Aphapor
Located along the shores of Lake Pantai and just south of the Sengejia Hills, Aphapor has a reputation as an open and tolerant city, where the wary Senge tribesmen can come to trade and treat with the Xha’en, and where goods from the wilds and exotic lands to the east can be obtained.
Aphapor grew up amid the chaos of the Thousand Kingdoms period, cementing its role as a crossroads and trading city with its central location amid several other growing city-states. Though it was never as populous or powerful as Xha’ahan or Tsadar, Aphapor nevertheless became an important member of the alliance that led to the formation of the Hegemony, transforming its trade and mercantile contacts into a diplomatic network, and sending its ambassadors to the cities of the Plains of Xha ready to negotiate, threaten, or cajole those reluctant to join the new nation.
Aphapor’s loyalty to the Hegemony was tested somewhat when the Lujhiran Dam flooded the old Pantai Lowlands where the city maintained extensive agricultural interests, reducing Aphapor’s access to neighboring territories. Official protests — couched in respectful but ominous terms — were sent to Xha’ahan, for the once-prosperous city began to suffer from its isolation, with food shortages and population pressures growing.
Fortunately for all, the issue was resolved peacefully, with Xha’ahan contributing to the construction of extensive lakeside shipping facilities, signing lucrative agreements with the Aphapor government, and assisting in the clearing of new lands for farming. A second diplomatic tightrope act was needed to pacify the Senge, who resented the city’s expansion into their lands — the Senge had been forced out of their ancestral territories already, and now despite their overall pacifistic nature, they were reluctant to be squeezed out again.
This dilemma was also solved through diplomacy, with the city ceding arable territory to the Senge, offering them exclusive employment, and distributing a portion of their farms’ produce directly to the tribes free of charge. This last practice continues today and is accepted by Aphapor farmers as the “Senge Tax.” After several decades of tension, Aphapor’s relations with its neighbors began to improve.
Aphapor today is a picturesque city, its white walls rising above the waters of Lake Pantai, and surrounded by a network of roads, small villages, farms, and Senge encampments. The city’s reasonably good relations with the Senge has led to a bit of a cultural Renaissance within Aphapor. Senge artwork, folklore, and music are all studied and archived here, along with histories of ancient cultures and nations that occupied Xha’en lands in the distant past. The Hegemony’s tentative contact with eastern states such as Castorhage, Reme, and Foere is followed with great interest, and generally supported. A trickle of goods from the Tycho Free States and elsewhere has found its way into Aphapor, where they are studied and consumed with great enthusiasm. The city’s rulers, Prince Ydirac su Qol and Princess Amaya sa Qol, have on occasion dressed their official guards in the styles of other nations, and have officially sponsored work to translate works of eastern literature and drama into the Xaon tongue.
Settlement
Aphapor, City of
Type
City
Owning Organization
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