Korovia - The Free License Fantasy World

Toravek
Population: 8,000 (mostly Gnomes)
Terrain: Mountains and caves.
Economy: Good, booze & mushrooms.
Military: Good (militia 300).
Leadership: Lordship.

As Korovia’s farthest north city, one would think it is fairly cold. It isn’t. The city is built mostly underground to conserve heat and also benefit from several geo-thermal springs. Toravek was built around its hotsprings, but not because of therapeutic properties. The city uses hydro and pyro power for many of its unusual inventions (steam powered elevators/etc). Underground city with small squat buildings above ground.

The city itself is a complicated network of caves (with signposts all over the place for lost gnomes). Even natives to the city get lost regularly due to teams of gnomes that regularly dig new routes through the city (sometimes accidentally digging into someone’s living room). Thankfully there is a 2nd group of gnomes in charge of signposts and follow around the others in attempts to keep the signposts up to date.

The problem with gnomes is that they like things that are complicated. If there is an easy way to do something (like a hammer and nail) the gnomes will invent a new way (screw and screwdriver) and several other ways (super glue) to achieve the same result. In Toravek, this is only made more obvious with their plumbing system. Water pipes made of clay snake throughout the city transporting hot water from below and cold water from above. Sometimes these pipes are accidentally attached (oops!) and there is result is chaos from bursting pipes, pressure valves exploding, and flooding. The gnomish solution however is typically unusual: Soap.

When faced with mass flooding, the gnomish solution is to clean the place so that the water is not wasted. Yes, some gnomes will get wet, but oh well. Many gnomes have “floatation devices” so the threat of drowning is very little.

Toravek’s principle exports are mushroom beer, mushrooms, pottery and iron ore. The economy is good, despite few exports. There is little use for imports too. Only a few inns and green grocers bother with goods from the south. Imports are so few that there are no taxes.

The gnomish lord of Toravek swore allegiance to Queen Kasiya because he also owns the brewery. He thought he could export mushroom beer and make a fortune. He has made a small fortune, but gnomes are the only people who regularly drink it. Ask any gnome however and they will insist that Toravek Beer is the best.

Toravek rarely has troubles with monsters. They are too fortified on the surface. When they do have problems it is usually because of giants, ice trolls and yeti.