Alcora

Alcora is a city-state in northern Yent. It's the island's largest city by far and a major port.

Northern Quarter
Alcora's northern quarter is a walled section of the city where the elite live. Generally, one must be Enlightened and have a good reputation just to enter the quarter, although exceptions are made - e.g, honoured foreign representatives like Princess Dorotea are allowed to stay here.

A ball to honour Princess Dorotea's visit was held in the Northern Quarter; the party infiltrated it, talked to Cleon and left, only to return when it was attacked by a group wearing the robes of the Third Underworld

The Inn of the Gilded Turtle
The Inn of the Gilded Turtle is an upscale inn located just south of the Northern Quarter's gate, where adventurers, hangers-on and would-be elites gather and scheme. Henrik, bastard son of King Oswalt, was staying here, as was Diplio, some kind of representative of Queen Ilse who offered to handsomely pay the party if they assassinated Queen Alayne.

Government
Alcora has two branches of government: the assembly (democratically elected parliament of religious scholars) and the consuls (five merchant-elites who run the city, elect themselves). Generally the consuls have much more power than the assembly.

When the party was last in Alcora, three of the five consuls (Cleon among them) were killed at Princess Dorotea's ball, and the city was in turmoil because the two surviving merchant princes - the elitist Spice King and the populist Salt King - despised each other and were refusing to elect new consuls.

Foreign Relations
Alcora has allied with Queen Ilse against Hetman Jan. Generally Alcora tries to maintain the balance of power, intervening in foreign wars to ensure no Yentish monarch gets big enough to threaten their independence.

Gladiators
Tobit, a dwarf who escaped from the Temple of Moloch with one of the Councillors' Rings, is famous as a champion gladiator of Alcora's fighting pits.

Shmizmar's Plain Coffee
Shmizmar Ben Shmizmar has a coffee house near the city centre.