Oridelfa
A town located in the Finver Islands under Sardivelian control. Conquered by the Elflands Empire in the first years of the 3rd Cycle, for millennia it was long ignored by the emperors in the capital of Kassædeia as a cultural and economic backwater. The city became a hotbed for religious fervor in the years leading up to the Character Revolution of 896, but the town fell into chaos during the Sunken God's reign of terror in 897 as hundreds of thousands of sahuagin invaded the Elflands from its massive coastlines. After the Sunken God's defeat at the DW Session 44: The Battle of Kassædeia, the Treaty of Iverburg in 898 granted control of the town to the merchant kingdom of Sardivelia. Paoli Piedmonte promised to rebuild the city, but while this promise held true for towns like Hedgpeth and Galway Oridelfa proved to be a lesser concern for the Sardivelian government. The world's largest populations of kua-toa, bullywugs, and tortles reside here.
Demographics
- 54% Kuo-Toa
- 23% Bullywug
- 12% Human
- 2% Tortle
- 9% Other Races
History
The fight over the title of world's oldest city will never end, but with a proper research expedition Oridelfa may discover enough evidence to give it a shot at the title. Records dating as far back as the 2nd Cycle indicate that the coastal city of Oridelfa was inhabited by a kuo-toa theocracy worshiping an incredibly large pantheon. After much of the city was flooded during the Sunken God's reign of terror, ruins washed up on the city's shore dating back to the time of the 1st Cycle's dragon kings.
Until a thorough expedition takes place, Oridelfa's modern history begins for all intents and purposes with its annexation by the Elflands Empire under the reign of Empress Cordelia (1186, 3rd Cycle - 1633, 3rd Cycle). Cordelia's father saw the city as a worthless backwater compared to the fruitful plains of the nearby orcish territory, but Cordelia was fascinated by the kuo-toa's lengthy oral history and reached an agreement with them to have the stories transcribed in return for defending Oridelfa as a newly-annexed member of the Elflands Empire.
During Cordelia's reign kuo-toa exported a series of well-respected clerics and storytellers throughout the Empire, but Oridelfa's cultural output quickly fell out of favor as more military-minded Emperors took the throne. None shared Cordelia's passion for the preservation of world culture, and for centuries the city became one of the most poverty-stricken portions of the Empire. Thousands of the city's inhabitants fled to the countryside to work as day laborers and subsistence fishermen, caring only for themselves since the Elflands seemed to care little for them.
It was Emperor Laertes Avon II's turn towards religion that stopped Oridelfa from seceding in the early years of the 4th Cycle, the town's religious leaders appeased by investment into their aging and decrepit temples. For a time the kuo-toa became some of the most outspoken defenders of Elflands hegemony, but just like before Oridelfa's imperial standing changed with the coronation of a less tolerant emperor. Polonius Avon III's paranoid and oppressive style of government destroyed all good will built up with Oridelfa's locals, making it ripe for unrest during the Characters Revolution of 896. Over the next two years the city changed ownership four times: first when the Characters took over, next when the Elflands reclaimed it that fall, then thrown into chaos by the conquest of the Sunken God's sahuagin horde, and finally ending with the city's annexation by Sardivelia under the terms of the Treaty of Iverburg.
Paoli Piedmonte's reconstruction efforts mostly focused on the gnomish Galway and the cosmopolitan Hedgpeth, with some wondering why the kuo-toa haven't revolted over a new era of neglect and poverty. Experts have pointed to the fact that Paoli has allowed for the city's faiths and priests to function with little oversight, allowing for a religious revival where kuo-toa can worship their old gods just like their ancestors did thousands of years ago.
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Town
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