Alvoradã
Alvoradã, officially Alvoradã em Uzê (Alvoradã on the Uze, locally: [aɫ̪vʊˈɾad̪‿ˈɛ̃m‿uðɘ̟]), is a city in Antalasia. It is the temporal capital of the Holy Enzimian Empire and its largest city.
History
Evidence for habitation in the area goes back at least to the 1st millennium BCA, but enters the historical record around the 8th century as Xhal Wōrdem (ԀL ꝹRP1), a Fridian settlement along the northern fringe of their cultural area. The chief deity of the city was Gaiθwhē (Caethvēa), a hermaphroditic¹, chthonic deity later conflated by the Vallarans with Proserpina. It was one of the later Fridian city states to be brought under the Varaso Kingdom; according Corian it was peacefully confederated into the kingdom in 1251. It was called Halvōrādam in Vallaran and quickly became one of the most important cities in the north of the kingdom and the de facto capital of the new province of Antalasia.
As the kingdom and later empire expanded northward and eastward across the Inner Sea, Alvoradã's geographic position on the navigable Uzê but about 40 kilometres inland from the shore made it convenient for access by ship but still highly defensible. As far back as its Fridian settlement a fortified keep existed on the large Proserpine Hill.
Due to its association with Proserpina, it was also a common site of pilgrimage for mourners, with many temples to the goddess in the city, many still remaining, though having been converted to Furanist churches following the Enzimian invasion. The most famous of these is the Domus Calistae, built in the 18th century under Aleixo following the death of his mother, now named Lo Congregação do Nos Dama da Tristeça, or the Our Lady of Sorrow Church, which remains a popular destination for mourners in the empire well past its earlier pagan origins.
During the Enzimian invasion of Varas, with the Enzimian army marching towards Varas, about to siege it, the emperor João to fled to Alvoradã and made it the official capital of the empire in 2355. Alvoradã itself was sieged and taken by a combined force of Enzimians and their Taminil allies between 2357 and 2359, with the city eventually falling, and the Varaso Empire with it. The empire continued to exist in name as a puppet state of the Free City of Enzim ruled over by a Furanist Sanhedrin chosen by the Enzimian Sanhedrin for 10 years. In this time, much of the Varaso nobility was purged from the ranks, either stripped of their titles or executed for various crimes. In 2369, Cónsulo, hierarch of Enzim dissolved the Alvoradan Sanhedrin and assumed personal control of the city and the empire in a coup, having soldiers forcibly remove the judges from the coucil building. Another round of inquisitions and purges among the ruling class followed. Due to Cónsulo's incredible popularity and controversial mass grantings of citizenship, as well as a refusal to compromise among the anti-Cónsulo judges in Enzim, the Varaso Empire was officially abolished and replaced by the Holy Enzimian Empire, with Cónsulo as its emperor, more closely integrating Enzim and its newly conquered territories. Enzim became the spiritual capital of the empire, while Alvoradã became its temporal capital, chosen over Varas (soon to be remaned Pição) to distance the new empire from its pagan past.
Climate
Located in southern Antalasia, Alvoradã sits between the Mediterranean climate of the southern Inner Sea basin and the temperate oceanic climate of the north. It shares the warm, dry summers, and short, wet winters of the south, but the four season climate of the north, with distinct, if brief springs and autumns. Spring and autumn are generally the wettest seasons of the year. Winters are cooler than those in Elicia, but warmer than those in northern Antalasia or the foothills to Alvoradã's northwest. Snow is rare, with average lows above freezing year-round.
¹The name Gaiθwhē was grammatically female in Fridian, though the deity was depicted by the Fridians with hermaphroditic characteristics, and usually wearing male clothing.
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