Samarkand was originally founded by river traders beaching their boats either side of the fork in the river to rest their crews. Over time a community grew here to cater for these traders and eventually this community formed into a proper town. Now it is a thriving river stop famed for its hospitality to river men and is renowned for a certain type of liquor which is brewed from the leeches local to the area. A fortress has been built here to protect the community against roving bands of monsters, however due to the surrounding swampy area many architects have deemed having a river port here to be impractical.