Lots of people per square feet, lots of housing per square feet, this is the most densely populated area in the city. Everything is cramped up together, from the countless warehouses near the river to the countless Marketplaces, Artisan Shops and Slave Markets along every streets, one can find just about anything in Zabatha. The laws are simple and the punishments exemplary.
Zabatha is divided in blocks (Area) like Ghateelock is divided in District.
The Zabatha family ruled that district for a long time, but soon after the End of Magic era, the Matriarch died and left her 9 kids without an official heir. All together, they decided to divide the city amongst themselves because they didn't agree on a single Matriarch. The Zabatha family has a unique tradition that causes concern amongst the other nobles. They are strong believer in Matriarchy. Any males born from a female Zabatha is destined to be a servant or bodyguard. They are raised and thought to be obedient from birth, obeying the females of the family and forbade to occupy any position of power.
About 8 years ago (2 years into EoM), the Zabatha family, unlike the previous Matriarch, decided to impose Matriarchy over its residents. The laws were changed to force any and all Male away and make place for the females. Everyone living in the district had to change ownership to their wife or sell to a female, for they had 5 years to adapt to the new laws. It's been about 3 years now that all the new laws are common thing.
Population: 7,500
Tax Rate: Not applicable. Taxes are not collected from people, but from guard posts and for circulating on any streets.
Average Citizen Income: 100 sp
Ruler: Zabatha Family
Sub-Laws:
- It is forbidden for a male to own any kind of business, building, or slave within Zabatha. Only Females can.
- Males merchant from outside Zabatha may not sell unless a woman is acting on behalf of that merchant.
- A Female cannot be a Slave in Zabatha unless owned by a Female Master, or owned by a Male Merchant from outside Zabatha who has a female representative.
- A Male cannot occupy a position of Authority within any organization.
- Everyone must use the roads. It is strictly forbidden to cross a fence (using any means) to avoid a road.
- Do not do to others what you don't want be done to you. If what you do to another person feels wrong, than it must be wrong.
Other Regulations:
- Payment for entering the district of Zabatha is required.
- Payment is collected by Guard Posts for using the roads.
- Free Circulation pass may be purchased at any Gates, but will require 2 hours to be put into effect.
- Anyone wronged may signal having been wronged within 3 days of being wronged or finding out they have been wronged. It is the duty of the wronged to find the culprit and then bring them to justice.
Punishments:
Any Males who breaks the law, any law, in any ways and is caught will be sent to the South Mine for punishment.
Entrances:
- Gate #1: Trork
- Gate #2: Shungo
- Gate #3: Fuller
- Gate #4: Exit to East side Farms
Thief Guild(s) in Smith
- The Ghosts
- The BOP (Birds of prey)
- The Machina
- The Nine
- The Eight
Places of Interest
#1:
Zabatha Estate :: Most of the family resides within these walls. The few males carrying the Zabatha name are almost never seen outside the walls and are seemingly living the life, doing whatever they please, party, drug, sex, but never working, although they have zero power of decision on any matter of business and family.
#2:
The Dark Cathedral :: This Cathedral is the biggest in Ghateelock and one of the oldest. It was build all over the cliff formed by the monster print found in Zabatha. It doubles up as a convent where priests, monks and other pilgrims can stay and even live there for years. It was originally devoted to Kelemvor and Loviatar, but with time, other faith were added in different sections of the Cathedral, which now includes other Gods of Death, such as Myrkul, Shar, Blibdoolpoolp and Bhaal. The other Gods of death aren't represented here, because they are chaotic evil.
#3:
The Great Tree of Life :: This tree is said to have grown from a single tear Silvanus himself shed for a Druid that was murdered on that spot some 200 years ago. It became the home of many Elves, people can see huts on the branches of that tree. It also became the house of almost every fairies that lives in Ghateelock, no one really knows how many there are, but for some reason, they don't bother people and rarely ventures in town, mainly because of the no-fly law, preventing them from flying around to wherever they please, so they almost never leave the tree. Regardless, if you see a small fairy in Ghateelock, 99.9% chance she comes from that Tree and is considered a citizen of the Zabatha district.
#4:
Mercs Block :: This entire block was once an enclosure with a high fence for a cattle of Dears. A few months after EoM, the owner, his family and his entire staff were killed and the Dears were set free. It caused havoc in the district, most dears were killed by the people, some were caught and brought back, but in the end, the business crumbled and Bocreos ended up with those dears. The entire lot was then sold to a man called Blindtail, a veteran retired mercenary and ex gladiator who decided to build houses all over the land and make them into a mercenary heaven and guild of its own. The circular house is like a big dormitory, but also offers a small indoor arena where the mercenaries can train, spar and fight anytime all year long. Every other house build offers rooms, but also at least a 10x10 room to act as dojo or training room and each building offers at least 3 rooms for 3 mercenaries. A few of those houses are inhabited by a family, but most of them are just mercenary roommates. There are about 100 mercenary living there, most are said to be loyal to Blindtail, which make them one of the largest 'Army' in Ghateelock. They have a strict code of honor based on wealth, loyalty, and payment. Most of them are currently employed all over Ghateelock as body guards, door man, private security for some merchants or Nobles, etc. Should anyone be rich enough to employ all of them, they'd have an army to invade another city, but not Ghateelock, nor any district. Some says Blindtail has a honorable deal with the emperor to prevent that from happening. The particularity of the Blindtail mercenaries is that none of them are Humans, where actually, all of them must have at least one of the following permanent feature to become part of their guild; have at least one animal trait other than horns, claws or fangs, have wings or have a tail.
#5:
Kaluum :: A small house for a small person, different from all others around it, Kaluum the Halfling cutie is known for being the best Jeweler in all of Ghateelock. She has the biggest collection of precious stones and gems and her prices are unbeatable. Some say she has over a thousand different gemstones, some raw, some carved, and she crafts all kinds of jewels, mainly for the Nobles. Although she is still single with no family, she doesn't live alone, for she employs many Blindtail mercenaries and is never seen without at least 2 of them accompanying her everywhere she goes, sometimes more, when she has to carry items of higher value, while there are at least 4 watching over her house at all time.
#6:
Merchant's Guild :: This entire block is dedicated to any and all registered merchants in Ghateelock. There are plenty of rooms, but acts more like a short to medium term Inn. Travelers arriving by boats who are also merchants can rent a room for up to 3 months, no longer. Most of the buildings is room for offices where they keep records of everything, mainly ownership of lands, buildings, slaves, and other high value items. This is THE Bureaucracy of Ghateelock and it hosts just about any kind of permits, licenses and documents about everyone in any and all district, except the Barranor district. Most paperwork and bureaucracy is managed by each districts in various places within their district, but everything is copied and sent to the Zabatha's Merchant Guild. Hundreds of employee, citizen across all districts (except Barranor) works on this block, in Zabatha.
#7:
Dear Meat :: Bocreos is a Kobold. He lives in a very small house with his wife and their four kids. The family business breads Dears. Most of them dears are sold before they are born. Since the loss of the other Dear cattle, his business boomed and the demand became more than he could provide. With time, many clients turned to other source of meat or leather, but even today, people who wants a dear from him has to wait at least 2 years by purchasing an unborn baby, which will then require 18 to 24 months before it can be sold.
#8:
Sailor's Woods :: This wood is for everyone and it is very rare not to see a lot of people having a pic-nick on a sunny day on this wood. It's called the Sailor's woods because a lot of sailors will spend their free time in the woods there, eating, relaxing and waiting, but also to find 'love'. Girls and some boys like to hang in the woods and wait for sailors to flirt with them in the hope to find true love. It is known, people aren't looking for sex, but for a relationship and most people who do meet in the Sailor's woods, are usually honest about their intentions.
#9:
Three Mills :: The heat from the monster print mixing with the cooler wind from the mountain collides just above the print and the swirl caused by the mix feeds the three mills almost continuously with strong winds, making these three mills some of the best and most efficient mills to use in all of Ghatelock.
#10:
Zabatha's Barrack and Training Fort :: This block is located at the bottom of the monster print in Zabatha. To go up and down, one must use the 10 story high staircase. Every constable in Zabatha must go up and down those stairs at least four times per day of work. Any criminals to be judged or sent to jail will have to walk down those stairs. The whole barrack is the training center for all constable, but this is also where the prison is located. This is one of the hardest jail to break out of.
#11:
Talon's Burb :: This area offers housing built along the cliff and inside the monster print. Enough housing for about 60 families, most of them Dragonborn.
#12:
Kylor's Inn and Brothel :: This building is huge and offers a large variety of sea food meals, ales, and delicacies from other cities far outside Ghateelock. They offer some of the finest concubine money can buy. Kylor Zabatha is the owner and Lady of the house. She runs the place tight and makes sure all her patrons are well fed, satisfied, and happy for the entire stay.
#13:
Dock's Wall Burb :: Ever dreamed of a house by the lake? This is as close as it gets. Where there used to be a fortified wall to protect the city, they built housing right on top. Each house is small, but offers a view of the water, morning breezes every morning, and a nice view of the docks and ships. 100 houses are available on the wall and are big enough for a small family of 4 to be comfortable, although some have larger families and they can manage, but it would be tight. If one can get over the fact that they have to climb stair to access their home and carry their groceries, then this is a house for them. There is apparently a long waiting list of people who'd like to buy a home in the Wall Burbs.
#14:
Stone of the Moon :: Said to be imbued with a lot of magical energy, those stones were used to perform rituals by many arcanists. Of course, after EoM, most people stopped trying to use that energy in vain, but there are still some who continues to 'hope' and try, sitting within the stone for hours.
#15:
The Moon's Inn and Tavern :: A large famous tavern and Inn located right next to the Stone of the Moon. The tavern lost some of its renown since the EoM, but its still very busy. Everything used to be handled by magical servants, elementals, ghosts and other things magic can offer. After EoM, those servitors were replaced by real persons, but the food and drinks are still very tasty and the rooms are still kept clean.
#16:
Flee Market :: Small compared to other markets in other district, this market still offers many things, but has nothing else special.
#17:
Hare Skin and Meat :: If you can't afford Deer meat or hide, you might settle for Hare meat or fur. Located at the bottom of the monster print, this estate raises hundreds and hundreds of hare for the slaughter.
#18:
Paw Burb :: This area offers housing built along the cliff and inside the monster print. Enough housing for about 25 families, most of them Kobolds.
#19:
Claw Burb :: This area offers housing built along the cliff and inside the monster print. Enough housing for about 75 families, most of them Orcs.