Free Cities

The Free Cities are a collection of independent city-states, situated outside nation borders. Each of these individual city-states operates differently from the rest, and all have their own preferred currency or trade styles. Due to each Free City using a different type of currency, they tend to accept more or less any currency at all, but will also barter-trade, and exchange goods and services for other goods and services.

The only real, shared traits all the Free Cities have in common are:

  • Slavery is illegal within all of them, and when caught, slavers are often dearly punished, if not executed or sold into slavery themselves.
  • No Free City has laws against polyamory, or homosexual relations/marriages. All marriage is seen as the same thing, albeit due to the presence of different religious orders within the Free Cities, one or two religious sects may refuse to sanctify one kind of marriage-but it is still legally recognised in the Cities.
  • Finally, no Free City has a gender lean. All genders are equal, and there are enforced legal protections against sexual discrimination. Transgenderism is also a concept the Free Cities understand and are tolerant of, but not all Cities have the resources to perform sex changes.

As the game progresses and evolves over time, we do expect that more nations and Free Cities will rise and fall throughout. We may not outright condone simply adding a new Free City to the map, but through in-character effort and "playing one's cards right," the game can certainly be influenced into gaining another, or losing one.

Durya

The most separate of the Free Cities, Durya is situated on an island to the southwest of Azaleon, called Amharan Island. As expected of a Free City built on an island, Durya is heavily sea-dependent, and have a very lucrative fishing and ship building industry. Amharan Island itself is home to several miles of farmland, some of which is owned and operated by Durya's citizens, others owned by nobility in Dalmasca or Jihon. Amharan Island is off the coast on the other side of the mountains surrounding Saqqara, but has easy access to the coast of Dalmasca.

Haradi

Just outside Dalmasca, at the foot of the Ivory Mountains, is Haradi. Due to their close proximity to a slave-holding country, Haradi is both home to several hundred former slaves, either intentionally or not, and one of the more defended Free Cities in the bunch. Haradi tends to get along with Macenians, often trading with them, as well are known to be allies with Saqqara, but relations with Dalmasca and Jihon are long since strained.

Highwind

Far removed from the established nations, and most other Free Cities, Highwind is a Free City often on its own. Some call it a democratic republic, but Highwind is more of just a republic, and smaller in general population size than other Cities, as a direct result of its more recent establishment, only a few hundred years ago. With close proximity to Galace, however, it has a decent ilim population, and the City often trades with Galace. Highwindians' familiarity with Galace and the ilim's magic tends to make them more tolerant of magi than normal for humes, if not sympathetic to their plight.

Saqqara

The other monarchy amongst the Free Cities, albeit some argue that Saqqara is not a monarchy, more of a democracy with a head of state, Saqqara lies in the cool desert valley of Nashret, between the Ajet Mountains to the northeast, and the Al Hajar Mountains to the southwest. Established and run for the last three thousand years, nearly, by the same person, Saqqara operates on a very different level than most other locales, more akin to a very large house than a city. Saqqara is also the only remaining bastion of the were race; over 80% of its population is were.

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