Age of Independence
Beyond the Founding Laws of Absalom, preserved in Azlanti Keep, no documents from the city’s first 400 years survive—and this next‑oldest document, a warehouse’s inventory of maritime supplies, speaks more to Absalom’s mounting practical needs rather than to any grand initiatives. Indeed, as Absalom grew, Aroden’s departures grew ever longer until at last he seemed gone forever. Left relatively undefended and without an immortal patron to guide its expansion, Absalom suffered generations of indecision, raiding, and infrastructural misfortune before emerging as an independent power.
Most infamous of these misfortunes was the Pirate Siege, more than a century of piracy by independent criminals and state‑funded privateers alike. It culminated in an orchestrated blockade in 446 AR with the pirates pressuring Absalom to pay off the raiders. The city instead sent out a call for foreign mercenaries, promising them land and titles for aid. Not only did sellswords answer in droves, but many of the pirates turned on their neighbors in order to claim Absalom’s offer, most famously Eraheim Vastille, founder of one of Absalom’s oldest noble houses.
By the time the legendary Vudran maharajah Khiben‑Sald visited in 537 AR, these new nobles had devastated the pirates and taken a more direct role in ruling the city. The maharajah delighted in Absalom’s old Azlanti architecture, cosmopolitan style, and hospitality, declaring it the “Jewel of the Inner Sea.” The citizens delighted in the attention. In Khiben‑Sald’s wake, he left an ebullient city now enamored with Vudran culture, art, and spices—all of which Vudran merchants happily imported at great cost. Yet, the visit also highlighted many of Absalom’s shortcomings. The maharajah lacked proper accommodation, after which the city erected the Palace of Thirteen Spires to host visiting dignitaries. Lacking terrestrial defenses beyond Azlanti Keep, Absalom sorely needed city walls, which the cash‑strapped government completed only thanks to a massive bequest from the heirless Eobold Efroham. Most infamously, Absalom’s sewers were woefully inadequate for its growing populace, culminating in the Forty‑Four Foul. The city had laughed off a kobold tribe’s threats in 543 AR, and during the following summer’s blistering heat, the kobolds responded by jamming key outlets, resulting in a paralyzing accumulation of noxious baking waste that flooded the streets. Absalom’s First Great Sewer Expansion was its largest public works project to date, extending infrastructure far beyond the city’s core to accommodate future growth.
And grow it did. Absalom’s population steadily quintupled over the next few centuries as the city leveraged its ideal geography to grow rich on trade. With the arrival of the Resplendent Phoenix, an immense Tian junk laden with goods, Absalom reveled in this affirmation of the city’s importance, as if hosting Khiben‑Sald a second time. However, the new demand for expensive Tian goods highlighted the growing inequality between noble houses and the common citizens. As the latter spoke out, the Grand Council invoked toothless solutions that only fanned the bitter flames, and even the Siege of the Prophets in 1298 AR couldn’t unite Absalom against a common threat for long.
After bitter sentiments had fermented for generations, the Ascendant Court’s nomarch, Garev Halfhand, rebelled against callous policies he heard discussed during a Grand Council meeting. His oratorical outburst bled into the streets, where discontented eavesdroppers took it as a rallying cry, declaring themselves free of oppressive contracts upon being “reborn in rebellion.” Halfhand led the door‑to‑door fighting that followed, hoping to rid Absalom of the noble houses he believed so toxic to the city’s ideals. Ultimately, the primarch’s house guards halted the conflict, but not before thousands died.
Shaken, the city’s power brokers hastily instituted reforms and sold off a fraction of their accumulated property. Noble scions increasingly donated to the city’s beautification, thereafter competing to appear the most generous for centuries. This culture of philanthropy triggered an outpouring of support after Osirion’s overthrow by Keleshite forces in 1532 AR, and even though Absalom lacked the housing to accommodate the waves of Garundi immigrants fleeing that foreign regime, the noble houses personally funded new construction in the outskirt towns.
The Reborn Rebellion might have taught Absalom’s elite altruism, yet the combination of conservative Osirian values and philanthropic grandstanding fostered cults of personality. Nobles and demagogues became more powerful during this era’s closing centuries, and the citizens grew ever hungrier for rhetoric.
Most infamous of these misfortunes was the Pirate Siege, more than a century of piracy by independent criminals and state‑funded privateers alike. It culminated in an orchestrated blockade in 446 AR with the pirates pressuring Absalom to pay off the raiders. The city instead sent out a call for foreign mercenaries, promising them land and titles for aid. Not only did sellswords answer in droves, but many of the pirates turned on their neighbors in order to claim Absalom’s offer, most famously Eraheim Vastille, founder of one of Absalom’s oldest noble houses.
By the time the legendary Vudran maharajah Khiben‑Sald visited in 537 AR, these new nobles had devastated the pirates and taken a more direct role in ruling the city. The maharajah delighted in Absalom’s old Azlanti architecture, cosmopolitan style, and hospitality, declaring it the “Jewel of the Inner Sea.” The citizens delighted in the attention. In Khiben‑Sald’s wake, he left an ebullient city now enamored with Vudran culture, art, and spices—all of which Vudran merchants happily imported at great cost. Yet, the visit also highlighted many of Absalom’s shortcomings. The maharajah lacked proper accommodation, after which the city erected the Palace of Thirteen Spires to host visiting dignitaries. Lacking terrestrial defenses beyond Azlanti Keep, Absalom sorely needed city walls, which the cash‑strapped government completed only thanks to a massive bequest from the heirless Eobold Efroham. Most infamously, Absalom’s sewers were woefully inadequate for its growing populace, culminating in the Forty‑Four Foul. The city had laughed off a kobold tribe’s threats in 543 AR, and during the following summer’s blistering heat, the kobolds responded by jamming key outlets, resulting in a paralyzing accumulation of noxious baking waste that flooded the streets. Absalom’s First Great Sewer Expansion was its largest public works project to date, extending infrastructure far beyond the city’s core to accommodate future growth.
And grow it did. Absalom’s population steadily quintupled over the next few centuries as the city leveraged its ideal geography to grow rich on trade. With the arrival of the Resplendent Phoenix, an immense Tian junk laden with goods, Absalom reveled in this affirmation of the city’s importance, as if hosting Khiben‑Sald a second time. However, the new demand for expensive Tian goods highlighted the growing inequality between noble houses and the common citizens. As the latter spoke out, the Grand Council invoked toothless solutions that only fanned the bitter flames, and even the Siege of the Prophets in 1298 AR couldn’t unite Absalom against a common threat for long.
After bitter sentiments had fermented for generations, the Ascendant Court’s nomarch, Garev Halfhand, rebelled against callous policies he heard discussed during a Grand Council meeting. His oratorical outburst bled into the streets, where discontented eavesdroppers took it as a rallying cry, declaring themselves free of oppressive contracts upon being “reborn in rebellion.” Halfhand led the door‑to‑door fighting that followed, hoping to rid Absalom of the noble houses he believed so toxic to the city’s ideals. Ultimately, the primarch’s house guards halted the conflict, but not before thousands died.
Shaken, the city’s power brokers hastily instituted reforms and sold off a fraction of their accumulated property. Noble scions increasingly donated to the city’s beautification, thereafter competing to appear the most generous for centuries. This culture of philanthropy triggered an outpouring of support after Osirion’s overthrow by Keleshite forces in 1532 AR, and even though Absalom lacked the housing to accommodate the waves of Garundi immigrants fleeing that foreign regime, the noble houses personally funded new construction in the outskirt towns.
The Reborn Rebellion might have taught Absalom’s elite altruism, yet the combination of conservative Osirian values and philanthropic grandstanding fostered cults of personality. Nobles and demagogues became more powerful during this era’s closing centuries, and the citizens grew ever hungrier for rhetoric.
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