Phoz

The largest city in all of the Forbidden Isles, the capital of the Dominion is surely a sight to behold. Home to many architectural wonders like the Ten Spires, the Temple of Krarokotz, the Dominant Bank, Forkton Harbour and even the ruins of the Olmese outpost of the original Forkton, the capital is a diverse place full of characters and interests from all of Phurzia and the Governates as well. The streets appear ordered, and clean, sewers washing out the filth into the pits, and guard ensuring no dangers emerge to the common people. In truth however, even the “greatest city in the Isles” has its dark secrets.

Demographics

Species

The most numerically common species by a significant margin are Humans, who make up more than two thirds of the city’s general population, as well as almost two thirds of the noble elite. Ethnically, Phurzic (ethnicity) is the dominant group as is to be expected, though Slithians, Illustrians, Bershkits, Baradans, Zcarothians and even Highlanders form minorities here as well.
One of the most prominent demographics of Vrain, the Hu-Vrain are capitalised in this city, distinguished by their reddish tint like rust, and form an upper class over the other Vrain colonies, refusing to interchange with them due to perceptions of purity. While far more common truly, since each Vrain unit bar the ‘makers’ is the size of a grain of sand, the individual colonies number around seven thousand overall, with the Huh-Vrain numbering somewhere between two and three hundred at any one time.
Centaurs are the second most common race within the capital, numbering somewhere between thirty and forty thousand in number. Needing larger spaces and more crops than humans, they prefer living in the city’s outskirts nearer the farms.
The least common demographics here are the Yamachai, focussed in the Silver district and numbering around three hundred, and the swamptaur embassy near the Spires, with only forty individuals present here. While the latter live in relative comfort as ambassadors and their families, the latter are often little more than squatters in terms of their lifestyle, distinguished culturally from those of the Isles by centuries, and prone to inbreeding, for of the many attempts between Yamachai and humans to breed, just one in one thousand produces any viable offspring. These offspring, known as Pale ones, are often rejected in both their societies, as their rarity and unusual appearance makes them stand out greatly.

Politics

In terms of the political factions that dwell in Phoz, the faction that possesses the most power, despite lacking in numbers is naturally the Griffins due to their ties with the richest and most established members of Phurzic society, though the Guardians and Magpies have greater numerical advantages, and are their main rivals for dominance. Often the Guardians and Seahorses will form coalitions against the Griffons to oust them from power during the elections, though not always.

Government

The basics of the Decarchy

Decarchy, or the rule of ten elected officials from the senate, the latter of whom tend to do the day to day runnings of the city and the Dominion as a whole. The Governors of the colonies, while powerful in their own right, still answer to the Decarchs, though they often lack the material wealth of some of the Phozian senators and aristocrats.
As the name suggests, there are ten offices, theoretically equal, within the Decarchy that are observed. They were initially all named after the different extremities of the griffon, but this was considered too confusing, so names were changed later on. These include;
The Beak: The spokesperson for the Decarchy, the Beak also is the chief administrator of the Decarchs, who archives the activities of the Decarchs alongside the Scroll. In cases of emergencies, the Beak tends to be the one who decides martial law alongside the Talon.
The Hand that Feeds: The religious head of the Dominion’s faith. This person manages the different cults within the city to ensure that sound and orthodox teaching is given and that the cults do not wage war upon one another. They also involve in charity to the poor.
The Talon: Supreme Commander of the Dominion’s army. This individual manages the greater movement of soldiers throughout the Governates and Homeland alike, and mobilises coordinated fronts in the event of military action, external or internal. Can work alongside the Beak to establish martial law in times of emergency.
The Feather: Handles justice within the realm, ensuring that the judiciary system throughout the Dominion is consistently upheld and high ranking criminals are given appropriate trial. More of a managerial role most of the time, this individual often partners with the Scroll for more efficient management.
The Cyclone: Supreme commander of the Dominion’s navy. This person organises the admirals and naval officers of the Dominion, as well as the defences of the island Governates. The planning of amphibious attacks may be coordinated with the Talon, while the Breath may work with the Cyclone when regarding insecure trade deals.
The Heart: This person ensures that the governates are properly handled, managing policies such as taxes, monitoring local rule and ensuring that the power of the governors does not overstep their boundaries, ensuring local rulers still have a degree of say in how they are ruled.
The Scroll: This person writes and revises the laws of the land, mainly in Phurzia itself, though can extend edicts to the governates with consent from the other members.
The Breath: This person manages external trade with other nations, ensuring that Phurzic vessels are kept secure, often collaborating with the Cyclone and Voice to ensure that deliveries and negotiations are secured.
The Voice: The voice runs diplomacy between the Dominion and other powers, managing ambassadors from other nations and keeping a close eye on external affairs to ensure the Dominion’s safety from external threats.
The Eye: This individual runs security in the city and throughout the Dominion as a whole. They manage internal threats to the order, mainly in terms of political radicals and especially dangerous criminals. They also supervise security forces within the Governates, offering forces someone other than the governors to answer to. If the Eye is the man on the leash, the Black Eye is the rapid dog. A legion of assassins, secret police and spies, the Black Eye riots out threatd that are to be discreetly dealt with, including within the nobility.

Terms of the Decarchs

Decarchs are elected for ten year terms, reflecting the sacred number in Phurzic religion, and each is put in control of their particular aspect of the economy, and tower in the Spires. While with advisors from the senate, they are mostly autonomous in how they enact their roles, with the senators either helping implement these rules or vocally opposing them, depending on what political party to which they belong. Each individual is only allowed to serve one term in their office, thanks to the Edict of Al-Barad of 523AF, following the Treachery of the Six, a five year long civil war where six of the Decarchs became too entrenched in their power and served as kings instead of abdicating to the people.
The way in which coalitions of different parities are managed when there is not a conclusive victory of one party over another is that the party with the most votes overall gains the majority of seats, with a token seat or two from a related party to moderate. Mixed party coalitions are considered too unstable to last following the Great Divorce of 617-627, which contained eight years of political deadlock and two of civil war, mainly limited to Phurzia unlike with the Treachery. In this way, the opposition is able to plan out their overall campaign more effectively, instead of relying solely on the charisma of just one or two candidates, for fear they may end up being venerated in life, a blasphemous presupposition in the cults of Phurzia.

The Senate

While not as noticeable as the Decarchy, the Senate are no less important for the running of Phoz and the Dominion as a whole. Often taking a more subtle role in making decisions, the senate frequently debates terms and orders given to the parties depending on which party they support, if any at all. More often, outside of the election periods, they tend to try to implement the laws the Decarchs set. During the elections, they dictate the terms by which the Decarch for that particular party is chosen, and so each Decarch for their party is well instructed before ascending. There is no guarantee they will actually uphold those principles later, however.
Far from the feudal structure of nations such as Evergnon and Altyn, where a higher noble allocated large amounts of autonomy to nobility ruling over certain lands, the Decarchs’ government is much more directly centred on themselves and the bureaucracy of senators.

Defences

Protected by the Order of the Green Flame, an elite order of the Phurzic army, the city is well secured by a force sworn directly to the Decarchs. Distinguished from the other soldiers of the Dominion by their all-green and golden armour, along with the flame shaped crests on their helmets. The captain of the order, the Supreme Inquisitor, wears a ten pronged flame on his helm, resembling a fearsome crown. This was likely made in mockery of the kings of old, and of the would-be usurper Kajaerys who tried to turn the Dominion into an empire during its early days. The Order of the Green flame has little to do with the senators in many affairs, and due to their influence over the Decarchs, along with their desperation from the main army, they practically form a faction in their own right, seperate from the official parties. The captain of the guard may very well run for office at times.
In addition to the elite guard force keeping the city’s borders safe, and armies ready to recall, the city has the second most well funded defences in the Dominion besides Umbroke. Thirty metre tall granite walls with trebuchets mounted on the corners, oak doors nearly as tall as that, and a natural moat in the form of the river, the city is almost as hard to take by land as its counterpart is by sea, though it’s trading importance around the river lints the resources in the harbour itself for defence. Instead, a constant garrison of fifty flagships and more galleys is present at all times, protecting trade route and immigrant vessels.
Even the air is covered in this city, for in addition to the Green Flame, another wave of the local military to be run is the central headquarters of the training of Great White Griffs. Though griffins of a number of species has been used in scouting, messaging and ambush positions in warfare since ancient times, the Dominion became infamous for this with the successful taming of the White Griffs, a large predatory species with a body as large as a wolfhound and wingspans more than twice those of an albatross. Hunting in coordinated packs, the Griffers as they came to be known served a vital role in the Dominion’s early Army, and also serve a good role in the policing of the city, using carefully trained and coordinated movements to communicate with their trainers regarding criminal activity reported from the skies. This makes organised crime a much more difficult and secretive practise in the capital, compared to cities and towns that can’t afford such a force.

Industry & Trade

Originally, Forkton served as a useful spot to move goods between the two rivers, either by sea or by land, as well as being located near a predictable flooding area, useful for growing wetland crops. In addition, thousands of square miles of farmland are located nearby, and therefore the current capital is able to be a worldwide centre of trade.
The production of finished goods once materials are gathered from other sorts of the nation is one of the most prevalent areas of the economy alongside food deposits such as grain, wheat and rice, used to feed the large civilian population. Textiles, markers and blacksmiths flourish in the city due to the influx of tourists, migrants and materials for them to work on, and sell to rich patrons from all around the world.

Infrastructure

The Phozian sewer system is one of the most developed in all the world, able to provide toilets and sanitation to many, if not most of the population. The aqueducts allow the transportation of clean and fresh water out into the countryside as well, allowing the whole of Phurzia to be more dependent on the capital for support.
Roads leading not just to the other Phurzic cities, but to all across the Dominion extend from the capital. The largest and most well fortified comes to the fort-city of Umbroke to the south.
Being on the fork between the river Olm and the Phurz tributary, a powerful port is here, with ships from all over the known world, from Vongchou in the east to the mysterious Umbor in the west, with great numbers of goods, men and equipment being passed all around. This moving around is by design, for a diverse military helps reduce the risk of rebellions in the Governates. In Phurzia, however, these laws are relaxed and are almost entirely absent in the capital itself, as it wishes to ensure the loyalty of its army to the Decarchy; one too many civil wars have taught the capital of the cost of not ensuring centralisation of the army. In addition, two great bridges the Olbridge and the Phobridge exist, allowing one to cross the rivers without too much issue. Having taken decades to construct, their completion just seventy years ago has greatly improved the local economy and further allowed Phoz to tighten its grip on local power.
With open plains to the north, there is plenty of farmland for cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, camels and even murks to graze and browse as they please. The farms here are under national control, and so have regular patrols to protect from thieves or predators such as griffons, wolves and rippers, a luxury that villages and rural farmers can’t afford.
The river systems allow for their to be great mills constructed along the side, allowing for clean water to flow into the city allowing east access in many years. Droughts do occur which make this more difficult, but in time’s such as these, the capital can rely on imports from other parts of the Dominion, or other nations altogether.

Assets

Aside from the Ten Spires in which the Decarchs occupy, other notable buildings in the Phurzic Capital include the Blue Senatorium, noted for its construction out of the unique Blue Marble, as well as the Grand Temple of Kritzi, the largest of its kind in the world.
In addition to this, Phoz is home to the world's only street lights, considered a wonder of the world. Connected by an intricate web of underground networks of lead and metal, blue lights illuminate the nights of Phoz, giving the city a distinct glow by night that matches the star light. It is small wonder then that the peoples of Zcarothia call it Kishoz, meaning 'the Fallen Star'. The source of these elaborate street lights is a tightly guarded secret, with many claiming that it is sorcery that powers them, and now prayer to the gods as the priests of the capital and senators proclaim, though philosophers theorise that the rare metal kinetycist may be involved.

Guilds and Factions

There are several major factions in the city’s politics as well as the livelihoods of its people. These include;
The Griffins; Preferring trade and maintaining traditional Phurzic values, the griffons represent the main interests of the direct descendants of the original Philhart tribal elders, forming the upper aristocracy is the city and Phurzia as a whole. As a party serving the extremely hereditary rich, maintaining their diet without challenging tends to be considered in their best interests.
The Guardians; The party most favoured by the governors, the Guardians have a stronger army emphasis than the other factions, and while still comparatively conservative, they are more culturally syncretic and pro-military, often favouring war in foreign policies. Descended from soldiers and generals awarded lands for their efforts, the governors and their kin are greatly powerful while still resenting the more established elites, putting the two factions at odds.
The Seahorses; Favouring naval projection and extracting resources from other lands, including exploration, the Seahorses wish to focus on direct acquisition and exploitation of resources outside Phurzia, often favours by naval officers, fishers and their families.
The Swallows; A relatively recent political party, this one favours the common people and their rights. Interested in reducing the priviledges of the elite and making the Democratic process less biased towards them, they are considered relatively radical for their idea that the senate rather than the Decarchy should be the primary decision maker in Phurzic society.
The Magpies; This party favours the merchants, some of whom have indeed grown very rich, but through their efforts and not in a hereditary sense. Favouring trade, but being culturally and religiously syncretic, they are heavily meritocratic, and are naturally favoured by most traders.
As aforementioned, the Green Flame offers another internal faction within the city’s politics, acting to keep the influence of the Decarchs in check while also guarding them from rebellious elements. In addition to this, there is a whole criminal underworld to consider which goes beyond the scope of this report.

History

The earliest known settlements come from a civilisation known as the Jamat, who were seemingly exterminated by Olm when the latter conquered them from the north-east. About eighteen-hundred years ago, the formerly nomadic Philhart migrated into the region escaping attacks from the Jekun, and they settled into the first Phurzic as subjects and cavalry in exchange for protection. Eventually, the two worked together to destroy the Jekun and being order to the rest of Tzunar, and soon beyond as well. Phurzic troops were essential in the conquest of the islands of Gurd and Sandur, as well as the many tribes of what is now eastern Hartstone. Under Olm’s authority, Forkton grew into a major port city, often considered the dog to Olm’s master, keeping other vassals in line.
When the Fires erupted, the Phozians has not only developed a method of farming that allowed them to waste less seeds and grain when collecting, but bred a form of wheat that can survive lower temperatures than normal, through cross breeding between Vunkish and Akranai (the predecessors of Al-Barad) crops to endure long dry spells. This advantage allowed them to better weather the devastating collapse of Olm, as well as maintaining their borders. The ten men and women and Vrain colonies who monitored the city in this time became the inspiration behind the Decarchy, who would in time become the traditional leaders of the city. Upon expanding into the other ethnically Phurzic lands, the Phurzic Dominion was pronounced in 106 AF, and from then on gradually (and sometimes not so gradually) expanded into a formidable system. As the Dominion grew in power, the city swelled, partly by oppurtunity, and partly by necessity.
Prosperity has not been constant, however. The flooding that keeps the city's aquatic crops easy to harvest has been too extreme in certain years such as the Great Flood of 458, or not enough as with the Thirsty Days of 182-187, or the recent Reed Crisis of 731. In addition, the city has in some ways still not recovered from the Toad Plague of 547AF, where as much as a quarter of the population perished. The city, while with good natural defenses and fortifications, has been the victim of multiple sackings by foreign powers and its own armies. In the earliest days, shortly after being declared, the city was sacked by the then-powerful Dramaxi kingdom, then led by the powerful Jhobor 'the Indomitable' during the First War of Slithia in 134AF. When the centaurian Kaejerys briefly held the city during the Imperialist War, the republican senators and their supporters were all put to the sword, before the Dominion loyalists returned the favour two years later. During the treachery of the Six, the city was sacked twice, once by Vunkish raiders, led by Ovir 'Black-Eyes', and again by the Six themselves attempting to put down a loyalist rebellion, which ended up turning public opinion against them, leading to their downfall.

Architecture

The largest buildings in the city such as the Ten Spires and the Bank are mainly made off thousands of tonnes of marble extracted from Slithia and other regions around the Dominion. The Temple of Krarokotz, along with the flames on top of each spire, are made from a unique red marble found only on the island of Sandur, and are considered priceless.
Most of the buildings in the capital are made of some type of stone or another, with larger flat complexes reinforced with iron and steel. House designs in the capital and throughout Phurzia tend to be rounded, especially the roofs, which often have chimneys. These can be for the sake of getting rid of fiery fumes, or in the case of the military barracks, for allowing trained Griffs to enter and leave when they please.

Geography

At the edge of two rivers, a natural border makes good protection, while the flat farmland allows feeding the city from land to be relatively easy as well. Irrigation has been present from improved versions of Olmese methods, along with the sewer systems making a convenient use of the river as well.

Natural Resources

The fields to the north are abundant with grain and farmland to feed livestock, and open space for catching different species of bird and griffin for various usages, while the predictable flooding cycles of the river Ol make it great for growing water-loving crops such as rice, beans, barley, melons, reeds, lilies, pomegranates, olives and watercress, among others introduced from other provinces. The river is also home to animals such as waterfowl, shoveltooths, buffalo, elk, swimming griffs and the iconic black swan. As a result, the capital has a good and diverse supply of foods to help it, though their dependence on the flooding of the river means that in dry years, they are dependent only on the land crops for aid, which also are weakened. In this case, the capital needs supplies from the more stable climate of Slithia to the east.

Founding Date

~2300BF in general, 1000BF for Phurzic

Alternative Name(s)

Great Phurz, Forkton, the Capital, Ai-Burat, Sylon, The City of many names

Type

Capital

Population

>300,000

Related Ethnicities

• Phurzic (ethnicity)

Inhabitant Demonym

High Phurzic, Capital Folk, Phozian, Forkish

Location under

Phurzia

Ruling/Owning Rank

Decarchy

Owning Organization

The Phurzic Dominion