Keopsys

Keopsys earned its final freedom from Adrastealos roughly around 450 pSF, through one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of The Conflux Sea. Tens of thousands of soldiers drenched the lands below Keopsys in blood and death, creating The Fields of Aimatochys in the process. What originally sparked the conflict was a series of political incidents, combined with the general discontent and desire for reform that already boiled below the surface, though the exact details of what happened were lost to time. Both Keopsys and Adrastealos see it as no fault of their own and blame each other, even over 400 years later.
Keopsys is known above all else for its skilled craftsmen, shrewd merchants and masterful duelists. It is not uncommon for people from places all over The Conflux Sea to make the journey here and apprentice under “The Masters of the Hidden City”.

Territory:

Keopsys lays claim to small parts of both The Daedalos Forest and The Tolema Graywoods, as well as the hills and grasslands between them. To the north it controls a rugged valley encircled by The Teichomos Mountains, and to its south lie The Fields of Aimatochys, though they are of course uninhabited.

Government:

The people of Keopsys refer to the city as “The True Republic”, a major point of pride as at least how they see it, Keopsys is the only place in the entirety of The Conflux Sea, where the people are truly free, though the truth is of course a bit more complicated.
Keopsys is ruled by The Triad, three elected individuals, each representing one of the major interest groups of the city: The Common Folk, The Defenders and The Guilds. In reality though, only The Protos, the one representing The Common Folk is elected through actual democratic processes, while candidates for The Defenders and The Guilds are usually already predetermined through backroom dealings years before they come to power.
A member of The Triad is elected from among the members of the interest group they represent for 15 years, and cannot be re-elected. Besides representation each of the three also has specific duties and powers that only they are allowed to perform and use:
The Protos, representing The Common Folk, deals with all matters of day-to-day life and common law, land rights, and is the face that represents Keopsys diplomatically. The current Protos is Kallixis Morea, a female hominid that has held the title for the last 8 years.
The Archon, representing The Defenders, deals with all matters of security and warfare, from punishing the misbehavior of city guards to leading the cities armies. The current Archon is Tessanor Bakar, a male bovine wildkin that has held the title for the last 11 years. Keopsys joined The Conflux Tripact on his first day in office.
The Teichos, representing The Guilds, deals with all matters of coin, taxation, trade and industry. The current Teichos is Diokles Vallinor, a hominid man that has only held the office for the past 6 months. He is said to be a mage trained in Thassalophon and is a high ranking member of the writers guild.
At least on paper, the three of them are supposed to be on equal footing, though historically The Teichos, essentially being the treasurer of Keopsys overshadowed the other two, given that they can do little without The Teichos approving their budget. Since joining The Conflux Tripact and the war against The Morya Sultanate though, The Archon has steadily been gaining power.

History:

Keopsys was originally founded as a mining town to take advantage of the rich ore mineral deposits in the central part of The Teichomos Mountains. Due to this, as well as ready access to lumber and rich soils the town quickly grew to be the dominant settlement in its part of The Conflux Sea. As such, Keopsys became known as the bread bowl of the early Adrastean realm, a central province with vital importance to the greater whole. It was a place of learning, of craftsmanship and progress, and over time even came to rival Adrastealos itself in size and power.
With its rise to power discontent started to grow, not only over the oppressive social order of Adrastealos, but over its position as a subject. Why after all should Keopsys keep paying tributes to a power which it did not deem greater than itself, perhaps even lesser? While there were some conciliatory efforts to start with, diplomatic relations soon broke down, and war became the only option.
And what a war it was; Most likely the bloodiest conflict in the history of the region, even exceeding the death toll of the current war against The Morya Sultanate. By some estimates over 20% of The Conflux Sea’s population at the time died either as a result of the fighting itself, or the famines and plagues that followed. 32 years of war and death left both nations crippled, though Keopsys had at last attained its freedom, though at the price that it would never again rise to its former glory. The Lush fields and farmlands south of the city which fed its people had turned barren through decades of bloodshed, raiding and razing. They had become The Fields of Aimatochys, The Blight, The Dead Plains, The Fields of one-hundred thousand Deaths. Little grows there now besides a few shrubs and lone trees, the land itself is said to drain the life from all those that wander it, and the risen dead are said to roam the plains in search of vengeance for their meaningless deaths.
Losing almost half of its territory to The Blight, over a third of its people and pretty much every noble house to war, famine and pestilence left Keopsys free, but isolated and without leadership. A situation that would have spelled doom for most nations, though it is from it that the first seeds of what makes the society of Keopsys today emerged. A society and people fiercely protective of what they perceive as their freedom and rights, proud in their lineage and resilience, fiercely stubborn, bowing to no man or women, King or Queen, Lord or Lady, not even among themselves. A place where in absence of law, honor had superceded it.
Keopsys would never again rise to the glory and power it held while under Adrastealos. Both geographically and politically isolated, it would take hundreds of years until it would become known as more than just a backwater town surrounded by blight and wilderness.
Only around 127 pSF would Keopsys once again become a name known to the world, this time as a place of masterful craftsmen, shrewd merchants and masters of the blade. Even in the current times of war and bloodshed, people still make the treacherous journey through The Fields of Aimatochys or the untamed wilds of The Daedalos Forest and The Tolema Graywoods to buy wares and learn from “The Masters of the Hidden City”.
It came as a surprise to many when Keopsys joined The Conflux Tripact, considering that the relationship between them and Adrastealos remains icy on the best of days even to this day. In the end though the words of Archon Tessanor Bakar probably describe it best:
“Divided we fall, but United, even if only by necessity, we may just stand a chance.”

Culture & Society:

No Lords, No Masters:

Den Patros, Den Kyrios, “No Lords, No Masters”. If there is a single way in which one could summarize the society of Keopsys it would be this simple phrase. When all but a few minor lords and ladies died during The Righteous War, as it is called here, Keopsys found itself in a peculiar situation in which no one with enough political clout remained to consolidate rule over the city. Society fractured somewhat in the absence of any and all centralized power, and by the time that lords and ladies once again held enough power to claim rulership, none would acknowledge them. What resulted from this is a culture without titles, and in which most people reject any and all authority they did not themselves elect to power. By law, no man or woman may be made to kneel or bow before another and most Keopsans would likely prefer being put to the sword.
One should however not confuse Keopsys for some sort of egalitarian utopia. This society has haves and have-nots like any other place and The Guilds essentially own the city. Little happens here without their say-so, membership is pretty much required for anyone that wishes to do business in the city, and as such is subject to their rules. True, Keopsys may not have any nobility on paper, but the highest ranking members of The Guilds essentially act like it.
Furthermore, the political climate in Keopsys isn’t exactly for the faint of heart. While less of a problem for The Archon and The Teichos due to their backroom selection processes, The Protos must serve as representative to a populace which by its very nature hates being governed, and might just take matters into their own hands. Political assassination and lynchings aren’t exactly uncommon in Keopsys, but The Protos has it especially hard, as of the last 9 which held the title, not a single one served their full term (3 Assassinations, 1 Lynching and 5 early resignments). The fact that Lady Kallixis Morea has held the office for even 8 years during an active war and remains no less beloved by the people speaks to her unparalleled skills as a diplomat, orator and policy maker… Let us hope it stays that way.

By my Honor!:

Keopsys has a very deeply entrenched dueling culture, and while not all duels are performed with actual weapons or to the death, it is not uncommon for people to die during one of them. A duel may be called for almost any reason, an insult to one’s honor, unfair treatment during a business deal, vengeance, to earn the admiration of a lover and/or to eliminate competition. Some scholars theorize that this may be a remnant of Keopsys’ Adrastean cultural roots, the ideas of honor, chivalry and fighting for one’s most beloved, though in Keopsys it is just as common for men to fight over a woman as it is for women to fight over men.

The Gift of Marriage:

A tradition for those seeking to marry in Keopsys is to create or find a personal gift for their beloved, and present it together with the question. The gift may take any shape, a ring, a necklace, a weapon, a scroll, a rare plant, an exotic animal, literally anything. What matters here is not the monetary value, or even its rarity, but what it represents. The gift must be found or made by the one asking the question, for it is a measure of how far the suitor is willing to go for their most beloved. It must be something their beloved truly desires, something personal, for it must also be a measure of how well the suitor truly knows them. It is not uncommon for people to die during their search for a fitting gift, though this once again is not seen as a tragedy, for there is no better death than to die for the affection of one’s most beloved, another holdover from Adrastean culture most likely.
While it is not a hard rule, it is usually expected for the one to ask the question and to present the gift to be the dominant partner in a marriage, and to become the head of the future household.

Enana Erastis:

The main deity worshiped in Keopsys is Enana, one of The Ur-Ashaar, lover and wife to Zargoran, The Thief of Fire. The Keopsan Cult of Enana depicts her wielding her mighty spear in one hand and a great flame in another, while wearing revealing battle regalia or some other form of provocative clothing. The flame is considered to be The Divine Flame, her gift of marriage for her most beloved Zargoran, for which she slew the greatest of all Dragons, Tiamat. Yes, the Keopsan Cult of Enana claims that it was Enana, not Zargoran who bested Tiamat, something that pretty much every other Cult of The Ur-Ashaar declares as nonsense.
They know her as Enana Erastis, The Queen of Love, Honor and Marriage, who fiercely guards her lover with envy and admiration, and brings justice by the blade.

Laws & Institutions:

Trial by Combat:

A direct consequence of Keopsys’ dueling culture is that many people may take it as an insult to their honor to be convicted of a crime. As such, any citizen of Keopsys may contest a sentence upon themselves that they may deem as unjust through trial by combat. In victory they are washed free from the crime, otherwise they die, the price one must pay for honor.

Outlawed Slavery:

Keopsys is known by many aliases throughout The western Conflux Sea, one of which is The Free City. In a society without lords and masters, how could one suffer the sin of slavery, the very thing that Enana and the other Ur-Ashaar fought to save us from? One cannot, it is as simple as that, and as such any and all slaves are promised freedom in The Free City, liberated from all former bonds that held them, provided they can actually make it there.

Keopsys

Society:

Population: ~100.000 (12.000 in the city itself)
Strains: Hominid 80%, Wildkin 10%, Elves 5%, Other 5%
Religion: The Ur-Ashaar

Politics:

Government: Oligarchic Republic
Rulers:
Protos Kallixis Morea
Archon Tessanor Bakar
Teichos Diokles Vallinor
Influence: minor

Commerce:

Currency:
50 copper chalkos = 1 silver asmir
25 silver asmir = 1 gold kresos