One of the Nine Free Cities
The Free City of Porthos
The city that lays odds on everything.
At a Glance
| Founding House | House Porthos, long fallen from the seat |
|---|---|
| Ruling House (present age) | House Delacroix |
| Karthaav (present age) | Corvino Delacroix, styled Prince of Fortune and Master of the Golden Dice |
| Trade | Gaming, entertainment, and pleasure; casinos, gambling dens, and the taxes on all of it |
| Defense | No standing army; a few hundred guards, more concerned with order in the casinos than with the walls |
Overview
Porthos is a gambling city, built on games of chance and the desperate hope of easy wealth. Its casinos and gaming dens draw the wealthy visitor from across the southern sea, its harbor fills with pleasure vessels as readily as with cargo hulls, and its treasury runs on entertainment taxes and the house's share of every wager. The city lays odds on everything, including the lifespans of its neighbors' rulers, and a Porthos bet is a form of news in the Free Cities.
The founding house that gave the city its name no longer holds it. The seat passed, as seats do in the Free Cities, to House Delacroix, and in the present age it is held by Corvino Delacroix, who styles himself Prince of Fortune and Master of the Golden Dice. The titles are apt in more ways than one. Porthos keeps no standing army, only a few hundred guards, and its karthaav has borrowed from the banks of Hasanith at rates a gambler would recognize. A city that lives by the odds knows exactly what that means.