Argea

Languages: Talahaean, Argois, Oebesar, Stoigan, Acadman, Hecatoni, Damasi
Cities: Argo, Oebes, Stoiga, Acadma, Colchea and Damas

Geography

The province of Argea lies between Altea and Berngaard in the east, the Goblin Bluffs in the north, Zeryskaia in the south, and the Wyrddin Sea in the west. The land is high and dry, blown by sea breezes and touched by the strongest morning and evening sun. Winds from the Auroran Wastes bring more heat to the region. Sources of fresh water are precious, and the cities and communities of the province cluster around springs, rivers and wells.

History

In the declining years of the Regime, the coast was subjected to raids by giant-kin clans from the north. With the Regime’s army in disarray after centuries of war with the Legion, it was a band of mercenaries that defeated the raiders. The leaders of this band became heroes of the Regime, before going on to seize the leading cities of the coast and transform them into their private fiefdoms. Initially united, suspicion quickly spread and the seven cities quickly became feuding city-states – Argo, wealthy beyond avarice; Oebes, with its great library; Stoiga, the great military power; Acadma, with its unmatched navies; Colchea of the Great Sanctum; Damas, cult centre of Tinevra the Wise; and Zeras, built millennia past as the necropolis of the eastern Regime – loosely bound into an alliance called the Heptarchy. The power in the Heptarchy was focused almost entirely in the near-immortal Tyrants, their immediate courts and a small number of powerful lords, with the bulk of the non-magical population - especially those living in the open country between the city-states - labouring to support them.
This state of affairs persisted until the War of Hubris. The zealots of Damas and the merchant guilds of Argo were quick to join the Union, and the Tyrants fell quickly, unable to unite against a common threat. The city of Zeras and its Tyrant, the Archlich, were assaulted by Drow as the War raged in the north. The Archlich was overcome and contained, and the entire south of the Heptarchy lost, alongside the south of the Lasarate.
Against considerable opposition, the cult of Tinevra united the province after the war, although on a social level it remains very much a collection of competing city-states. Some time later, a mixed force of Argean soldiery was sent into what is now Zeryskaia, to take it back from the Drow and to prove that Argea could coordinate. Zeras was taken, and the surrounding territory, but the Archlich's store of arcane texts was lost, and has never been recovered for burning.

Social/Political

The Tyrants were in constant competition, and while Argea is notionally a united province, it is in fact still very much a collection of competing city-states. The six cultures influence one another, but are and always were clearly distinct and shaped by the personality of their Tyrants (Zeras in particular was always an outlier, so its current status as an independent province has hardly proven a surprise.) There are underlying similarities, for the city-states were built on the united culture of the Regime before the Tyrants took control and then broke apart. The cities themselves are ancient and hidebound, their archaic and solid design more robust than that of more modern architecture.
The guiding principles of Argea are focused on capital and ownership. A person owns what they make or buy, and it is theirs to dispose of without consideration for social good. Another’s labour cannot be claimed as one’s own, although this applies only to interactions between the Guilds and Estates; the poor labour for the benefit of their masters on the principle that they are morally responsible for their own poverty. This is a legacy of a culture that has never valued the lives of the poor, and the bulk of the population work the farms, docks and ships that funnel wealth into the coffers of the wealthy. Many of the working class are semi-skilled or even skilled workers, but nonetheless work for a pittance.
The Damasi clerics and Argosian merchants backed the Union during the war, overthrowing their own Tyrants before aiding in the overthrow of the others, uniting the Province-to-be under the a banner of the people, as represented – for better or worse – by the merchant princes. As a consequence, the province now has a vibrant trade economy. The shoals and currents of the coast are difficult for outsiders to navigate, and powerful merchant and sailing guilds based in Argo and Acadma control the bulk of trade with the dragon isles of Ladonia. Argea is the wealthiest of the provinces, their fortunes built on trading the Republic’s staple goods for Ladonian luxuries and exotic ores.
Argea also has substantial public archives, established before the Tyrants and surviving the fires of the arcane libraries, albeit suffering from neglect. Many have been ransacked for private collections, but some are now used as public – which is to say paid – schools. Despite considerable care, it is rumoured that some still house undiscovered arcane lore in their uncurated stacks.