Syrgorod

Overview
Syrgorod (previously named Shellport) is a small town residing in the Sparwood continent. They are controlled by Kartek and act as the Capital of Paradise, a constituent of Kartek. The town consists of large fields, breweries, the Lake Syr of which the town received its name and a large lakeside housing and market district. The city laid at the heart of the Highways between Frosterium provinces during the Frosteriums existence and due to its central location and was the only town which the highway passes through. Now under the new era of Sparwood politics, its central position allows it to play a key part of politics still.

Creation
Shellport was created by Ambit Skinhub (and currently is being co-owned by Kathy skinhub), Soodiez Skinhub, Heij and Frenchfriesboi in an attempt to hide their land from the dangers of the Burgamerian plains. The group spent time gathering resources to sell so they could turn this land into a prosperous community. During this period the town was mainly built underground and hidden so any bandits would not steal the most valuable items Shellport owned. The size of Shellport grew as Caikee, thehedgigamer and EggThe4th settled in the town. After claiming the town it wasnt long until the land they had squatted on, the UBSR, experienced a plotted coup. AmbitSkinhub made contact with Point DeGuard,the man plotting to coup Palaris and revive the UBSR. After the coup, instead of burning the squatter settlement of Shellport, Point offered them their own district in the new land.

Relation to leaders
Although Syrgorod had a low population, it was drastically overrepresented in government positions. 2 General Secretaries lived in Syrgorod at some point (Lpreston and Ambit Skinhub, although Lpreston lived in Duragrad and Voskovy as well), 2 of the 3 Red Generals of the UBSR lived in Syrgorod (Soodiez and Tammy) and the longtime advisor of the General Secretary Heij. Close advisors to leaders live in Syrgorod today, namely the Shellport group. Syrgorod has competed for influence with Voskovy in past, especially in the early days of the revived UBSR. Many believed Kathy Skinhub also had a part in the government although this wasnt true. Despite her large contributions to the UBSR she never was in the UBSR government. This mistake comes from her projects to produce goods that would be sold or used to improve Burgamerian tools and her campaigns for security.

The Torchbearers
Due to the nature of the Burgamerian plains, many travellers never made it to their destinations. Notable examples of this is the parents of former General Secretary Lpreston, who died on their way to Duragrad and the writer of a widely distributed journal, which detailed his travels from Vraelea to Duragrad and his descent into madness. Under the reign of Lpreston, the people of Syrgorod established The Torchbearers, who were to guide travellers to their destinations across the plains, through the treacherous pass from Syrgorod to Duragrad, or the much more mild climate of the Morskaya-Syrgorod road. The Torchbearers have succeeded in lowering the deaths from walking these roads. It is also helpful that The Torchbearer HQ lays at the midpoint of the Frosterium Highway network, as the gateway to the frozen lands that lay ahead.

Nations Syrgorod has been apart of
Despite never changing hands in leadership, Syrgorod has been a cooperating city in many nations which have ruled the area. Syrgorod has been a part of Palaris (for a few minutes before it became the UBSR), the UBSR, Viodoxa, Frosmyre (briefly), the Frosterium, Tovarisha, Bardonia and Kartek.

New Panem
Although the area itself was peaceful, Shellport still encountered trouble. On the first day Shellport was officially part of a nation, their neighbours from New Panem, who were friendly towards Shellport, attacked the under renovation buildings of Sparwood town before they were properly guarded was placed. The revival of the city which had before been in ruins was the first thing Shellport accomplished with their newfound place in the world and their oldest allies razed it infront of them. This was a mistake on the part of New Panem, believing that the UBSR was trying to exert influence near New Panem. After asking Shellport residents Frenchfriesboi and AmbitSkinhub if they would like to help destroy the town, they realised they had attacked their allies work. The damage was undone but the deed wasnt forgiven. After DiamondKid, the king of New Panem, refused to apologise for attacking a member of Shellport district during the confusion, Point and 2 others visited DiamondKid. This visit turned into DiamondKid attacking Point and a short siege of New Panem. After consulting maps it was declared that New Panem was Vraelea's issue as it was in their territory and that the UBSR would leave. A short while later, a player known as Boram was seen to be slaying the horses stored in Shellport. After asking for an explanation, Boram admitted to being hired by DiamondKid for what he thought was a bandit camp only to find a small group struggling to survive. After both sides talked, Boram apologised and compensated Heijmanboy and AmbitSkinhub with 5,000 each. Boram would after this, regularly check on the city. The New Panem feud was ended when Caikee and DiamondKid dueled as a show of goodwill.

Bandits
Shellport rarely experiences issues with bandit raids, with only 2 attacks ever happening, both within hours of eachother. The first was the murder of a new player to the server, called Idahawk. He was murdered by the self acclaimed "Hunter" FullMoozers who in reality was just a bandit. Idahawk had just hours earlier been accepted into the UBSR and into Shellport. The bandit FullMoozers loved to drink, so was invited round to the opening of the Shellport bar which in reality was rather old. He took the bait and joined players AmbitSkinhub, Soodiez and LpreSTONE at a table. Heijmanboy then delivered free drinks to the players. AmbitSkinhub, Soodiez and LpreSTONE all recieved coffee whereas FullMoozers recieved decay absinthe. After everyone drank the 4 residents attacked FullMoozers, who was already being inflicted with poison from the drink. The fight was over in seconds and FullMoozer was dead. The second attack was from Callamiity, who attacked Soodiez, taking his armour.

The Syrgorod Monk Massacre
After the fall of Kartek, Kartek Soleannen monks ventured around the empire to try and spread their faith to the other provinces of the Frosterium. One place they visited was Syrgorod. When the monks arrived, they approached two of the high status individuals of the town, Ambit Skinhub and Tammy. Ambit, being a Soleannen already, encouraged them to spread their faith around the empire, but assured them that Syrgorod held the Soleannen faith already. Tammy protested, claiming to be a Lunaist. The monks incessantly pestered her around the town. Tammy eventually realised that one of the monks following her around Syrgorod was wanted for the destruction of a building in the Harbour district. She warned the Kartek monks to leave under threat of violence. When this did not work, she put the wanted man to the sword. The incident sparked the Kartek Terror bombings around the empire and Syrgorod was the first to be struck due to this event.

The Centre of Paradise
As the most populous city in the region of Paradise, it has become the defacto capital of the region, with its connection to roads and proximity to other large cities. It, and 4 other towns, were absorbed into Kartek to protect themselves from the Tovarishan government who was purging many from Paradise due to their resistance to the Hands Purge that the government had committed. Many outspoken political leaders were chased out of Paradise or went into hiding until Tovarisha was forced to cease aggression. It is adminstrated by Kathy Skinhub and Amber Skinhub, stepdaughter of Kathy.

Lake Syr
Lake Syr, the lake that the town is built next to, has many interesting and unique species of wildlife, as well as many other more common species. The lake provides much of the food for Syrgorod, as the fishing industry is rather large. The Niedean Salmon for example, uses lake Syr as a breeding ground before swimming out into saltwater again.

Other species native to Lake Syr are the Paradisian Squid, a small, on average 8 inch squid which is frequently used in cooking seafood dishes. They usually eat small fish and their populations are seen to explode in correlation with the Niedean Salmons breeding season, as they eat many of the newborn Salmon before they reach the sea.

The Syrian Lionfish is not native to the lake but is occasionally found swimming up from saltwater oceans to feed on the Niedean Salmons offspring before they hatch. The Syrian Lionfish is surprisingly able to tolerate freshwater for some time, and needs very little salt in its water to survive, going as low as 1/5 the amount of salt that average oceans contain. This has threatened the Niedean Salmons population in the region, but also leads to a welcome catch among fishers.

A species of crab named the Syrian Crab also lives in the lake, usually around 5-6 inches but can be much smaller depending on age. Their claws are smaller than many other species due to not having to defend against many predators, the Paradisian squid usually only scavenging on already dead crabs. This has the effect of giving less white meat, making nearly all of the crab the richer and more high end body meat.

The lake also has a unique species of kelp which although lacking in taste, nutrition and rather chewy in texture is used as a garnish on more high end dishes, such as the aforementioned Syrian Crab. However, the garnish is known to cause indigestion and isn't easily broken down by the digestion system. A species of dragonfly, known to the locals as a lake longfly also lives in the lake and nests its eggs in clumps of dead kelp that float to the surface of the lake. Fishers are known to collect these as they pass by to sell. The eggs are then used to add texture to certain sauces and pastes and despite the disgusting origin are healthy.

A cavern and multiple underwater caves are contained within the lake which span long distances and are a challenge for miners to avoid, as accidentally mining into or too close to one of these caves could lead to the mineshaft collapsing and becoming flooded with water. Not much is known of these caves as anyone who ventures too far in drowns or becomes stuck however it is known that a species of eel which only eats plants lives in these caves. Its diet is somewhat known, being a rare case of a herbivore eel, but it has also been shown to swallow rocks and stones from the floor of the lake and chew soft rock out of the wall. It is believed they use the rocks to help digest the plant matter they eat. These eels can grow very large, up to 6 feet long. They have been used as torture devices, as the eels constrict their already powerful muscles when digesting to crush the plants with the rocks they swallowed. The target would have the eel placed around their neck. The fear of being out of water and the struggling of the victim would then cause the eel to see the victim as a threat and constrict, throttling them.

In the caves that don't find themselves waterlogged, where miners of the town work, another creature threatens workers. The Root Ent is a creature similar to the smaller Ents more common across Rathnir, except they come from the roots of trees. They dig their way through the ground and in some cases cause cave ins to trap miners for several hours or if theyre unlucky, they get crushed by a mountain of dirt. Instances of this are rare but are still a dangerous risk to the workers. Due to this, Root Ents are seen as a dangerous pest and are eradicated when seen.