Camorr

Camorr
Camorr is one of the prominent Therin city-states, located on the Iron Sea south on the continent, and consists of eighty-eight thousand souls. The city’s skeleton is a network of Elderglass towers, bridges and labyrinths – remnants of a vanished race – and fleshed out by humanity with wood and stone. The Angevine River splits Camorr down the centre.

Bar the alien features, the city is similar in makeup to our Venice. A network of canals, traversed using barges not dissimilar to gondolas, split Camorr into a series of little island-esque segments. Descriptions of the architecture, people and climate also suggest the design is Venetian inspired. To get a better idea of Camorr’s appearance it is best to look at images of Venice. Camorr is split into districts, as shown on the map, and like all cities, Camorr has luxurious parts and impoverished parts. The latter consists of the Narrows, the Dregs, the Wooden Waste, the Snare, the Cauldron, Coalsmoke, Ashfall, and most of the docks, though it’s fair to say the destitution isn’t necessarily limited to the districts above.

The closer one gets to the prestigious Five Towers the further one gets from the poverty stricken parts of Camorr: North Corner, Coin-Kissers Row and Alcegrante are sound examples of these exclusive sections.

The Five Towers are irregular structures left behind by the Eldren, and sport numerous turrets and runways and spires of all shapes and sizes. Each tower is named and constructed from different material: Dawncatcher, four hundred feet high and silver-red in colour; Blackspear, slightly taller than Dawncatcher and entirely black save bursts of broken rainbows; Westwatch, violet and white in colour; Amberglass, whose elaborate flutings would cause the wind to make ‘eerie melodies’; and lastly, Raven’s Reach, the palace of Duke Nicovante, and the tallest of all towers. A network of Elderglass cables cobwebs the tips of these towers, carriages bearing passengers and cargo are hauled across; a convenient - if somewhat audacious - method of transport. Language: Therin

Currency: Crowns. A series of coins compromise this currency; a white iron coin is worth a full crown, and a full crown is made up of four gold Tyrins, forty silver solons or two hundred and forty copper barons.

Religion: Theoretically, like all Therins, they worship the Twelve Gods, though many of the Right People are aware of the thirteenth god. Districts | Landmarks | Characters

Law, Politics and History
Even when Camorr had once knelt to a single Throne like the rest of the Therin people, they still possessed a royal family. As far as we can discern, an Absolute Monarchy rules Camorr, with Duke Nicovante definite leader of the city.

The Duke’s Magistrates, located inside the Palace of Patience, uphold the law and are, essentially, the only judges in Camorr’s court. Below these are the yellowjackets (also known as the watchmen) and their officers, who are similar in function to our police force, and reside outside the Palace of Patience in Old Citadel alongside tax collectors. ‘Blackjackets’ is the given name for the Duke’s army. Alongside this constabulary force are the Duke’s Ghouls, a group who have survived plagues and thus possess natural immunity, and are made to work among quarantine areas and sick poeple.

A single Capa, Vencarlo Barasavi, rules the underworld of Camorr and the hundred gangs that infest its bowels. Only five years ago, the underworld was ruled by thirty capa, and they were constantly warring with each other and the yellowjackets. Barsavi gradually murdered his way to power, claimed undisputed reign over every gang in Camorr, and founded the Secret Peace. Anyone who becomes Barsavi’s pezon must answer to his laws or face punishment.

The punishment of broken laws in Camorr can be considered as unnecessarily harsh; thieves of all ages are hung from bridges, other convicts are chained to oars and forced to row. Other means of punishment are unusually cruel and brusque, for example, ‘anyone going in the wrong direction on a catbridge’ can be ‘shoved off by those with the right of way’. There are, of course, prisons, as well as cages and the Teeth Show.

The Citizens
The native, pure blood Camorri resemble our Mediterranean inhabitants; ruddy complexion, dark hair and dark eyes, their appearance is anything from ‘Portuguese to Italian to Greek’. Camorr is known throughout the world to be a highly unpleasant, sadistic, downtrodden place (Locke dismisses any concerned probing about his and Jean’s safety when entering the rough city of Port Prodigal by saying ‘We’re from Camorr’, and when Locke expresses his distaste for the Amusement War in Salon Corbeau, a noble dismisses its cruelty by saying ‘Have you ever seen Camorr, by chance? Now there’s a basis for comparison that might have you thinking more soundly’) and the Camorri are thought of no better. It’s expressed that Lashani, Verrari and Karthani all consider Camorri ‘crazy’. They are obviously not a liked nation of people.

Other
Camorr is famous for its Eight Beautiful Arts, the name given to the highest mastery of cuisine preparation. The chefs get a tattoo on their fingers of the respective Art mastered. Examples of the Beautiful Arts are vicce enta merre, the first art, the cuisine of sea creatures; and the fifth art, which is the preparation of desserts.