Alessandrea

Alessandrea, known to it's inhabitants as Alexandria, is a large city within the Duchy of Varmerion in the Soleannen Empire of Escharia. It was known for it's library, the largest by area in all of Rathnir until it's ruin in December of 2021. The city straddles the border between Escharia and Yimmu-Audal. It was briefly inhabited by squatters, but has now returned to Escharia.

Ancient era
AJDx12 founded the city of Alexandria, at precisely 12:21 a.m. PST on the 2nd of December 2020. Within the Free Cities of Corthaidh it was one of the major settlements but remained irrelevant during the age of the Escharian Empire due to the western part of the country being eclipsed by the eastern realm.

Classical era
When MaxKeyOfficial, Hunderbar and Safaviyya found it on the 17th of July 2021, the city was an absolute ruin with only a small wooden coastal wall and three broken houses. The three companions refounded the city with the new name of Alessandrea and Max becoming the ruler. The coastal wall was mostly destroyed and the only surviving Ancient Era building was the Town Hall. The city rapidly grew in population and was at its peak from late August to early October 2021 after the construction of the Great Library of Alessandrea, which was the largest library in all of Rathnir by area. Constructed from sandstone, quartz, granite, gold and diamonds, the library was truly a sight to behold. The city had many homes for its inhabitants and was walled off behind 20 block high stone walls, reinforced with obsidian. Inside, there was also a 43 block tall monument to the city, made from prismarine, quartz, gold and blue terracotta.

Towards the end of the golden age, Hirreath the Evangelist converted many inhabitants to Auralism. A schism occured days later and the new religion of Pheonism was founded by preaching the devil, Pheonix. He had manifested in the form of one of the inhabitants, jupixter20xo_ and was armed with the legendary sword Auralius' Will. Hirreaths band from Pheonisia fought skirmishes with Alessandrea and were on the brink of war until Max, Akesor of Alessandrea was temporarily banned for 3 weeks and the city began it's decline. Max returned in early November 2021, but did not come back afterwards and the city began to ruin, with the claim disbanding in mid December.

Decline
On the 23rd of December 2021, the ruins of Alessandrea were claimed by the squatter city of Athellos. The buildings from the Classical Era survived including the Ancient era Town Hall, but were in differing states of disrepair. The city was stripped of all valuable materials by looters including the large quartz pillars of the library and all of the books that were once held inside it. The squatters intended to demolish all of the buildings and build a new town on top of it, disregarding the history of the city. Under the rule of Athellos, the city did not progress much. Some small houses were demolished and new ones built upon them. The squatters made empty promises to rebuild the city more magnificent than ever before to make it seem like progress was occuring.

Rebirth
However, the terrible stain of Athellos was not to corrupt the ruins of the former great city much longer. A delegation from Escharia arrived on the 22nd of January 2022. It was former Akesor Max, who had been sent on behalf of Escharia to negotiate the return of the city back into Escharian hands. With the full support of the Imperator, Max said to the Senate of Athellos: "'The Aesperium Niedea (formerly Escharia) has sent me, MaxKeyOfficial, on a diplomatic mission to the city of Athellos demanding that it's leadership be surrendered to the Niedene Akesor of Alessandrea. This diplomatic mission is sponsored by the Imperator of Niedea, Hadrian Vorpes-Delgrenzar and backed by the Niedene ally, the Empire of Bardonia. The combined military might of the Aesperium Niedea and the Empire of Bardonia stands ready to attack the city of Athellos if you do not comply with our demands. However, we are willing to negotiate a deal to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, for example allowing all current citizens to remain in the city or small amounts of payment.'"The mood in the senate went from shock, to outrage and finally to fear. Max gave the senate 16 hours to vote on departure from the city, but the senate reached in a conclusion in only 3. The city was to be handed over. However when departing, the senate gave the order to grief the ruins which resulted in considerable damage to many historic Alessandrean buildings. Minutes after the departure of the squatters, jupixter20xo_ and joel_zombie refounded the city under the name Jupixtia in order to preserve what was left from raiders.

The city would be officially refounded in the early hours of the 23rd of January 2022 when Akesor Max was transferred leadership of Jupixtia, renaming it Alessandrea and ending the 1 month long decline. A great terraforming program would begin, resulting in the destruction of almost every building in Alessandrea, except for the Ancient era Town Hall. As of today, the terraforming is almost finished and a new road and sea wall have been constructed. Much is planned for the city, including a new, bigger library, a dock, more houses and a monument commemorating the reclamation of Alessandrea.