Ica
As of 2E 1277, Ica is a ruined shell of it's former self, with no traces of activity for thousands of years...
However, if encountered sometime before the 1st Era...
Perched on the side of a mountain that lies just detached from the northeasternmost range, backdropped by a picturesque waterfall and overlooking a deep jungle sits the large nestled municipality of Ica (Eee-Ka). A local power, Ica is presided over by a king or 'Sapa' name Eireltha. Sapa Eireltha rules securely and fairly with her policies widely accepted.
Ica produces a small but robust spread of resources including rice, quinoa, platinum, wood, exotic fruits, and other tropical goods.
The geographic location also acts to protect both the resources and the peoples who live here from would be invaders and while not typically warring, Ica has been known to hold its own in times of need.
Demographics
Most of the citizens of Ica are Nisseans, though there are also small pockets of a bipedal, digitigrade Jaguar-peoples called Nyamazi.
The rich live higher on the mountainside while the poorer castes are found closer to the ground, except in positions of servitude.
Nisseans hold most of the positions of power, labor, as well as almost all other socioeconomic positions within Ica, while most of the Nyamazi are kept as slaves. There are some Nyamazi, however, who bought, or were awarded their freedom and have grown quite influential in their own right.
Government
Ruled by a king or 'Sapa', Ica is (more or less) a constitutional monarchy, with the wealthy families acting as a parliamentary body called simply "The Ican Families". Though most decisions are settled by the families, most serious issues are directly dealt with by the Sapa.
Money is not necessary for trade within the city, as the very mountain upon which they live provided so much platinum that it is considered useless as a currency, though it is used to trade with outsiders and buy from traders outside of Ica. Because of this lack of currency, the people of Ica pay tax by performing tasks that befit their placement in life. Poorer families, for example, would farm land or tend horses while higher class families would take positions as vassals or bailiffs.
Defences
As the Nisseans were adept at masonry, most of their wealth is kept deep within the mountain on which they reside. Many of Ica's wealthy live deep within mountain as well, virtually invisible to traders, travelers, and would-be invaders.
The winding altitude of Ica makes defense a very simple task, with invaders needing to double back, reorganize, and readapt multiple times just to reach the city center. This also creates a bottleneck that keeps enemy troops from spreading too far from archer's line of sight.
If invaders do manage to climb high enough into Ica, the soundly built bridges have a failsafe that the Icanites can use to cut off all advances on foot if necessary. The only advancement at this point would require the enemy force to climb the defended mountainside against nigh-impossible odds.
When the inevitable need to battle comes to the forefront, the denizens fight with ferocity to defend their home, with most Icanites owning, or at least having access to, swords or spears.
Industry & Trade
There are two major occupations for those who are not a part of the aristocracy or mercantile worlds and those are to farm the staggered farms that dot the mountainside and to mine platinum from within the mountain itself. However, there is also a living to be made gathering and hunting in the jungles below.
Because of this, major exports are platinum, quinoa, and rice as the exotic fruits and meats from the jungles were only traded under dire circumstances.
Being able to allocate platinum almost completely to trade gives Ica a very unique oppourtunity as well and as such allows them to import a plethora of different goods.
Most of Ica's imports are comprised of arms, armor, spices, wines and other luxury items that allow for a favorable quality of life for even some of the most downtrodden families.
Infrastructure
Built on a winding, well irrigated cobbled stone road, the hamlet of Ica makes use of the heat vented from their platinum mines to heat homes and propel heat-based plumbing throughout the city. A vertical watermill makes use of the nearby waterfall, making the production of grains very easy for the people who live here.
Where mountains fall away, sturdy rope bridges sway soundly above the rocky descent. Made up of a sturdy mixture of refined rope and vines from the nearby jungle, no bridge has ever collapsed.
Assets
Most of Ica makes use of resources from the jungle below, providing a natural store of exotic fruits and animals.
Behind the waterfall lies a store of grain-based foods that the city can rely on when other resources become scarce.
While platinum means little in terms of currency within Ica, it is widely used by Icanites as decoration, adornment and other such uses.
It is also used to trade with outsiders and other towns and cities in the region.
Guilds and Factions
There are two major factions that affect politics in Ica, the first being that of the Sapa and their royal court. The second, and perhaps the most unchecked, being The Ican Families.
History
Ica was settled by Sapa Grana or "The Great King". His true name is now lost to the ages, but his legacy lives on in the statue that watches over the town square. Legend states that Sapa Grana led his people on a great exodus across the Savannas of Lemuria Valley after their ancestral home was destroyed by barbarians. As the story goes, Sapa Grana received a vision of a 'great stone spire' that defied a great jungle and so his people were driven forth. After three decades, Sapa Grana and the Icanites traversed the jungle and settled at the foot of a large mountain. Though Sapa Grana died some few years after they settled there, the Icanites would thrive and become the local power it is today.
Architecture
Made out of fieldstones or semi-worked stone blocks and dirt set in mortar; adobe walls are also quite common in higher class sectors of Ica, usually laid over stone foundations.
The walls of Ican buildings are slightly inclined inside and the corners rounded. This, in combination with masonry thoroughness, leads Ican buildings to have a peerless seismic resistance thanks to high static and dynamic steadiness, absence of resonant frequencies and stress concentration points.
Another building method was called "pillow-faced" architecture. Pillow faced building is achieved by using fired adobe bricks. Icanites then sand large, finely shaped stones, and then fit the bricks and stones together in jigsaw-like patterns. Pillow-faced architecture is typically used for temples and the homes of the aristocratic Ican families.
Ashlar masonry is used in some of the most sacred, elite Ica structures like the Sapa's palace and the tomb of Sapa Grana.
During an earthquake with a small or moderate magnitude, masonry is stable, and during a strong earthquake stone blocks “dance” near their normal positions and lay down exactly in right order after an earthquake.
Geography
Ica is situated on a vast tropical mountain just detached from a larger range and overlooks a wide jungle. A fresh waterfall plummets from a loft overhang, feeding a raging river below.
Natural Resources
Ica's natural resources range from platinum, quinoa, rice, and wheat mined and farmed from the mountain on which they settled to fruits, wood, and wild game from the jungle below
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