Post by Zoilus on Dec 29, 2017 0:16:20 GMT
House: Mircea
Words: Liberty is not well sold for gold.
Voivode: Vintil II Mircea
Seat: Bassania/Bashny
Nation: Talcary
Summary: Bassania is an ancient city, built by the early Empire to help solidify its control of what had been Eastern Ettin. As the heirs of Arturas solidified into their houses, the city became a point of contention between the Galathions and Merovs. The Merovs eventually triumphed, but the fall of the Empire and Ettinlands saw the city cast adrift. After a few centuries as a city-state (and Alendronian client), it eventually submitted to the rising Talcaer kings, and has remained in their hands ever since.
Point Allocation (10):
Army: 1 (+1), Castle: 3 (-2), Economy: 1 (+1), Espionage: 2 (-1), Logistics: 0 (+1), Loyalty: 0 (+2), Navy: 3 (+1)
Confident leadership: +2 Loyalty, +1 Economy
Pirate haven: +1 Army, +1 Navy
Loose lips: -1 Espionage, -2 Castle
Culture:
Traditionally, Bassania was founded by a group of Imperial veterans and settlers, and this influence is reflected everywhere in the city, from the architecture to the tongues of its people. The Bassanians were an island of Imperial culture in the Talcaer sea, but their isolation quickly led to linguistic drift. To preserve their heritage, the Bassians rigidly maintained and enforced what they believed to be old Imperial culture, to the bewilderment of the Trevastine heartland.
After the fall of the Empire, the Bassanians did their best to keep the their ship steady, but they no longer had the resources of a provincial capital, and Talcaer incursions kept them hemmed in their city. When the city did fall, many Bassians fled to Alendron, and the city was depopulated. Talcaers slowly took their place, and took up some of the local traditions, but by and large, the Bassanian minority was marginalized, and little remains to them but the Imperial ruins.
History:
Bassania was founded and built by the early Empire to help solidify its still tenuous control of the Ettinlands. Its position on the coast was defensible and strategic, it’s large and deep bay defended by a small chain of fortified islands (the largest and most important is called Alcarria). On the mainland, large walls kept the city reasonably safe from local raiders. The city grew in prominence as the Empire stabilized its power in the Ettinlands, quickly becoming the most wealthy and prominent coastal city south of Avindril.
However, Bassania’s prosperity became a problem between the Galathion and Merov lines, who both claimed the city as part of their rightful spheres. When the Galathions took the throne, they took the city, and this wound festered until their fall from power. Successive emperors would use the city as a bargaining chip between the two dynasties, until it permanently became a Merov fief when they took the throne.
However, when the Merovs fell and the Imperial Ettinlands collapses, the city was left alone, unable to keep control over the province it was the capital of. It became a small merchant republic, defended by its old fortifications.
The city did not have the resources to keep its independence funded, however, especially in the face of Alendronian mercantile competition. As their neighbors became more powerful and hostile, the cities’ rulers begged Avindril for protection, and became a Galathion protectorate, whose independence was largely a sham. The city’s port became the headquarters for Alendronian campaigns in Talcary, but maintaining the old Imperial fortifications was expensive, and with the failure of the campaigns, increasingly seen as not worth it. The point became moot when, in a lightning campaign, a newly crowned king of Talcary managed to capture the city. In exchange for trade concessions, the Alendronians agreed to leave.
Most of the native Imperials quickly migrated to Alendron, and Talcaers resettled the city. But after the siege and decades of neglect, its walls and grand buildings were mostly in shambles. Talcary’s king had no interest in building a rival capital, and so simply granted it to a loyal courtier, to rule as Voivode. This Voivode’s heirs, the House of Mircea, ruled the city for several generations, but it only continued to slide into disrepair. They are known for trying anything to try and rebuild, and most recently, have opened their port and market to pirates, who have joined local crime families in positions of extreme influence in the city.
Army:
Maximum of 10k men. Spread across the island forts and the city. Supplemented by pirates and mercenaries.
Navy:
Maximum of 4 heavy ships, 16 light ships. Supplemented by pirates.
Overhead map:
