Located equidistant from the continental center and the continental edge, Bridgmont sits on the “Inward” shore of a great sea. Bridgemont is strategically positioned near the “inward” shore of a massive inland sea that serves as the final gathering point for the continent’s waters before they plunge into the abyss beyond.
The city’s location on the inward shore of the sea, nestled behind a squat mountain, provides a sheltered location with easy access to the sea’s waters. The harbor cliffs protect docked ships from the nightly storms and have allowed the fishing industry to grow to the largest on the continent. The great houses of the city all rely on their fishing fleets as the anchor of their wealth.
The city population is devoted primarily to the industry of fishing with noble owned fishing galleons sharing the harbor with small vessels owned by middle class guildsman and the hobbled together canoes of the city’s poor. Trading, ice mining, shipbuilding, and farming the inward fields, are the other prime industries of the city. Industry is controlled by a dozen noble families with a few independent craftsmen guilds serving the nobles as neutral contractors.
Bridgemont trades fish with other great nations of the continent. Wagons packed with ice and fish, race inward each morning to beat the storms to the next city or tradepost. The returning wagons are loaded with wood and metals from the inward nations.
The city is governed by a council of three people. The councilors are voted in by city stakeholders (nobles who own the land and ships). This usually means that the three most wealthy and influential families, control the city governance, supported by a web of alliances made with other noble families.
Each family controls and funds its own small army, and provides a portion of their troops to the city as a guard force. In practice this means that different portions of the city are guarded by a specific noble family and leads to varying enforcement of laws and regulations. This also allows for a strong criminal underworld to flourish as there is no single, unified, policing agency.
