Overview
Haven Towne (Map) is the largest city in the The Thousand Isles, and capital of the The Republic of Haven. Lush, tropical and inviting, the town still manages to maintain an island beauty, despite being home to over 50,000 residents and a major center of commerce and industry.
The bay is warm and reasonably clear, with craggy volcanic cliffs towering over white sandy beaches lined by palm, coconut and bamboo . Colorful birds abound, monkeys scamper over red tiled roofs, and balmy breezes bathe the island port.
Far to the west, the mountainous interior of Bonny Isle is barely visible out of the tropical haze, great green volcanic cliffs rise, and far above looms the peak of the mighty volcano, Bynack Tor, that forms the backbone of this island. Far far away and yet so tall that it is still barely visible from the coast
Geography
Haven Towne occupies a narrow peninsula that juts into the wide Haven Bay. The Bay is almost entirely landlocked, only connecting to the sea via a narrow 1/4 mile wide channel called The Gullet Two rivers, River Bonny and River Sur empty into the Bay on either side of the Peninsula.
The Bay is rimmed by steep cliffs to the south, and sheer headlands to the east, but the northern part of the bay is much lower and swampy in places.
Both the Sur and Bonny River valleys are wide, temperate, well watered and lush, fertile volcanic valleys studded with small farming hamlets. Here farmers till the rich black volcanic soil year round, making these valleys into the breadbasket of the metropolis.
In addition to the barges of grain and produce that flow from the valleys into the city, the rivers also allow transport of goods arriving at Haven Towne into the interior of the island.
A system of aqueducts, originally created by the Annwyn Empire, brings fresh water from these rivers into the city, to supplement the wells that dot the city.
Several days journey up the Sur and the Bonny, the wide valleys narrow and rise into a series of cataracts that mark the edge of civilization. Beyond this point, the highlands begin, the land becomes increasingly steep, and the jungle becomes dense. Only small isolated mountain villages can be found, isolated deep in the tropical jungle.
Climate
The climate and weather of Haven Towne, as is typical of the Thousand Isles is characterized by a two-season year, tropical and uniform temperatures everywhere (except at high elevations), is generally wet especially in the spring and fall, with high annual rainfall, and high relative humidity. However, dry, almost desert regions also exist, in areas in the shadow of the mountains, precipitation can be quite variable depending on those rain shadows.
The trade wind blows more or less along the length of the island from April through June,and then again in the opposite direction from September through November.
The town is sheltered by the bulk of Bonny Isle from the spring westerlies and the associated storms , but the harbor is more exposed to the fall easterlies. Haven gets most of it's rainfall in the fall and winter, where storms and hurricanes are not uncommon. However it often has relatively dry springs and summers.
History
Haven was founded over 600 years ago by the Annwyn Empire as
a major Anchorage and fleet base. It marked the high water mark of their empire, their most remote outpost.
When the Annwyn empire issued The Recall, and withdrew their military forces, the small island town was left to its own devices. The vacuum left by the retreating An plunged the entire The Thousand Isles into chaos and anarchy for a century. Due to the leadership of Haven’s first ruling Governor (Marcus Madrigal), the island not only survived this period but emerged as the leading mercantile and military power in the region.
Districts
Harbormasters
University District
NorthPort
Merchants Town
Governors District
The Armory
New Towne
The Castillo
The Gullet
Other Havon Bay Fortifications
Tillage
River Sur
River Bonny
Inspiration
In addition to the same 17th century Caribbean inspiration of the overall The Thousand Isles, Haven specifically draws from old Havana and San Juan. Venice also inspired the governmental system. its history also has a dash of ancient Carthage and Umbar from Lord of the Rings
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