Florenza

She was at home at the center of the world. There were ships everywhere carrying people of different lands, religions, creeds, and appearances, and all of them had been brought here, to this city, at the crossroads of human civilization. Since she was a girl, Cathryne had always been fond of her home along the straits. Fortune, after all, had been rather kind to her. She grew up wanting little, her parents quite successful in the cocoa trade from the southeastern isles. Taught from a young age to speak Athganese, Maruvian, and Akaba, Cathryne was a born negotiator, and her early experience in the family trade prepared her well for her education and induction to the diplomatic corps of the Republic. Even in this, though, she was not wholly unique. Few citizens of the Republic spoke only their native tongue, and almost all children were instructed from their youth in at least one other language. In Florenza, the world outside weaves itself into the culture of those who live there.

Government

Florenza is a free city in the Empire of Wardenheim, and operates as a constitutional merchant republic. The Minister, or representative of the Republic in the Imperial court, is elected by the Senate. The Senate is composed of fifty people who more often than not purchase their office with the stupendous amount of wealth the leading families procure in the lucrative trade economy of the Trade Coast. The Senate and the Minister, among other functionaries, legislate and enforce the laws of the city, as well as cooperate with the Imperial government on matters of State. The extent to which there is democracy in Florenza is limited to those who can and are willing to spend exorbitant amounts of money to further their own interests, though the Republic champions itself as a "bastion of the people's voice."

Industry & Trade

Florenza does little to produce goods of its own, relying on imports in addition to a primarily service-based economy. Due to its strategic location along the Straits that unite the two continents by land and by sea, the city sees extensive traffic from nearly all parts of the world. Markets in Florenza can include goods ranging from Athganese cocoa to Ezeq tapestries, Greyland bear pelts, Lythian gemstones, and even ancient artefacts and sculpture from Carinthia. These goods seldom find a home in Florenza, but are likely to change hands several times between people of different nationalities and different sides of the known world.

Type

Large city

Population

70,000

Location under

Trade Coast

Characters in Location

• Desiderus Kaufmann, Grand Wizard
• Sanzio Ticelli