The Free City’s austere feudal history explains the city’s current freedom-loving citizenry. After suffering under the long, harsh reign of the aristocratic Stross family, the people of Zobeck have little love for nobles or the institution of feudalism. They have vowed to never again accept a lord’s yoke. Instead, commerce and the ability of every man and woman to grab life’s wealth with gusto rule the Zobecker spirit. Free to make their way in the world, Zobeckers work to secure a living in whatever manner they see fit—though some occupations clash with the city’s laws—and answer to no one but themselves.
Still, certain citizens are not as free as others. The kobolds fought alongside the rebels to emancipate Zobeck and thus gained a seat on the Free City Council, but the kobolds remain very much second-class citizens. They do not experience the same uplifting spirit of freedom as their dwarf or human neighbors, or even the gearforged. Those formerly flesh-and-blood beings now living in metal bodies hold more privileges than any kobold in the greater city. For all their help in the Great Revolt, the kobolds have been relegated to their own little ghetto and the most menial professions. Life remains harsh for the small folk who once steered their own destiny and mined freely in service to a proud kobold king of these lands. Kobold politics is obsessed with the futile effort to reassert their ancient claims to rule the city.