Free Coast

The Free Coast is the name adopted by various groups of refugees for the north-west provinces of the Great Ophionic Empire, which they wrested from Virin-yal control. For a long time, this region was limited to the literal coast and specifically the city states of Zingra and Belcoza, but a vast influx of militant refugees during the Zeranzeri Emergence allowed the Freecoasters to secure inland territory and establish a true nation.

The Free Coast shares the Crown Peninsula with the east of Azeranzeri and the Ophionic fortress-port of Bungara. It has three major cities - the two ports joined by Harmos, the heart of the inland farming community. In addition, the Zeranzeri city of Csizetterai is home to a large Free Coast community, and a Free Coast garrison rents barracks in Herezerai to keep watch over the Road of Shackles, the fiercely guarded corridor between the main Empire and the coast.
The population of the Free Coast is largely descended from refugees of the Ophionic Empire, and as such is composed mostly of Humans and Petari, with a significant and somewhat distrusted minority of snakeblooded who have rejected Imperial culture. The society is democratic, with anarchist leanings, and each of the three main cities oversees the business of one of the three provinces: The Southern Crownlands, the Inland and the Southern Coast.
All are considered equal in the Free Coast - legally; socially the provinces all quietly understand their superiority, and everyone knows that snakebloods are to be tolerated, rather than accepted - and decisions are taken by a congress of all adult citizens. Laws are few, and built on the principle that harm should be answered; a wronged party or their proxies may bring an action for restitution before any citizen assembly to be ruled on. Restitution is usually fiscal, but for crimes of violence the plaintiff may also request punitive restitution, and in extreme cases a citizen may be censured, losing their citizen status for a time.
The Language of the Free Coast blends anthric and blooding petari roots in an unusual fusion of proto-Titanic and Draconic elements. This gives the dialect - known as Cozan - a unique mix of phonemes, as well as its distinctive rising and falling intonation.
Free Coast Cuisine includes a lot of fish, but also vegetables - especially tomatoes, cucumbers and gourds of various kinds - grapes, melons and dates. Wheat is grown in-land, along with oats, and olives - lighter in colour and flavour than those in the north - are a staple. Goats are reared for wool and milk, but rarely for meat.
A number of public offices exist, created and filled so that, where necessary, a single voice can guide urgent matters, including military organisation. Most of these are at a local level, administrating village, town or city concerns, but there are also a few - especially those relating to the Free Coast military - that are granted national authority. Public officials notionally enjoy absolute authority, within their term limits (usually a year,) but in practice they are constrained by the precedents of past holders of their office.