In the western-most district of the Northside ward sits the Kingsport Manège, a sprawling area where different businesses find their home.
The most prominent is the auction house which specialises in riding animals, mostly horses. Sometimes beasts of burden and other live stock are put to auction from time to time, and on rare occasion some exotic ones, too. The lead auctioneer is a retired merchant called Fiona of Egremont, who made a fortune in trading Silesian stallions. She knows everyone at the Manège and rules it with an iron fist. Anyone who gets on her bad side is quickly disinvited from the next auction, missing up lucrative opportunities. She has a soft spot for small ranchers and farmers who come to the city because they need a sturdy ox or stallion, but she has no patience for entitled breeders who try to bully their way in an auction. She has a whiplash tongue and uses it to cut anyone down who dares to cross her line. There are several prominent Silesian horse breeders have an office at the Manège so that they can attend auctions as regularly as possible and keep their ear to the ground for good stock coming in and they make it a point to stay in Fiona’s good graces.
While the Manège deals mostly in horses, on occasion it also auctions off beasts of burden and cattle. Because this isn’t Fiona’s specialty, she steps aside for other auctioneers but keeps a close eye on the proceedings and puts a stop to any dirty tricks being played in order to drive up the price or block people from being able to bid. On rare occasions the Manège will have exotic or fantastic animals up for sale, like olyphants, lions, griffons, unicorns and gorgons. Most unusual auctions are only open to invited parties, but these require a special invitation which is very hard to acquire. While these animals are also not Fiona’s specialty, she reasons that they are nobody’s specialty, so she leads those auctions.
