MATERIA

Named for one of the early founders, this is the southernmost city of Materia. Highly tropical in climate, many houses are built of lightweight wood materials and designed to be kept open day and night yet be secure during occasional tropical storms. Insects are very abundant here.

Elizabethtown’s port exports many tropical foods and medicines, as well as being home to fishing boats making use of the currents in the warm southern waters.

City Hall

City Warehouse

Elizabeth Square

Rainforest

Community Pier

Market Pier

Eelman’s Cannery

“The Slide”

The Reef

Ma’s Kitchen

Locally fishing and foraging provide for much of the inhabitant’s needs. Fishing also serves as an export due to the exotic nature of fish and crustacians native to the nearby waters.

Hunting also takes place in the rainforest, primarily by carnivores.

Tropical fruits and plants are harvested from the rainforest, as are unique saps, flowers and other items unique to the area ecology. These are exported for both food and medicinal uses dependent on the item.

Any work in the rainforest comes with great risk due to difficult terrain, predatory animals, and the presence of numerous purist collectives working to keep the civilized world out of the wilderness.

To support these exports, the river is lined with ports, smokehouses and canneries. Elizabethtown is the largest importer of Pittston-pressed cans and Kario Jars, which also makes it the greatest exporter of preserved goods in all of Materia.

Most structures in Elizabethtown are made of mud brick, local wood plank or pole. Construction is often basic as tropical storms will occasionally require drastic reconstruction. Due to heat and humidity, open floor plans and screen-protected doorways and windows are often used instead of multi-room structures with windows and doors. Thatching and leaf roofing is not uncommon, and several homes are also constructed partly underground. The riverline is permitted a power station for electrical use as the brick and metal cannery and smokehouse buildings must have fans for ventilation.

This city is one of the smaller cities of the nation, at least within its official borders. Like several other cities, it lies at the mouth of one of the nation’s large rivers, this leading into the rainforest. Long, shallow beaches line the coast here with the city itself is built on a moderate slope which in many areas has been terraced, the lower areas being either along the river which is protected by a wave break or set back from the ocean itself and protected by a series of artificial dunes. Almost immediately beyond the last city structures begins a dense rainforest to the north and west, and similarly dense and tree-protected swamplands to the east. The swamp continues for well over 100 miles to the northeast following the coastline and its edge blends with the rainforest. The rainforest continues deep into the Larning Mountain Range. While the North-South road does reach Elizabethtown, it must wind through somewhat dangerous and tricky terrain through the mountains and often needs cleared as the rainforest quickly encroaches on the path. Because of this, most goods and travelers prefer to make use of ships to access this city.