The Free City of Xa

Tucked deep within the northern forests of Renath lies the Flowering City of Xa. Independent for the past couple of centuries, this garden of a city finds itself chartering a course in a world that continues to decay. Ruled by the Verdant Druids, the city blossoms due to their fondness for natural magic.

Rulers of the Flowering City

The Free City of Xa is ruled by the Verdant Druids; this is not hidden information, nor is it quite so simple. Due to the Druids propensity to constantly escape urban life, they take very little interest in the political goings-on of Xa. With the signing of the Xa City Charter in 49 NG, the Druids formally established their relationship to the new nation:

• The city would not be directly ruled by the Blossom Council or their advisors. In its stead, a Triumvirate of high-ranking land-owners of the city would assume control of the city's politics;
• No one holding a high-ranking office among the Druids would be allowed to hold the post of Triumph and their membership in the Verdant Druids at the same time; one would have to be relinquished in favour of the other; and
• The Druids would be, however, an advisory group to the current Triumvirate, providing counsel regarding the history, culture and religious practices of the city's druidic population - that is, mostly everyone living within the Garden Walls.

This "secularization" of the city's governance raised many eyebrows when it was first introduced nearly three hundred years ago, as the declaration of a nation's religion is commonplace in other nations on Renath. Some ancient druids have been known to lament leaving the city's governance in the hands of "ordinary folk," but the shift has led to respect and better relations with neighbouring nations that don't share the druidic faith.

A City-State in a World of Nations

Numbering less than a hundred thousand Laxa in total, the Free City of Xa is very small in comparison to other countries. Its choice of a druidic state religion also estranges it from the otherwise binary choices of national faith. This has a huge effect in the city's diplomacy and trade relations with neighbouring powers and far-off nations alike.
Most notably, the nation has a very strained relationship, like many, with the Republic of Ardaenia. A combination of a functioning secular government - which the Congress of Ardaenian Cities finds absolutely reprehensible - and a preference for non-Power worship means that the Merchant Nation takes great pains to sabotage the Free City's relationships with outside powers. Due to the Ardaenians' meddling, many nations that don't border on the Free City's territory either don't have diplomatic ties with them or have to take pains to hide those ties in fear of Ardaenian retribution.
Other nations like the Grand Marquisate of Helwin have a very favourable relationship with the Druids and the Flowering City. Particularly in the case of the former occupiers of the Free City, there is much goodwill that has been purposefully nurtured by the Verdant Druids in order to increase their standing abroad.
To the average Renathian, the Free City of Xa is an exotic place that they have never been to. Adventurers and trading caravans travelling northern Renath are really the only folk that ever travel there purposefully, but those that do make the occasionally dangerous journey along the Frostroad discover a beautiful nation of kind-hearted people and scenic vistas.

The Tree-whispers Shall Guide Us

Capital

Xa

Demonym

Laxa (pronounced la-ZHA)

Currency

As the druids forbid the forging and mining of metal, the city uses a system of differently-shaped wooden tokens as currency.

Official Languages

• Comaxa
• Renaxa

Neighboring Nations

• Confederation of Woîjne
• Grand Marquisate of Helwin
• Kingdom of Sasila

View the history of the Free City