City of Deldin

The River
The Thrumm river flows east out of the mountains, down toward the low lands of ________ where it’s flow slows to a drunken gait, zig zagging its way toward the Sea of Discontent. At the mouth of the river is the wide and shallow Thrumm delta. Hundreds of square miles of soggy, low, sandy islands shifting and moving with the floods of spring offering no chance of solid ground to support human or beast make up the greater part of the delta. Swampy shallows choked with reeds and snagg weed affording false hope of solid footing spreads for miles before the sea is finally brought into sight of the lonely seaman. Only the most knowledgable of mariner dare to enter the treacherous water ways of the Thrumm delta The currents are dangerous and unpredictable here stirring up mud and muck, from the river bottom as the river currents begin a chaotic mixing with the steady, more predictable currents of the sea. All things seem to settle here, great huge trees felled my flood, storm or old age; ship wrecks, flotsom and jetsom from all calls to life are brought by the mercy of the river to the whims of the delta, mud and silt washed down from the mountains during the spring floods, all manner of object rejected into the river for one reason or other meets it’s fate in the Thrumm delta. Few see the open sea after their long trip down the river getting caught in the tides and flows of the delta lost in the maze of islands, sholes and sand bars.
The City
Clinging precariously to a few of the more stable muck piles, loosely called islands, and perhaps leaning slightly toward the sea as if it were, at any moment, going to slide into the prevailing currents and undertows to be dragged into oblivion, lay the city of Deldin. Built by generations of settlers and dream makers. The city has been lifted, only slightly, above the wretched waters of the Thrumm and lives a chaotic exsistence, slowly sinking back into that from which it was raised. Standing partly on the mucky soil of a few contemptable sand bars and mostly on massive tree’s sunk into the murkey and equally mucky delta bottom, in somewhat upright pillar like fashion. The city stoops upon the Thrumm like a beggar looking for a handout.
Decking lay, atop these hefty pillars of support, in a haphazard way in a weak attempt to provide a solid foundation for the buildings and homes which on a whole make up the humming metropolis. The combination of decking and buildings which lay upon it create a slipshod labyrinth of streets and alleys which wander helter-skelter in a disorienting manner. Unaccustomed visitors to the city easily loose their way and can find themselves in areas of the city most unpleasant to stop off. The city appears to shift and flow with the delta’s fickle attitudes. The pillars which support it are sinking slowly under the weight of the city itself creating a mish mash of levels and change in altitudes thorughout the city. Newer, better kept parts are higher and more stable, usually these are reserved for the more wealthy dwellers. While older portions of the municipality are lower showing their age with their relative height to the water. The oldest and most disreputable section of the city known as Rott End. Whole sections of city have been known to slip quietly into the delta unbeknownst to most until they plan a visit to that part for one reason or other and then it becomes well known to all that such and such a section has “dropped out”.
Throughout the city streets rambling this way and that create a maze of shops, inns, taverns, houses and stables who buzz with daily and nightly activity. Markets, bakery’s slaughter houses come to life with each new day as trade and commerce, the life blood of the city, commences with vigor. Colorful banners promote a shops business specialties and the aroma of fresh baked goods mix with those of trash and animal stench to give a well lived in odor only a citizen of the city could endure. The people of the city, all races and colors, are prone to sport the latest fashions which come from the farthest most exotic ports. The city is awash in currency and wealth, drawing every unmentionable person who are looking to have an easy time of it in Deldin. Curious animals and goods from all over can be found here giving a mixed flavor and other worldliness to the city. If one is looking for the rarest of anything they first come to Deldin, if it is not there, there is someone who can get it. If not, it simply does not exsist.
The city is the hub of trading activity between those who live up river and those who live beyond the sea.
Traders from all over the world eventually make their way to Deldin to trade their goods and services. All manner of trade is available to those who visit Deldin making it a rich and prosperous city and the desire of envious eyes. Any one wishing to conduct business up river from the sea must first pass through the city port aquiring the proper vehicle for the trip. And likewise those who wish to trade with the “outside world” from up river must either take the land route around, which is most likely the long way around or go through Deldin to hire a ship for passage to where ever it is they wish to go.
The position of Deldin affords those of the city a tactical advantage over those who wish to trade and commence business and those who wish to raid and plunder either the city itself or the cities beyond it up river. Deldin is well protected by the vast water ways of the Thrumm delta, ships with illegitamite reasons soon find themselves lost in the labryinth of water and sholes or are soon grounded on sand bars hidden under the surface. The only reasonable approach, in attack, is from the land and then still the attacker has a challenge of crossing the delta waters and swampy regions where men are swallowed whole without notice.



So it would seem that Deldin has an advantageous lock on commerce in these parts. Creating a port city unlike any other.