Name: Uralith, the City Standing
Flag/emblem/symbolism: The emblem of the City Standing is an hand reaching out in welcome, extending from a notched triangle.
Demonym: All those born in the city bear the name Lithian. Foreigners and first-generation immigrants are collectively referred to as Visitors, or in less polite company, the Unborn.
Description: Uralith is the City Standing, a tradition built stone by stone since ages unwritten, perhaps from the dawn of Albion itself. In the mists of legend, the ancient Lithians drifted across the Wandering Sands, fleeing from a great cataclysm that destroyed their paradise. On the brink of death, they found the mountain valley of the Ur-Dwarves, rich from springs deep within the Bulwark mountains, and were welcomed to a new home. This tradition of welcoming all comers built, over millennia, a grand conglomeration of cultures and peoples under one purpose - to support a greater whole.
Modern Uralith is the largest single city on Albion, hosting seven million souls within its storied walls. It is led by the last surviving members of the ancient Lithian species, who have lent their name to all those born within the City. This is the only method by which anyone may gain citizenship and become Lithian, and the disenfranchised and refugees of the world often answer the siren call of the city gates so that their children may be ensured the basics of life.
All those born within the City are marked by an ancient enchantment of the Ur-Dwarves - a notched triangle in blue between the eyes. None today remember what it represented to the ancient Ur, but now it is a universal passport to the services and protection of the City Standing. The Academia has never been able to penetrate its mechanics or purpose further than being able to verify whether it is a true Birthmark or a facsimile.
Newborn Lithians are registered and immediately inducted into a lengthy system of education and indoctrination under the Individual Improvement Directorate. Only half of any given child’s life is spent with their direct family, but this is an uncrossable line that allows for cultural diversity to survive for many generations after the first. Cultural traditions are carefully curated by the Directorate - harmless or beneficial habits are celebrated as expressions of individuality but the more dangerous ones are quietly discouraged or adapted until toothless.
Uralith’s current government under the Tor Dynasty has ruled uninterrupted for almost 500 years, since the last great famine in the 11th century resulted in the reforms of the Iron Mandate. Interruptions to city services always herald a period of major unrest - while the City’s political philosophy creates great stability and loyalty, if any pillar of the foundation cracks, the whole structure tends to crumble.
[History is still a work in progress.]
Government:
The Lithian government hybridizes urban democracy and feudal monarchy in a deeply bureacratic and often byzantine system. All authority stems from the Crown Royal, held by the Lithian Royal Family in perpetuity. The Crown bestows feudal titles on citizens who have proven themselves through service to the City, whether in foreign affairs or some improvement to the City’s mechanisms. Titleholders are then assigned roles in the City government and often rise through the ranks.
However, the Crown is advised by a potent legislative body called the Senate of the Proven, whose ranks are subject to approval by Aldermans, who are democratically elected from the population of each city district. Senators must be titleholders, but if a local Alderman believes that they do not hold the best interests of their district at heart, they may hold out for a more promising young politician.
No titles in the Lithian government are hereditary except that of the Crown Royal - this extends to inheritance of material property. This is the sole means by which the Lithian government requires its feudal vassals to monetarily support the government. Any citizen is allowed to accrue and enjoy as much wealth and luxury as he can within his own lifetime, but must recognize that ultimately all these are property of the City and must be returned at death, to provide for his fellow Lithians’ opportunity to rise similarly.
The Lithian government has seen great unrest in the past, but currently enjoys an age of peaceful stability. The system of education that holds up the Lithian political system by indoctrinating all born citizens has produced a population resistant to corruption and crime, at least for the time being.
Economy:
The major export-capable industries of Uralith are glassworking, pottery (especially terracotta), and papyrus manufacture. These are regulated by large and powerful Craftguilds under the purview of the Senate. Lithian lenses and glassware are prized across the continent for their quality, and are typically the backbone of the merchant caravans’ inventory.
Mining and metallurgy are significant employers of the Lithian population. The ore reserves in the Bulwark mountains are rich and carefully curated by the Craftguild of Metallurgy, and much has yet to be uncovered. The City has enough infrastructure in place to supply the Mandated Orders with plenty of iron and steel, and still has enough left over to trade in small amounts to local metal-lacking tribes in return for the safety of trade routes.
There is no Craftguild of Agriculture - the city’s food production is overseen directly by the Senate’s Department of Providence. While the majority of the terrace farms are specifically managed by employees of the Department, there are gardens and orchards throughout the city, and every citizen is expected to keep an eye on their local produce. This fosters a sense of communal responsibility and confidence in the food supply. The propaganda is necessary, as the City has always had a hard time keeping up with the pace of population growth and the construction of new terraces and gardens is always ongoing.
For much of the City’s history, the extremely prevalent crafts of stonemasonry and public architecture were the demesne of the Ur-Dwarves exclusively. After the reforms of the Iron Mandate, much of their guild organization was folded into the Order Aedificant, which now holds sole authority over engineering and architecture within the city. It is overseen by the Mandate Council, Uralith’s military leadership. The Craftguilds of Masonry and Construction are still public organizations, although subservient to the Order.
The main resource that Uralith lacks is wood - the large majority of the buildings are entirely of stone, and wooden furniture is extremely valuable. The main source of wood is the Wyrmscar Dominion to the north, with which the City trades in bulk for glass and papyrus. There have been experiments with interspersing trees amongst the terrace farms for root structure and shade, but these are too valuable to harvest for building materials.
Uralith also imports as much cheap food as it can get to bolster its reserves. Meat is very rare on the City’s tables, but eggs are fairly common and hens who are too old to lay make for an uncommon delicacy for the average Lithian. The only animal for which the City reserves a significant amount of water are the Order Excursant’s horses, and the meat of old or injured steeds is reserved as a treat for the rations of the Mandated Orders.
Religion: Uralith upholds no official religion, but contains a number of churches and cults. There is no state support for religion, nor are they allowed to make profit, but religious Lithians are allowed to collectively contribute to public space and buildings for worship. The City guarantees the protection of the land as long as citizens still patronize the place of worship. If the cult dies out, the site is either demolished to make room for a new shrine or if significant enough, preserved as a site of historical importance.
Existing religious populations number about 11% East Lindosian, 4% West Lindosian, 5% Igtarrite, 7% various strains of orthodox Doxian, and a large number of small cults, nature spirits, ancestor worship, and household gods.
Geography:
The City Standing is built into a mountain valley and deep into the mountain itself. The ridge is known as the Bulwark, and it separates a desert from the temperate Western coast. The Lithian Royal Family knows the desert as the Wandering Place where their ancestors walked before meeting the Ur-Dwarves, and see little value in the sands.
The Ur-Dwarves found springs deep in the mountain range, which they dug out and channeled into irrigation and fresh water for the city via sweeping aqueducts. The water supply is seemingly endless but not of the highest quality - often it is extremely acidic and sulfuric, and must be treated through lengthy filtration channels lined with coal and sand before it reaches the fields and fountains of the City.
As Uralith lies on the arid side of the Bulwark, the City has never been able to rely on swaths of land for anything useful, especially agriculture. The Ur-Dwarves’ solution was to cut deep into the mountain-side to create massive terrace farms. Aqueducts throughout the city support hanging gardens and arcologies, and each citizen is expected to keep an eye on the greenery nearest their home and report any problem to the Department of Providence. Uralith is thus an architectural oasis in the dusty mountainside.
Population: Uralith is a true megalopolis compared to most of the pre-industrial world, housing 7 million people in a single city.
Demographics
The massive population of the City Standing is unusually varied. It consists of various percentages of nearly every species on the continent, as by ancient and unquestioned law, all beings born within the city walls are automatically Lithians. Immigrants come from every empire, kingdom, and tribe where they were outcast or exile, unfitting or unaccepted. While they themselves never truly find a place in the City, they know their children’s birth will entitle them to at least the necessities of life, and the potential to contribute to the greatest works of civilization.
There are at least a few members of most Albionic races in Uralith, but the notable demographics are as follows:
- A significant Dwarven population, calling themselves the Ur. As the histories tell it, the Ur lived in the caves of the valley when the first Lithians arrived from the Wandering, and their hospitality created the tradition of welcoming that defines the City to this day. Their great stoneworks and architecture have been passed down and iterated upon, and the engineering guilds of the Ur were the foundation of the modern Order Aedificant. The Ur population makes up about 35% of the total.
- The next largest racial group is Humans at about 30%. About half of the human population support the Lindosian church in the city,
- The final major racial group is Hakav at about 20%. Roughly a quarter of these are the descendants of Igtarr worshippers, refugees of religious persecution. Another quarter are orthodox Doxians, and flare-ups of religious violence have been a mainstay of Lithian history, although there hasn’t been a major incident in the last decade.
- The Lithian Royal Family are the last known surviving members of the ancient Lithian species, an extremely long-lived and slow-reproducing species of insectoid sentients holding deep communal instincts. They consider all citizens of the city fellow Lithians, and it is their greatest pride to have created a place where all beings are born equal.
- The City’s massive agricultural engineering projects have also attracted botanical professionals, specifically a number of Wood Elves whose aid has been invaluable in maintaining the massive nutritional needs of the City.
- There is a significant population of the descendants of escaped Aos Si slaves from the Orcish tribes across the Bulwark, enough to have a voice on the Senate of the Proven.
Notable Locations
The Bulwark Passage is a heavily fortified mountain pass through the range known as the Bulwark, which much of Uralith is built into. It is the only pass reliable and safe enough for trade caravans throughout all seasons through the Bulwark, although others do exist. The other end connects to the territory of the Orcish tribes, and there is often friction between the Order Vigilant and Orcish patrols.
Many more to come...
Personalities of Note
Queen Cherith Tor Lithian II, Bearer of the Crown Royal, Archon of the City Standing
Cherith II is the current ruler of Uralith and one of the last remaining members of the original Lithian species. She has reigned for three decades and anticipates at least another century bearing the crown’s weight.
The Lords of the Mandate Council
Lord Vigilant: Gawain Orestes
Lord Excursant: Boniface Trake
Lord Adjudicant: Bargrum Hallow
Lord Speculant: Grilka Starcloak
Lord Cognisant: Fabius Tarquin
Lord Aedificant: Dunstan Fyr
The Archmagister of the Academia Praeviscatio: Tigris II
Ambassadors:
Baron Lucas Pheritt, Ambassadorial Resident of the Anferr-Dyne Kingdoms.
Sir Hargrave Caliban, Ambassadorial Resident of the Wyrmscar Dominion.
Institutions:
The Senate of the Proven is a legislative and advisory body formed of representatives for each district of the City, each individually nominated by the Crown, subject to the approval of their district’s elected Alderman. The Senate has quite a bit of power in forming the specifics of the City’s domestic and economic policies, but ultimately it is fully subject to the approval of the Crown. Perhaps the Senate’s primary responsibility is the management of the Department of Providence, which regulates and protects the food production and reserves for the city.
The Mandate Council is the collective term for the heads of the military orders of Uralith. They serve to advise the Crown Royal in military matters, and to manage the military structure of the City Standing by checking and balancing each other under the strictures of the Iron Mandate.
The Academia Vis Praecantatio is the sole authority on the arcane in Uralith. While technically an arm of the military, it is not subject to the Iron Mandate in the way that the Orders are. The Academia regulates magic in the City, keeping tabs on all magic-users, as well as preserving and curating magical knowledge. It is usually seen as a stagnant and outdated organization, but only the boldest criticize the Academia without some trepidation.
The Foreign Diplomatic Service manages the Ambassadorial Corps and, behind the scenes, works closely with the Order Speculant. Its other core duty, and some say its main purpose, is to facilitate immigration from other states to the City by any means necessary. Officers of the FDS have been embroiled in more than a few sticky situations as they treat with marginalized or disenfranchised factions of other societies. They maintain many tracks of an underground railroad across Albion to ferry outcasts to the City.
The Individual Improvement Directorate is an immense power in the City, perhaps the foundation on which the society stands. It manages all public education and ongoing guidance for the city. Ostensibly its purpose is to find the ideal role for every citizen’s individual talents and skills, but this is only a facet of its greater goal. The Directorate secures the dominance of the state’s political philosophy and ensures that all born Lithians are devoted contributors to society as a whole, via methods some might call indoctrination. Generally Lithians see this as a necessary restriction of intellectual freedom to those who don’t have the necessary grounding to properly deal with potentially corrupting ideas.
Military:
Organization:
The Lithian military system follows the design of an ancient doctrine known as the Iron Mandate, designed during the extensive reforms of the Tor Dynasty in the 11th Century. The Mandate calls for the army to be split into regimented Orders of specialized purpose, with oversight by the government and policing by the Order Cognisant.
The bureaucracy and legal minutiae are extensive, and amendments to the Mandate have been rare. Nevertheless, it has served the City Standing well, for it has never fallen and no Lord of an Order has attempted a coup since the reforms. The Orders are popular and highly respected by the citizens of Uralith, but most other nations look down their noses at the overly pompous and regimented soldiers, softened by luxury and contentment.
Officers of the Mandated Orders are nominated by their immediate superiors, subject to a vote of approval by the men they will lead. This has created an officer class that is extremely competent and popular, but that also feel entitled to decadence and pomp. This encourages the lower ranks to compete for the luxuries of command, and occasionally lower rank approval votes have been subject to corruption.
The exception to the Mandate is the Academia Vis Praecantatio, home of the arcane arts in Uralith. While they are exempt from much of the oversight of the Mandate Council, they also do not have a vote on it and may be called at any time to serve the defense of the City.
Troop Total: Uralith contains about 70,000 military professionals total, approximately 1% of the total population.
Army:
The Order Vigilant numbers 15,000 and is charged with the manning and maintenance of the city walls and watchtowers.
The Order Excursant is the cavalry arm of the Lithian military, totalling 10,000. Of these, 5,000 are light cavalry, 3,000 are heavy cavalry, and 2,000 are support staff and squires.
The Academia Vis Praecantatio is the only Lithian military organization not subject to the strictures of the Iron Mandate, and therefore cannot call itself an Order. Self-sufficient and subject to disdain from the Mandated Orders, the Academia holds a monopoly on the use of magic in Uralith. Their sorcery is rarely called upon by the Council for war, and some say their strength is waning in the dawn of the Sixteenth Century. Their ranks are limited to no more than 250 Masters of the Craft, but their extensive staff of servants, apprentices, and bureaucrats fills a total of 1,000.
Navy: None - Uralith is landlocked and contains no rivers.
Other:
The Order Adjudicant employs 35,000 police and judiciary officials that have trained to be capable levies in the case of martial emergency.
The Order Speculant is the foreign intelligence service, tasked with observing and predicting powers that may threaten the sovereignty of the City Standing. The order obscures any specifics regarding its numbers, but best estimates put its total staff at around 1,000.
The Order Cognisant is relatively small, its ranks limited to no more than 1,000 Champions Scholarch at any given time, although its support staff, squire-scholarchs, and archivists fill up the rest of a total of 3,000 members. They are tasked with much of the bureaucracy of the military: recording and expanding upon the military theory behind the Iron Mandate, securing records of battle that went well or went badly for future generations of Lithians to examine, ensuring that no other Order is lax or gains too much power over another, and with preparing all necessary reserves and supplies in case of emergency. It is said their annals contain plans for every scenario of danger they can conceive threatening the City Standing, and the Champions Scholarch who lead the Order are extremely respected.
The Order Aedificant hosts a corps of engineers and architects who work closely with the Vigilants to maintain and improve the walls. Their greatest minds also lead the design of the grand works of the City Standing, including its aqueducts, hanging gardens, and arcologies. Their total number is about 5,000. The Order was formed out of what used to be the great engineering guilds of the Ur-Dwarves.
Unique Features:
+ Riches Under the Bulwark: The Ur-Dwarves have long secured and conserved the rich ore reserves of the mountains to ensure that the City has sources of valuable metals for ages to come. For now they are capable of equipping the Mandated Orders with the iron and steel they need and a little more - just enough to mete out to the tribes around them that lack steel in return for the security of their trade routes. But who knows how the mining industry could boom with the coming of the Industrial Dawn, and what other treasured ores may be found beneath the Bulwark?
+ The Unity of Perspective: The education and indoctrination system of the City has been developed, iterated, and perfected for over a thousand years. Even Lithians who have extensive experience and ties with the outside world almost never question the guiding principles of the City Standing, and those rare few who betray it are reviled like no other form of criminal. This remarkable loyalty extends to the city’s defense - in case of threat most dire to the City’s survival, nearly every citizen would be willing to lay down their life.
- Needs of the Many: The moral rectitude of Uralith’s political philosophy is assured only as long as the needs of its massive population are met. If it cannot vouchsafe the needs of its citizens, then its citizens are beholden to abandon the needs of the City. In times of famine or drought, the City has inevitably descended into chaos, and while these catastrophes have never ended Uralith’s story, they have always heralded drastic changes in government. Even the rumor of food shortages causes great civil unrest, and the majority of the government’s resources each year goes toward the development of great terrace-farms and gardens to support its ever-expanding population.
