Verduria city
From Almeopedia
- For the kingdom, see Verduria.
| • Verduria |
Verduria (Verdúria-mažtana) is the largest city in Eretald, with a population of almost 600,000, and the capital of its most powerful country, Verduria. Located at the mouth of the Eärdur, it has been, for two milennia, the gateway for trade between the river system of Eretald and the Mišicama littoral.
Contents |
Geography
Verduria city occupies the right bank of the Eärdur as it empties into the sea. The river opens out at this point into a bay about 13 km across, the Tas Verdúrë, which serves as a natural harbor and shelters the city from the ocean.
The swampy river delta itself, Arosd, is at the base of the bay, just south of the city. The coast itself lies on a ridge of rising ground (cut through by the river, of course), so that Verduria itself lies on solid ground, amid low granite hills which rise round the historic city center like an amphitheater.
Arin island, normally called simply soa Nezi ‘the Island’, about four km long, lies across a narrow channel from the center. The island also rises to the north, where sheer cliffs provide a stunning placement for the massive, ancient fortress of Arcaln.
To the south lies the Etald Verdúran, the Deep-Green Plain, well watered both by rainfall and by the frequent flooding of the Eärdur.
Origins
The Etald Verdúran was first settled by the iliu, along with the entire eastern littoral and Kebri. The ilian name for the region, according to the Cuzeians, was Meläsiu. Settlement was light, and nothing is known about its particular character.
The iliu abandoned the littoral by about -2000, and left Kebri at about the time of the Eastern invasion. The first humans in the area were the Meťaiun, who settled the coast around -2500. Their name for the area was simply Arosd, meaning ‘delta’; compare modern Kebreni ruḣt. Agriculture began along the Svetla around -1550, and civilized states came soon after: Como and Meťaiu, organized c. -1150. Eventually the lower Svetla/Eärdur was organized as the nation of Davur (~ -650), which was strong enough to resist the Eastern invasion which brought the Cuzeians and Central people to Eretald, starting in -375.
Davur was conquered by a Central tribe, the Kahinisa, in -200, but the Meťaiun reconquered the seacoast, including Arosd, in -24, forming the kingdom of Ažimbea. The new state was devoted to trade, at a more sophisticated level than the Cuzeians and Caďinorians. Their largest cities along the Eärdur/Svetla were Toťio (opposite Erruk) and Dageda, now the town of Dažda; Arosd was only lightly settled.
In 440 the Munkhâshi poured through the Ctelm mountains and occupied half of Eretald, beginning a 710-year occupation that was a nightmare for Caďinorian and Meťaiun alike. The site of Verduria was occupied— a fact which inhabitants of Žésifo like to goad Verdurians with— until its liberation by Kaino in ~ 850. They were the first to fortify Arin island, which served as a way station for their next conquests— not of more occupied territory, but of the rich Meťaiun littoral.
In 1079 Kaino was taken over by Caďinas, which had emerged as the dominant power of Eretald.
Caďinorian times
The city was founded around 1200 as Arénica; the name derives from arosd. Settlement originally concentrated on what is now the Mažtan-lagana, the campus of government palaces across from Arin Island.
The Caďinorian emperor Ervëa constructed the fortress of Arcaln on Arin Island starting in 1620. Throughout the classical period, Arcaln and Verduria were governed separately, the first by a calenorion (commander), appointed by Ctesifon, and the second by a dusorion (headman), chosen locally.
The town thrived during Caďinas's golden age; settlement spread to the Scafiora and Nezi neighborhoods, as well as along the eastern bank of the river. Under its new name, Vereduria, it was elevated in 1735 to the rank of a mactana (city), ruled by an amaruos (mayor). The amaruos was appointed from Ctesifon, but normally from among the local grandees. Within two centuries, however, traditions ossified, and the mayorship became hereditary. From 1897 it was held by the Saney family, and from 2074 by the Darodenî.
The city was walled in Caďinorian times, but there are few remnants of the ancient walls, since the material was re-used for later walls.
The Dark Years
The Empire was taken over by the Red Cabal (2107— the beginning of the Dark Years). As times grew more difficult, cities in Eretald shrank or disappeared; only Ctesifon and Verduria seemed to prosper. In 2198 the wizard Uhnonca, profiting from a mysterious lack of Darodenî, took control of both Arcaln and Verduria. The Cabal took three years to put down his rebellion, and thereafter kept the city under their direct rule.
In 2220, however, Irun of Banda defeated the Cabal to restore the Empire, and for some time the prosperity of the classical era returned. Irun made Verduria the empire's winter capital-- not just for the climate, but to keep a thumb on the important northern city.
In 2312 the emperor Sörtoro granted a charter to the University of Verduria (Šriftanáe i Verdúria). It was originally located in the western Išira district; it moved to Arin Island in the 2500s.
The next centuries were the heyday of the barbarians, whose invention of the stirrup had shifted the military balance in their favor. The Caďinorians had increasing trouble holding their southern frontier; but in 2435 they suffered the ultimate disaster: the loss of Ctesifon itself to the Bešbalicu. The emperor fled to Verduria; and in 2472 the commander of Arcaln, Velto Cänen, helped expel the barbarians from Ctesifon.
In gratitude the Emperor named him Sanno (lord) and gave him the rule of Verduria city, now elevated to a satranda (free city). He also set up a Biyetora or electoral assembly to pick new sannoi, though it was not long before the sannát was effectively hereditary.
The city continued to prosper; by 2600 its population was a respectable 70,000. Settlement edged eastward into the Scafiora, while the Biško grew up around the University. Verdurian ships plied the Svetla and ventured as far as Nan, Kebri, and Carhinnia.
Theoretically Verduria province was governed by a scoȟos appointed by the Emperor; as a satranda Verduria was free of the governor's control, and moreover the Sanno was automatically the captain of the province's army. In practice, with the continued decline of the empire— and its occupation by the Curiyans in 2792— the power of the scoȟos was limited to his estate— by historical accident this was near Vyat, and has actually persisted to modern times as the šohát (duchy) of Vyat— and the captaincy was meaningful only in wartime.
This began to change only in 2870, when the Sanno Anabar Prežeon married Ašeli of Zeir; her vast estates made him the largest landowner in the combined realm. This looked good on the map, but its limits were evident from the fact that Lord Avtor Prežeon was forced to ally with the marquis of Irvesi in 2920 not against foreign enemies, but against Ondorot, the duke of Vyat. (The short battle that ensued, however, put an end to Vyat's hopes of turning the šoh back into a scoȟos.)
Modern times
In 2943 the sanno Caleon Prežeon proclaimed himself dalu (King) of the Arcalnei dynasty, primarily in response to the grandiose demands of Ertala, ruler of Žésifo. This claim to a higher level of authority was bolstered by his demolition of Ertala's army (2950) and occupation of Žésifo. (The history of the kingdom of Verduria also diverges from that of the city at this point; for more see Verduria.)
The great expansion of Verdurian rule necessitated separating the rule of the kingdom from that of the city; Caleon therefore established the office of the Este Hozën (Great Steward), soon informally and later formally called the Řivo (Mayor). Estdorot established the Mažtan-Kal (City Forum) as a city assembly.
The Arcalnei dynasty built new walls (3000s), and settlement of the Scafiora and Petrei districts dates to this time.
The wizard Utu razed much of the old city to create parkland around his palace, now the Mažtansäte or city hall. Many of the displaced settled the Ažimba district.
The Eleďe dynasty laid out most of the street grid in the Išira and Nočii districts, and built most of the current walls.
Mëranac 1e, first king of the Abolineron dynasty, carved out wide boulevards connecting the city's monuments and rebuilt many of the buildings in the Išira to his grandiose standards, inspired by the great public buildings of Žésifo. Whether you are more impressed by Verduria or Žésifo depends on whether you prefer current splendor, or the romantic appeal of ruins.
The Abolinerons also extended the walls to enclose Žeuro, Istuen and Sarniëma. The city has grown well beyond these, reaching Čümána, the old plague hospital, which was once well away from the city. However, times are now safe enough that it's not felt necessary to enclose the new neighborhoods outside the walls, Erabordë, Nan Istuen, Trevmesti, Lúdamen, Etäš, and Caubo. All of these are poor neighborhoods, and Verduria's new factories are concentrated there. Taslelë, however, is a retreat for the nobility and the commercial elite.
In the last century the size of the city has spurred the construction of a sewer system (though it simply discharges the waste outside Istuen).
Verduria city has 25 borough (kešana) seats in the Esčambra, corresponding to the named neighborhoods above, including Arcaln, Řuk Ranetami, and the Mažtan-lagana; however, Išira, Nezi, and the Scafiora each have two seats.
