Tellarus, General Document
Tellarus is touted by many of its inhabitants as the largest, most populous, most exciting city in the entire world of Summer's Tale. It flies a flag of a maroon lion on a white field, or less often a long maroon standard bordered all around with white (the Municipal Flag, always flow lower)..
Tellarus is a sprawling metropolis in the western coast of Aligoria. It seats the Aligorian Senate, and the Imperial Government and Empress' Palace, along with the extensive slums called "the Gutter," a place of deep history and intrigue.
A seemingly endless row of shops and merchants glut the valley of the Saltwash River as it flows through the town and out into the harbor.
The town is ruled with a tight fist whenever possible, although the slums are not often patrolled by city or imperial guards. These slums are called the Gutter, a highly diverse and impossibly complicated Quarter--heaps upon heaps of the area's different civilizations over the past 10,000 years. (The Gutter is seen as a den of thieves and n'er-do-wells, not worth imperial effort. Most imperials will scoff at the very mention of ther place. They merely wish it "contained.")
"High Tellarus" or "Upper Tellarus" has grown on the southern flank of the Saltwash Vallet. It houses and shelters the High Noble families of Tellarus and its Empire. Nearly every High House has some residence here, although sometimes only visited and occupied in the summer. Here, at the very top, sits the Imperial Palace and High Fortress, behind a massive but highly decorative wall. Here resides the Great High Empress of the Magnificent Land of Aligoria, and her voluminous retinue. The Senate and Democratic Gubernatorial buildings are also high on the Hill. Among the oldest ongoing settlements in the World, Tellarus sprawls across the lands around the Oldest (“Salty”) River’s delta. It has been over 7500 years at least since the site was first developed, and since then layers have been built over one another.
The current area called the Gutter is the oldest part of the city, and there is a rich underworld there, the deepest of which is called simply “the Vastness.” It exists mostly as a rumor, but there are places to enter and find out what lies below. Although many creatures and peoples dwelled in the area long before, the first of the city was built by and for seafarers, as a resting point.
It quickly became a thriving colony with roads that led inland, connecting to other settlements and the rich land of western Alg, as it was called by the first city-dwellers there.
As the site grew in numbers, over hundreds of years (even thousands, as the population rose and fell) it drew in those of other races: Elves from north; Gnomes from the east; and many ancestries of humans from all over the World; not to mention other humanoids who came to power there then burned out. Eventually, in the hands of the Aligorian Empire, only 200 years or so ago, it became a thriving metropolis, rivaling any in the World for trade, culture, government, and intrigue.
It came to be known as Tellarus, an affectionate Zephyran term meaning (poetically at least) Delicious Sprawl. When Aligoria was declared a state (and an Empire) over 200 years ago, the culture of High Tellarus drew the new Emperor in, and he decided to base his government there. A Palace of Governors was built, and a Senate Hall, and emissaries from regions all over the continent--and sometimes beyond--came to debate, discuss, and sometimes vote on issues. Emperor Quoyin Vueros meant well, and he expected that this pseudo-democratic set-up would work for the people of Aligoria. Over the next 200 years, the integrity of the Palace declined, and it fell victim to some corruption. Rulers came and went with various levels of competency, efficacy, and goodwill to their subjects. The Palace gathered a rulership of its own, and some Emperors became mere figureheads. It all depended on what kind of charisma and support the Emperor commanded. (They say Empress Montemina (“the Weak”)--125 ya--was so desperate for strength to rule, she made a pact with the abyss. There were and continue to be rumors that a portal to the Abyss itself exists in the lowest level of the Palace complex.) Now the Empress Queen of Aligoria rules with a heavy hand--an authoritarianism that alarms the Narran nation to the north and frightens most of her own populace.
Rebel groups are making their way into outlying places, keeping together and keeping safe as they can. The Palace of Governors does not outwardly reflect the Empress’s fascist attitudes but rather hides them, softens them, soothes neighboring nations and internal concerns. Plants Cultivated in Tellarus
The town is ruled with a tight fist whenever possible, although the slums are not often patrolled by city or imperial guards. These slums are called the Gutter, a highly diverse and impossibly complicated Quarter--heaps upon heaps of the area's different civilizations over the past 10,000 years. (The Gutter is seen as a den of thieves and n'er-do-wells, not worth imperial effort. Most imperials will scoff at the very mention of ther place. They merely wish it "contained.")
"High Tellarus" or "Upper Tellarus" has grown on the southern flank of the Saltwash Vallet. It houses and shelters the High Noble families of Tellarus and its Empire. Nearly every High House has some residence here, although sometimes only visited and occupied in the summer. Here, at the very top, sits the Imperial Palace and High Fortress, behind a massive but highly decorative wall. Here resides the Great High Empress of the Magnificent Land of Aligoria, and her voluminous retinue. The Senate and Democratic Gubernatorial buildings are also high on the Hill. Among the oldest ongoing settlements in the World, Tellarus sprawls across the lands around the Oldest (“Salty”) River’s delta. It has been over 7500 years at least since the site was first developed, and since then layers have been built over one another.
The current area called the Gutter is the oldest part of the city, and there is a rich underworld there, the deepest of which is called simply “the Vastness.” It exists mostly as a rumor, but there are places to enter and find out what lies below. Although many creatures and peoples dwelled in the area long before, the first of the city was built by and for seafarers, as a resting point.
It quickly became a thriving colony with roads that led inland, connecting to other settlements and the rich land of western Alg, as it was called by the first city-dwellers there.
As the site grew in numbers, over hundreds of years (even thousands, as the population rose and fell) it drew in those of other races: Elves from north; Gnomes from the east; and many ancestries of humans from all over the World; not to mention other humanoids who came to power there then burned out. Eventually, in the hands of the Aligorian Empire, only 200 years or so ago, it became a thriving metropolis, rivaling any in the World for trade, culture, government, and intrigue.
It came to be known as Tellarus, an affectionate Zephyran term meaning (poetically at least) Delicious Sprawl. When Aligoria was declared a state (and an Empire) over 200 years ago, the culture of High Tellarus drew the new Emperor in, and he decided to base his government there. A Palace of Governors was built, and a Senate Hall, and emissaries from regions all over the continent--and sometimes beyond--came to debate, discuss, and sometimes vote on issues. Emperor Quoyin Vueros meant well, and he expected that this pseudo-democratic set-up would work for the people of Aligoria. Over the next 200 years, the integrity of the Palace declined, and it fell victim to some corruption. Rulers came and went with various levels of competency, efficacy, and goodwill to their subjects. The Palace gathered a rulership of its own, and some Emperors became mere figureheads. It all depended on what kind of charisma and support the Emperor commanded. (They say Empress Montemina (“the Weak”)--125 ya--was so desperate for strength to rule, she made a pact with the abyss. There were and continue to be rumors that a portal to the Abyss itself exists in the lowest level of the Palace complex.) Now the Empress Queen of Aligoria rules with a heavy hand--an authoritarianism that alarms the Narran nation to the north and frightens most of her own populace.
Rebel groups are making their way into outlying places, keeping together and keeping safe as they can. The Palace of Governors does not outwardly reflect the Empress’s fascist attitudes but rather hides them, softens them, soothes neighboring nations and internal concerns. Plants Cultivated in Tellarus
- "Goblin Fuzz"--a solid-structure bright green moss, shaped in gardens as a topiary, or subtly in a bonsai-like art form
- Yellowleaf aspen trees (named for their fall colors are cultivated in groves around the outside the palace, but also in courtyards within the wall... They keep their leaves late, and their quaking has decorated many poems throughout the centuries, all the way back to the Wyranians 900 years ago
- .......The Yellowleaf Aspens can also be found decorating various areas and parks, and lining important government or cultural buildings
DIstricts of Tellarus: See Tellarus Districts folder
FURTHER DICTATORIAL ACTIONS
Some of these “deserters” went into hiding and founded the Veh--The Veh--
an anarchist group that aims to terrorize and overthrow the imperial government, action by action
IN THE SENATE
- Aligorian Senators have begun to suspect what the Narran delegations have been saying for over a year
- that the executive government has become a dangerous threat to peace and the rule of just law.
FURTHER DICTATORIAL ACTIONS
- Soon it will be obvious to all, the bid for a possible dictator's power,
- he Empress will give the Tellaran guard covert allowance or take bribes (and return 80% to the Empire),
- and perhaps more shocking to the rule of law: All (for an incredibly large price) the Darsani of Jack City--the most powerful mafia family there--
- to travel and trade freely (a mafia monopoly) in illegal and illegally obtained merchandise. The Empire will look the other way, as long as the bribe money keeps coming in, from the taxed and the mafia families.
Some of these “deserters” went into hiding and founded the Veh--The Veh--
an anarchist group that aims to terrorize and overthrow the imperial government, action by action
See here for the History of Aligoria and the Western Continent of Aligoria: Populations' History of the Aligorian Continent.
"The Vastness", thought to be under the Gutter in north Tellarus Gutter of Tellarus and the Vastness, Creatures and Plants and Etc..
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