Gearhaven
Gearhaven is a city of approximately 215,000 people built on a slope rising from a southern harbour to a geological ridge at its northern boundary. It is the primary industrial port of the Charter State of Merrowen — a city that exports precision optics, steam engineering components, and the particular kind of reputation that comes from having learned, at considerable cost, what happens when industry outpaces responsibility. It runs on steam in its lower districts and electricity in its upper ones, and the line between those two technologies follows the elevation of the streets with a precision no civic document has ever formally acknowledged.
The fog is Gearhaven’s most honest feature. It rises from the lower basin and thickens downward, meaning those who live at elevation see further, breathe cleaner air, and are seen by the institutions that have an interest in seeing them. Those below live in reduced visibility — of horizon, of opportunity, of being noticed at all. The map of Gearhaven is not scenery. It is pressure made visible. Thirteen districts, each with its own character, its own sound, its own quality of light. The city breathes differently at every elevation. What you can see from where you stand in Gearhaven tells you most of what you need to know about where you stand.
Click on the district sigil below to learn more…
