Korsani

Korsani is a free port-city controlling a group of islands in the north of The Gilded Sea, south of The Blooming Marshes. Founded during The Ashuurian Middle Age, the city was always rather “liberal” with the people that were allowed to live there, harboring countless people of questionable morality over the course of its history. Under its current ruler however it has turned into a safe haven for all sorts of criminals, and the base of operations for most pirates in Upper Zagesi. It is home to ~25.000 people, around 60% of which are hominids, though it also has a sizable Zoltai minority.

Territory:

Korsani presides over a small group of islands in the north of The Gilded Sea, south of The Blooming Marshes and The Blooming Heights. Realistically though, Korsani really only lays claim to the city itself, as the rest of the Islands is covered in deadly flora and fauna, making it difficult to develop the region, though it also serves as a deterrent to would-be attackers.

Government:

Korsani went through a series of government forms during its history. Starting out as a de-facto dictatorship under its founder Malikh Rubakhal the Great, it went through many phases, changes, revolts, revolutions, reconciliations until it ended up at its current state.
This is perfectly reflected by the state of Korsani’s current “government”, a hodge podge of assemblies, electorates and councils of varying size and complexity, all at odds with one another over what they claim to be issues under their own jurisdiction. In reality, power in Korsani resides in the one that can enforce their laws and rulings, in other words, those with the greatest military might. For the past 34 years that has been a woman known as Sangha the Pirate Queen, a member of The Zoltai Strain originally from The Conflux Sea.
She is an accomplished military leader and commands great respect, even amongst the countless gangs, syndicates and mercenary companies of Korsani. Perhaps precisely because she has left them mostly to their own devices, only demanding that they work together in defense of the city, should the need arise, has she been able to hold onto power until now.

History:

The History of Korsani is heavily tied to that of The Ashuurian State. In an effort not to repeat everything, this article will only focus on things that pertain to the city itself, for more details, see the history section of The Ashuurian State.

The Middle Age: (800 pSF to 302 pSF)

Korsani was founded around 490 pSF, following the events of The Great Southern Invasion and The Great Revolt. Its founder, Malikh Rubakhal the Great, was the leader of the counteroffensive, which eventually forced the attackers out of Upper Zagesi. For his great military achievements he would be elected as the new Malikh of The Ashuurian State, and would rule it from Korsani for the next 40 years. He was focused on strengthening the city's defenses and used his military might to secure peace in the greater region.
With Rubakhal’s death around the year 450 pSF the power dynamics in the city shifted. While at first many presumed that Rubakhal would designate one of his many, MANY children as his heir, establishing a proper dynasty in the process, it appeared he had different plans. In fact his will and memoirs spoke very little of his plans for the city, only stating that he wished to create a place where “every man would be a King”. So as other factions in the city started vying for power, most of them led by Rubakhals former generals, his own family faded ever more into obscurity. Some of them however live in Korsani to this day, Enki for example, a man in his early 30s runs a notorious mercenary company, The Blackflame Corsairs, out of the city.
While the rest of Upper Zagesi was busy having a golden age, Korsani was mostly concerned with its internal power struggles. Of course the various parties of the city at times managed to set their conflicts aside, especially when the city itself was under threat, though those occasions were few and far between.
It was thus that the unstable nature of Korsani began attracting a certain type of person. The type of person that didn’t really care if a gang war was going on right outside their front door, that wasn’t all that interested in strong law enforcement anyways, and perhaps wasn’t all that welcome in other parts of Upper Zagesi for whatever reason. In short: criminals, cutthroats, bandits, pirates and those looking to do business with them.

The Age of Strife: (302 pSF to 32 SF)

Though the different parties of Korsani would not unite on any other issue, they seemingly foresaw what Malikh Anatep’s plans for The Ashuurian State were even before his rise to power in 299 pSF. As such they denied him his vote and hindered him at every opportunity. It would take another few decades, until 256 pSF, for them to unify in their efforts to depose the tyrant however.
An until then relatively little known man by the name of Haki managed to unite substantial parts of Korsani behind him, though his political opponents assassinated him before he could amass even more support… or so they thought. As the story goes, on the day his enemies publicly declared his death Haki interrupted their speech, appearing in the middle of the crowd wreathed in fire with eyes glowing golden and bright. He shouted: “If you’re going to kill someone, do it properly you cowards!” proceded to kill his enemies and united the rest of Korsani behind him.
Historians nowadays are almost certain that at least parts of this story are made up or at least greatly exaggerated, but that’s the nature of legends, fact and fiction interwoven.
Haki, now known in Korsani as Haki the Phoenix, would spend the next 11 years rallying the people of The Ashuurian State behind him, steadily building up a resistance against its tyrannical ruler. In the process he also ended up enabling many less savory groups across the nation, pirates, bandits and the like. Given his place of origin though that was likely something he did not shed many tears over.
With the death of the tyrannical Anatep the Terrible in 247 pSF, Haki would be elected as the new ruler of The Ashuurian State, now known in the greater region as Malikh Haki the Great. He would spend the entirety of his reign (247-219 pSF) undermining the power of his own office, granting all the power and autonomy he could away to the individual cities.
With Haki’s death, his daughter Enatem would rise up in defiance of the new Malikh, Ayatuur Arkazi, together with Zacharias the ruler of Kalaar, and Kozu Yulani the ruler of Drustanaar. Their military alliance, known as The Triarchy, would force Ayatuur to abdicate in a matter of months, but not before making a series of concessions which would further dissolve the power of the Malikh. For these actions, the three of them would be known as the progenitors of The Fractured Dominion, which would last for over 100 years.
Throughout The Fractured Dominion (218-86 pSF), Korsani would amass great wealth, as the conditions created by the dissolution of central power within the region of Upper Zagesi provided the perfect environment for raiding and plundering. Cities and powerful individuals at odds with one another were all too happy hiring the pirates, corsairs and mercenaries of Korsani to raid, harass and generally just be a nuisance to each other.
This golden age for Korsani only came to an end with the rise to power of the illustrious Malikh Tanzimat the Sovereign in 86 pSF. His restoration of central power was met with great resistance from the free port of Korsani, though he managed to pacify them through clever diplomacy, military threats and bribery… lots and lots of bribery.
With the death of Tanzimat however things would once again take a turn. Many people assumed that Korsani would join the side of prince Aziz Yulani, as he was looking to turn The Ashuurian State into a more decentralized nation once again. They however sided with the first brother, prince Elam Yulani, the results of which are known to everyone:
The War of the Twin Princes, 11 years of war, countless dead and displaced, though through all this time Korsani flourished.
Historians nowadays presume that a war was precisely what the leader of Korsani at the time, a notorious pirate by the name of Benedim, was looking for. War meant fighting, plunder, a dissolution to the order of the past 57 years, in short: opportunity and profit. Korsani would leave the war after some years and declare itself independent from The Ashuurian State as the war came to a stalemate, presumably as it had ceased to be profitable.
In the current era, The Dark Age of Upper Zagesi (18 pSF to 32 SF), Korsani has continued to flourish, if one can call it that. The unstable nature of the region for the past 50 years has provided the perfect environment for the countless criminals that populate the city to go about their business, life is good when you’re a pirate.
Around 2 pSF, a Zoltai pirate by the name of Sangha arrives in Korsani with her then still relatively small entourage. She quickly amasses power and prestige in the city, eventually taking full control, or as much as one can take control of Korsani anyways.
Around 0 SF, Sangha, now known to most as The Pirate Queen, leads a raid on the city of Utarak, devastating parts of the city in the process.
Around 22 SF, Arasinda begins paying Korsani to target ships from Uzdarezi, while letting its own go free. A deal that has so far been upheld, though everyone knows it will remain that way only as profits keep rolling in.
32 SF, rumors of The Pirate Queen growing weak and soft spread through Korsani. One upstart pirate captain challenges her for rulership of the city. He is found decapitated and stuffed in a barrel in his ship's cargo hold a week later.

Culture & Society:

Korsani has, in its very own twisted way, realized the ambition of its founder. A city where “every man can be a king”, a king of their own little microcosmos, but a king nonetheless. Those with the ambition and lack of morals required will make it far in Korsani, a place that offers much greater social mobility than any other city in Upper Zagesi. It does not matter if one is a man, woman or something in between, hominid or otherwise, so long as one knows how to play the game of power in Korsani, they can rise to greatness.
To those from outside it might seem strange, but the people of Korsani would not have it any other way, they revel in the chaos and the anarchy.
There are of course those which would seek to change the city, perhaps even to the better, but those that try usually end up floating in the harbor.

Laws & Institutions:

Korsani lacks a formalized code of law, that doesn’t mean people can do as they please though. The rules are set by whoever happens to hold the most power over that part of the city, and most follow the “only I am allowed to mess with the people under my protection” rule of thumb.
Rob someone without the consent of that district's ruler and you could lose a finger, hand or head, depending on who it was and what was stolen. Similar rules apply to crimes such as murder, rape and breaking contracts, though the punishment tends to be much more severe.

Korsani

Geography:

Region: Northern Middle East - Upper Zagesi

Society:

Population: ~25.000
Strains: Hominids ~60%, Zoltai ~25%, Wildkin ~10%, other ~5%
Religion: The Ur-Ashaar

Politics:

Government: /
Ruler: Sangha the Pirate Queen
Influence: minor

Commerce:

Currency:
50 copper grains = 1 silver glimmer
25 silver glimmers = 1 gold sovereign