Name: The City-Kingdom of Vo-Spejlia
Demonym: Spejlings
Description: The City of Vo-Spejlia, is a shimmering city sitting out in the sea. A renowned port and capital of a dominating naval-power. Vo-Spejlia draws the trade routes that flow around the south cape and around Albion. The city isle is home to sailors and commoners as much as it is to magi and academics. From the docks to the districts, the city is filled with pools, rooftop gardens, tall academies and long shipyards.
Government: The City-Kingdom is administered by various magistrates who oversee the districts of the city. The other islands are dotted with outposts and work camps, producing raw materials and cash crops to be shipped to the City. These camps are run by captains, who report to the state-owned trade companies. At the head of it all is the royal authority, a collection of district nobles and retainers, who report to the king at the top.
On a more local level. Districts are divided into street-captaincies and company holdings. Subservient to the magistrates or company directors respectively. Magistrates councils are called semi-regularly by the royal authority, usually by the king, but not uncommon for the magistrates to call either.
The Vor Oranzs' dynasty have ruled over the city-kingdom as a noble family since the Voman conquest. They have been the ruling dynasty since their victory in the Drowning War. A family of exiled pyromancers, members of this family are cast as either "Doused" or "Lit". A doused member is one that doesn't develop magic ability of any kind. Lit members are those that have magic ability and are schooled in pyromancy.
Since the Drowning War, there have been five "doused" monarchs and eleven "lit" monarchs, including the current king, Theodor 2nd, nicknamed "Ashen Hands".
Economy: The raw materials necessary for textiles manufacturing and the sugarcane are grown on the other islands, some being completely dominated by cash crops. These resources are harvested and shipped to the manufactories of Vo-Spejlia's docklands and poorer quarters. Sustenance fishing and seaweed farming dot around these major industries, whilst wine is produced on rooftop vineyards and gardens of the social elite. Smaller domestic industries exist, such as crude rum distilleries in poorer districts, along with tailors and carpet makers in the noble districts.
The textiles and sugar trade sustains not only their cities needs but also supports shipyards, merchant warehouses and academic institutions. The wine trade is more of a premium luxury that is associated as a status symbol amongst nobility both domestic and foreign. All industries though in Vo-Spejlia are tithed and taxed by the eight companies. All of which have the monarch as a prominent shareholder and takes a slice of the takings from all.
Everything else is in demand. Particularly grains to feed the population accustomed to sugarcane and seafood. As well as lumber for an ever hungry navy and commercial fleets. Various minerals and ores are also prized for and are always acquired by the military and social elite before they can be traded with smaller companies and general populace.
Religion: The ocean is the god of Vo-Spejlia, it's where the founding Spejilings ventured from and is where Vomen washed up from. Spejilings are baptised in it and their dead are sent to drift in it. Totems are erected on beaches and against cliffs in veneration of it and they bathe in saltwater before ceremonies. Ocean druids and magi in Vo-Spejlian society are near indistinguishable, as the only magics condoned in Vo-Spejlia for non-royals are ocean and storm magics.
There are religious minorities, but centuries of cleansings and executions by drowning have painted a fear on dissenters and they hide their faith.
Geography: The Vo-Spejlian Islands are a collection of islands, the majority effectively giant fields for cash crops, stripped of trees and debris over precious soil. Then you have the city itself, the Sapphire City. The island and the city are indistinguishable, with layers of buildings, docks and gardens built over the island. Creating a cityscape unmatched across the world.
Map of the City
Vo-Spejlia's Sapphire City is divided into districts and docks. Some are built dense, impoverished areas packed against warehouses and dockyards. Whiles others are spacious and open quarters with gardens and pools of the upper classes. A general rule of thumb is by height, with the mansions, company offices and academies on the slopes of the hills, with the poorer areas closer to the ocean (and more prone to flooding).
Population:3 million
DemographicsThe vast majority of people in Vo-Spejlia are human and the extreme majority live in the Sapphire City itself. An earlier nation would see these humans divided between Vomen, the elite conquerors, and the Spejlings, the native founders of the island city. However, both have intermingled over the centuries and very few claim to be pure bred Vomen or Spejlings.
With any trade city, you are gonna get token populations of other races and cultures. Although they are usually forced into tiny ghettos within districts
Personalities of NoteTheodor 2nd of the Var Oranzs Dynasty.
"Ashen-Hands", 11th Lit King of the Vo-Spejlian Islands, Lord-Admiral of the Hurricane Fleet, Shareholder of the Eight Companies. Chosen by Salt and Fire.Institutions:The Royal Authority.
The Eight Companies.
The Academy of Maritime Engineering.
The Academy of Saltwater Magics.
Military:Organization: The military of the Vo-Spejlia is a navy dominated force.
Troop Total: 35,000 troops serve in the Vo-Spejling armed forces.
Army: 5,000 troops serve in the Territorial Corps. An army tasked mostly with the defence of the Sapphire City from external and internal threats. The Territorial Corp is funded by the Royal Authority, which has helped to train and equip the small force into an above-average fighting force.
Navy: 30,000 troops serve in the Vo-Spejlian navy, either as sailors or as marines. Usually divided between the various carracks and caravels of the city-kingdom's navy, but also put to manning outposts across the islands and guarding commercial fleets.
The navy is divided into four fleets. The Hurricane Fleet, The Hammerhead Fleet, The Narwhal Fleet and the Riptide Fleet. Each with a Lord-Admiral commanding various commodores and captains.
Other: The Academy of Maritime Engineering provides many engineers learned in siege engineering and construction of siege equipment. Both on land and at sea. Thus furbishing the defences of the Sapphire City with many batteries and fighting positions along it's shoreline and deeper into the city.
Strengths:Naval Traditions: To be selected to crew a ship is coming of age amongst Spejling society, whether as a cabin boy or a lord-admiral. Children grow up spotting flags and playing marines and pirates. Navy veterans are venerated and monuments are built in their honours. The Streets of the Sapphire city are named after famous sailors and battles at sea. Those in the navy are pushed by centuries of tradition and history to be faster and stronger and deadlier. Any merchant, across the world, would find themselves lucky to have a spejling crew their ship, let alone captain it.
A Home to Intelligentsia: Away from the conflict and uncertainty of the mainland. Intelligentsia both domestic and foreign are invited to tutor and research at the colleges and academies of the Sapphire City. Though the fields of research are wide and far-between, Vo-Spejlia keeps up with the continent's foremost minds because of her academies.
Eight Companies Strong: The eight companies work tirelessly to draw in ships and goods to the city-kingdom. The strive to inflitrate new markets and strike treatise with both savages and nobles.
Weaknesses: The Bare Necessities: Vo-Spejlia lacks bare necessities such as lumber and various foodstuffs. What they do get come's from trade with mainland nations or from smugglers, both of which are expensive and not necessarily indefinite.
No Cavalry: Though horses have been imported to Vo-Spejlia and can be seen in the city regularly. They are used to mainly pull carriages and transport, not for combat. The vast majority of Spejlings, both noble and commoner have never ridden a horse nor know how to.
