The Wards of Lorden: Norwood

We talked a bit about the three wards, or great neighborhoods, of Lorden in the last post. Time to dig in. We'll start with Norwood, the comparatively safe and wealthy area that sits on the northern shore of the Gwaun.

Norwood

Norwood is where all the city’s respectable citizens call home, but twenty years ago, it was Lorden’s center of industry. Its traditional communities of factory workers and immigrants from the lands to the north haven’t gone anywhere, and the struggle for the soul of Norwood plays out on its streets every day. Thus it has a conflicted character: new construction by elder brahmins rebuilding their favorite parks and squares from the Isle butts up against smoke-belching factories and massive blocks of worker housing.

The exodus of the powerful from the Isle of Lorden to Norwood was made official when the previous Lord Mayor moved his mansion to the border between Ghostchester and Bywater. The politically-minded now measure their influence in how many blocks their homes are from the mayor’s.

Norwood is made up of six neighborhoods: Bywater, Ghostchester, Jadegate, Market Square, Ramundsvolk, and Redglass.

Bywater

Flat-bottomed party barges alight with many-colored lamps line Norwood’s eastern shoreline, and music and laughter echo across the water from glittering mansions overlooking the river. As rich as those of Ghostchester, the denizens of Bywater care more about having a good time and impressing their friends than influencing politics. Hardly a night goes by without at least two parties in Bywater competing to be the social event of the evening.

Ghostchester

Ornate carriages clatter past each other on Ghostchester’s broad, cobbled streets; in its great squares the wealthy take coffee and debate politics. More money has been poured into Ghostchester than any other neighborhood since the abandonment of Beast’s Landing, and it shows. Entire blocks of worker housing have been converted into massive townhouses or torn down for parks, displacing the previous residents.

Jadegate

Lorden’s famed Jade Gate, which opens the city to traders from the north, has fallen into disrepair. Its green paint is faded and flaking, revealing crumbling gray stone beneath. The neighborhood around the gate hasn’t seen the same infusion of gold as some other parts of Norwood, peopled as it is mostly by itinerant traders, immigrant settlers, and the dwarfs who work the great coal mine. Jadegate does, however, have the best food.

Market Square

The heart of Norwood is the literally-named Market Square, which replaced the Isle’s Street of Wonders as the city’s primary marketplace. The Lord Mayor’s office has begun selling space in the Square proper, so it features high-end goods; traders from far lands rub elbows with local artisans and farmers in the crowded lanes that snake out from the Square like arteries from a heart.

Ramundsvolk

A few hundred years ago, settlers led by the hero Ramund came up from the wild south and settled outside Lorden’s gates. They are now an established neighborhood, recreating their old sense of community in the city. There are no taverns or inns in Ramundsvolk, as Ramund’s People famously welcome any and all to the boisterous parties they throw in their homes. You can drink, boast, hear old sagas, and even spend the night, as long as you’re a gracious guest.

Redglass

A long-ago industrial accident flooded the streets of Redglass with liquid fire, fusing its streets into a slick red surface. Horses hate it here, but then again, so does everybody else, and the only permanent residents are the workers who cram into huge tenement complexes adjacent to the factories where they live and, often, die.