Aprizada (Ap-ree-zah-dah)

Aprizada is a city at the very Northwestern tip of Makal, the gateway between Ekraht and Izekra. It is a city of gentle reds, browns, yellows, and whites curled away from the reefs and rocky beaches in a small bay to itself. Those approaching the city are guided by five lighthouses of red rock and white plaster and small towers of white sandstone that mark the uneven coast. Storms often sweep in from the North, and sailing at night here can be treacherous, so the city and its lighthouses are a welcome reprieve. 
Aprizada is a city-state that rules over the nearby shrublands and jungle; it is also the chief vassal of the underwater Kingdom of Orpora whose capital of Farwater Reef is less than an hour away from the city. 
Most of the old defenses of Aprizada have long since decayed, remaining only as frail sun-bleached ruins sunken into the beaches, the bones of great adobe forts picked clean by the wind and rain. The city appears welcoming and friendly without them, and three different docks welcome visitors in a great hodgepodge of urban disorganization. Entering the city, the chaotic sprawl of different styles and community traditions rises to meet you. The stone-and-concrete roads, clean and angular, are the first hint at a greater order. It can appear like an overgrown garden: concrete honeycomb tenements of foreign style built over with new adobe buildings and factorial workshops repurposed into indoor markets. And even the chaos has its order to those who take the time and care to understand it: the city is informally divided along work specialties and into neighborhoods with their own traditions and leaders. The buildings cluster and grow together and often have their own hidden roads, passageways between building basements shared only by their occupants. This isn't a city that was built and given to people: this is a city that built itself, leads itself, and knows itself better than any ruler could, a city that fools once tried to impose their order on before it spat them back out into the sea. A city that is divided, sure, but runs well on its own mysterious rhythms of life.

Demographics

40,000 humanoids live in Aprizada; 50% are Dryads, 30% are Humans, 10% are Prisms, 5% are selkies, and 5% are Other.

Government

Aprizada is ruled by a council of ruling families, known as the Council of Twelve. Currently the council is stacked by one family, the Zurazirs, who de-facto run Aprizada's government and own much of the richest land further inland. The only family able to muster any resistance to Zurazir dominance is the Akazir family, which has turned to working for the Greater Makal Corporation to remain relevant. 
The Plutarch, or chief executive of the Council elected from among their members, is Koriko Zurazir; a reclusive half-dryad known for their very plain fashion and spartan living. Koriko's greatest ally and rival is the family Matriarch, Ukeza Zurazir, a sharp-tongued and aggressive old woman who is feared and respected across Northern Makal. 
One could argue that the leader of Aprizada is technically the monarch of the Kingdom of Orpora, to whom Aprizada is a vassal, or perhaps Orpora's chosen governor. The Orporan Governor-Advisor is also a member of the Zurazir family: Zelten Zurazir, an infamously stubborn and rigidly legalistic bureaucrat who is Aprizada's most self-important busybody.

Defences

No walls protect Aprizada from attack, but there is a fortress in the North. This fortress, the Old Throne, is operated  by the Zurazir family in Orpora's name, and is mostly oriented towards fending off naval attacks.

Industry & Trade

Aprizada is a city of guild artisans, farmers, and fishers, where small-scale production is king and mega-workshops are absent outside of the Orporan Gasworks. Laborers for construction or dockwork operate in small bands, and often migrate periodically to the countryside to farm during off-months. Small-scale production by individuals or families, regulated by the guilds, tends to be broken down by district: pottery is kept to the potter's district, weaving to the weavers, etc. Small, unregulated crafts and peddling fills in the gaps. As for the Orporan gasworks, it sits at the Southern edge of town, closest to Farwater Reef, and it is owned and operated by the Kingdom of Orpora. The Gasworks mix together chemical weapons for sale, and are the bottom-of-the-barrel work for those who can truly find no other job.

Infrastructure

Aprizada has great roads, a middling sewer system that is over-dependent on underground cisterns that several buildings are slowly sinking into, and an overstrained public water system.

Guilds and Factions

The Zurazir Aristocratic Clique: The merchant-aristocrats of Aprizada are currently under the thumb of a single ascendant family, known as the Zurazirs. The Zurazir clique are the rural landowners that control much of the land surrounding Aprizada, and they control the regular caravans of food that sustain the city's population. They also control the profitable cocoa plantations, the flax farms, and the small rural mines; textiles, cocoa, prism-food, and copper all are harvested by the Zurazir's will. The landowners are an exclusive group who keep to themselves, keeping the old spirit and traditions of Aprizada alive. They are prone to drama and infighting, but tend to listen when the dominant Zurazirs speak. The Zurazirs are the most connected to the Kingdom of Orpora, and also act as middle-men between the Greater Makal Company and chemical weapons sales. They also have the allegiance of the old artisan guild structures, giving them a lot of lower-middle-class support.
The Greater Makal Company: The Greater Makal Company, or GMC, are the dominant foreign commercial group in Aprizada. The GMC's manager of regional affairs, Toreb Dranazir, sees the city as rightful corporate property and has been waging a war of influence against the Zurazirs for several years now. Toreb has even constructed a clique or rebellious local plutocrats to support him - notably the venerable Akazir family matriarch, Ruwena Akazir. Toreb has been desperate to escalate matters and has gone so far as to ally with local crime groups, and the Akazirs have been the sole moderating influence present so far. The GMC faction appeals a great deal to rising merchants frustrated with the insular nature of the current order, and have many allies among the new rich and the upper middle class. 
The Khilaian outpost: The selkies have a self-governing outpost here, known as the Aprizada outpost, which reports annually to the Khilaia. The outpost prefers to keep out of non-selkie matters and usually acts as treaty-keepers and judges of selkie pirates more than actual political influencers. That said, they are listened to when they speak, as they hold great commercial power here. 
The Kamadan Temple: The local Kamadan temple is a force for change, populism, and foreign cultural influence in Aprizada, and is popular among disenfranchised youth and foreigners alike. The current Crown Priest (leader of Aprizada's temples) is Erila Torazir, a foreigner from Zerua with family ties to the Aizadara Joint Stock Company. Erila has done her best to turn the temple into a vehicle for her favored company, and has been stealthily supporting the local company franchise (run, coincidentally, by her daughter). Erila has done her best to sow discontent towards the Greater Makal Company (and, to a lesser extent, the Zurazir clique) to open the city up to a change in corporate affiliation. 
The Temple of Ishkibism: The Temple of Ishkibal the Savior is a rapidly growing presence in Aprizada, particularly among the humans of the city. While ishkibites have always had a minor presence in Aprizada, they became a major community force when a large influx of Izekran refugees arrived in Aprizada in the 1970s and 80s. Generally speaking the Temple of Ishkibal aligns more with the GMC than any other group, as they lack any kind of political representation and quite resent that fact. The Ishkibites have gained increasing control over the lower ranks of the city guard, but have been denied leadership positions for decades. 
The Leviathan Hunters: The Leviathan Hunters are the finest warriors of Aprizada, who operate as autonomous crews that patrol the waters for pirates or monsters. Each crew has its own government contract with both Aprizada and Orpora, and they technically act as auxiliaries for the Orporan military (though they haven't been called to do so since 1973. The Leviathan Hunters have little loyalty to the state, but tend to be quirky mercenaries with their own priorities. Each crew is its own culture and warband that fights in its own way.

History

Old Aprizada

Aprizada has been inhabited for many centuries, but it only recently became a permanent city. Prior to 1612, Aprizada was more a collection of villages, that grew larger and closer together over the years as commercial traffic between Izekra and Makal increased. As the coalition of villages became an autonomous urban cluster in the late 1500s, it remained divided between its old village authorities. One could argue that it truly became a city during those decades, quietly and without notice - but Aprizada marks its own history as beginning with its conquest in 1612. A group of warriors known as the Aprazabi from further down the coast conquered the fragmented township for themselves and their leader, Lokamro, officially renamed the city to Aprizada. 
The Lokamro and his descendants ruled from 1612 to 1719, during a period known as the First Monarchy. The First Monarchy was fairly hands-off in its government, and largely left the individual village elderships intact as local officials. In 1719, the First Monarchy was overthrown by their own warriors and a more aggressive military regime began known as the Second Monarchy. The Second Monarchy disbanded over half the elderships and bribed the remaining families into becoming regime loyalists; they also took a more aggressive approach to urban planning, and dramatically reorganized and rebuilt much of the city. Selkies and foreigners each got their own special portside districts in the new Aprizada, and a group of selkies settled down in Aprizada to use as an outpost. Selkies, foreigners, and merchants were treated less and less well over time, and their seaside districts were left to decay and rot as storms battered the city. Instead, the Second Monarchy focused on trying to conquer the island to harvest resources - and while their conquest went well, their occupations failed.

Aprizada as City-State

In 1810, the military regime fell to infighting and were swept away by a merchant coup. The merchants abandoned the imperial ambitions and failed occupations and turned their attention towards the city itself. Aprizada settled into itself as a city-state, and while it still farmed food and cocoa in the nearby forests, it was content with its modern-day borders. The Aprizadan merchants were a very insular clique for several decades, and rejected all attempts by non-selkie merchants to move to Aprizada or set up businesses. The twelve great families spent much of the 1810s, 1820s, and 1830s trying to make Aprizada an exclusive port that could tightly control Northern trade, much to the resentment of foreign groups. One group of outsiders, the Greater Makal Company, refused to accept this closed mercantile order, and began running ships through Aprizada anyways. The Makal Company's ships were heavily guarded and dared the small military of Aprizada to pick a fight - but Aprizada kept up the pressure, forcing them to hire excessive security and overstock supplies. It was an arms race, but not one the Greater Makal Company was going to play fair; the Corporation began a campaign of bribery and espionage, and was able to turn the families against each other. In 1839, the Greater Makal Company was able to secure exclusive rights of trade and passage through Aprizada, like the selkies had; and they promptly slammed the door behind them. From 1839 to 1920, Aprizada allowed only the GMC and selkies through, providing both with hefty profits. Aprizada, meanwhile, began to stagnate. 
In 1920, a threat emerged from the North: a rowdy young Leviathan, that had taken grave offense to the heightened traffic between Izekra and Makal and wished to teach the surface-dwellers a lesson. The Leviathan, known as the Emerald Tempest, flung itself at Aprizada's port. The selkies lacked the coordinated firepower to fight it; the Makal Company abandoned Aprizada to its fate. It was a growing aquatic power, the Kingdom of Orpora, that saved Aprizada from destruction. The Orporans emerged from the sea to thunderous applause, and demanded tribute in exchange for their protection. The Aprizadans agreed, not fully realizing that the Orporans intended this to be a conquest rather than a mercenary agreement. The Orporans sent advisors to the surface to try and manage Aprizada's affairs, but the Aprizadans ignored them; and when tribute demands went up, the Aprizadans ignored those too. In 1931 the Aprizadans outright stopped paying tribute to the troublesome cephapeople, but the Orporans wouldn't have it. In 1932, the Orporans launched a precision strike on Aprizada's palace, a total surprise that led to a number of wealthy heirs being captured and chemical weapons being pointed at the city. The Aprizadan leadership understood what was happening this time, and they agreed to resume tribute. Orporans were given full rights over the water, along with several islands to use as embassies. The Orpora advisors were taken more seriously now, as political powers which the Council of Twelve bowed to. 

Modern Aprizada

From 1932 to 1974, Aprizada was ruled directly as an Orporan satrapy. The Council of Twelve remained, but the Orporan advisor called the shots. Trade was re-opened and the Greater Makal Company lost their special rights; now anyone could move or trade through Aprizada. Growth and expansion of the city was made a priority, as was reorganizing the city into more 'orderly' designs where possible. It was a time of turmoil, not remembered very fondly. Buildings were levelled and rebuilt by their emptied tenants into unfamiliar and cramped blocks with meager compensation; populations were shoved into the city from other parts of North Makal by the Orporans despite protests. It all came to an end in 1974, when Greater Makal Company fleets went to war with Orpora and sacked Aprizada, butchering the aquatic leadership, ruining the direct ocean elevators to Aprizada, and culling the more complicit families. 
When the company war ended in 1976 Aprizada went back to being Orporan property, but the Orporans never resumed their attempts to 'tame' Aprizada or rule it so directly. Many left the city; many others arrived, as the city prospered under its new leadership. Kamadan religion entered the city with the returning corporations, and new groups of Izekra began to move in (having been displaced by some terrible, genocidal war in the far North). 
Since then, the city has also become more closely controlled by fewer and fewer families. In 2005, the Zurazirs seized total control over the government, and only the bitter resistance of the GMC-affiliated Akazirs and Kamadan temple leaders have stopped the Zurazirs from seizing autocratic control.

Architecture

Aprizada's architecture is a smattering of styles: first is traditional Aprizadan, which tends to be single-story mixtures of brick and adobe that include large, insulated basements and substories and have outer shells of wood-supported stone and steep roofs of adobe and reeds. Traditional Aprizadan buildings tend to link together and intermingle, and often include gardens. 
Then there is the Orporan style, defined by its rigid lines, multiple stories, and rejection of wood or adobe as building materials. These buildings tend to prioritize efficient use of space over cooling or protection from rain, but they are beautiful in their perfect symmetry, crips lines, and honeycomb structures. 
And last there are the new buildings, which tend to mix Zeruan, Izekran, Samvaran, and Umedan styles in a grand mishmash of styles. Domes are common among these buildings, as are heat-exhaust wind chimneys.

Geography

Aprizada is located in a small bay just South of Arrival Point (the first point where sailors arrive or leave from Izekra), and is the first place where a ship can dock after crossing the Veniv straights. The area around Arrival Point and to the East of it is known as the Barge's Grave - a strip of coast that appears friendly, but is haunted by terrible riptides and hidden reefs that are lethal to approaching ships. Barge's Grave is also where the fiercest storms hit from the North. Aprizada is not spared these storms, but it is given a buffer at least. 
Around 5 miles South of Aprizada, on the edge of the bay, is Farwater Reef. Inland of Aprizada is a small strip of arid shrubland that gives way to humid forest and jungle.

Founding Date

1612 ME

Type

City

Population

40,000 humanoids

Inhabitant Demonym

Aprizadan

Location under

Makal

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