Etoile Capital City

She stepped out from under the veranda and into the roaring crowd. The parade had started, and Constantine himself was leading the procession on a huge white stallion. A man stepped out behind her and made a face.
"This song and dance again? It's the same every year; why does he do it?"
"Because it makes people happy, Wudao." Kyris smiled at the sight of a laughing child running under a fence and in front of the procession; a guard gently handed her back to her father.
"I'd be happier if there wasn't all this traffic in the roads. It'll take another thirty minutes to get back to the Guildhall." Wudao sighed. "Still, it is his city, so I guess he can do what he wants with it. Including the all-white paintjob."
"Don't be so dramatic. It's only the walls and the government buildings." The Princeps had recently ordered a 'refreshing' of the capital, and white was in among the cognoscenti. "He could have picked a worse color."
"Worse than one that needs washing every day or else it turns brown?" Wudao looked back at the parade - Constantine and his guard were now on the Palace steps, waving around their swords in an elaborate ritual. "This is stupid."
Kyris punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Yeah, well you're not the Princeps. Let's get out of here." The two wandered off down a back alley while the crowd along the parade route cheered the completion of the Unity Ritual.

Demographics

The Capital City is the most cosmopolitan city in the Principality, home to people from every type of social strata and profession and from every district across Saibh. The city is also the wealthiest, with most noble houses maintaining an estate somewhere in or near the City.

Government

The Capital City is the seat of government of Etoile, and although there is a Grand Council that handles the day to day tasks of governance, the Princeps is the sole and ultimate source of power in the City, with all other positions and roles deriving power from them. In practice, the Capital is broken up into various Wards, with each Ward Supervisor managing the affairs of that section of city. Citywide services such as the Constabulary and the City Patrol are managed by the Council.
The government principally taxes on value; end citizens pay little in taxes directly but manufactories and paymasters are taxed by goods produced and headcount, respectively. This has resulted in inflated prices in the Capital due to the high wages being paid there.

Defences

The capital city has little in the way of static defenses, as the city is relatively new; what it does have is the full might and power of the military of the Principality. The city wall that does run around the perimeter is largely decorative, as it's easily scaled and has large gaps; it's more of a map marker than anything else. The headquarters of the Principality's infantry and cavalry corps is a well fortified bastion near the Palace, and the naval HQ takes up several piers at the docks.

Industry & Trade

As the city with the most advanced standard of living amongst all the cities of the Principality, it is a magnet for business and opportunity. Virtually all goods and services are to be had in the Capital, and the Capital is the locus of most of the land and sea trade routes throughout the Principality.
The true industry in the Capital, however, is government and associated research. The Principality is the largest nation-state in history, with the largest bureaucracy to match. It and the quasi-governmental Guilds and other chartered institutions are easily the largest employer in the Capital and the reason why the Capital is so populated. Principality research projects recruit the best minds from across Saibh to build on and improve society.

Infrastructure

Etoile has the benefit of having the most advanced power distribution system in the world, owing to its unique location. Massive water wheels straddle the Grand Canal; with the tides turning every twelve hours, huge flows of water run through the Canal between the two Seas, driving a massive power shaft that distributes incredible amounts of power to the city. Every city block has a power connection, enabling higher levels of construction, the mechanically driven power-tram network, and the glow-light array. The cobblestone roads are wide and well maintained for trade and travel.
One especially important innovation was that of public sanitation; massive cisterns under the city temper the city's waste and prevent sewage from entering the streets or the Grand Canal. Said sewage is hauled by wagon with the rest of the city's waste disposal to a burn pit well outside city boundaries. Other cities have attempted to emulate this method of sanitation with varying levels of success.

Guilds and Factions

As the seat of government for the Principality, every major government institution is headquartered in the Capital. Every chartered Guild is obliged to maintain a Guild Headquarters in the Capital as well. The mass of the state bureaucracy is the principal driver behind the Capital's population boom.

History

Formerly a sleepy fishing village in a small isthmus, the Capital was founded after the Unification War by the First Princeps due to it's advantageous position. The isthmus was dredged to form the Grand Canal, allowing ships to transfer between the two Seas quickly and easily. The City was one of the few that was master-planned, with a massive grid of new apartment style housing fit to house a half million people being constructed in less than a decade, with each building receiving Power linkages and freshwater delivery.
The Capital quickly became the largest and wealthiest city in the known world due to the amount of trade and patronage that pass through the city walls and the canal locks, and the number of Principality citizens flocking to the Capital to work for the central government.

Architecture

Most of the city is built from stone and mortar and roofed with red tile. White is the currently fashionable color; the walls and most government buildings are painted a bright egg-white. Construction unoriginal to the founding of the city on the outskirts or near the docks is typically built with wood frame.
Artwork adorns most of the original city blocks, with a riot of murals and paintings adorning buildings across the Capital. Each ward favors a theme; there are sections of the city with historical murals, others with natural themed murals, and so forth.

Geography

The Capital straddles an approximately two mile wide isthmus between the Feryll and Bui Seas and Western and Eastern Saibh, with a freshwater river delta roughly a mile north of the city proper. The Grand Canal links the seas together and runs straight through the Capital center. The highest point in the city is a small hill made out of the dredged soil from the Canal; from that hill a visitor could see the entirety of the city before them as well as being able to see both seas from horizon to horizon, making it a common spot for tourists and romanticists.

Natural Resources

Extensive farmlands and fisheries provide food and exports for the Capital, but most construction material needed to be ferried in to build the city proper. The nearest forests were cleared for farmland, so the closest approximation to wild land is roughly thirty miles away to the west.

Alternative Name(s)

The Capital

Type

Capital

Population

1.5 million

Inhabitant Demonym

Etoilean

Location under

Saibh

Included Locations

• Grand Amphitheatre of Etoile
• Housing in the Capital City
• Morrison's
• Outer Haven
• Outer Ward Pavilion
• The Academy of Etoile
• The Covenant
• The Great Pavilion of the Joint Consortiums
• The Great Sling
• The Old Crosswater Inn
• The Perturbation Detector
• The Proving Grounds
• The Radiant End
• Wizard's Cold Comestibles

Owner/Ruler

Constantine

Owning Organization

Principality of Etoile

Related Tradition (Primary)

• Etoilean Inventor's Fair
• The Capital Regatta
• The Etoile Monitor's Seasonal Distraction
• The Rite of Ignition

Characters in Location

• Constantine
• Geneva Rodii
• Huyi Kuoroe
• Hyberos Actatus
• Isolde of Saumann
• Luce Fontescu