Ochoba, The River Kingdoms
Ochoba is a loose collection of city states, located on the Eastern Coast of Veland. They are frequently referred to as the River Kingdoms, although not every city state is a monarchy. The rivers that snake down along the coast and ultimately flow out into the ocean divide the city states, while also acting as the main source of transportation. Bridges were sometimes constructed, but some rivers were far too large to cross, especially when river travel was readily available. Thus in place of bridges, there are many ferries, and at almost all times merchant vessals or barges can be seen traversing the many serpentine rivers. Ochoba borders the Akrekai Desert to the West, Dragia to the Northwest, and Kingdom of Thozia to the South.
City-States
Clemery
Clemery is the largest of the city-states, and acts as a pseudo-capital of the River Kingdoms. It is centrally located along the widest river in Ochoba, making it a powerful trading hub. It is ruled by a man called The Magister, his full name being Cauggo Erlest. He is known for being greedy and overweight, and taking much of the town's wealth for himself. The lowest dockmen struggle, even though they bring in immense wealth daily, because they hardly see a percent of it. There's quite a bit of resentment because of this, so The Magister's assistant, a ratfolk named Vrahl, sends many of the guardsmen to arrest any dissenters. This divide between the immense wealth of the merchant lords and the common workers has created two separate cities of Clemery. The workers live in low-class squalor, attempting to survive off what little they bring in, and the merchant lords live in palaces of silk and gold.
There is also a rumor that the headquarters of the Dark Guild is located somewhere in the city, but no one knows where or even how to locate it.
Idrosala
While Clemery is figuratively two separate cities, Idrosala is literally two separate cities: One above the water, and one below. It is considered one of the wonders of engineering in the world, as there doesn't appear to be any magic involved in its construction.
During the Age of Gods, there were two towns on either side of the river Kehnt, named Idro and Sala. They were friendly neighbors, often trading with each other and ferrying travelers across the river. It was decided during a meeting between the Mayors that they should be connected in some way as the towns expanded in size, so a bridge was attempted, but the river was far too wide. Around this time, they discovered what they called the riverfolk. In reality, they are two races: merfolk and sahuagin, who live in the rivers and oceans. The riverfolk don't often leave their homes underwater, but upon their discovery the Idrosalans decided to use their new neighbors' talents to build an underwater tunnel across the river, connecting the two towns. The riverfolk were able to do this without much issue, and before too long the riverfolk towns and Idrosala were interconnected by a complicated network of tunnels.
By the present day, the riverfolk towns have been integrated wholly into Idrosala, and exist as an underwater expansion to the town that already exists on the surface. Some non-riverfolk races even have constructed magical houses under the water to live alongside the riverfolk, and vice versa for the riverfolk to live with the races above ground.
It has a town council government; elected officials chosen in republic-fashion to represent different aspects of the government, with one mayor overseeing all. The mayor acts as a kind of "president" of the council. The current sitting mayor is a sahuagin named Ikhyei Halgin. He was elected to push the development of the underwater section and also to promote trade for the waterfront.
Trindymer
Trindymer is a traditional kingdom city-state. It is known for its vast network of mines beneath it, however due to the nature of the geography of the region, they often flood from aquifers that are stumbled upon during the mining. It hosts the only known mine for the magical essence called anima; a blue aura that resonates from crystals and can be harvested from the crystal like ore from a vein, and can be used to augment ones abilities. It has proven to be quite an addictive process, which has led King Tryanti Despo to over harvest the mines and put not only the workers at risk, but also the stability of the city that sits on top of them.
From an outside perspective the town is prosperous and full of those who seek strength or power. On the inside, it's full of addicts looking for another fix of anima, and it's said that the workers who manage to not drown are now being killed by more monsters appearing from the depths of the mine, which is rumored to have accidentally delved into a region of the Darklands.
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