Audesbay

Some areas of Homarus, while subject to Gardsel, are too inaccessible for the empire to rule directly, and so are left mostly autonomous. Audesbay is one such city, situated among the mire at the mouth of the river Aude. The marshy terrain makes it both difficult and dangerous to approach the city by land from any direction, so transport to and from Audesbay is solely by boat, whether on the Aude river or along the coast of the Sunset Ocean. The main city is situated on the few bits of stable ground that can be found in the area, but the expansion outgrew the draining effort, leading to sections of the city being held up by the trees or being built above other areas. It matches the mangroves well, being rather damp and sprawling out in every direction like a marsh fern, growing where it can with little regard for its surroundings.

Government

While nominally a part of Gardsel, the empire has little interest in this isolated town. Thus it enjoys a relatively free status as a Ward of the empire, though the title of city that comes with such a designation makes it seem rather grander than it is. Nonetheless, it is a city, and the mayor of the city is a hotly contended position.

Industry & Trade

The land around Audesbay is poor quality and few kinds of crops can be grown in it. Much of the surrounding area is marshland, so many inhabitants of the city's outer areas make a living searching in the swamps for valuable herbs, dredging up clay, or hunting fish and eels in the more aquatic sections. Those in the main city sections tend to run small businesses or shops, which often rely on deliveries from upriver or from up the coast. Some people also take fishing boats onto the Sunset Ocean, though that carries its own risks. And of course, a moderate taskforce continually monitors the structures keeping the city above the water, making repairs where necessary.

History

Audesbay was once, long ago, a Wildman settlement, but it was abandoned at some point. In 700 or so, a group of Gardsel explorers stumbled upon the location while following the Aude river, and as the empire had yet to secure its west coast at that point, the city was started anew. Rumours of other lost cities in the swamps drew many to the growing town, but none were found, and in fact the increased activity in the mangroves is often cited as what caught the attention of the witherwitches. For nearly a hundred years the monsters made their home in the lands around the Aude marshes, preying on both Audesbay and the small towns just upriver, until their threat was brought to an end under Empress Isadora I. Since then, the city has lapsed from direct imperial control due to the difficulty of accessing it, and was officially designated as a Ward in 1004.

Architecture

The city is a clear mix of two distinct building styles. The Wildman portions of the city are built on wooden platforms with stilts set deep into the marsh, and most dwellings are similarly made of wood and held together with thick ropes made from the swamp reeds which grow around the city. The Gardsel sections are constructed from bricks and mortar, the same as much of the rest of the empire, and are built on paved sections of ground over the few bits of solid land. As the city grew after the expulsion of witherwitches from the swamps, the old wooden style was taken up again to expand faster, creating a network of platforms, each one home to a small community, throughout the still-marshy land nearby.

Natural Resources

The main benefit of a city so near a marsh is the variety of rare plants that can be found in such a location. The Aude's marshes also hold fairly high quality peat and clay, though the latter is of far more use in other towns with more stable foundations.

Type

Large town

Population

11,000