Amach (uh-mahk)
Amach was one of the first cities founded in the Second Age, not that its founders exactly knew that. Many were nomads from the northern tundra seeking warmer and more bountiful climates, and the rest were products of The Smiting, magically displaced to the island of Dalkaria with no memories. Part of the Abundant Forest presented itself as the perfect place to found a new town: a coastal cliffside that was already somewhat clear of trees and had lush green grass.
Today, the city of Amach is an independent city-state, though it has close ties with its neighbors: the Serene Republic of Dalkar and the Demesne of Ice. Because the city is geographically on the border of the tundra, it is often the first piece of other civilization the nomadic settlers from the Demesne see. Some of these wanderers stay in Amach permanently and adopt it as their new home, while the majority venture further southwest and end up in parts of the Serene Republic or even in another city across the seas.
Amach is probably known best for the particular type of cedar that grows in abundance in the forest around the city. It is strong enough to be used in the construction of ships, and its natural scent is known to keep rodents away - further cementing it as the premier choice for shipbuilding. Though the wood is abundant in the northern parts of the Abundant Forest, the people of Amach - and the island of Dalkaria in general - are conscious of the balance of nature and only harvest enough wood to build three large merchant ships each year. Any more than that would upset the balance of the forest, which is vital to maintaining the prosperity of not just Amach but other towns and small villages as well.
Demographics
Amach's three main cultures are halfling, goliath, and firbolg, with human coming in a close fourth. While the town's original founding group contained a good proportion of humans, they have since moved away in several waves, seeking other opportunities in other parts of the southern plains. The forest lifestyle and particular attention to the balance of nature has attracted many elvish families to move to Amach.
Forestry and food procurement (hunting, gathering fruits, farming, etc.) are the main industries in Amach, accounting for a large percentage of the city's economy. Dockwork is another fairly large industry, as the tall cliffs make it harder to get goods to and from ships and require more manpower to do so.
Amach is roughly as stratified economically as one might expect any city to be. There are poor citizens who struggle to rent housing consistently and sometimes have to skip meals, and there are a few wealthy families who buy art from across the world because they can. The majority of people in Amach are somewhere in between those two extremes. Most are able to afford housing and food, but only a few have disposable income for things like art or finery for their home. The strong sense of community that permeates Dalkarian culture makes sure that everyone can find food and warmth if they need it, though it may not be plentiful or constant.
Government
The city of Amach is divided into five different districts, each of which elects their own member of the city council every four years. These council members can serve for up to twenty years consecutively but must then wait at least eight years before running for office again. One of the council members is appointed as a Mayor every four years, with this election occurring halfway between council elections. Whoever wins the title of mayor must still run for re-election in the next cycle of council elections, but it is almost a formality that they will win - unless they have done a particularly bad job as mayor. There have only been two recorded instances of this since Amach established this system of governance almost 400 years ago.
The relatively small council is aided and augmented by a large corps of career bureaucrats, including diplomats who oversee the city-state's interactions with its neighbors and trading partners abroad. Some of these functionaries go on to run for office later in life, and there are many instances of people going back and forth between elected office and career bureaucracy as term limits allowed.
All five members of the council have equal say in the governing of the city and its policies, but the position of mayor comes with several ceremonial and representative duties, as well as often being a sort of "tiebreaker" between the other council members when a vote is otherwise split. The city's small military is under the command of the council in general, which prevents any one mayor from trying to usurp the government and take it over for themselves.
Alongside the five council members, the city of Amach also has a High Druid as a council-level position, though they are appointed by the city's druids instead of being elected by the people. The High Druid can veto any new policy or law that directly impacts the balance of nature, and they can also recommend that bills be studied or postponed if they believe there to be serious questions about the impact on nature. This high druid position can be recalled or cast out at any time by the druids of the city, though there is no limit to how long one may serve if they are practicing their position in good faith.
Defences
Amach does not have a perimeter wall, though the city does maintain a half-mile barrier of open land between the furthest houses and the edge of the Abundant Forest. There are about two dozen Watch garrisons stationed throughout the city, from which the guards can deploy to any area they are needed and deal with the occasional threats posed by wandering beasts of the forest.
The cliffside features a battery of trebuchets that can harass ships at sea that may be threatening the city's ports or ships. The port itself at the base of the cliffs has a small armory that sailors can use in case of piracy or other attacks on the harbor or their vessels.
Infrastructure
Amach is like most cities in the modern age in that it has the vast majority of its roads paved and well maintained, as well a steady and reliable supply of clean water for the entire populace. The latter is accomplished by a series of wells that have been dug throughout the city to access underground aquifers and subterranean rivers. The city's sewer system also flows beneath the streets and uses the simple concept of gravity to move sewage from the city on the high cliffs to an exhaust pipe several miles away at the sea's level.
History
At the start of the Second Age, the island of Dalkaria was the hotspot for new settlements and the joining of cultures. Previously isolated people living in the northern tundra - in the Demesne of Ice - began to search for milder climates and easier lives. In the forest and plains of Dalkaria these people came into contact with groups of refugees who had been magically displaced during The Smiting with no memory or history of their own. These groups joined together and started exploring the southern plains, trying to find a safe place to settle and start a new life.
The Abundant Forest was one of the first places these two nomadic groups met on Dalkaria, and it did not take long for them to found a town on the eastern coast. The groups noticed that the forest was rife with game and edible plants, and relatively few predators that could threaten humanoids. As they traversed the forest, they came upon a clearing on the coast, on tall cliffs overlooking the Midor Sea. Many believed this to be some sort of divine omen or providence indicating they should found a town here, and so they did.
Many of the joined groups continued to scout on the plains, fighting their way through the land of giants and dangerous beasts. They founded towns on the plains and began to push back against the harsh situation they faced. Amach was always a place of respite for these people, when the dangers of the plains got too much. Groups would be away for months or years at a time, then turn back up in Amach missing three-fourths of their original number, seeking a bit of rest. Many would end up staying in Amach, and later Gullthorpe as it was closer to the plains.
In the tenth century of the Second Age, the leaders of Alard's Rest sent out emissaries to the neighboring towns hoping to garner military support and a significant number of settlers to found new towns closer to the Forbidden Forest where the giants and other threats lurked. The plains towns were eager to join this endeavor, but the leadership of Amach was not so easily persuaded. They assumed - somewhat correctly - that this was the start of a nation with Alard's Rest as the capital and center of power, and the Amachians wanted nothing to do with that. The city allowed whatever families wanted to be part of the settler corps to head west, but the city did not formally send any soldiers or aid.
In the wake of the successful settlement attempts, Alard's Rest did in fact found a new nation on the southern plains, and the leaders in Amach were glad they had stayed disentangled from that. The people of the forest valued their independence and role as mediators between the plains and the tundra - not just geographically but also politically and economically via trade routes and caravans.
As the new nation was founded to the south of the forest, they adopted a republic as their form of government, a stark contrast to the monarchies and other autocratic or semi-autocratic forms of government the island of Dalkaria had previously known. It did not take long - roughly 30 years, in fact - before the presence of a stable, thriving republic nearby caught the eye of the Amachian people who began to call for change. In a brief revolution that saw relatively little bloodshed, the ruling dynasty in the city was ousted from power and exiled from the city, with the citizens placing a democratic government in charge of the city - a system of government that has survived to this day.
Architecture
Most buildings in Amach are built of wood and have wooden shingles. A few government buildings and temples are made of stone, quarried from the very cliffs upon which the city was built (though located several miles away from town so as not to disrupt the city's literal foundations). Many are what might best be described as American log cabin style, with some of the larger houses and inns being fashioned more Tudor for its relative ornamentalism. The cold climate and roaring winds that often batter the clifftop city mean very few of these houses have mutliple windows. Indeed, many have a single south-facing window to let in natural light during the day but that can be closed and sealed at night or when storms come through.
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