Editing EternalEmpire:Gazetteer

== Arqualan and the Commonwealth ==



=== Ambieda ===

	Ambieda is a city on the western coast of Arqualan and third largest with a population of two million people. In addition to being one of the original five city-states that formed the early Arqi confederation, Ambieda has the distinction of being the accepted location of the Prime Meridian. Residents are predominantly ethnic Arqi and racially Lenjic and Crudag, but there is a significant Slees and Dandrit population as well. Ambiedi have a reputation for arrogance,  snobbery, and impiety, probably owing to their historical breaches with the other Arqi cities and their independent efforts at overseas expansion.

	Like most of the great cities of the Eternal Empire, Ambieda’s livelihood has been tied to the seas and today it remains one of the world’s largest harbors. Located amid hundreds of miles of sun-drenched beaches, the city is thought to be one of the most beautiful and pleasant in the world and many of Arqualan’s elite own retreat cottages here. The city is also known for its ancient, open-air amphitheaters, the University of Ambieda and its famous Observatory, and especially for the mausoleum of Ectin the Great.

=== Amporlis === 

The northernmost Arqi city and capital of the province of Seguemeda, Amporlis is a largish metropole with a population of 340,000. The city is located approximately 45 miles from the coast on the southern banks of the Forsto River, which is still navigable to ocean-going vessels at this point. Amporlis thrives on trade both up and down the river and harbors a considerable commercial shipping fleet, which transports valuable minerals extracted from the Bambilo Mountains (particularly titanium and hafnium, the latter of which is used in nuclear batteries employed extensively by the Arqi Navy) to market, and delivers tools, engines, and other finished products to the interior of the province. The city is separated from hostile Osham only by the breadth of the river and the fifty-mile wide demilitarized zone imposed by Arqualan at the conclusion of the Trans-Hemispheric War, and so the city and its hinterland is heavily fortified, while a motorized rifle division and a river flotilla are headquartered nearby. 

=== Anota === 

Anota is an important harbor and provincial capital of Dantrina. An ancient city that predates Arqualan and even Dandreen itself, Anota has been inhabited for at least 3,000 years, its walls broken and citizens destroyed many times through conquest and the terrible earthquakes that plague the region. Situated by the Sea of Holinos on Provendo’s northern coast, the city has long been involved in fishing and commerce, so its economy naturally favors maritime industries while its population holds an outlook more cosmopolitan than most. For centuries, the politics of the region were dominated by Anota’s huge ship-building and trade cartels, which used their wealth and influence to install their picked Monitari, who would then grant them subsidies and expand their monopoly privileges. Since his ascension to power, the Illuminarch has devoted considerable energy to break the back of these cartels, but while diminished, their power still lingers in the city. 

Anota is also the birthplace of Jento Tylofost, the cleric and theologian, holy transmitter of Tylofostonism.

=== Amblend ===  

Amblend is a landlocked, lightly populated pastoral country of vast, rolling meadows in the southern shadow of the Ponostîria Mountains of south-western Otovan. It exists as an autonomous protectorate of Arqualan under the terms of the Honzat Compact of 1399. The capital of Amblend is Teppu.

Amblenders speak an isolated dialect of Vengar, interspersed with vocabulary and grammar borrowed from Selibee speakers in nearby Lostram. The population is mostly Crudag, descended from the black-haired, blue-eyed northern Vegua tribes and they are known for their excellent dromsmen. Their economy is still mostly tied to subsistence farming and the more-profitable, but still poorly developed herding industry. The importance of Amblend is in checking Lostramese expansion south of the Arcosilen River.

=== Arqualan === 

	Arqualan is an island-continent north of Provendo and east of Otovan, bounded by the Sea of Holino to the south, the Sea of Nevanda to the west, the Sea of Cordiña to the north, and the Allorino Ocean to the east. The entire continent, plus the outlying islands of Ato Palustra and Melbria compose the province of Arqualan, which is the center of political power in the empire, as well as one of the wealthiest and heavily populated, with 17 million people.

=== Arquesel === 
 
	Arquesel is the capital city of the Arqi Commonwealth with a population of 754,000. It was founded expressly for that purpose by the Illuminarch Ionomîs in 1134, although the site was commonly used as a country abode for the old Emperors for centuries. Situated at the branching of the North and South Elgin Rivers in the interior of Arqualan, the city is surrounded by grassy fields and large, privately managed forests used in the production of lumber, paper, and certain medicines. A variety of economic activities occur in Arquesel, but the most lucrative industries thrive on serving the needs of administrative, diplomatic, military, and religious officials that throng the area. Huge, ornately decorated and expensively furnished buildings comprise the interior of the city, while less ostentatious residential and commercial buildings ring the perimeter. The city is home to many famous buildings, including the Imperial Residence, the Cathedral of Tylofost Transcendant, and the Fortress-Monastery of the Order of the Dragon Temple. 

=== Brintin === 
 
	Brintin is the provincial capital of Zelstadden, situated near the terminus of the Lensilen River. With a population of about 74,000 it is not a large city, but it dominates the thinly-settled countryside nonetheless. Forestry and fruit harvesting (particularly sulipon) are the primary economic activities of the city and its vicinity, although some light manufacturing also takes place. The nearby bogs are also the source of the much-valued agogy flower, and the city hosts a month-long festival in late spring to celebrate the blooming of the fragrant, multi-hued plant.

=== Caposa === 

	Founded by the empire of Dandreen as Kapozha, a colony and harbor on the southern coast of Arqualan, the destiny of Caposa and the Eternal Empire have been closely intertwined since the beginning. An important metropole before the Arqi even called themselves thus, Caposa became the principal city of the new nation after the collapse of the Dandrit and host to a thousand history-shifting dramas of war, love, politics, and religion. Caposa is the second most populated city on Arqualan and in the Commonwealth, number 2.8 million souls.

	Limited by the Sea of Holinos to the south and fenced in by the swamps and jungle of the northwest, the crowded, stifling city has expanded into the bay on vast platforms supported on columns of shining white rock and gates of blue steel. Its harbor bustles with large steam freighters, pleasure yachts, and ancestral fishing boats and its congested markets and tower-plazas resound with the babble of haggling, laughter, and scandal in a score of languages. Truly cosmopolitan, the city is raucous, crime-ridden, and poverty-stricken; side-by-side with the refined displays of old power and the optimism of new wealth. While the fringes of the city are a tumble of foreign shanties and modern, cost-conscious architecture, the Old City still stands as a symbol of the indomitable glory of Arqualan and a link to antiquity, with forums, monuments, and private townhouses over 1,500 years old. Looming over the center of the Old City are the Optolecton, the domed, white-marble meeting place of those august representatives of the Commonwealth; and the truly daunting ribbed spires of the Temple of Zylen Protective.

=== Cappodan === 

	Cappodan is a province on the southeastern coast of Otovan, bordering the Sea of Nevanda to the east, the Corrasilen River and Siobia to the north, the Ensistîria Mountains to the northeast, and the Vengua River and Venguatol to the southwest. The capital city is Stento on the Nevanda coast, while the larger cultural center of Haulstrad, “City of Music” straddles the Vengua River. The province is well developed in terms of industry and transportation infrastructure and comparatively high per-capita income.

	Modern-day Cappodan comprises territory annexed by Arqualan in the 4th and 5th centuries, once populated by distinct ethnic groups that were variously aligned with and opposed to Arqi expansion. Ectin the Great consolidated the territory into a single military province in his early campaigns against the Vengua. During the reign of Quanio the Humble, the arrangement was made permanent, but by that time in the early 7th century, the native Coneli and Valgenz populations had been assimilated or displaced by settlers from Arqualan. Today, the population is predominantly Crudag and Lenjic, Arqi speakers, and Tylofosti. The population is approximately 4.5 million.

=== Clestendo === 

	Clestendo is a major city in Clestrîca province, with a population of 130,000. Located on Cape Maleta, the cities piers serve hundreds of thousands of tons of freight traffic and passengers every year, especially connecting the Impelado and Salavesto isles. Clestendo is also home to a small navy of Slees fishermen, known across the civilized world for their shellfish and pearl harvests.  Also nearby the city are the cavernous airship manufactories of the Palcabel family, major producer of dirigibles both for the Arqi Navy and Sea Knights and commercial use.

=== Clestrel === 

	Clestrel is the largest city and provincial capital of Stanido. Circumjacent to the Glansilen River, about 29 miles from the Isleesian Strait on the northeastern coast of Otovan, Clestrel was founded as a haven for Arqi sailors around 118 AGA. By 138, the area between Clestrel and the coast was officially annexed by the Probite of Ambieda, the city was fortified, its quays expanded, and the river dredged to allow larger draught ships to dock. For the next 300 years, Clestrel grew in size while it was used as a launching point for colonization and trade missions up the Glansilen. During this time, Arqi settlers fought sporadic engagements with Sarmonian settlers, who laid claim to the entire northeastern portion of the continent, but it was not until 451 that these tensions led to full-scale war between Sarmonath and Arqualan. At this time, Clestrel was drained financially and materially by the war effort, and its population dwindled. After Sarmonath was subdued, the city prospered once more during the long peace.

	Today, Clestrel is one of the largest cities in the empire with a population of two million. The population has always been chiefly Crudag/Lenjic and Arqi, but significant numbers of Arqi Sireed & Slees, along with Sarmonian, Neprin, and Somuzan Crudag also have a presence in the city. While Clestrel maintains an experienced and sophisticated shipbuilding industry, including the support activities including steel smelting, oiling, and logging, it has transitioned into a city of business and trade. Today, Clestrel is as known for its banks and stock markets as its galleons and freighters. 

=== Clestrîca === 

	Clestrîca is an autonomous province in south-central Otovan, bounded in the east by the Ensistîria Mts., in the west by the Ponostîria Mts. and the Sequinia River, and in the south by the ocean. With a population of seven million, predominantly bilingual (Arqi and Clestri), ethnic Clestrîcan Crudag, the province is heavily urbanized and crisscrossed by extensive road and railroad networks. The Clestrîcan economy is highly diversified, but driven by heavy manufacturing and metallurgy, especially involved in the construction of engines, locomotives, boilers, and high strength steel. Coal mining and logging is also extremely important in the northwestern part of the province. Its chief cities are Stalanidro, the capital on the Sardoma River; Halion, the large port city and manufacturing center on the coast; Clestendo on Cape Maleta; and Frontostela, a large metropolis at the crossroads of trade routes connecting the Arqi provinces separated by the southern mountain chains.

Clestrîca has a proud history that predates their inclusion into the Eternal Empire. The Clestrîcans had been aligned with Arqualan since the 3rd century, profiting from extensive trade and military partnerships against their hostile neighbors, the Somuzans and the warlike Vengua tribes. Allied with Ectin the Great, they profited from his conquests both through the subjection of many enemies as well as expanding their own lands. The rapid Arqi territorial expansion and overawing military power soon showed the Clestrîcans to be the junior partner in the relationship, however, and they became a client state with little say in their own foreign affairs. In the mid-11th century, the last Clestrîcan King saw the writing on the wall and, lacking heirs, bequeathed the kingdom to Arqualan. Arqi administration was enlightened, so the incorporation was painless, and Clestrîca was allowed considerable freedom in domestic affairs. As a result, the province remains a peaceful and valuable component of the Commonwealth. 

=== Coñeldo === 

	Coñeldo is a province in the interior of Otovan, bounded by the Glostîria Mts. and the Prana River in the northeast, the Coñeld mountains in the west, surrounded by the provinces of Pranatol, Clestrîca, and Zeliat. The population of two million is widely scattered across its broad meadows and thickly forested hillsides, with the only significant urban area being the capital city, Vecastrad, in the northwest of the province near the mouth of the Prana River. In the northern and eastern portions of the province, where the soils are richer and the many swift, mountain-sprung rivers make up for the lack of precipitation, logging and agriculture dominate. To the west, the rain-shadow of the mountains is more severe and the climate becomes more arid, although these thinly forested western uplands are ideal for ranching.

=== Cordegor === 

	A major fortified harbor in the far south of Provendo, Cordegor is the second-largest city in the province of Pizoria as well as the largest naval station on the continent. Cordegor’s population is just shy of 500,000, mostly Arqi-speaking, ethnic Metronian, Crudag. The city’s massive, bowl-shaped harbor was largely constructed by the efforts of the Arqi Navy in the 10th century to build and house a fleet for the defense of southern Provendo, particularly to oppose the Balsasian corsair-kings that plundered the region for centuries. Even after these brigands were completely suppressed, Cordegor remained the largest contributor of warships to the Navy well into the 13th century. In the 1420s, a modernization project was undertaken in response an upsurge in piracy (actually Glarax and Lostramese privateers). Dockyards were expanded and the strength of the outlying fortifications and mine channels was vastly enhanced, including the construction of Hecto Adraton (Unyielding Fortress), the famous “island-ship” with its yard-thick ramparts and 25-gun battery. While Cordegor remains a vital part of the Arqi naval infrastructure, it has blossomed into a busy commercial port as well, connecting southern Provendo with the rest of the civilized world and the mysteries of the savage Hither Islands of Anducydo to the far south.


== Geographic Features ==


=== Allorino Ocean === 
 
A vast ocean east of Arqualan and Provendo, stretching from pole to pole and halfway around the planet until reaching the Isles of Zactato. Little shipping is carried out deep in the Allorino, as there are few destinations and the enormous hurricanes that rampage here are a terrible hazard.

=== Arcosilen River ===  

A broad river in the south-west of Otovan that runs from its source in the Ponostîria Mts. to the Sea of Prostendi, bisecting the rugged coastal mountains of the Pardash Range in the process. It marks one of the major boundaries between Lostram and Arqualan.

=== Arosilen River === 

	The Arosilen (lit. West River) is the westernmost of the Trisilena (three-rivers) of Loswath. Originating in the Hesperi Mountains, the Arosilen runs westward along the Red Ridges, forming a natural boundary between Zestra and the Arqi province of Loswath, before turning southeast where it forms the provincial boundaries of Loswath and Sañulado. 

=== Bambilo Mountains === 

	The Bambilo Mountains of northern Otovan form part of the border between Hangritic Osham and the Arqi provinces of Seguemeda and Loswath. The northern spur runs for about 250 miles, while the southern spur runs close to 400 miles. Its tallest peak is Mt. Pergal in the northern spur at 1,136 ft. Besides strategic considerations, the craggy, thinly forested mountains are the source of many important minerals, including titanium, zirconium, hafnium, and copper, so the mountains are home to extensive mining projects.

=== Blucca Marshes === 

	The Blucca Marshes extend for about 3,350 square miles, bordered by western banks of the Hilîff River and the shores of Lake Cadîvanser in southern Zacta Ponensus. The perpetually saturated soil is of little use for the farming that usually characterizes this province, but the seasonal flooding of the Hilîff makes the area suitable for cultivating rice paddies. Even so, the region is considered to be more of a hindrance, as it obstructs easy overland travel between the northern part of the province and the mining and Thuderite factory cities in the Ponostîria mountains. The main highway that penetrates the marshes is surrounded by dikes and raised on a high causeway, and requires frequent maintenance to keep it open. 

	In 1016, the Blucca Marshes was the site of a disastrous confrontation between armies when a host from Somuza crossed the Ponostîria Mts. and invaded Zacta Ponensus. Arqi troops hastily crossed the Hilîff, but their heavy baggage train was mired in the marshes, delaying their advance. As a result, the Somuzans trapped the Arqi and inflicted over 90% casualties on them. Fortunately for Arqualan, the Somuzans losses were high enough to stall their advance, and reinforcements from Zeliat and allied Clestrîca, led by the heroic general Subico Galbo Brewi, invaded Somuza, drawing the invaders back across the mountains where they were destroyed in short order.
 
=== Cadîvanser, Lake === 

	A major lake in west-central Otovan in the province of Zacta Ponensus, between the Glostîria and Ponostîria mountains. Three rivers, the Zamprondo, the Larn, and the Oster fill the lake while the Hilîff flows out. While the deepest part of the lake reaches 200 ft, the western and southern ends are much more shallow and often choked with sandbars and debris, limiting the navigation of larger steamer and barges. Lake Cadîvanser forms the westernmost point of the Acroda Sulotol, a great canal system that stretches from the lake to the Gulf of Portagora.

=== Calanîrno === 

	A peak in the Senîzido Mountains, named “Ironhead” for the broken, reddish-tinted boulders strewn about its tumbled approaches, Calanîrno’s historical significance is in its broad, winding pass. As the Senîzido Mountains were the de facto boundary between Arqi Stanido and hostile Sarmonath, the Calanîrno Pass was strategically vital, since without it, an invading army would have to travel many hundreds of miles to find an accessible route into this fenced land. In 452 AGA, the pass was the site of an enormous battle that led to the destruction of a Sarmonian army attempting to invade the Arqi lands to the east. Although Sarmonath has long been subjugated, the pass remains significant in overland transportation, and a roadway and railroad have been constructed through it.