Matanzas
The town of Matanzas is a fairly large town on the Jakonian-Augustin border. The town is a mostly quiet, self-contained community, with a penchant for smuggling up and down the Matanzas River. The town itself has proven to be prosperous, but underneath the surface of this community is one of the quickest growing movements against Jakonian rule. The lord is lax on enforcement of curfews and suppression, and this has allowed the local Nasites to thrive and make their own fortunes and bring in plenty of weapons and devices while smuggling. Those in the know believe Matanzas is an unlit powder keg, just waiting for the right spark.
Government
The local government uses the basic functions of the Jakonian bureaucracy, managing the towns jurisprudence and any other affairs. The bureaucracy is financed by House Hayles, the dominating family over the community. This government also oversees much of the surrounding countryside both around Matanzas and the farmland surrounding Satsuma and Corazon. Due to this, government institutions in Matanzas are often overworked and understaffed, allowing many things to go by the wayside.
Defences
The town of Matanzas has two sections, the east side of the Matanzas River, around the Old Watchtower Inn, and the west side of the Matanzas River. As the eastern side is built upon a barrier island, it lacks any town wall or fortifications, as the marshy land around it prevent landings or large scale attacks from the sea. The western side is more fortified, with a strong stone wall providing a defense to the river line, and powerful iron gates. The bridge connecting the two halves of the town is similarly fortified with gates on each end and a tower redoubt in the center. A castle has been built here along the town gates, offering a redoubt against any attackers. The majority of these defenses could be easily bypassed or conquered by a determined attacker, but has always been known that the fortifications are most meant to buy time until relief can arrive from the south.
The defenders of Matanzas consist primarily of the house guard of House Hayles. They provide the law enforcement and day to day defense of the town. Should the town come under direct attack, roughly two thousand militia could be drafted for the defense. Unfortunately for the rulers of the town, the militia are unreliable, especially should they view any attackers as possible liberators from Jakonian rule.
Industry & Trade
The main industries besides the processing of trade from Augustin, consist of fishing and the harvesting of oysters. The river bed between the two halves of the cities is rich in oysters and these exotic creatures are considered to be valuable delicacies in larger cities. When the tide subsides, it is possible to see hundreds of people on both sides of the river simply collecting them from the river bed. The harbor in Matanzas is too small for most merchant ships, but is suitable for fishing ones, and many fishermen set out each day into the Endless Ocean, mostly pursuing shrimp from the vast schools of them not far out at sea. These foodstuffs are highly popular in both Satsuma and Corazon, which are the main purchasers of the intake.
Infrastructure
Matanzas is built within the soggy marshes surrounding the Matanzas River, a smaller stream separating the barrier islands from the mainland. There is ample high ground for construction, but the proximity of the water has allowed for a decent run-off system, allowing for good drainage and a relatively high level of sanitation in the town. This is combined with a series of mills for processing the crops grown in the surrounding area. A series of docks also provide a limited amount of shelter for ships, but the town lacks a natural port besides anchorages in the river, which often grows too shallow to use when the sands below shift. Most of the infrastructure and bridges are dedicated towards the processes of goods from Augustin overland to Palm and other communities further south.
Assets
One of the best known sites in the town of Matanzas is the Old Watchtower Inn. This ancient stone structure allegedly used to be a fortification, and is said to be as old as the Castillo in Augustin. Today, it is a privately owned tavern, which remains mostly open air, with deck and rooftop service. The tavern is legendary as a meeting place and an area for the common exchange of services and ideas. It is a popular spot for the recruitment of adventuring parties, as Matanzas is on the border to more tolerant nations, allowing for a more diverse crowd of visiting adventurers.
The city itself features a single major marketplace, surrounding the Old Watchtower Inn, offering luxury goods and items bought from the Free City of Augustin. The markets have ample supplies and even the occasional magical items that avoid confiscation and destruction by the Fellowship of the Palm. The Jakonian Customs Service has an office on the market, with which merchants are meant to check in and provide a roster of the goods and services they will be offering in Matanzas and what goods they intend on transporting deeper into the Empire. The local smiths and general goods stores provide tolerable goods otherwise, but they lack any true masters of craft.
Guilds and Factions
House Hayles is the reigning power in Matanzas, and the guards are loyal, well-paid Jakonians brought in to support them. They know perfectly well that they rule over a currently quiet, but hostile populace that would love to see them gone. At the moment they are the primary directive force in the city, but Lord Stephen knows all too well that pushing the populace too hard could lead to an uprising. The Starshine Front is well known to be active within Matanzas, as is the Cult of the Damned. The Fellowship of the Palm has warned the Lord that based on estimates, the Starshine Front may have more weapons and sympathizers in Matanzas than in any other town or city in the region. Stephen has chosen to attempt to handle these would-be rebels with a delicate touch, hoping to forestall rebellion with kindness.
History
The town of Matanzas was founded well after the Jakonian Empire's rise to prominence, in the 3rd Century. A very small hamlet had developed around the Old Watchtower Inn, but there was little else in the area. Most people instead sought out work in Palm or Augustin, and left Matanzas aside. Matanzas did not have its true awakening until the 6th Century, when a famous band of adventurers known as the Midnight Rats met there for the first time and began using it as a base of operations. The adventurers discovered several lost Nameless Empire ruins in what eventually became western Matanzas, and their discoveries were met with renown and acclaim. After pursuing other adventures, they eventually settled down in Matanzas, and invested their wealth of gold there.
People flocked to Matanzas first to loot clean the Nameless Empire's ruins, but it was discovered how easily oysters could be collected from the shores of the river. Furthermore, fishermen began to be attracted to the town, because it offered less regulation than the fisheries of Augustin. From here, the town expanded and eventually reached its current boundaries and a similar size in the 700s. The Midnight Rats Statue upon the central bridge of the community commemorates the town's unofficial founders and the efforts they provided to the growth and prosperity of the region.
With the Jakonian Empire's decline, Matanzas found itself constantly aligned with the efforts of the Nasite rebels. Once the Free City of Augustin became independent, the vast majority of weapons and armors bound for Nasite forces were processed through Matanzas, and among Nasites, the town is considered to be the arsenal of the rebellion. That said, the town itself has only risen in riots once, during a period of food shortages in 956. The riots were quelled by House Hayles, but the local resistance is content to continue sponsoring the efforts of their brethren in southern lands.
Geography
The town of Matanzas is built upon the soggy marshland surrounding the Old Watchtower Inn and the nearby Matanzas River. The eastern portion of the city is soggier than the western, being on lower terrain. It is surrounded by sand dunes and shrubs, leading all the way to the nearby ocean. The western portion of the city is built upon higher ground, and hugs the river bend in a crescent shape.
Type
Large town
Population
9,100
Related Ethnicities
Inhabitant Demonym
Matanzan
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
~8,900 Nasite Humans
~200 Halfbreeds
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