Resal

Capital of the Hokkan Empire

Defences

Ring walls and the Reaching Palace

Infrastructure

Fortified by three ring walls who circle the residence of the Empress of Hokka, the Reaching Palace.

Guilds and Factions

The Imperial government dominates the city and all of the major organizations are state controlled, although they of course have their own interests.

• The Imperial Academy is tasked with training the future noble rulers from all over the Empire, beginning at a very young age. It also houses the Tidal Vanguard, a elite unit of soldiers directly loyal to the Empress, and the city watch, who are in charge of the city's inner and outer security. The academy is the most direct arm of the governernment and is almost entirely loyal to Kara II. It is the largest and most powerful faction in Resal.
• The Hall of the Honoured is the assembly of the most important noble houses of Hokka. While loyal to the Empress in theory, some of them often plot against her or each other while being powerful enough that the city watch can't easily stop or punish them when they do. However a majority of the Hall is still made up of loyalists limiting the damage they can do.
• The Serpent's Temple is the religious and administrative centre of Resal. While their priests are not the only ones in the capital, they do have the monopoly on giving out spiritual and labour blessings to the citizens. This effectively gives them control over the Unnamed population of the city who are only allowed to work with the Temple's consent and blessing. They have a reputation for being corrupt and abusing their power, but have no large scale interests they are working towards apart from being greedy.
• The Imperial Treasury is tasked with the management of the Empire's currency and trade. While that does not give them direct control inside the city walls their access to Hokka's wealth means that few people are willing to take them on. The government does what it can to ensure that the Treasury's leadership is staffed with loyalists.
• The Rowers are an underground organisation supported by a few powerful individuals from the noble houses opposed to Kara II. At the moment their goals are focussed on recruiting allies and fostering anti-Karan sentiments among the population. They avoid engaging in any kind of direct action - at least for now - and have not yet caught the attention of the city watch.

History

On the spot where Resal is now there used to be a small fishing village named Ayrisal for centuries, that was destroyed during the Ienan revolts in the 650s. Under Empress Sora I it was rebuilt from scratch to serve as the new capital of the Hokkan Empire. It was primarily conceived as an administrative centre of the Empire with state-of-the-art defenses that made it near impossible to capture - when the Aylian fleets reached it during the Hokkaylian war, they had to eventually abandon the siege after four months of fruitless assaults. Resal's originally strict requierements for attaining citizenship have been loosened a bit under Kara II and it has grown to house about 100,000 people by 800.

Architecture

Mainly planned on the drawing board, the city is dominated by straight roads and similar looking houses nestled between the imposing ring walls and watch towers. Most buildings are functional rather than nice to look at.

Alternative Name(s)

Ayrisal

Type

Capital

Population

ca. 100,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Resalian

Location under

Ienas

Included Locations

• Reaching Palace

Owner/Ruler

Empress Kara II

Owning Organization

Hokkan Empire