Mystirion
The capital of Ultaru Province, the city of Mystirion, known as the market garden city acts as the tap through which the agricultural wealth of the province flows to the other provinces of the Empire of Turelion and the wider world. Aside from its status as a trading hub, it is famous for the tiered gardens that its wealthiest citizens and the Satrap of the province have constructed around their elaborate dwellings.
Demographics
Mystirion is a mixed species settlement, with the vast majority of its peoples being of the Turelite ethnicity, as with most major settlements in the Empire of Turelion. Whilst in general non one species group is particularly larger than any other, Mystirion is notable for having a large population of Genasi amongst its residents, primarily those linked to air and water. These Genasi regard themselves as descendants of the people who originally inhabited the area before the conquests of the Empire of Turelion, but they also regard themselves as fully integrated members of imperial society rather than a caste apart.
As it is the provincial capital of Ultaru Province, there is a much higher percentage of middle and upper class residents that in most other settlements in the Province. However, there is still a substantial lower class population in the city, mostly employed by the harbour as longshoremen and dockworkers.
Government
The city is governed on behalf of the Satrap of Ultaru Province by the city Alderman, who, along with their staff, is responsible for the operation of the city and its harbour.
Defences
The city is ringed by two concentric rings of curtain walls, one surrounding the entire city and one surrounding the ridge around and on which the central and harbour districts within the city have been built, effectively cutting them off from the rest of the metropolis, bar four access gates, two in the east and two in the west. This inner circle of defences likewise has its own gated entrance from the outside world, which means that high status visitors need not walk through the less salubrious parts of Mystirion should they not wish to.
The city has no central keep or fort, but the Satrap's palace is subtly fortified in a way that does not detract from its grandeur which allows it to become quite the formidable bastion should the situation require it, with restricted access, perimeter walls and even hidden gun emplacements.
Mystirion, as is the case with all Provincial capitals is garrisoned by a force of Ultaru Provincial Troops, as well as a force of Imperial Drakes placed in the city by the Emperor.
Industry & Trade
The city has no dedicated industries that exist in any particular concentrations, though a variety of craftspeople and professional can be found throughout Mystirion. Instead the settlements acts as the southern gateway through which the bountiful agricultural produce of Ultaru Province makes its way into the Centric Sea and onwards to the other provinces of the Empire of Turelion and well beyond its borders. The city’s harbour is always full of large merchantmen from across Kelbonnar, waiting to transport enormous cargoes of wheat, barley, oats, flours, preserved meat, cheeses and raw hide across the high seas.
Likewise, seemingly endless trains of wagons arrive and leave the city every day, bringing goods for transportation and carrying imports into Ultaru Province and onwards by land to the Imperial Province, Turelion.
Infrastructure
The city has a well maintained road network leading from its three gates to its central district and then onto the expanse of the harbour. Beyond these corridors there are paved roads constructed in a logical format, but they are much less well maintained as they do not see heavy harbour traffic, nor do they host the dwellings of the city’s richest citizens. They are therefore left to age rather than being regularly maintained.
Mystirion does have a sewer system constructed beneath it, but again the largest and most well maintained sections are again located in the central and harbour districts of the city where the most lavish buildings are. Whilst the city does have an ample supply of water, the large palace and gardens of the Satrap of Ultaru Province, and the mansions and gardens of the high status citizens around it suck up much of Mystirion’s water supply, meaning that other parts of the city suffer from shortages during the warmer summer months.
Guilds and Factions
The wealth of Mystirion’s central district has attracted the criminal organisation the Scarlets who have established a stronghold in the city, from which they ply their nefarious trade breaking into the houses of the wealthy, selling high quality art forgeries to the nobility and providing access to expensive and restricted wares, no questions asked.
Tourism
As well as being a key trading hub, Mystirion also attracts visitors to visit its grand central district, and should they be deemed high status enough to walk amongst the spectacular gardens of the Satrap's palace. Most of the visitors who journey to the city looking to site see rather than to trade tend to be from the upper classes of the Empire of Turelion, but foreign dignitaries visiting the Empire’s territory will often stop in Mystirion before heading on by land, sea or even occasionally air, to the Imperial Province and the Imperial Capital, Meltaro to the east.
Architecture
Mystirion has a mixed architectural style, with the central district of the city, where the Satrap of Ultaru Province has their palace, where the city’s most affluent residents live and where all of the city’s infrastructure is based is characterised by large grand buildings complete with porticoes, colonnades and elaborate statuary. In addition, a fashion emerged shortly after the city was appointed as the provincial capital of Ultaru Province and construction began on the Satrapal palace for elaborately tiered gardens, which maximised the amount of land available on the city’s central ridge and allowed for sumptuous ornamental gardens to be created. The tiered Satrapal Gardens and the many smaller examples that have popped up around the houses of the nobility are one of the city’s most famous features.
Geography
The city of Mystirion is located on a peninsula attached the Relialo Plains, on the shores of the Bay of Mystirion which carries the city’s name. The settlement itself is located around a central ridge which extends from the plains down to the shoreline. This ridge has become the centre of the city, and the most affluent district is built on and around it, with the harbour having been constructed at its base. The landscape surrounding this ridge is typical of the rest of the Relialo Plains, flat fertile grassland.
Natural Resources
Whilst Mystirion does not produce any resources of its own, it acts as a focal point for the vast agricultural resources of the Relialo Plains, which are distributed to locations across the Empire of Turelion and beyond via its port.
Alternative Name(s)
The Market Garden City
Type
City
Population
c. 50,000
Inhabitant Demonym
Tirites
Location under
Owning Organization
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