Palm
The city of Palm is one of the more populous communities in the Jakonian Empire, with the exceptions of Poinciana and the Imperial City. It is also the largest city, having spread out across the surrounding region in sprawling disarray. The boundaries of the city are in constant flux, being negotiated with the Lordship of Matanzas, though the combination of the two lordships under House Hayles has somewhat lessened this potential conflict. It is considered to be the most loyal city in Nasite lands, and the origin of the powerful Fellowship of the Palm.
Demographics
The city of Palm is for the majority, Nasite humans. However, unlike the other cities and towns in Nasite lands, this one has attracted a sizeable subset of Jakonian humans who have settled here over the past one hundred years, brought in by the rulers of the land to help quell unrest. The conflict between these two groups is constant and vicious. Similarly, the overwhelming presence of the Fellowship of the Palm has made the situation here very uncomfortable for any nonhumans and even halflings choose to stay out of Palm unless absolutely necessary. Officially there are no nonhumans in the city, and it is often held up as a beacon of the best example that a place could be under the purity of the Church of the One Sun.
Government
House Hayles is the ruling house in the city of Palm. They pay for and administer most government functions within the city. The government itself is a bureaucracy, mostly an apparatus leftover from the times when the centralization of the Empire was more prevalent. All laws follow those passed by House Hayles over the jurisdiction, and therefore the city shares an administrative system with Matanzas and Satsuma. All day to day affairs of the city are handled through the bureaucracy but Samuel Hayles is the final word on any new legislation and jurisprudence that takes place. Despite the dispersed nature of the city, all government affairs are centralized in a single fortified neighborhood, the largest of them, commonly referred to as Hayleston.
Defences
The levies of House Hayles are the primary defense for the people of Palm. That said, the majority of dispersed neighborhoods have individual walls which would make the conquest of the city a living nightmare. The quality of these walls differs greatly from neighborhood to neighborhood, from Hayleston's fifty foot tall stone citadel to the wooden palisades of the Nasite neighborhoods. Most of the neighborhoods are in sight of each other, and they use a system of relay towers and light signals to communicate distress or unrest, allowing for the central government to remain informed of the status of the whole city. The relay towers are typically the most well fortified building in a neighborhood, and are the centers for local garrisons and guards, often housing jail cells for any local criminals.
The levies of House Hayles are the only trained military force protecting the city. Outside of these forces, each neighborhood regularly trains its own militia, but the quality and reliability of these formations is often in doubt. The Nasite neighborhoods are usually denied training with actual weapons, for fears that they may eventually use them against the government. The Jakonian neighborhoods on the other hand, are often able to equip themselves with the finest weapons available and receive assisted training from House Hayles.
Industry & Trade
Every neighborhood in Palm is built around some industry or trade that makes it unique to the others. For the most part these are things that supply local demand such as forges, wainwrights, or sawmills. Most of these shops are independently owned and there is more than enough demand in Palm to make satisfying local customers a feasible approach. The majority of exports from Palm come from the vast array of agriculture in the areas between the neighborhoods. The focus in Palm has always been upon farming and agriculture, helping to supply demand in Augustin and Kiralyno. The extreme outputs of Corazon and the Fruitlands, however, has led to a change of focus. Today, Palm is the foremost exporter of liquors and ale to the rest of the Jakonian Empire. Breweries are the foundation of nearly a dozen neighborhoods within Palm, providing liquors for a variety of palates.
Infrastructure
As the city of Palm is spread out over nearly fifteen square miles of interior land and coastline, infrastructure has always been important to the leaders of the land. Many of the roads were originally built at the height of the Jakonian Empire, but they continue to be religiously maintained by the efforts of House Hayles. The quality of these roads differs from neighborhood to neighborhood, as some have been intentionally neglected. Over the past fifty years, the House has focused upon the maintenance of roads in areas populated by Jakonian humans, while ignoring issues in Nasite majority areas. New developments are given first to the Jakonians, and only haphazardly to the rest of the population. This goes for all new infrastructure developments, not just roads and other new construction.
Assets
Due to the dispersed nature of the city, there is a lot of duplication of efforts and stores. Every neighborhood has its own blacksmith, sometimes even several, and plenty of general goods stores and taverns. Not only is Palm the largest geographical city in the Jakonian Empire, it also possesses the largest amount of marketplaces, with every neighborhood having a gathering of market stalls and shops. For the most part these shops and stalls are rarely specialty shops, instead focusing on day to day affairs, and there is no smith or craftsman in Palm known to be particularly gifted. It is said that the majority of talented individuals have been scared away by the massive Fellowship presence in the city, cracking down on even the slightest hint of dissent.
Guilds and Factions
The ruling faction in Palm is House Hayles. They represent the Jakonians and their interests in Palm, hoping to expand their population and squelch any further Nasite unrest before it can get started. The Jakonians believe in loyalty to the Church of the One Sun, good behavior, and preservation of the Empire. They are firmly opposed to demonstrations of any kind, and find any resistance towards imperial rule, no matter how minor, to be treason.
The Nasites on the other hand have organized around a group known as the Starshine Front. This organized resistance movement has embraced the heritage of the Nasites, glorifying the centuries of resistance against the Jakonian Empire. They are persistently fighting against House Hayles and undertaking acts of resistance. They have gathered support from the remnants of the Cult of the Damned in Palm, and are attempting to lay the groundwork for an open rebellion. They are anxious to regain their freedom, which has languished under the Empire.
The Fellowship of the Palm are an active faction of their own within the boundaries of Palm. As their city of origin and with their own cathedral nearby, they have a vested interest in preserving order and preventing unrest. That is not to say that they are constantly aligned with the goals of House Hayles. They keep an eye on Jakonians and Nasites alike, and they have found that heresy can arise from either quarter. They seek to purge any heresy within Palm, and to discourage the arrival of any nonhumans in the city. They are actively involved in stirring up mobs against any new nonhuman residents, in order to cause them to pick up and leave, or worst case, to end their lives entirely.
History
The city of Palm is one of the oldest in the Jakonian Empire. Palm's existence can be traced back to during the Nameless Empire. Palm can actually said to be larger now than it ever was under the rule of the Nameless Empire, when it was a simple and small decaying farming community. The farms of the region were what saved Palm when the Nameless Empire collapsed, possessing the means to feed itself when larger urban areas could not. The population swelled as Palm was the center of a local sect that offered out the food to the population through charitable giving. This was the original Fellowship of the Palm. They were an independent city state that officially remained neutral in the wars of larger powers.
This changed with the Jakonian conquest of the Nasite kingdom. The Nasites were soundly defeated, and the Fellowship of the Palm saw the writing on the wall. They joined in arms with the Jakonians, helping to bring about the destruction of what was left of the Nasites. They soon became part of the Church of the One Sun, and administration of Palm passed on to more secular powers. The locals ruled Palm for some time, but many were discontent with the Jakonians and viewed the leaders of the Fellowship as traitors towards their fellow man, betraying the charitable foundations of the organization. Palm became a hive of unrest for many years, and it proved simple to wage effective uprisings due to the dispersed nature of the city.
Since the decline of the Jakonian Empire, Palm has remained an important city, but mostly just due to its proximity towards the Cathedral of the Fellowship. Palm has become a major political center for the Jakonians, and a bastion of loyalty compared to the rest of the region. It now acts as the primary base for any response against uprisings or riots by the Nasites.
Geography
Palm possesses a rather unique geography for a major city. Instead of being concentrated into a single urban center, it is dispersed over fifteen square miles of terrain. There are instead over forty urban centers to Palm, each fortified to different degrees. The city is spread from the coastline of the Endless Ocean towards the Cathedral of the Fellowship further inland. Between each of these fortified neighborhoods are farms and ranches, and with the clearance of trees, it is said to be possible to see all of the neighborhoods from the tops of the relay towers used to communicate. The lands are incredibly flat with few hills or features, and most of the hills in the area become the seats of power for each neighborhood.
Type
City
Population
83,000
Related Ethnicities
Inhabitant Demonym
Palmanians
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
Comments