Kingdom of Sensibar
Sensibar is on the west coast of extreme southern Libynos. It is a wealthy country because of the easy cultivation of spices valuable to the rest of the world. Cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon literally grow on trees here, and black pepper is also commonly grown. Cultivation is most often done on large plantations, though some smallholders produce their own crops. Wealthy plantation owners purchase foreign slaves and put them to work harvesting spices that are often worth more than the slaves. Traders from places such as Khemit or Castorhage sell slaves and high-quality weaponry and, in exchange, purchase spices and exotic woods.
Castorhagi merchants tried to convince the queen to grant them a monopoly in trade with Sensibar, but she has not yet agreed. Queen Lediana learned Castorhage has a monopoly on some of the same spices in certain parts of Far Jaati so she is reluctant to do the same. However, since they are one of Sensibar’s largest trading partners, she doesn’t want to push them away until she has an alternative. Presently, the queen has allowed Castorhage to establish a supply depot near the city of Sinda on Ibeshi Isle. The depot includes a series of warehouses near the port that the Castorhagi will build and own, where they can store supplies for their far-traveling ships.
The government appears to get plenty of money from taxing the trade on spices, but the queen also has another very quiet source of income. More than a century ago, a prospector found diamonds in the Milkapiti Hills near the source of the Negovan River. The king at the time hushed this up very thoroughly and then spent years having his own people search for and develop working diamond mines. Unofficial royal representatives sold the diamonds a few at a time through trusted intermediaries, and very soon the mines went from making a profit to bringing the royal family amazing sums of money. They have, perhaps, spent more than could be accounted for by the spice trade, but there is no one to call them to account, so the palace and the capital as a whole keep getting more ostentatious. The rest of the kingdom is not suffering, but neither are they living at the level of luxury found near the royal family.
Region
Sensibar, Kingdom of
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