Egalia

Egalia is a settlement on the western coast of Nieden and a historic niedene town. It played a significant role in history, mostly during the era of the Kingdom of Egalia. As such, it remained a political center and during the Soleannan Imperium it became the capital of an eponym Duchy, the Enrei of Egalia. It is currently led by Yerigold Arkandore.

History before Yerigold
Egalia was historically an important trading post on the western coast of Nieden.

Ancient Era
As all of the old settlements of Vasterien, Egalia was founded by inhabitants of Corthaidh (Varmerion). It thus received the humble name of Thadeti, wich means Fort of the Thadians. It was also known as Columbia.

Capital of the Kingdom of Egalia
At the foundation of the Kingdom of Nieden in 1582 ASC (December 4, 2020), the political capital of the nation was initially Corthaidh while Columbia remained a secondary town. However, due to harsh political debates and a never-ending sentiment of autonomy from both the people and nobles of the Thadian towns, the United Royal Communes of Egalia was officially established the year after in 1582 ASC (December 14, 2020) within the kingdom, basing its own capital in Columbia. Even if this political entity claimed to be in favor of more equality inside the Thadian towns, it was in reality submitted to the Central Commitee of the high presidium of the supreme soviet of the free and liberated workers and people's of the Commune of Columbia, whose President and King was Jack f. Kennedy, a Columbian farmer.

Under his command, the United Royal Communes of Egalia eventually managed to control all of the southern towns of the Kingdom and in 1585 ASC (December 21, 2020), the Kingdom of Nieden split into Raykara and Egalia. Oogleron, Kumberg and Raykara would form a new Republic north while the other towns would be known as "Egalia".

Post-Ascension period
Its modern name is was taken after the Ascension as the town took the name of the Kingdom of Egalia.

Initial Growth
After the formation of the Aesperium Niedea Egalia experienced an initial period of growth, when old architects could benefit from the renewed prosperity to embellish the center of the town.

Chileambore
During a second period, shortly before the Kimikwessai (First Escharian civil war), the town experienced a rapid growth and expanded north, towards Drasil. This new borough was known as Chileambore or, Ozeben (above waters in local Thaidian). The borough's expansion was relatively unprecedented as in it's lifespan of 10 years, it managed to accumulate a population similar to Lostesrei at the time mostly being made up of Syltör refugees fleeing from the Bardonian conquests, these people provided the borough with lots of potential industry although this would never be accomplished due to the 9 Rings Mining Catastrophe.

9 Rings Mining Catastrophe
Following the untimely death of it's leader who was suspiciously assassinated by an unknown resident (who would flee and never be seen again,) a great power vacuum was left behind as no heir was set to lead the town. Following a short meeting between all the town council members realizing that both the town and nation were in a precarious spot. Half the members decided it would be best to jump ship and emigrate to Yimmu-Audal while the rest attempted to lead a pathless city. A few days later. an ancient Nieden tomb found in the Chileambore emerald mines and the aspiring archaeologists wgo stumbled upon it made the fateful mistake of deciding to open the tomb.

The opening of this tomb would turn out to be a great disaster for the entire town as the energy that emanated from it resulted in a great blast that shocked the entire town. First, most of the mines collapsed killing all who was in them, meanwhile the cave-in also resulted in much of the surface collapsing in on itself. This would only be exaggerated by the fact that most of the town was sat on the soft grounds of a marsh. This resulted in over 40% of the borough's buildings being destroyed while the rest was immensely damaged. By the end of the event, 80% of the population of the borough had perished including every council member which caused the city to plunge into a state of anarchy, this would never be resolved as the nation at the time was going through significant peril and couldn't afford to save the region. For the next century, the borough would lay in complete ruin only being stopped at by the occasional bandit or looter scrounging through the buildings.

Imperial restoration era
Several attempts were made to resettle and rebuild the city, mainly directed through the nearby town of Drasil which was led by a friend of Isaris an Aesperii, chancellor of the Soleannan Imperium. The rebuilding of the town was slow. However, during the Second crisis of succession at the end of the reign of Luci an Aesperii, Drasil and Egalia sided with Isaris against Veriss and most western nobles. As such, the town was repressed and sacked in 1700 ASC (August 01, 2022) by the Dazoqan forces and a experienced a period of decline under the Siorvat of Escharia.

Eventually, all attempts made before Yerigold would end in failure as the prospects of resetting the place was uneconomically unviable and unjust.

Dawn of a new era
Under the Soleannen Empire, the government would give one Yerigold Arkandore the permission to attempt resettling the city, believing it would lead to nothing except giving an architectural graduate something to do. However, the government was hard pressed to find news that Egalia was rapidly expanding once again. A major contributing factor of it's expansion would be the Westcoast Hotspot which was a massive market in the shattered emerald mines of the city where merchants from everywhere across the globe would buy and sell their wares. This would eventually lead to Egalia gaining the moniker of the Phagosian gateway to Escharia. By focusing more on the maritime trade than of agricultural trade, Yerigold managed to breathe life back into Egalia.

A couple years after it's expansion, Egalia would become the capital city of the Egalia county. Subsequently, Egalia was largely seen as a safe haven for travellers and refugees alike and Yerigold would soon begin to adopt several people into House Arkandore whose main manor also resides in Egalia.

However, Yerigold's entering into the land would also bring something more nefarious to the region... Crime.

The Egalia syndicate
with more people comes more problems and perhaps the largest problem the city has had to face recently is crime, from something as petty as shoplifting to arms trafficking, murder and arson. a couple years after Egalia would be resettled, the Egalia syndicate would be born and would initially start out as an operation to prevent the vast trade tariffs ships were subjected to. However, a couple months after the beginning of this crime ring, Yerigold's own father Myril would join the syndicate and begin smuggling drugs, arms and gunpowder in as well as out of Egalia which saw the operation's profits skyrocket.

This lucrative business saw much of the often-thought picturesque harbors of Egalia turn into dens for law breaking overnight. However, Yerigold and a small team of town council members were secretly monitoring the situation the whole time and some had even been accepted into their ranks.

The bear's wrath
Once enough evidence was found to persecute most of the members involved, on one fateful night the royal city guard as well as Yerigold personally would go to the houses of syndicate members and would execute most of them. that night, over 40 people who were all related to the syndicate would be dead by the morning and the night would be ominously known as the night of the bear's wrath after the animal patron of the Arkandore family. Myril and some others would not be killed that night, but the message left with them was perhaps greater than their death.

Regions
The area Egalia spans can be divided into 4 distinct regions.

Bonon At Egalia
Translating to Egalia Bay, this region takes up most of the southern coast and is currently the most urbanized area of Egalia. While the region does have 2 rivers passing through it, the land is not very arable as most of the surface is made up of hard stone and granite while the rest is made up of infertile soil. The region is also home to the only deepwater port of Egalia so the region also sees the most maritime traffic.

Redun Ozeben
Redun Ozeben (swamp above waters,) is a region that takes up the rest of Lower Egalia (anywhere south of Drasil Înes). The region consists of a thick swamp to the west and arable lakes to the east. while the region has a decently large coastline and is also home to the Westcoast Hotspot, the area sees the least maritime trade in the city as the swamp makes dock building and shipping impossible without major excavation although this'll likely never be done due to it's unviability.

Drasil Înes
The Drasil islands are a chain of four islands that are close to the Ozeben gulf and was the site of a large battle a century ago. The area is largely filled with destroyed buildings most of the land is still swamped with remains of several Escharian and Bardonian soldiers alike. Due to this, many people prefer to travel from Vezerin via boat or through Celtenn.

Vezerin
Vezerin is the only region not to be from the Vasteri dialect and instead uses an ancient Phagosian dialect, in this dialect, Vezerin roughly translates to of fantasy. The region is home to extremely fertile land and as such most of the city's farms and vineyards are located in the region. Geographically, the Seed delta alongside the very common rain are responsible for it's extreme fertility. However, this also provides a significant challenge as the area is very prone to flash floods.

Districts
Currently, Egalia only has 4 official districts.

Old town
Old Egalia is listed as an official heritage town being one of the oldest built areas on the continent. As such, many of the buildings have owners but aren't lived in as to preserve it. The only two notable buildings are the Egalia Taphouse, (the city's oldest bar) and the Town hall which is currently under renovations to make it a museum.

Mindé Sos Flumes
Translating to 'between two rivers' this district is home to much of the affluent populace of the city with its Chic upscale houses. The district is also home to the secondary port of the city being mainly for smaller trading vessels and also serves as hub for river trade. The district also contains a quaint urban park filled with lush trees and bushes. The Egalia County prison is also located in the district as a tall building that towers over much of the other buildings. Mindé Sos Flumes is also host to a plethora of breweries, cheeseries and a florist which serves to ever embolden it's 'yuppy' nature,