The city has larger marketplaces, but none are as vibrant and exotic as the Distant Exchange. Caravans from House Orien and independent merchants pull up almost daily to sell wares from far-off lands. By law and custom, nothing sold at the Distant Exchange can be found within Aundair’s borders. Shoppers thus fi nd everything from Karrnathi brandy to Q’barran ebony carvings. Many of the vendors offer exotic food, drink, and clothing, but more than a dozen antiquities dealers have shops on the streets that surround the Distant Exchange. Treasures from Xen’drik often turn up here, though they rarely stay on sale for long.
Near the city center, at the base of an airship tower and beyond the customs houses of Chalice Center and Whiteroof, stands the huge bazaar known as Distant Exchange. Local law decrees that nothing native to Aundair can be sold within Distant Exchange. People visit here to purchase foreign goods and rarities, as well as to meet unusual folk such as dragonborn from Q’barra.
Information Exchange: Close to the embassies near Fairhold and several minority districts, Distant Exchange is also a trading place for information. More than one merchant is loyal to a foreign interest, and agents can talk within the exchange under the guise of doing business. Further, some minorities within Fairhaven use Distant Exchange as a meeting place. Those who know the right person to ask can learn obscure news of distant lands here. Occasionally the intrigue seething under the market’s alien atmosphere breaks out in violence for one reason or another.