Trung Town was the capital of the Hobgoblin Lands under the leadership of Kruk-Ma-Kali. At the height of the Hobgoblin Emperor’s power the city was home to 400,000 goblinoids. After his assassination, Kruk-Ma-Kali’s city diminished in size. His vassals fought over the remains of his empire and the infant capital languished. Now Trung Town’s population is only 18,000 goblins, 1,000 hobgoblins, and 1,000 bugbears.
In the fighting after Kruk-Ma-Kali’s death, General Graz-Khrodun emerged on top with a secure hold on the capital after two decades of war. His victory was not without cost though. Many of the important political ties to the rest of the empire were frayed or broken by the war. Trung Town was an unimportant town before Kruk-Ma-Kali’s reign and without the strong mercantile connections created by the emperor, the city contracted at an alarming rate. Planned as a massive administrative center, it became a ghost town.
Graz-Khrodun focused his efforts on consolidation of power. He nominally succeeded and his descendant, Graz-Toshdrun still occupies the throne of Trung Town today. Graz-Toshdrun’s influence over the shrunken city is minimal at best. His personal guard leaves the palace monthly to collect a paltry amount of taxes from the capital and the surrounding communities. These taxes are barely enough for the guards, the palace staff, and Graz-Toshdrun to sustain themselves. They certainly don’t have the power to assist the people of Trung Town with their problems, such as the roving bugbear gangs that have moved in.
The death of Kruk-Ma-Kali and later diminishing of the Graz family left a power vacuum within Trung Town. Without the strength to protect his citizens, Graz-Toshdrun could do nothing but watch when the various bugbear tribes of the Hobgoblin Lands began settling in Trung Town. The city had shrunk over the years, but still maintained a healthy population, a population that the bugbears sought to cultivate and consume. Previously the citizens of Trung Town were good at hiding as a method to avoid Graz-Toshdrun’s taxes. Now that skill set became a necessity for survival as bugbear harvesters stalked the city’s streets and alleyways looking for a goblin to fill their cooking pots.
The streets of Trung Town are littered with unused architectural pieces. Kruk-Ma-Kali had planned a great capital with one million residents and was well on his way to building such a dream before his assassination. Acres of abandoned apartments, storefronts, and tunnels cover the city. A few notable structures have also fallen into disrepair. The city’s gladiatorial arena is now a slaughter pen for the city’s livestock. A forty-five foot tall statue of Kruk-Ma-Kali broke at the knees and the upper portion now lies upon a set of tenement houses. A large bathhouse has been dry for centuries. The only large structures that have been maintained are the Royal Palace where Graz-Toshdrun lives and the temples to Lion and Night. A few priests keep the sacred rituals for Lion and Night, the favored deities of Kruk-Ma-Kali. These priests ward the bugbears off using their magic and keep the temple grounds clean, but they are unable to do much else for the people of Trung Town.
Even in its dilapidated state, Trung Town remains an important pilgrimage site in the Hobgoblin Lands. Thousands come every year to pay their respects to the capital city and the site of Kruk-Ma-Kali’s death. The townsfolk make a living selling rubble from the buildings and trinkets they claim were owned by Kruk-Ma-Kali or his closest advisors. The pilgrims are advised to come with a bodyguard or a fast horse. Bugbear ambushes can happen at any time and they are fond of brewing “pilgrim soup.”
Despite the challenges afflicting Trung Town, the people of the capital have managed to develop a unique industry to maintain the city’s relevance in the present. Trung Town is Cimmeria’s largest exporter of ostrich meat, eggs, and feathers. Ostriches are the only large bird native to Cimmeria that has been domesticated and the Goblins of Trung Town are the only ones who know the secret. With a monopolistic hold on this product, the locals have clawed their way back into the minds of other goblinoids as more than just a deadly tourist trap. Merchant caravans make regular stops at the outskirts of Trung Town to load up on ostrich goods. The large fowl industry may be just what the Trung Towners need to get back on top.
