' Quarters: The King was once an adventurer himself, so they are welcomed throughout the city. However, any unknown adventurers who look powerful are trailed by members of the thieves guild (at the King's bequest and expense), with pertinent information being passed on to the King, and to the head of the guild.

Important Characters: Toniss Yellowmane (CN, Dwarf Male, F19) is one of the few demihumans to be truly successful in town. His blacksmith shop turns out a lot of high quality weapons and armor and he personally outfits the King's bodyguards. However, he is still a dwarf, and he usually has to kill a couple people a year in self-defense because of this.

Garrak O'Keel (LN, Human Male, F4) is a master craftsman who specializes in furnishings for sailing ships. He is also an expert on different types of wood and trees.

Diona Apherin (LG, Human Female, P12) is a one-woman underground movement. She uses her numerous contacts and spells to track down people who are deemed a threat by the King and Queen and she then tries to smuggle them out of town. She uses her inn, The Midnight Delight, as front for her business. The inn is also a great place for gathering information

Ernys Mossbeard (NG, Human Male, R8) is an expert on herbs and spices. He roams the countryside collecting spell components for mages. The Queen gets first choice of all components that he gathers (unless he is hired to locate a specific item). He doesn't like working for the Queen, but he was born and raised here and knows if he refuses an order from the Queen he could wind up dead. To get around this he often goes on adventures or hires out his services as a guide as often as he can.

Lena Silvercloud (CN, Elf Female, F11) is an expert archer who earns a comfortable living winning archery contests. When not travelling to various festivals to shoot she spends her time crafty arrows that are of the highest quality and highly decorative. On occasion she will join up with The Silver Sisters, her former adventuring group, to go off on some grand adventure.

Reid Plower (CG, Human Male, R12) was born to a family of farmers. He showed an affinity for the land at an early age and as he grew older he showed an affinity for animals. He was discovered by a wandering Harper and he was trained in the ways of nature. After an adventurous career of battling injustice he retired to pursue two dreams, running a tavern and brewing ale. His Candle Wick Ale is a local favorite and The Ship's Prow tavern is a favored haunt of adventurers.

Important Features in Town: Quelph is built about a mile inland from the sea, but it straddles the Chadakoin River and as such commands the only direct naval trade route into the Inner Sea of Rossak. For this reason Quelph is an extremely rich town. It is this wealth that makes so many of its citizens put up with the King and the Queen. The populace knows, though, that the King and Queen won't last forever, and someday things will quiet down.

The city is completely walled in, except where the river passes through. At the river, the walls run parallel to the river for a distance of 100 yards. Along the river, the walls are twice as thick and more heavily defended than most other sections of the city. Each river entrance has four boons, two chains beneath the water line, and a large gate of metal bars. These massive fortifications are recent additions put on by the King to help protect his wealth.

A large island is located near the center of town, and upon this island sits the King's Castle. The island is also the home of all Customs Buildings, the King's mercantile companies, and the shipyards (in which the King has a large vested interest). Some of the wealthier citizens also live upon the island, and most goods and services on the island are of a higher quality, and thus more expensive. A lot of the local populace won't go near the island unless they absolutely have to.

Local Lore: Smuggling is a big time business in Quelph, with ship owners and merchants always trying to come up with a new way of slipping goods through town. It is becoming more and more common for merchants to sail south of town, ship goods overland and meet up with the empty ship after it passes through town. Because of this, the King's patrols have been extending out further and further, looking to stop these caravans and extract a toll. All of this has brought in a lot of pirates into the area, and massive bands of bandits now roam the lands south of town, looking to make some money. Some ogre-magi and their denizens have also come into the area looking to increase their wealth. The King doesn't really mind this activity too much as the risk is so great that most merchants would still rather pay the tariffs in town.