Cundalos
Free City
location: a bay on the west coast of Altis, off the Amphithael.
population: rank 4 (of 10)
Name Derived From: original so far as I remember. Though a quick google search pulled up a Yorkshire village, Cundall, that was listed in the Domesday Book, so it might have been a part of a name pull from that source & I just forgot the connection. At any rate, the name isn’t evoking anything from North Yorkshire or the Yorkshire Dales for the setting. At least, it wasn’t…
Model: Baltimore
Flavor Text:
Cundalos is one of the small but vibrant trade ports of Altis, taking advantage of its position on the Big Island and the excellent (if somewhat out of the way) location on the Amphithael to draw trade from all compass points. Cundalos isn’t on either direct route from the north coast ports of Somaris but has a reputation locally for its enlightened tariff schedule, and lax investigation on the part of the harbormaster’s office.
As a result it gets a bit more ‘gray’ trade than other ports in the area, especially ships that want to avoid the larger quays of Pontis while still trading with the cities inland on Altis. Cundalos does a great deal of direct business with Nolis, Bosc, the northwestern Alinth dependencies, and the merchant princes of the northeast and northwest seas. Even with the thinly disguised smuggling, trade is trade and overall business is strong. The majority of ships making port here are plain, honest merchants looking for a good deal.
The rule of law in Cundalos is enforced by the Lord Mayor, with a limited term of 5 years, elected by the local guilds but serving under a Lord Provost, which is a lifetime position but not hereditary, with a new Provost elected by the 11 “noble” houses from among their members whenever there is a vacancy
Edit:
A quick image search pulled up a couple of images of North Yorkshire, though neither of these is Cundall
both images listed at the source as free of copyrights under Creative Commons CC0. I should grab reference images more often.
So that’s one reason for a head start on 2019 – I wanted time to review old notes (how old? Some go back to 1994) and I also wanted to provide some context (plus maps) (plus some basic worldbuilding) for the fiction project before just dropping fiction on my blog unannounced.
Also I think if the new year’s resolution is a writing project, it’s probably cheating to recycle old stuff just for a daily update. Still, some of this stuff should probably be out there as preamble.
Scala
Pontesian Holding
Location: a peninsula in the Tigal Sea, near the southeastern tip of Altis
Population: rank 3 (of 10)
Name Derived From: Scylla, monster of the Odyssey. There’s also the one opera house, in Milan..
Model: Caribbean free ports c. 1700 CE
Flavor Text:
Scala is held by Pontis in one of the most restrictive trade agreements ever drafted. While Demos is also held by a similar ‘treaty’, the Merchants of the Dem have found loopholes to exploit. Scala, on the other hand, is becoming a dead city. The port is closed, many citizens have left, most leaving for Pontis itself. (Many individuals there have worked their way up into areas of minor but vital importance — on the waterfront, clerks in merchant houses and in the government, soldiers and even officers in both the guard and navy…)
Those left behind are ‘just’ fishermen and the so-called dregs. There are a few keeping the old traditions, but most of the “fishing fleet” are just pirates now, casting nets for bounty other than fish
With the main port closed, nearly all ships land on the islands east and west of the city. Some of these ‘pirate coves’ are looking more and more like actual ports, with their own warehouses and banks, space permitting of course. Some are little more than strips of beach you can anchor a (smaller) ship on. But at least three can claim to be more than just an anchorage; Scala is a ‘ghost town’ but manages because she’s surrounded & enlivened by pirates.
Eventually some power in the region will have to rein in this activity but their base is small (for now) and the losses acceptable (for now). Also, piracy is largely accepted in the region – within limits; there is a tradition of licensed “privateers” in both times of war and the occasional undeclared but vigorous “trade dispute”. (Privateers typically both pay for a license and share the spoils. Some even get commissions in whichever city’s navy. But this, desperate, piracy is new.)
Demos
Pontesian Holding
Location: close to the Southeastern tip of the island of Altis, on a strait between the Sea of Circhos and the Sea of Tigal
Population: rank 4 (of 10)
Name Derived From: Greek, for ‘population’
Model: Trucking company
Flavor Text:
Two seaports of Altis on the Sea of Tigal, Demos and Scala, have been pulled into the Pontesian sphere of influence, though not necessarily of their own choice. Both Demos and Scala are east of Pontis, closer to the north coast cities on the Somaris mainland, and potentially competitors to the vast east-to-west sea trade flowing to the Old Capital.
Pontis got there first, however, and—after several naval actions and two short wars that concreted the commercial consensus—forced these seaports to close, to enhance the trade coming to her own port. Currently, Pontis pays both Demos and Scala to keep their harbors closed and warehouses empty. (Though the amount paid is barely sufficient to keep these ports ‘closed’) (and of course, things that are ‘illegal’ are not necessarily impossible; trade in the Sea of Tigal is getting, as they say, interesting)
The payments aren’t quite enough to cover the loss of trade—but given a choice between military or economic warfare—the Dem have chosen the path that doesn’t involve fleets and invading soldiers. The enterprising merchants of Demos, restricted by treaty from trading by ship, instead run teams of wagons to ply the roads. This novel approach is actually working and the Teamsters of the Dem may soon corner the market on the agricultural trade on the island. …And on nearby islands, oddly enough: exploiting a loophole in the treaty originally intended to only cover private coaches of the nobility, wagons are loaded whole onto barges and not unloaded dockside, but only inland.
The Dem are in negotiations to bring in the barges elsewhere—technically in compliance with Pontis but enabling a resumption, at least in part, of their past trade. An agreement between the teamsters and the port city of Siritha may not be too far away. For now, fear of a Pontesian reaction has kept anything official from being set down, though un-officially: there is a whole lot of barge traffic headed east
Avensis
Pontesian Ally
Location: On the southern coast of the island of Rauvos close to its southeastern tip, on the north shores of the Amphithael
Population: rank 4 (of 10)
Name Derived From: Aventicum, (modern Avenches) roman post in what is now Switzerland.
Model: Any ‘second city’ content to be such. Quiet. Peaceful. Certainly free of any old god cults lurking unseen in the background requiring regular sacrifices of curious but clueless outsiders.
Flavor Text:
Avensis is ruled by a prince, like its close ally Pontis, and in fact the two princes claim some kinship, though three generations removed the family tie isn’t so much to hold them. The prince and his advisors are content with the alliance however, and happily follow the lead of his “cousin” in foreign and military matters. The alliance does provide Avensis with much of its trade, however. While off the direct sea route from Pontis to the Old Capital, Avensis is a friendly (& tax free, for ships from Pontis) port of call for smaller vessels who need to hug the coasts. And even for more sturdy craft that could take the direct path, a friendly port mid-week on the voyage is usually worth taking an extra day or two.
It is likely that without these ties Avensis would fall back, somewhat happily, into a quiet mostly ignored existence. It has been said that the main products of Avensis are noble old families [old families] and comfortable estates.
