Portabria

Just to the south of Misty Vale lies Portabria, the center for nearly all trade in the region. The merchant cities within create nearly 50% of all luxury goods, and the ones they don’t make, they can certainly get for you. 

You just have to be willing to pay. 

The nation’s trade brings in new technology and techniques all the time, and the flourishing market for cambiane weapons (mechanized, multiform weapons) means that some of the most incredible pieces of bespoke craftsmanship come out of the nation’s smiths. Much of their culture revolves around this focus on bespoke uniqueness. And even the lower classes put a lot of stock in appearance. 

The nation relies on mercenaries for it’s protection, hiring them to protect it’s investments, and to clear the waterways of beasts. The cities of Portabria lie low on the land, great canals and waterways crisscrossing their streets, and you can get nearly anywhere by boat. The council of nine (known as the Nine Jewels) rules the nation, made up of the most wealthy businessmen in the land. This oligarchy means that nearly anything that would turn a profit is legal, no matter how distasteful.

 

The Beacon of Trade, Tierviena
The nominal capital, though the government actually moves around based on where the richest merchants are. It lies nearly on the southern tip of the nation on the sea. Here lies the Sentinela, an academy for training adventurer teams (though the populace treat them more like celebrities). The city is known for it’s fashion and style. Festivals that engulf the city are nearly monthly occurrences, with dilettante's and merchants showing off their wealth and style to their neighbors. The great ships that pass in through it’s ports make it a hotbed of intrigue, and of gossip. The city has a surprising number of gangs within, fighting and competing with each other, and sometimes used as proxies for merchants who wish to get ahead less, scrupulously.

Portabrian Courier (Background)

 * Ability Score Bonus: +1 Dexterity or Strength
 * Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Acrobatics
 * Tool Proficiencies: Cartographer’s
 * Equipment: A small knife, a map of the city you grew up in, a token to remember your mentor by, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp

The Merchants of Portabria employ the most extensive informal postal service on Lumora, couriers are expected to be capable of moving across the city’s many rooftops with both speed and precision, and rote memorization of the many locations and houses throughout the city lends them nearly legendary skill at navigation.

Feature: Clinging Kick-Off
You have a climb speed equal to your speed, but lose this climb speed at the end of any consecutive turn you spend climbing, regaining it only when you spend at least one turn without climbing, or jump from one surface to another.

Feature: City Secrets
You know the secret patterns and flow to cities and can find passages through the urban sprawl that others would miss. When you are not in combat, you (and companions you lead) can travel between any two locations in the city twice as fast as your speed would normally allow.

Aspiring Sentinel (Background)

 * Ability Score Bonus: +1 Strength or Constitution
 * Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Persuasion
 * Tool Proficiencies: Smith’s
 * Equipment: A small knife, a stylish piece of clothing or other accessory, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp

Sentinela attracts numerous applicants to Tierviena. These skilled fighters train nearly their whole lives to attend the combat school, pitting their might against one another in showy combat during the yearly Carnivale run by the city. Many of these applicants never make it in, but still, the chance to train with the continent’s best fighters draws aspirants from all corners of Lumora.

Feature: Combat Display
Your swings and attacks are a dizzying combination, and under the right circumstances you become difficult to track. When you hit with at least one melee attack on your turn, and move at least twenty feet, you may take the dodge action as a bonus action.

Feature: By Popular Demand
You can always find a place to perform, usually in an inn or tavern but possibly with a circus, at a theater, or even in a noble's court. At such a place, you receive free lodging and food of a modest or comfortable standard (depending on the quality of the establishment), as long as you perform each night. In addition, your performance makes you something of a local figure. When strangers recognize you in a town where you have performed, they typically take a liking to you.