Scyath

Despite its official position as the provincial capital of Turelion Province, Scyath lives eternally in the shadow of the Imperial capital Meltaro to the west. This means that it is by far the least impressive of all of the Empire of Turelion's provincial capitals and it is barely large enough to be considered a town, let alone a city.

Demographics

As is common amongst settlements in the Empire of Turelion, Scyath is a majority Human town, though representatives from most species can be found living there. As most of the town’s activity is skewed towards administrative tasks, a larger proportion of the population are regarded as being ‘middle class’ by the Imperial Bureau than is typical within the Empire of Turelion.

Government

The town is governed on behalf of the Satrap of Turelion Province by the city Alderman, who, along with their staff, is responsible for the operation of the city. The Alderman of Scyath and their staff are based within the compound of the Satrap’s palace and offices.

Defences

Scyath is protected by a semicircular curtain wall which stretches along the western, northern and eastern sides of the town, with the southern side being naturally protected by the cliffs on which the town has been built.
Scyath, as is the case with all Provincial capitals is garrisoned by a force of Turelion Provincial Troops, as well as a force of Imperial Drakes placed in the city by the Emperor of Turelion.

Industry & Trade

Scyath is primarily an administrative town with the majority of the activity taking place there either linking to the bureaucracy of Turelion Province, or the wider Empire of Turelion through the Imperial Bureau's offices located in the town. The principal administrative hub is the Satrap's palace which is located at the centre of the town.
The two key industries that have taken root in Scyath are directly linked to the large number of administrators resident in the town, namely the production of quills and the production of parchment.
Naturally, as a town located in the Plains of Gold the immediate hinterland of Scyath is surrounded by fields which provide the majority of the crops that feed the town’s populace. There is also a concentration of goatherds and goose breeders in Scyaths’ agricultural hinterland, who provide raw materials for the towns parchment and quill making industries respectively.

Infrastructure

Though overshadowed by its western neighbour, as the Provincial Capital of Turelion Province Scyath is still well connected by road and it is the largest settlement on the Centric Way between its origin point Gold Guard and its terminus Meltaro. Within the town itself, Scyath has been set out on a grid system, with wide roads linking all of the town’s blocks.
The town’s positioning on some cliffs above the Centric Sea means that it is not a port town, though a small harbour, almost exclusively used for passenger traffic, has been created at the foot of the cliffs, with a precarious stairway connecting it to the town proper having been carved into the cliffs above.
As the original founders of Scyath had hoped that the town would not become a permanent settlement (see below), initially no sewer system was constructed, but as the town grew and it became clear that it was to remain, the newer sections of Scyath were constructed with a subterranean sewage network. However, this could not be retrospectively built beneath the oldest parts of the town without risking collapse, so instead a covered sewer system was constructed along the roads of the oldest part of the town, which eventually link up with the subterranean sewer network.

Guilds and Factions

By far the largest faction within Scyath is the Imperial Bureau, who have taken over large swathes of the city to house departments deemed to be of lesser importance and which have been moved from the Imperial Bureau’s headquarters in Meltaro to make space for departments and activities regarded as more strategically important. The presence of the Imperial Bureau in the town has led to a huge feeling of resentment from the locals, especially those linked to the activities of the Satrap of Turelion Province. This has resentment has escalated to the point that the town has become split into regions where members of the Bureau or the local administration do not go, or where they will not be served at taverns or shops depending upon which of the two is more dominant in that area. There have even been reports of brawls breaking out between Bureau staff and Turelion Province administrators.

Tourism

Few people visit Scyath unless they have a specific reason to do so. Most of the visitors that the town receives are there on official business of Turelion Province, or work for the Imperial Bureau.

Architecture

Whilst most of the settlements in the heartland of the Empire of Turelion are graced with grand buildings, wide squares and plazas and acres of sweeping parkland, Scyath is quite the opposite. When it was originally founded shortly after the conquests of the first Emperor, Machestaro I, it suffered greatly from the fact that most of the money put aside for public works for Turelion Province was consumed by Meltaro. Additionally, as there was an expectation that it would not be long before it was realised that there was little point having a settlement separate to Meltaro dedicated to the administration of Turelion Province, the town’s buildings were built as cheaply and simply as possible. This meant that initially, almost all of the town’s buildings were little more than wooden boxes.
However, as the years went on and it became clear that there was no desire to bring the administrative functions of Meltaro and Scyath together, slowly but surely the wooden box buildings began to be replaced with stone box buildings, with a more converted attempt at permanence behind their construction. When the Imperial Bureau decided to base some of its less key departments in Scyath, there was some injection of money for capital projects, but as the upper echelons of the Bureau have little interest in architecture, all that resulted was the construction of larger box style buildings out of slightly higher quality materials.

Geography

The town is situated on a peninsula that juts out from the Plains of Gold into the Centric Sea. At the point where Scyath is situated, this peninsula rises up to form a natural bastion of cliffs, which means that the town is positioned about 150ft above the waves. On the landward side, the area of the town slopes down to the north, which naturally tiers the buildings.
Whilst Scyath’s climate is mostly temperate, its proximity to the Kaldara Desert to the east means that it is frequently bathed in systems of hot air that roll of the desert and it is not infrequent for sandstorms that have whipped up in the Kaldara to be blown off course and hit the town.

Founding Date

350DP

Alternative Name(s)

The Grey Blocks

Type

Town

Population

c.3,500

Inhabitant Demonym

Scyats

Location under

Plains of Gold

Owning Organization

Turelion Province