Polikitza (Paul-ee-keet-zuh)
Polikitza harbor sits at the edge of the river delta, where the silty brown-teal freshwater moves out like a cloud into the dark blue of the ocean. Statues of a masked woman, often carrying a child, line the city coast and face the river; some of these statues are simple and small, while others are grand stone monuments. The river itself has many of these statues, which line the massive stone bridge and hold out their hands as if to rebuke the sea from crawling inland. Small river boats, foreign merchant vessels, and Zeshem warships comingle in the chaotic waters around the city, ending sharply at that bridge - it feels as if the statues of the River Mother truly do act as a shield against the city's chaos for the pristine farmland beyond.
The city itself sits along the Southern bank of the delta, rounding out along the coast. It is a checkerboard city, which massive walls dividing the different districts very clearly from one another. Some of these districts are incomprehensible architectural mishmashes of foreign styles; others are harmoniously consistent. Arriving in Harbortown, in the main dockyard of Polikitza, the city is at its finest and most hectic. Colored lanterns everywhere in a mixture of strangely smooth luxury Zeshem buildings and foreign architecture make the city seem like a perpetual parade. Casino-taverns, dens of vice, and massive rooved bazaars all invite visitors to spend coin however they can. Masked Zeshem and foreigners comingle in revelry, fights break out, the two sides search for each other blindly and recoil. Polikitza is where Zeshem youth seeking work come to make a quick silver and a gawk at the foreigners they've heard so much about; it is also where foreigners come to try and make it big on the trade line to Samvara, though many fail and end up here in the foreign districts. Zeshem apostates, foreign dropouts, Zeshem youngsters, wealth and power... Polikitza is maybe a thrilling dance, maybe a chemical fire of things that shouldn't mix.
The city isn't all debauchery fueled by a fascination with The Other. People do live here, safe behind the walls that keep the districts apart. It is not pure chaos, after all, but carefully controlled chaos intended to reinforce the negative stereotypes Zeshema puts on foreigners while also allowing a certain amount of acceptable deviance. There are foreign districts, kept dirty and disoriented and poor; there are clean Zeshem districts, kept prosperous and happy in contrast. There are rich foreign merchants, but the Zeshem elites always have a carefully engineered home court advantage. The city is open, but that openness is only half true.
Recently, a Cold War between Selkies and Zeshem has sown discord and suspicion across the city. Selkie agents spur on riots in foreign districts, arm dissidents, and support local terrorists; Zeshem spies hunt seditionists and dissapear people in the middle of the night. Adventurers beware - this city may be heavy like a full coinpurse, but it is also heavy like a gallows.
Demographics
30,000 humanoids. 40% are Dryads, 30% are Humans, 25% are Half-Dryad, 5% are Prisms.
Government
Polikitza is ruled by the Anointed Judge Vigilance, a Zesheko judge-priest in charge of the local bureaucracy. Vigilance is a young half-dryad dracomancer, a rising star and imperial favorite full of ambition and ideals. He is a perfectionist with eyes bigger than his stomach, and his divisive choices and disrespect for tradition have made him plenty of enemies. His fixation on "true justice for all" is endearing for many commonfolk, though only time will tell if it will lead him to glory or disaster.
Beneath Judge Vigilance are priest-clerks known as Anointed Ministers, who manage the local bureaucracies. The most independent of these is the Formal Priesthood, which manages the spiritual health, medical care, ritual, and community organization of the city. There are also the clerk-run bureaucracies of Public Purity (which manages local population movement, census-taking, merchant quarantines, passports, and movement between districts), Public Fortitude (which manages infrastructure and taxation), and Holy Law (which manages trade and legal disputes).
The only alternative power structure to the Anointed Bureaucracy is the military garrison, led by Garrison Commander Lynx. The military is segregated from the rest of society (Zeshem and foreign), and is far less accessible than the civilian government; they keep to their own rituals and hierarchies and act with little oversight. The mediating body between the Garrison Command and the Anointed are the Hunters of Norinar - essentially the spies and foreign operatives of the Zeshem - who have a major base in Polikitza.
Defences
Polikitza is a well-fortified city with walls and towers guarding against attacks from within or outside. These are well-maintained as part of the internal security apparatus as well as for defending from outside attacks. There are three nerve centers of defensive power in this mess of internal walls: Sisilja's Bastion ,a fortress on the river that controls all bridge and river traffic; Norinar's Keep, a large central hub of military-bureaucracy action that looms over the foreign districts from the center of the city; and Firewatch Hold, a military base at the South edge of the city devoted to military training and administration.
Industry & Trade
Polikitza is one of Zeshema's three officially sanctified trading ports, where foreigners are welcome to trade their goods and even settle down for good. As the Southernmost port of these, Polikitza is well-embedded into the Garadek magic item trade and has become the wealthiest port in Zeshema.
Polikitza has a robust manufacturing sector, with weaving, carpentry, Fire Termite oil processing, smithing, sugar processing, and papermilling, and more.
Infrastructure
Polikitza takes its infrastructure seriously - the city is seen as a body, a sacred vessel protecting the nation from pollution, and that body must be kept clean and healthy. No cost is too high for good sewers, tall walls, and clean cisterns. A well-constructed underground sewer system covers most of the Zeshem districts of the city, and water storage and distribution is a well-oiled machine. The foreign districts are kept entirely off this grid to prevent possible smuggling operations into the main city, which leaves these parts of town smelly, dirty, and perpetually importing freshwater to augment their limited wells.
The roads here are a bit messy, though; the foreign districts are a neat grid, but the main city is actually a bit of a maze of winding ancient roads.
Districts
Foreign-Allowed Districts
Harbortown: Harbortown is the main nexus of commerce, cultural exchange, and wealth in Polikitza. Massive shaded marketplaces surrounded by dozens of little shops dominate the district, and the constant buzz of sale and purchase rings through the air day or night. Sailors, residents, tourists, and seasonal workers converge here to drink, barter, gamble, and carouse. A small district, more of a place to visit than to stay. As designed for Zeshem as for foreigners.
The Ivory Gates: Between Harbortown and the Sisilja Bridge (which leads into the bountiful farmlands to the North) are the Ivory Gates, a nicer part of town for established foreign merchants and artisans who have been able to scrabble out of the other foreign districts. Much of the district orbits around the Puremeeting Emporium, known to locals as "The Egg" - an egg-shaped building of white marble used for magic item sales, loans, and big international trade deals.
The Southern Blocks: Built to house non-Zeshem traders and residents from Larazel and Garadel. The nicer parts of town are known for their iron merchants, smithies, gemcutters, and trinket artisans; the poorer parts of town are known for supplying construction workers and heavy-lifting laborers. Garadel is envisioned as a land of hard-working laborers that struggle with organic trades like weaving or gardening, and the district provides a captive labor pool along those lines. Refugees from across the continent are welcomed here and pidgeonholed across religious lines, and merchants who don't make it have a way of ending up here.
The Northern Blocks: Built to house Samvaran merchants and immigrants. The nicer parts of town work as alchemists, chemists, and confectionaries. The poorer parts of town end up as weavers, cotton-workers, sugar-workers, and are even shipped into the interior to do agricultural work seasonally sometimes. The Northern Blocks are also where Zeshem apostates are dumped, as it is assumed that any apostate would have converted to one of Samvara's evangelical religions.
Zeshem Only Districts
Sunnyside: The commercial partner to Harbortown but only for native Zeshem, cleanwater is the center of guild activity. Workshops, apartments, entertainment, everything that harbortown has but with less variety and more cleanliness.
Cleanwater: A difficult area indeed, populated by Zeshem converts and fiercely regulated by religious police. The crucible of religion, with a lot of state-owned shops. Also home to the Reform Houses, where "sullied" Zeshem are isolated, purified, and re-indoctrinated. Believed to carry particular power for Maskmakers, making it popular for that crowd.
Shellside: An agricultural district along the river, known for its fishing, river traffic, and large communal gardens. Dominated by confraternities. Also contains a massive drydocks, one of the most productive in the empire. Hosts big boat races periodically.
Newmarket: An expanded poor district for Zeshem seasonal workers and immigrants from the countryside. A mix of Zeshem subcultures.
Ghostwater: An area largely composed of clerks and middling class families, surrounding the major bureaucratic and educational institutions of the city. The Anointed Court is here, and most legal proceedings take place somewhere in this district.
Whitecrown: A wealthy district near Ghostwater, home of the elites.
Fireside: An agricultural processing district at the Southern edge of town, where livestock are brought in for shearing, sale, or slaughter and fire termite oil is processed. Known for frequent fires, fireside is the bottom rung for most Zeshem (unless they happen to be fans of ranching).Guilds and Factions
The Great Guilds: Merchant guilds exist here, as they do in many places, but are only accessible for Zeshem artisans. Licenses can be given to foreign shops, but only Zeshem artisans have full protection or representation within the guild. A handful of the most powerful guilds hold power over the manufacturing sector of the city and exert great power over the lesser guilds: these are the Weaver's Guild, the Carpenter's Guild, the Merchant's Guild, and the Wrighting Guild (for producing ships, wagons, carts, or other vehicles).
The Confraternities: Basically Zeshem religious unions, which coordinate public ritual and local infrastructure while also organizing Zeshem workers. Foreigners are strictly banned, and those who indulge in excessive "immoral" behavior are often banned or forced to move into "reform houses" in order to join. The confraternities are religious first, and class-oriented second; they are often seen as mystery cults by foreigners. But make no mistake; if a big employer pushes too hard on their Zeshem employees, they had better negotiate with the confraternity leadership lest they face strikes, embargoes, and vandalism. Confraternities can be sometimes violent, anonymous in membership, and 'bad for business', but as long as they are loyal to the priesthood they are legally protected. This fierce religious-state loyalty does mean that the confraternities tend to be less helpful when the employer is a state entity. One of the scariest and most powerful of the confraternities is the Watermaidens - anonymous cultists of the River Goddess Sisilja who also act as the water-worker's union. When acting in an official (or vigilante) capacity, the Watermaidens dress in costumes representing Sisilja's innumerable daughters who were killed by corruption but are reborn every rainy season to reward the good and punish the wicked. The Watermaidens may not represent the most numerous workers, but they are essential for the city's operations and they are critical for the ritual of the city. They also have the most allowance for vigilantism, making them the rowdiest and most brazen voice of the Zeshem workers.
The Maskmakers: Known also as the Grey-gaters or the Mediators, Maskmakers are spiritually powerful artisans who produce masks and protective gear; most also work as fortune-tellers, apothecaries, healers, and/or exorcists. Maskmakers must be Zeshem, must have a priestly patron or community respect, and must be on good terms with the state; should they be seen as turning against the state, action against them will be swift. They are masters of the in between; when something falls between social categories, the Maskmakers are seen as relevant guides. This grants Maskmakers great power over intrusions of evil (possession, temptation, etc), but also makes them seen as corruptible and suspect in some ways. As such powerful but vulnerable artisans with so much expectation on their shoulders, many Maskmakers stick together in a shadowy association known as the Greygate Society - named after the Greygate Club, a hidden clubhouse known only to a select few.
The Guest Temples: Foreigners are banned from forming their own private groups without government oversight, but are allowed to organize under religious lines. These guest temples include the Pratasam, Zihari, Saraka, and Hadina temples, all of which are encouraged to compete against each other for government favor.
Sailing Clubs: These are secular unions that are completely illegal and popular in the foreign district. These clubs are made by and for sailors to protect common boatworkers from exploitation, but they offer support and organization for anyone willing to organize and pay. In recent years, the selkie Khilaia has funneled arms and money into the Sailing Clubs to destabilize the Zeshem government.
The Guild of Arms: It is strictly illegal to sell weapons or armor to non-Zeshem in Polikitza. To better restrict this trade, weapons and armor can only be sold by merchants who are recognized by the Guild of Arms - any unrecognized merchant doing this is fair game for robbery by legitimate merchants (as well as guard raids). The Guild has also become a center for mercenary contracts, weapon deals, and the like - they have ties to the underworld, the semi-legal, and the government. Shifty and dangerous, the Guild of Arms is tolerated as long as they keep the flow of dangerous goods away from the wrong people.
The Khilaia: The selkie Khilaia, or over-government, has been looking to secure the Zeshem coastline for open trade and resource extraction for centuries; they also have a particular bone to pick with the local religious structure, which has harassed them for as long. As long as Polikitza has been open as a trade port, it has hosted selkie agents interested in keeping the city as open as possible - and gathering information on their ancient foes in the church. In recent decades, the Khilaia has increased pressure on Zeshema's port cities to try and strong-arm the country into backing off from interfering in selkie business. Polikitza has been the main center of this, with selkies funding just about anyone who opposes the Zesheko priesthood. The selkies have a small fleet parked outside as a sustained source of pressure - should the Zeshem react too bluntly, the selkies are ready to blockade Polikitza in a moment's notice. For official diplomatic purposes, the fleet is entirely there for trading purposes (of course). The selkie leader is a sly and ambitious man by the name of Admiral Gamura.
The Healing Church: The Samvaran Healing Church, master alchemists and experts in Dhampirism, are beloved by the Zeshem state and have a leading presence in the Northern Blocks district. The Healing Church has special access into the city and cooperates closely with the government on the matter of Dhampire training, regulation, and feeding. In exchange for all their special privileges and treats, the local Healing Church has become a close government loyalist group - a "third party" of mediators between rebels and the state that, when push has come to shove, as sent their dhampiric troops out to suppress rioters and rebels to maintain order in the district. The Healing Church also protects people from government wrath, advocates for the Samvarans within the Zeshem government, and helps keep the district clean and well-fed, though, so it is still relatively popular among the less politically-interested residents of the district. The Church here is isolated from the other districts; there is no District that is formally allowed in Zeshema, making this a tiny autonomous pocket nominally loyal to the Burning District of Southern Larazel.
Points of interest
Sisilja's Bridge: A great stone bridge crossing the Susilo river to the Northern agricultural districts connecting a hill on each side. The elevated top layer, with its dignified stone lanes and a nice stop bar to prevent people from tumbling over, is the clearly intended way over that most merchants take. The bottom layer is messier, used for fishing, river trade, and lobster-farming, floods seasonally, and isn't easily accessible from the foreign districts. Both routes are policed - soldiers vigilantly regulate traffic on the top layer, while some soldiers and a number of Watermaidens (citizen vigilantes) watch the bottom layer (and are less professional and more easily provoked). A large fortress meets the bridge halfway: Sisilja's Bastion, guardian of the river. It is rumored that the Watermaidens have a secret temple either under the fortress or somewhere else in or around the bridge. Statues and decorations of Sisilja (rivermother) and her daughters cover the bridge - some are old majestic painted stone, others are wooden offerings carved and placed along the bridge out of love. Found just North of the city, at the intersection of Shellside and the Ivory Gates.
The Puremeeting Emporium: Center of elite business and trade in the most expensive of goods, Puremeeting Emporium is where you'll find magic items, magical services, mercenary deals, masterwork items, and other expensive luxuries. Known as "The Polikitza Egg" for its curious architecture ever since its renovation a half-century ago, the Emporium is a good place to buy... as well as a good place to make high-level deals or find contact with deep pockets. Found in the Ivory Gates.
The Blue Oasis: The biggest house of iniquity in Polikitza, with everything from gambling to drugs to socially unacceptable sex. Divided in half between the "Pure Side" of the Zeshem and the "Gentle Side" of the foreigners, with rumored spaces underground that allow for illicit contact between the two. A symbol of "everything wrong with Polikitza" while also being a site of cultural fascination too wealthy and attractive to be banned. While it may seem like a free-for-all, the Blue Oasis actually employs the best mercenaries it can buy to enforce its "no stealing, no fighting, no weapons" rules. It also, according to some rumors, is close with the Hunters of Norinar (the spies of the Empire) and the martial cult despite its almost-illegal nature. Can be found in Harbortown.
The Old Fort Museum: A museum and chapel devoted to the old imperial legacy and artifacts from before Polikitza became a thriving port.
Cathedral of Alima and the Shining Plaza: Center of religion and ritual, the Cathedral of Alima the Three-Part God is a magnificent display of state power and devotion. Running from the cathedral out to the public square is a row of fountains, used for washing (not drinking!).
The Sulo Academy: A state-sponsored university for theology, magic, law, health, history, and engineering.
The Healing Cathedral: The Healing Church outpost here in Polikitza, where healing potions are brewed and dhampires are trained and housed. The Cathedral also includes the Firmhouse, a place where the Church will pay someone a handful of silvers and a good meal to be hit by the resident dhampires for feeding.
Tourism
Tourism in Polikitza is a major business, as Zeshem from around the continent visit here for trade and entertainment. A reasonable number of non-Zeshem come here as well, typically for the pleasures of Harbortown.
Architecture
Polikitza displays some of the finest Zeshem architecture, with red and black bricks lain in curving arches; the buildings all seem to round, and favor arching ceilings whenever possible. The more expensive the building, the more it will likely reject sharp lines and edges. Zeshem architects compete to build egg domes, buildings shaped like waterdrops, and other shapes that flow like water. The foreign districts look entirely different, sharp blocks built with as much foreign architecture as the residents can muster.
Geography
Polikitza sits on the Southern bank of the Susilo river; to the South are the fire plains, and across the river is the abundant Samatek region of forest and farmland.
Founding Date
1310
Type
City
Population
30,000
Inhabitant Demonym
Polikitzan
Location under
Owning Organization
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