Nebros

"While the lumber produce of Nebros is lucrative and could see great benefits in Avadian and Arikandan markets, the sheer distance from any port or continental trade road of note, the highly restrictive laws of the Empire, and the downright abysmal climate simply doesn't see a sufficient return on investment. I recommend we do not set up operations there. And if we do, no way in Annihilation am I moving there."
-excerpt from an Avadian report on the viability of trade with Nebros

Nebros is a large Kalriv town in the far north of Arikanda, on the border of the Sapphire Coast and the Great Taiga. It is considered the traditional northern border of the Kalriv Empire, and is seen as a remote backwater town. However, it is also a prominent logging and lumber town and is considered an essential part of the Kalriv Empire as a result. In recent years it has also gained a reputation as a rebellious frontier town due to its relaxed social structure and its unorthodox prefect.

Demographics

Like many northern Kalriv towns and cities, the majority of Nebros' population trace their origins back to the peoples originally conquered and enslaved by the Empire when they conquered the holdings of the city of Lycrus. As a result, traditionally Nebros has a high proportion of slaves and ex-slaves in the population. This has begun to change in recent years, however, with the reforms of Marad Serec seeing record numbers of slaves being freed and entering the labourer caste. Labourers, both paid and slave, make up about 70% of the populace, with 25% of mercantile and artisan bent, and the remaining 5% divided between the Guardian and Solar aristocracies.
Nebros is almost exclusively a Kalriv town. It has been visited very rarely by Heartlander dignitaries and even a few Wessuth from the Great Taiga, but beyond this, very few foreigners can be found here.

Government

"I need the people of this town to want to work with me if we are to survive this far from Var Kalriv. The Legate is welcome to come here and see how things are if he has an issue with how I do that."
-Marad Serec, Prefect of Nebros

Nebros is under the control of and owes fealty to the Kalriv Empire, and is nominally subject to the Legate overseeing the northern Sapphire Coast. Like many towns and minor cities in the Empire, the Legate delegates an official from one of the local nobility to administer the town as a prefect. The prefect interprets and implements the laws, and in turn delegates authority to city officials to carry this out.
The current prefect of the town is Marad Serec, a man in his forties from a family of middle prestige within the Guardian class. While the Serec family had previously had a reputation as enforcers of Kalriv rule and the established social order, Marad appears to be implementing unorthodox measures in his rule. He has encouraged, through incentives, the use of paid workers and labourers in roles that would be traditionally assigned to slaves, and his own labourers, both in his own employ and the employ of the town, are paid a wage in line with those traditionally issued to free labourers.
This move has earned him the ire of many of the Guardian class and certain elements of the Solar Faith, but has made him very popular with the freed population, with slaves, and with certain elements of the working class. Most tellingly, productivity has actually gone up. These elements mean that the Empire have refrained from intervening thus far.

Defences

As a border town on the edge of the Great Taiga, Nebros is significantly fortified. It boasts tall, thick limestone walls on the northern, western and eastern perimeters, with a lighter wooden palisade over the south edge of the town. Due to the strategic position of the town, a small garrison belonging to the Kalriv Legion is stationed on the outskirts of town to repel any organised attacks from tribes to the north.

Industry & Trade

The cutting, refining and exporting of lumber is the primary industry within Nebros, with the vast boreal forests of the north and west providing more than enough wood to not only fuel Nebros' industry and economy, but also provide vital supplies of wood to the Empire as a whole. Foresters are supported and supplemented by an industry of carpenters and woodcarvers.
In addition, pelts of animals common in the north, such as wolves and bears, are both used as a necessity for the Nebran people to withstand the cold and exported as a luxury for people in the rest of the Empire. The nearby Atuna River also provides a booming fishing industry.

Architecture

The traditional Kalriv architecture of adobe buildings has been abandoned in Nebros, seen as near useless in the climate. Instead Nebros is made up of a combination of timber buildings and wattle and daub homes for the most part. These are small square buildings of two to three rooms, mainly for labourers and their families. A small number of stone buildings, mostly belonging to the aristocratic class, are also present.

Geography

Nebros' position on the very edge of the Great Taiga gives the city a backdrop of cold arboreal forests to its north - while the area directly around the city is cultivated into flat farmland and plantations, deep forests with broad canopies can be reached within a couple of hours of leaving the city on foot. These forests spread for hundreds of kilometres to the north, only interrupted by occasional clearings and hills. The west of the city is much of the same, eventually completely absorbed by boreal forest.
The Atuna River runs through the city from its source in the Sheer mountains far to the north, and proceeds further to the south. Southwards and eastwards from the city, the road eventually runs through the cold plains and prairies of the northern Empire.

Climate

Due to its position in Arikanda's far north and its boreal forest surroundings, Nebros is a cool city even at the best of times, with short cool summers and long, bitterly cold winters. Snow is more or less perpetual, sometimes even managing to continue into summer.

Type

Large town

Population

2200

Inhabitant Demonym

Nebrans

Location under

Northern Sapphire Coast

Ruling/Owning Rank

Prefect

Owning Organization

Kalriv Empire