Hello, since LORE is very out of date regarding a starting city, I suggest [strike]two[/strike] three simple and minor changes:
Change the city's alignment to NG, as it is still LN in its entry.
Make the last paragraph past tense and add a new one that is a little more current.
The bottom line in Port Hempstead is still an economic one. The peasants and landowners who live in the surrounding areas often complain about being under the boot of the Port. The laws of the land are implemented to protect the interests of the major merchant powers, who sometimes use this fact to expand their exploitative labor practices and resource capturing endeavors. Some say this is the cause of the unrest which has emerged in the southwest region. Others believe the uprising it is not a legitimate grass roots movement in the interests of those in the shadow of the port, but a machination implemented by Milara or demons or both to destabilize the region in preparation for future maneuvers. Some believe it is both.
To
The bottom line in Port Hempstead is still an economic one. The peasants and landowners who live in the surrounding areas complained for years about being under the boot of the Port. The laws of the land were implemented to protect the interests of the major merchant powers, who sometimes used this fact to expand their exploitative labor practices and resource capturing endeavors. Some say this was the cause of the unrest which has emerged in the southwest region. Others believed the uprising was not a legitimate grass roots movement in the interests of those in the shadow of the port, but a machination implemented by Milara or demons or both to destabilize the region in preparation for future maneuvers. Some believed it was both.
After years for the rift between rich and poor to grow, the seeds of revolution planted by Harmony Vaeran and sympathizers flowered and there were burnings in the city of corrupt temples and homes of bribed officials. The shadowy hands of Branderback that had been pulling the strings of the entire city were exposed and chased out of the port, though the powerful guild was not extinguished altogether. Under the caring yet clever hands of Harmony, the halfling daughter of Vaeran's clan mother, and with covert outside aid, the city was rapidly cleaned up and turned upside down. Since then, the Vaerans have become the leading merchant family in Port Hempstead's trade council, essentially running the city and keeping it in line with Deliar's principles of individual freedoms and fair trade for the good of the people instead of merely the wealthy. Joy Vaeran took her mother's place as leader of the large and diverse trade council just before the times of suffering in the Dark Ages after Harmony became Storyteller in her mother's place, and the city is still recovering from the enormous amounts of their famed resources spent in the attempt to help the kingdom's people crawl through the longest winter.
In typical halfling fashion, the large dwelling of the Vaerans in the merchant district houses nearly their entire clan, with some room left over for a small clinic.
In addition, I suggest adding the Silverguard to Defenses.
I am unsure when they were formed, but it was likely only a few decades ago, and certainly 50 years max, so not very old at all. We can just fudge the date for the sake of the information.
The city's elite guardsmen are known collectively as the Silverguard - likely both a reference to their lack of accidental spilling of blood, and to coinage. Unlike the legendary Crimson Eagles of old, they are trained to protect rather than kill, specializing in blunt weapons in order to better subdue and avoid maiming or unnecessary death and bloodshed, and they use lethal force but rarely. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the Silverguard would lead any Brelin military in the event of war on the home front.
These are not handbook spoilers, so they are subject to change in the future, but there is no reason not to have it as current as available. This is information that has been in game at one point or another (and you can see hints of it in the actual areas), so it might as well be up on the page for the city. I don't mind if it has to be stamped or if the writing is tweaked (I was not going for a work of art), just offering some of what I've got. Too much and it doesn't seem like a reasonable length for a LORE page...
Oh, also, I'm not sure what kind of government goes better than Monarchy. There is still a duke, but I've no idea of his name and the trade council runs the city anyway. Perhaps Monarchy/Trade Council, heh.
