After the destruction of Karfelon, there were many human refugees who found themselves without a home. Wrought low by the hubris of the old adventurers who ran it, Karfelon sank into the sea in the year 2493, after the breaking of the sea wall. Being part of the old Elvish territory, as a sign of good faith, the refugees were gifted the land to build a new home. The land was called Rougtero, named for the red soil that covers the area. Unfortunately, the land was poor for agriculture, or plant-life in general. Red soil is known for having poor water holding capacity, and tends to be low in nutrients. Fortunately, the Karfelon refugees were good at the art of trade, allowing Rougtero to become the major economic center in Lojem, perhaps even surpassing Old Karfelon in economic power.

The Rougtero City Council officially governs the city of Rougtero, being created in 2523 to keep the peace in a city overrun by power hungry adventurers attempting to stake a claim on it. As such, the council is made primarily from “common people,” or so they claim. In reality, the council is primarily composed of representatives from religious organizations and major guilds. The temples to Anubis, Isis, Mishra, Neptune, Orus, Osiris, Ra, T’or, and Zepherin all have seats. The most major guilds in the city also hold seats, particularly the Merchants’ Guild, the Service Guild, the Labor Guild, the Shipping Guild, the Mages’ Guild, and the Adventurers’ Guild.

The Council meets once a week, with the location changing on rotation. The Council’s meetings used to be open to the public, but have become closed off in more recent years, with records harder to access. Some suspect some form of foul play has been going on in the meetings.

The Council is the primary body that creates the city’s laws, as well as provides enforcement. In other words, the Council serves as both the legislative and executive branch of Rougtero’s governance. The temples to T’or primarily serve as the adjudicators of Rougtero.

The Council funds all of this through two major sources. The first is direct donations collected from the temples in Rougtero. The second is tariffs on imported goods and taxes on the local merchants. All businesses in Rougtero owe 5% of what they make to the Council, anything purchased has a 1% tax rate, and this comes with a series of “dock fees” that are doubled for imports from other cities, particularly non-Rougtero based businesses.

To learn more about the Rougtero Council, specifically the laws they have created and how they go about enforcing those laws, you may go here.

The requirement to be considered a citizen of Rougtero is quite simple, and is one only a place governed by a merchant class could come up with. To be a citizen, one must own property somewhere within the city of Rougtero.

The city of Rougtero has no taxes on the general citizenry. The priesthoods and guilds of the city pay money to the council in order to support their activities. Dock fees are also collected and used for this purpose. The money collected goes toward paying for city services, like the town patrols, equipment, and costs related to enforcing the law.

During the initial founding of Rougtero in 2493, the temples of the area laid claim to most of the land. The previous citizens of Karfelon were each allotted their own piece of land equal to the amount of land they had the right to in Karfelon. Since this time, some of the temples have sold some of their land to allow for the building up of the city, but some temples still maintain a stronghold on the land that they own around Rougtero, namely the Enclave and the Osirisites..

The deed to a piece of property must be obtained in order to have legal ownership of a piece of land. Usually this involves a monetary transaction with the owner of the property and a barrister creating a document stating who the owner of the property is, signatures of the buyer and seller as well as a witness and the barrister. Typically, the barrister maintains an original of this document in the event of a property dispute. When a temple sells their property, it is a very similar process with the head priest and another priest of the temple acting as seller and witness.

The typical cost for a small piece of land within the city is around 10,000 gold. Outside of the city, the cost drops dramatically.

The Clock Tower

Located near the marketplace, the clock tower is the largest and most accurate clock on Lojem.

The One Eyed Jack

A somewhat seedy tavern in the dock area, this is a common hang out for marines on shore leave and other of the more questionable people in Rougtero.

The Golden Ankh

Located near the Solarium, this is a common hang out for Raites in the area. As such, this tavern is very orderly and all meals are served in certain blocks of time. Drinks are available, but drunkenness is not encouraged.

The Weary Scholar

This tavern in Rougtero has a library attached to it. It is common to catch people drinking and reading in this tavern. Mages and other intellectual types are frequently seen here.

The Spectral Meteor

Previously known as THE adventurers tavern before the “Portal Farm” came into existence, this tavern is still frequented by many adventurers and maintains a lively atmosphere. It has better than average food and drink and is owned by a former adventurer.

Osiris Sanctuary and Temple

Unlike most of the other temples, the temple of Osiris has kept a stronghold on all of the land allotted to them in the move to Rougtero. They refuse to sell it out because it involves cutting down sacred trees. As such, the temple of Osiris also serves as a sanctuary for various types of trees and animals.

Torite Enclave

Another temple that did not sell off any of their land to outsiders, this “temple” has more in common with a walled fortress then a temple. The enclave is where Torites live, eat, train, and attend to their daily functions.

Isis Sanctuary

The temple of Isis offers free care and healing for the sick and freely accepts donations. The Sanctuary has a couple of priests teaching people how to perform the First Aid skill. The classes they are teaching are free for priests of Isis and 10 silver pieces per session for anyone else (one session will allow someone to learn 1 rank of the skill, making several sessions required for extra learning).

Sepulcher of Anubis

Just outside of the city on an elevated piece of land and built into the side of a cliff, the Sepulchre is the temple of the dead. It offers burial services for the recently passed and contains crypts for priests that pass on.

Tarus Archive

This building belonged to the Tarusians when they had a presence in the city, but they no long occupy this temple and it has been burned down several times since. The Raites from the Solarium have rebuilt the archive because of their dislike of a burnt building in the city and the fact that no priest of Tarus is available to sell off the land that it occupies.

Temple of At'ena

Another abandoned temple in Rougtero, the temple of At'ena was occupied by a single priestess until she disappeared suddenly in 2520.

The Temple of Neptune

Not surprisingly, the Temple of Neptune is located near the water where it houses many priests and followers as well as acting as the city’s main bathhouse.

The Solarium

This Ra Temple is made out of clear building materials to allow the sun to shine into the building. It houses several hundred priests of Ra within its walls. It came under attack by outside forces in early 2524, but easily fended off the attack.

Under the Solarium is a portal that leads to a highly secure prison. It houses highly dangerous prisoners and is largely an anti-magic zone (expect for certain Priests of Ra, which can use magic). The prison is used by Rougtero and has been contracted to house other prisons by the Centralia Mage's Guild, Centralia City, the Torite, and other entities that wish to house prisoners. As of this date, there have been no escapes