Alicantato
The town of Alicantato lies south of the eastern edge of the Navarre Mountains, between the rich farmlands of western Alcaldar and the Grasslands of Wahm. It started as a trading center where merchants from the coastal cities could deal their wares and in return buy the products of the grassland tribes: cattle and sheep for meat, cow hides for leather and sheep or goat skins for parchment, wool, medicinal herbs, and most importantly, horses. Over the years, many crafters moved to Alicantato and produce finished goods there rather than shipping raw materials, especially since The Plains’ city has plenty of space to separate some of the messier professions from the town center.
Alicantato has the privilege of providing horses to the royal household. Every two years in late summer, the Great Equine Exhibition takes place involving Alcaldrich horse breeders and grassland tribes with their wild horses. The Equine Captains of Alicantato examine all the horses and then purchase the very best to be schooled and gifted to the crown. This includes a pure white horse when available to be the royal parade horse of the queen herself. The last three royal parade horses (over a 12-year span) were selected from among the wild horses brought by members of the Maqhawe tribe, and plans are now afoot by some of the empire’s horse breeders to acquire pairs of these “moon horses” themselves to earn the prestige of breeding the most important horse in the empire.
The gathering is made more exciting by the tradition of young people from affluent families coming to select their own first horse of adulthood, one that they may break or train themselves, or at least oversee its training. Young men have done this for more than a thousand years; few young women came until the past two or three centuries. However, with the example of a warrior goddess before them (as well as valiant women among the founding knights of the Holy Ecclessia), many girls want to have a more active life rather than living as traditional pampered ladies. Youth from poor families seldom have the chance to participate in this gathering, but some work diligently to be able to afford a horse — any horse — and see this as giving them a start in a different life.
About 300 years ago, Alicantato was subject to increasing raids by evil creatures out of the Kufa Mountains and the Eberro Wastes. A knightly order (formerly from the Sacred Table) received a grant of land in exchange for their protection of the eastern region of the nation. The knights built a strong fortress near a saltmarsh outside Alicantato; they shortly discovered underground deposits of salt on their property, and also found opals in the area. Alicantato became a very prosperous city as local people were employed to mine, and the products were bought and sold in the town. Shockingly, after more than 200 years of local service, the order was accused of blasphemy and demon worship, with the Church Militans discovering proof of their perfidy beneath the order’s primary chapterhouse in Perona. Some of the knights from Alicantato were arrested by the Church Militans and ultimately executed, but many were away at the time and avoided capture by going into exile. Locals are hesitant to say anything about “the vanished knights,” but if pressed, people state that the knights hid their evil behavior from the town at the time. For some unknown reason, no one says anything bad about them.
The Church Militans took over the fortress and the salt mine, which has since been worked by penitents (religious prisoners) instead of employing locals. (Although the Church Militans has had people search extensively, the opals appear to be exhausted.) The salt mine still makes large profits, but they all go to Perona or Mhalta, and
Settlement
Alicantato, Town of
Type
Town
Owning Organization
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