Alexandria went through a long cycle of prosperity and decline as civil wars wracked the Khamilian kingdom. When the city was again ransacked and destroyed in 2490, it again became a virtual ghost town, this time with the help of the Seelie and Unseelie courts, who had claimed the nearby forest as their own and ensured stange things would happen to keep the humans out of the area. This continued until a tenuous truce was forged between the Courts and the humans, but it was still the year 2620 before the first people permanently moved back into the area.
The new city, named Thorn after the nearby forest, was initially a fishing and trading village. However, once gold and silver were discovered within the kingdom, its place astride a natural harbor and two rivers made it an ideal place to establish trading companies, and the city quickly grew and took on a more cosmopolitan feel. As trade was the dominant source of wealth and power in Thorn, it was not too surprising when the largest of the merchant kings in the city, the Amberville family, declared Thorn an independent city-state and themselves the Baron of Southwatch. This of course was done with well-spoken words, a few bribes, and the offer of new taxes for the throne—a habit that seems to have stuck to the Amberville family.
With the Ambervilles in charge, the entire city was razed in 2776 to make way for a newer, modern city. The tunnels of the underground were started, a canal was built to link the two rivers, the Great Docks were constructed, and the city began to expand beyond the rivers. In 2852, the first skyscrapers were commissioned—a fact that some find interesting since the Dark Cloud began forming in 2868. However, the city kept pushing for taller and taller skyscrapers to pierce the Dark Cloud. Then, in 2877, the first bessem airships were towed into place, forming the nucleus of the Aerie and the move of the city’s administration into the upper heights of the city. The city’s name was officially changed from Thorn to Southwatch in 2897.