Thayngen's status as a free city is one that goes back centuries, and it has always held onto a strong local character because of this. The city is governed by a burgomaster elected from a council of guildmasters and local authorities; most of these officials do not hold noble rank, and in fact, Thayngen prides itself as a city of, by, and for the common people, staunchly resisting any overreach by the nobility that threatens to encroach on their autonomy. The current burgomaster is Alte Bosch, formerly the master of the Guild of Silversmiths. Although a fiery demagogue who has the support of the people due to his impassioned speeches, Alte is a short-sighted fool who often makes bold promises he has no intent (or even ability) to deliver on, and often the other council members have needed to pull him into line if his bluster gets out of hand. In fact, there are a number of guilds competing with one another behind closed doors, trying to manipulate the Burgomaster one way or another to favor their agendas.
Some sights in Thayngen include:
- With the guilds of Thayngen being as powerful as they are, it is no surprise that the city's central square boasts many guild halls, large and lavish and brightly painted; the guilds are in fierce competition with one another to try and claim the attention and favor of the people, and they spare no expense on flaunting their power. The most powerful guilds, and the ones with seats on the town council, are the Guilds of Silversmiths, Bakers, Weavers, Fishermen, Traders, Potters, Coopers, and Butchers.
- Separated from Thayngen geographically, but still falling under the jurisdiction of the Burgomaster, is the Thayngen Citadel, a fortress that exists to house the city's population in times of siege; it is also where the city guard train and keep their barracks. The Captain of the Guard, Lucia von Achlen, also sits on the town council. She is a stern woman who is reluctant to take orders from anyone, and has often impeded dialogues when they haven't gone her way. Many council members find her a frustrating impediment, but she is far too well-armed to do anything about.
- Thayngen's philosophy of self-governance resonated with the traditions of the Swordbrothers of the Freikantons. When these warriors were hired by Thayngen to fight off an orc raid, many of them were drawn in by the city, and established a company there. Today, the Boar Spear Guild is the largest Swordbrother company in the Crownlands, and its members have served in many battles. Their tradition holds that their members must prove themselves by taking on odd jobs and performing individual quests before they are sent off to larger-scale battles, so there are always desperate souls seeking work.
- The Tournament of Saint Withun, honoring a saint in the Cult of Kerne, is a jousting tournament held in Thayngen for the guilds every year. A tilting field is set aside outside the walls, and often this becomes the site of a great festival, as merchants flock to the site to sell their wares to the retinues of visiting knights and to the people attending to watch the hastiltudes.
- In addition to the Tournament, one of Thayngen's most celebrated pastimes is calcio - a game that traces its history back to the City-States, in which two teams of players compete to force a ball into a goal on the opposite side of a square, with all manner of physical violence short of weapons or magic being permitted to get there. The Square of the Lions is unofficially the city's calcio field, and every year, the different guilds face off in a tournament, with the winner getting to fly a banner from their hall until the next tourney.
- Although Thayngen has not held the residence of the Emperor in many years, in no small part due to resistance from the fiercely independent townsfolk, it has been a destination on the Imperial Itinerary before, and an Imperial palace stands there. The palace has long since been abandoned, its doors shuttered and its furniture covered in dust, but Imperial law forbids it to be demolished without permission of the Emperor, and in his aims of tightening control on his domain, Harald IV has no intentions of doing so - even if he hasn't used it, to let go of it would mean conceding his grip on Thayngen. Rumors speak of plenty of riches contained within if one can manage to break in. Other rumors speak of ghosts.
- There are many temples in Thayngen - so much so that the Quarter of Spires is set aside for them. The most powerful are the Temple of Torvald, the Temple of Kerne, and the Convent of the Holy Wheel, devoted to Nehalennia. But there are many temples, monasteries, and priesthoods that congregate there, and often one may hear fierce theological debates between rival sects at the taverns and squares.
- Other holy men and women of Thayngen prefer to live their own lives, uninterested in the politics of the cults. Wilhelmina Abeln, a recluse schooled in the mystic arts by the Cult of Seidra, runs a small library tucked into the back of an alley somewhere, where a respectable archive of grimoires and arcane texts is kept for those who know where to look. It is frequently visited by scholars and magicians who discuss their findings and revelations with one another, becoming somewhat of a community gathering place.
- One of Thayngen's proudest landmarks is its clock tower, which sits on a hill so that its bells may be heard from any quarter of the city. It is operated by Ruprecht Elbram, an eccentric and reclusive wizard who lives in its loft; the city granted him the job in the hopes of keeping him busy so that he wouldn't cause too much chaos with his experiments.
- Thayngen's town square contains a chopping block in which those condemned to death are executed by beheading. The executioner's axe has been passed down from generation to generation - and now, it has tasted blood so many times that it has developed a taste for it. The axe functions as a berserker battleaxe, and the executioner, Gislin, has of late been demanding more executions, even for seemingly minor crimes, to sate the axe's hunger, so much so that the city's magistrates are becoming worried. If they don't supply him with bodies, he may need to find other victims...
- Like any city, Thayngen has plenty of rumors. One holds that the sewers of the city are full of rat men, a rumor that is backed up by a spate of disappearances of beggars that have gone missing from the streets without a trace. The truth is stranger yet - an oytugh lives beneath the city, and occasionally devours anyone who gets too close to the openings to the sewers when food grows scarce.
- Another rumor claims that, long ago, an accomplished thief named Theodemir von Aschen committed many a grand heist from the guilds of Thayngen using a pair of enchanted boots that allowed him to jump higher than any wall. Supposedly, he hid the boots in a tunnel somewhere in the city, but no one has been able to find it. Clues in the notes he left behind, scrawled in the pages of several old books kept in various archives, point to a well by the tanner's quarter. But what else might be down there?
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