Loshev
The trade town where the party awakens (S1E01) and returns to often
Loshev is a bustling trade town nestled along the Nahr Al-Bahr, known for its rich history, vibrant markets, and mildly corrupt governance. Despite its modest size, Loshev boasts a well-developed infrastructure, thanks to lucrative trade with wealthy neighboring regions. The town is divided into distinct districts: the bustling Gate Market, where merchants set up temporary stalls and the council convenes; the lively Lower Pier, the primary docking area filled with warehouses and taverns; the affluent Silver Pier, where wealthy merchants dock their ships and live in luxury; and the Bronze District, home to the hardworking townsfolk who keep the town running smoothly. While Loshev operates under a lawful structure, its council members, composed of elders and wealthy merchants, occasionally bend the rules for personal gain.
Demographics
| People | Share |
|---|---|
| Hobgoblins | 29.7% |
| Peren | 29.2% |
| Humans | 27.0% |
| Hobbin | 13.0% |
| Gnomes | 0.5% |
| Half-orcs | 0.3% |
| Other | 0.3% |
Infrastructure
Loshev boasts a more developed and well-designed infrastructure than typical for a town of its size, thanks to the considerable wealth generated from trade deals with affluent neighbors like Lvov, Ravenhold, and Haudh-Gwenn.
Government
Despite the chamber’s seating design for up to 21 councilors, throughout Loshev’s history, the city council has consistently been comprised of 9 to 13 members. This size allows for diverse voices while remaining manageable for decision-making. The council typically includes a mix of influential elders, though wealthy merchants or representatives of prominent factions within the town occasionally join to ensure the interests of various groups are represented.
City Council
| Office | Held by |
|---|---|
| High Councilman | Nikolas Rook |
| Councilor | Evelyn Crestborne |
| Councilor | Nassar Crestborne |
| Councilor | Yullen Gemsmith |
| Councilor | Nathan Fox |
| Councilor | Jhessail Vintree |
| Councilor | Ithrielle Nyvaal |
| Constable | Tariq al-Mahir |
Three further seats are held; who holds them was never written down. The seat Torgun Kurvroc held for a lifetime is empty, and the council has not filled it.
Districts
Loshev’s layout is practical, with each district playing a key role in the town’s daily life and trade. The different areas work together to keep Loshev running smoothly as a major stop along the Nahr Al-Bahr, but they also show the clear divide between the town’s social classes.
Gate Market
The Gate Market is the vibrant commercial center of Loshev, known for its temporary stalls and lively trade. The remnants of an old town wall mark the district’s boundaries. The Town Hall is situated here, where the council convenes, which keeps governance closely tied to the town’s economic heart.
Lower Pier
The Lower Pier is Loshev’s bustling docking area, where goods are unloaded and stored in nearby warehouses. This district is filled with taverns, inns, and workshops, catering to the needs of sailors and traders. It is the primary gateway for goods entering Loshev, and its closeness to the Gate Market makes for swift trade.
Silver Pier
Silver Pier is the affluent counterpart to the Lower Pier, where wealthy merchants dock their private vessels and maintain opulent homes. The wealth generated here pays for much of the town’s infrastructure.
Bronze District
The Bronze District is the residential heart of Loshev, home to the majority of the town’s population. This area is characterized by modest homes and a strong sense of community, with residents working in the markets, docks, and local workshops. The Bronze District provides the labor force that sustains Loshev’s daily operations.
Campaign Updates
It started here. Three strangers woke in Loshev with the worst of a night behind them and no particular reason to speak to one another, and the town has been the company’s fixed point ever since: the place they leave from and the place they come back to, whatever they have found in between.
It has cost the town. The bandit hunt that opened the season came out of the town’s own coffers, which Constable al-Mahir asked the council to open and the council opened without much argument. The corrupt jailer Dan was convicted; the councilman Alex Westwood resigned over a slaving connection and was dead by morning; Nathan Fox took the vacant seat, having named the price in advance. That was one week of a council that had been quietly rotting for years.
Since then the town has been robbed by Muharib raiders who mauled its guard and went south, and it has had to hear at its own council table that the region’s slaver ring was paid for by Beltran Grayeras of Haudh-Gwenn.
The town is building itself a gate on the water. Loshev has been trying to rebuild its ancient bridge for years, and the difficulty is no longer money but stone: nobody alive can make the electrum-veined Mól blocks the span was built from, so the only way to get any is to pay men to strip it out of ruins. Haudh-Gwenn has a whole ruined district of the stuff, does not value it, and needs money badly. To pay for the buying, the council is sinking foundations in the river itself for a gate, which will control who passes and charge them a toll for it.
And one of the town’s oldest seats emptied without warning. Torgun Kurvroc died while the company was in the north, of something the council’s letter did not name, and the funeral was over before they were home. The council read the will itself, Loshev being too small a place to keep solicitors, and the Kurvroc house went out of the Kurvroc family entirely: whole and undivided to Mikhail, the only person in the room at the reading who was not a hobgoblin.