Hoggsport

Hoggsport, the capital of the Kingdom of Harodom, and the seat of power for the Monarch, is a port city on the banks of Lake Haro. Even today, a great deal of the meat exports – including the barrels of salted pork that once gave the city its name – flow through the port and along the coastline, bringing both fresh and preserved food to the coastal towns of Harodom and beyond. This might well serve as a fitting metaphor for the rule of King Francis Alexander of the line of Haro, for along with the foodstuffs that nourish the kingdom, so too flow royal decrees and guidance to the nation and its peoples.

Ruling House of Hoggsport

The City

No duchy claims the City of Hoggsport; the land of the city, and several miles in each direction are Crown controlled, and while the crown’s highways and the city’s own ports feed the city its necessary intake of lumber, stone, metal, oil, pitch, fodder, animals, vegetables, fruits, grain, flour, and raw and finished goods of all descriptors, far in excess of what could reasonably be created in the lands controlled by the crown, there are nevertheless large orchards and farms ringing the city, ensuring that it is never entirely dependent upon the capability of the nation as a whole. Dotting the agrarian countryside are stone watchtowers, able to see on the rolling plains, miles in each direction.

Once within the outer walls straining to girdle the city proper, there are no end of diversions and entertainments available to visitors. Although parts of the city still show wear and travail from the war with Eldersire (2015-2018), the city has rebuilt; feats of engineering and civic pride alike, never quite what it once was, but something anew. Travellers can find comfort within proportionate to the amount of coin that they wish to spend: while all manner of people flow in to Hoggsport, many petitioners to the Royal Court are well-off, and the finest accommodations may cost a pretty coin indeed.

The City Core

The City Core of Hoggsport follows more strict security procedures than the rest of the city, as it is home to the Royal Court, Castle Haro, and the Royal Bank, as well as street after street of homes ranging from small but comfortable town houses used by nobility and bureaucrats who visit the city infrequently, to large estates for those of the gentry who find it serves their interests to spend a significant amount of time at Court. There are few shops, but many pubs, private members clubs, and restaurants, a great number of which have private salons and rooms available for just a few coins more, and truly impressive sound-proofing.

Although the city of Hoggsport as a whole is patrolled by the City Guard, the City Core is supplemented by the Castle Guard, usually veterans with little sense of humour. Though it defies Harodom’s military tradition to fully disarm those of noble bearing, even the daggers permitted within the Core are watched with excruciating care by the Guard. It is rumoured that the area is honeycombed with discreet passageways, many running beneath the street, as newly built and renovated homes turn up old conveniences, and seek novel ways that their inhabitants might enjoy the luxury of privacy in their movements.

Castle Haro, while still impressive to gaze upon, was built first as a fortification, and then modified to allow for some comfort thereafter. It does not tower over the City Core, as some might expect, but is built more compactly, its dark grey stone and heavy oaken gates implying that someone seeking to make trouble that threatened its inhabitants might be better served exploring other pass-times.

The Outer Ring

The gates of Hoggsport open to the North, East, and West, allowing many to enjoy the freedom of the city. The gates are not watched by the City Guard, but as a duty of King Haro’s private regiment of soldiers, many of whom are more than happy to offer friendly but curt advice and directions. The gates are never closed in peace time, and experience varied traffic depending on the day; the East Gate Market draws in many from within and without the city, with the allure of exotic wares, the heady scents of spices and baked and cooked goods, and even musical performances on an open stage on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, serving to clog this major artery into the city.

Although shrines and small churches to any number of the gods dot the residential and commercial districts, the majority of larger institutions of faith are particularly placed to the domain that they serve; the Palace of Penance serves the faithful of Brack, the Library of Hoggsport holds a church of Fiona, the Merchant Square has a prominent church of Marius, the Necropolis has a well-established contingent of Jerroh priests, and so forth.

The West Gate district holds the College of Hoggsport, as well as the city’s largest node, and the local branch of the Guild of the Arcane. Scholars and wizards flock to this part of the city, as well as seers and diviners, who will often travel some distance to confer with one another at Madam Olga’s Tea House, a fixture in the region and famed gathering point for those who seek the unseen.

The Port

The port of Hoggsport is constantly in motion, with ships burdened with cargo arriving and departing at all hours of the day. As difficult as it is to keep track of all of the comings and goings, this part of the city can be rougher than the others, and borders on the proud but poor homes that constitute the city’s slums. Ships who may bear disease, or of which there are other reasons to prove suspicion, must wait at anchor some distance from the port until healers from the Fever House have had a chance to examine their crew and cargo, often under guard. As a hub both for land and sea travel, the fear of contagion spreading out from Hoggsport is very real.

Two rotating ships of the Harodonian fleet sit at anchor in striking distance of the harbour, performing drills and prepared to defend the harbour if so needed. A large siege arsenal along the seawall does the same, and while visually impressive, this is simply another reminder that Hoggsport may have fallen in past, but intends to do so never again.

The Eldersire War

Hoggsport was overtaken by elven forces during the Eldersire war (2015-2018), in the summer of 2016. In truth, the city fell in stages, with the rings of its defence fighting a brutal siege, and waves of invasion. As the city fell, it became subject to plunder; many pieces of public art, once proudly held in Hoggsport galleries were destroyed or taken, and their eventual fate left unknown. Much of the citizenry was evacuated by sea, and though the City fell, the royal family had withdrawn by means unknown before the City Core was taken.

The occupation of Hoggsport proved to be a tactical error for Eldersire forces, who had to commit considerable troops in order to hold the city. It is believed that Hoggsport’s Silent Guilds, the Thieves and the Assassins, may have worked on the side of the defenders – although of course, this cannot be proven, and may have contributed to the plundering of the city simultaneous to its defence.

Eventually, Hoggsport was liberated by Duke Hayden’s 18th Mounted Dragoons, supported by a number of irregular forces, and a crack team of Malkin mage-hunters, whose innate resistance to magic came as rude surprise to the elven war mages that had proven so instrumental to taking and holding the city. After an occupation of six months, the liberation occurred in a matter of three days – and the wide destruction and capture of elven forces within the city proved disastrous both to morale and fighting capacity for the Eldersire armies in the rest of the country.

Visitor’s Guide

An unpublished Visitor’s Guide to Hoggsport was uncovered in the recovery and rebuilding of the city, and copies of it have circulated to describe what life in the city once was, and may be again.

Authored by: Andrew Dunlop
Fantasy Alive Lore Team 2026
Copyright © Endless Adventures Ontario