Haven

13th Age allows for a lot of improvisation. I thought I would give everyone a primer on Haven to use as a frame of reference should you be called on to elaborate on someone, somewhere, or something in the small city. I'd appreciate a quick glance, at least, when improvising.

Haven
(also known by regional natives as Osta)

Haven is the largest Etherian settlement outside of Etherias, the City of the Gods, situated close to the summit of the Holy Mountain (where the heads of state are currently in peace talks). Only two decades ago, it was a thorp with a single inn, a few cottages, and a main street. It has grown into a true haven for refugees driven out by Izoldan advances, orphaned aliens collected by the Gods of Light who prefer the more rustic lowlands to the splendors of Etherias, and Zoldani expatriates. 

The Brightwall, that manned wall with the prisms, copper roofs, and star crenelations seen from afar separating Haven on its Izoldan side, was only finished five years ago. The other walls of the city were only completed last summer! The city is young, but growing exponentially in an eclectic, ramshackle way. It won't be long before it exceeds the new walls. Already two villages have expanded from Haven, huddled on the exterior fortifications. One is a largely alien settlement called Selale (off the Violet Ward) inhabited mostly by Thesolonian philosophers. The second is Veselka (off the Green Ward) which is a wide-spread collection of farms and stables.

The city is structured like a giant color wheel in keeping with national themes of light, prisms, rainbows, and ethnic and religious diversity. There are many color-specific elements in each ward (banners, pigments in the stones and walls, the roof hues, green for the trees, blue for the water, etc) that help give each its name. A central "White Ward" lies in the middle of town, and in the center of that is Starhome, first inn of Haven, overlooking all others on a high hill. Details on the wards are listed below, but a few general thematic elements of the small city include:

1. Etheria is the Baltic States/Hungary/Poland to Izolda's Russia. The native humans of the northern Dawnspears (Dawer) share that Baltic kind of ethnicity and heritage, having much in common with the Zoldani, in truth, and possessing names like Goda, Kamile, Jokubas, Sofija, Alise, Maksim and Daniil. Of course the Dawer represent only a portion of the total Etherian population, but their culture is clearly the baseline. 
2. Religion is central to most people's lives. In Etheria, there is a stunning amount of saints, demigods, spirits, totems, and strange lesser powers gathered from across dozens of worlds. They have be assimilated into the pantheons of The Radiant Mother, The Spirit of Harmony, The Dragon Prince, and The Mysterious Traveler. Beyond the major temples and churches listed throughout this article, there are hundreds of shrines and holy sites.
3. Then include the alien elements, not technology per say (that stuff is kept in Etherias under the close supervision of the Artificer-General Raziel Kirk), but certainly food, culture, music, dress, decoration, and especially worship (see information in Violet Ward on the largest alien populations, but by no means the only). The human population might be very Baltic, but certain alien populations stir it up with unexpected cultural dashes (such as Ancient Greek, Arthurian, Far Eastern, etc). Again, see below.
4. There is a refreshing air of tolerance in Haven and Etheria at large. Despite aliens being kept mostly to the Violet Ward, they are welcomed throughout town. There is no segregation or discrimination largely in part to the assimilation of the alien pantheons into the Othyrian pantheons. Certainly customs don't always mesh. There can be conflict. But it is manageable conflict, not deep racial hatreds found elsewhere in the worlds. 
5. Haven is run by a Speaker (mayor), in this case Tabatha Melane-Kirk, and a council of advisers drawn from The Brightcloaks (city guard), the major guilds, the main temples, and people's representatives from each district (including Selale and Veselka). Disputes are heard publicly, whether in The House of Agreement (temple of Sabriane), The Circle in the Red District, or in Sabrient Hall in the White District (offices of the Speaker). Justice is the law. People do their best to maintain the peace. 

Haven Wards

Not 100% accurate, but for visual reference (missing violet
between indigo and red, and smaller white ward)

The Red Ward holds the largest of the temples and churches, including The Chantry of the Sun and Moonbower dedicated to Kalia (The Radiant Mother), The House of Agreement in honor of Sabriane (The Spirit of Harmony), and The Silvery Bastion for Chroma (The Dragon Prince). Several, smaller shrines such as Cradle of the Blue Mystery, Stones of Oathtaking, and Drake’s Fountain serve as additional religious sites. The Red Ward acts as the face of Haven and caters to visitors with a number of inns and taverns (all considered sacred to The Mysterious Traveler), restaurants, and street acts. The Circle, an outdoor amphitheater, serves as stage, podium, and fairground.

There's a positive buzz in the air about The Festival of Kites in a week's time, many in town already hanging their colorful flyers out their windows. Several vendors have wheeled carts to the Red for prime positioning, ready to do business as the crowds pass the Kaalga Gate (main gates of the city, located in this district) and make for the Green Hills. More will come in the following days. Out in the Green Hills, many pavilions and carts have already been set (and guarded).

The Orange Ward is the commercial district of Haven, location of most of the shops and businesses (but not the guilds and artisans, who keep to the Indigo Ward). There are no magic item shops, sorry, though a few potion and oil shops. The orange ward also hosts the town markets located in two squares. The largest, Kranik Square, contains a healthy variety of mundane and masterwork items. The smaller square, dubbed the Unusuum, is reserved for alien merchants and caters to the cultures and demands of the extraterrestrial population (again, no advanced technology).

The Yellow Ward is built along The Brightwall, serving as home base for city guard known as The Brightcloaks (with their muted rainbow capes and cowls). They operate out of the wall itself, containing six towers and a small, central keep. In the center of the district there is a magical waypoint to Etheria built for times of emergency and allowing quick troop movement up and down the mountain. On foot, the trek between Haven and Etherias is more like a week, certainly longer in autumn and winter. Two officers share responsibility for the Brightcloaks and the waypoint: Captain Mira Beltremieux, chief of the city patrol and Speaker's guards, while Marshal Rees Duilbrood is in charge of the protection of the southern borders of Etheria (hence given access to the waypoint, as well as the city resources as needed).

The Green Ward consists of several large, lovely public gardens providing a very modest twice-yearly crop of root vegetables and berries to supplement the districts nearby granaries. It also includes a small grove belonging to The Circle of Ten, kept by a single aven (formerly called raptorans) druid named Macaul of Rivenroost. Halflings, gnomes, and nature-friendly aliens tend to favor the ward. The Green Ward is the only other access in and out of the city via The Goat’s Gate. The main road in the district, Carver’s Street, leads from the green's animal pens to the slaughterhouses in the Orange Ward. Every Tuesday and Friday, much to the dismay of the Brightcloaks, herds pass the outskirts of The Yellow Ward bringing a potent smell and leaving steaming leftovers. The clean up is one of the chiefest responsibilities of The Sweeper’s Guild out of the Indigo District.

The Blue Ward lies along the banks of The Great River (almost always shrouded in the Rayan Falls mists) and possesses an elaborate series of barge docks that have been largely decommissioned in recent years due to the troubles with Izolda. What barges and boats do go out are kept very local, as none are able to pass the Izoldan blockades south and east on the river (well, there might be one or two smugglers...). It's somewhat of a depressed ward. If trouble is afoot, it probably originates in this ward. Many of the poorer citizens have taken to living in the blue, the largest of these neighborhoods called simply The Falls (not entirely destitute, but as close to slums as it gets in Haven).

The Indigo Ward is as fine and established as the red, home of Haven's guilds. The largest guilds include The Gem Cutters' Guild, Masons' Guild (rich from all the building on the mountain, especially the expansion of Haven and the need for new settlements across The Holy Mountain), and The Amber Guild (one of the main exports of Etheria, plentiful in the mountains, the parent guild of The Gem Cutters. They could more accurately be called the Etherian Mining Guild). There's dozens of lesser guilds, including The Sweepers' Guild (maintaining Carver’s Road and the Red Ward) and The Powder Guild (fireworks, crude explosives, dabbling in gunpowder).

Violet Ward is largest of the districts, the foreign quarter and home to those aliens seeking a more mundane sort of existence in the foothills and falls than in a city-in-the-clouds. It is the meeting of strange and divergent cultures, architecture, and decor, some of which is creeping into the other wards slowly but surely.

Four alien races outnumber the rest, drawn from various cosmic reaches: 

1. Thesolonians from Thesolon [Ancient Greek-styled philosophers and warriors]

2. The Randals of Noble Reginus [Arthurian knights, druid/sorcerers, and nobles]

3. Uquda of the Tranquil Orb [meditative frog-men of Eastern Asian bent]

4. Mitha of Mehadma [Large, clay golems given the gift of sentience by their Shaper in the moments before their world was destroyed; kind of a Hebrew/Middle Eastern feel to them]

The White Ward is the center of the city in more ways than one, its jewel Starhome-on-the-Hill (also known as Diana’s House, Sunnyside, and The Dream House) serving as premiere inn and holy place of The Mysterious Traveler. They claim she spends one night a year at the inn, in disguise of course. All other buildings stand at the base of the vaunted hill, including Sabrient Hall and the town's civil offices, the Speaker’s manor, several small estates belonging to wealthy, local guild leaders, and the very private Tower of the Peryton. It houses the local order of magicians, acting as seers, scryers, and in times of great need the city’s magical defenders.