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Thozanga is so old that the archives have no record of the founding. Given the nature of the city, that may be deliberate. The locals say they are the last city and therefore the seat of The Imperium. Others scoff at this.
It is certainly the major naval and maritime power north of Thex, the city has small settlements in the marshes to its west and trading villages up and down the coast. Given the unsavory nature of the waters rightly called "The Pirate Straits" this is no mean feat. That's doubly so when one considers the ramshackle nature of the big city. It is crossed by numerous canals and streets that often change names from month to month.
This may be deliberate as well; if an invader broke through the massive Sea Gates and landed troops, they'd be trapped in the streets and picked off. Pirates know this and the city is open to them as long as they come to spend their loot, not engage in plunder. On the Sea Walls there are bodies hung in chains to remind criminals of how justice works here. The Khan trades here seldom, with the river blocked to his vessels, but on occasion the Thozangans have taught The Khan sharp lessons, once by going overland to help Windamere repel a major incursion. With a population of a million, including the outlying settlements, Thozanga is one of the largest cities known.
For generations, the Kennen family has ruled Thozanga, though
there is no royalty. Instead, members of families called "First Citizens" advise The First Citizen, currently Merimus Kennen. This is no rule by the people, though the government does permit referendums on small but popular issues that at provide some measure of self-rule to the populace.
Thozanga has the only university in the modern world, said to be a remnant of The Imperium. At the same time, the chaos of the place means that many areas are dangerous, even fatal. Slums within the walls host crumbling mansions for fallen gentry, nonhuman beasts, criminals, and wandering monsters that crept under the walls or in the warrens of tunnels under the city.
This randomness has made Thozanga a haven for thieves and slavers. It is also a good place to change one's identity or remain in hiding. The Thieves have a guild to match the others for craftsmen and merchants, and they extort protection money from merchants (though, apparently, payment includes actual protection).
Slavery is legal and a lively industry, though slaves must be paid for work done and can buy their freedom. Those who abuse slaves badly enough go "on the Wall" to rot in chains with pirates and brigands. No child may be born into slavery.
The balance of power among the First Citizens works through a cult of a goddess, purportedly one of the Ancients' deities, named Justura. The blindfolded goddess with her scales has a temple with a long flight of stairs leading down to the docks. Those First Citizens who try to seize sole power find themselves outnumbered, arrested, tried, strangled, and tossed down Justura's Stairway to a waiting mob who will desecrate the body before tossing the remains into the sewers. Most other high crimes are punished by death "On the Wall," but some foreign plotters have also been tossed down The Stairway to the mob.
As a destination, the mazes of Thozangan streets and canals can be daunting, a fact well known to the large population of thieves. There are temples to many gods, and the city has no native patron though Orozan, The Beggar God, has pride of place in the Citizens' Hall where the First Citizens meet. A popular saying is "your ancestors were beggars, and your children may be beggars again." Thozangans may be decadent but even the First Citizens do not put on airs. One can fall hard here, as the squalid Ghetto district attests: once a fine district of stately homes, now squalid tenements, lairs of monsters, and a cult apparently dedicated to a rat-god. Legends abound of two-legged "Ratkin" at war with ordinary rats far more intelligent than found anywhere else. Apparently two "Rat Kings" vie for control of the tunnels beneath the city.
A Pantheon hosts shrines to all (other) known gods and a monument to gods forgotten or unknown. Thozangans "cover all bases," a metaphor of unknown origin.
Racially, the Thozangans are dark-haired and have olive skin. They speak a native tongue, as well as Common with a pronounced regional accent. From their native language they have added more than a few odd words to common, like "Swamper" for the disreputable and often Misborn folk who trade with weird cults and monsters who live in the wastelands to the west and south.
The city thrives on shipbuilding, book making, and transshipping goods from up and down the coast, as well as from inland.
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