Blecknor is a fairly large city, and notable for the high
level of  organised crime it maintains.  It thrives on markets
and attracts  stallholders from the nearby countryside as well
as those from much  further afield, selling specialised goods.
The city is consequently  quite quiet in the winter months when
few are willing to make the journey  to either trade or sell.
   To the east of Bleckner is civilisation (towns, hamlets and
so on),  but to the west lies mainly wilderness (and the odd
farm) before the land  reaches the Sea of Hectate.
   As Bleckner is a jumping off place for the unknown it is both
a good and a bad place to buy supplies.  It is good because it
had a good stock of things, and bad because the merchants know
that they have people here over a barrel.  You *have* to get it
here if you want to be sure and have it before Argos or Pylos.  
   It is a capitol city, where King Duart rules.  His castle is
some distance southwest of town, not far from Aetosia.  It has
been known  to be the victim of robberies from time to time,
despite the rather  ineffectual guard he keeps there.
   The main streets are roughly cobbled, and not very smooth.
Street  lighting was once attempted with torches, but it was
never maintained and  years of thieves and burglars found it
advantageous to dispose of the  lighting to make their job
easier.
   There are plenty of taverns and inns in the city;  there need
to be,  especially around market time.  It is used also as a
stopping point for a  great many adventurers.  Thieves find this
useful, as adventurers are  always eager to get on with their
task and rarely have the time to follow  up a petty theft.
   The city has various guilds, both official and unofficial.
The  official ones follow the usual style;  guild of
blacksmiths, guild of  stallholders, etc.  The unofficial ones
include the thieves' guild (of  which Jawvig was once a member),
the assassin's guild (of which Galen was  once a member) and
other such undesirable organisations.  There are  relatively
close links between the underground guilds, but occasional 
rifts occur.
   The royal family are spread out over the city.  Many have
city and  country residences, but some are not that fortunate
when it comes to  money.  The worst off members of the family
are bitter that the king does  not support them, and there are
many that aspire to the throne.  Add to  that the number of
Dukes who would jump at the oppurtunity to gain  residence in
Duart's castle and get some form of command and you have a 
particularly unstable monarchy.
   Thieves benefit from the riches of the royalty around the
city;  they  are never perfectly protected.  Assassins benefit
from the unstable and  vicious royal family.  Everyone's happy
(who counts).
   A brief summary;  fairly active in the market season, and
certainly not  a holiday or peaceful retirement destination (but
the pubs are _good_!)