Relics of Taangis: Cities and Trade Routes

The Taangis Empire chose locations for cities on Theyndora based on supply routes to their army bases and camps. Capitals and cities rose, even in the most inhospital environments, as trade hubs that served the Taangis troops first, and everyone else second. Taangis made a special effort to connect as many roads as possible, to make transportation of goods to battlefronts faster amd easier.

Roads

To reach out-of-the-way locations, the empire employed thousands of common laborers to clear land for roads. The surfaces were varied, depending on environment, and laid by large machines remotely controlled by dig supervisors. Taangis had a specific army division called the Travel Engineers, and they maintained the roads and bridges throughout the empire. Their research led to vastly improved methods and materials for contruction of transportation structures.
A thousand years later, most of those roads are still in use, repaired and kept in working order by Dentherion engineers or locals who have replaced the original surfaces with paving stones. The roads continue to link the Theyndora countries together, allowing for smoother travel, trade and transportation of resources.

Cities

Before the Taangis Empire, each country had only a handful of cities, if that. After Taangis invaded a country, they created transportation hubs and seeded the new settlements with a smattering of native residents and many immigrants, relying on empire vicars to oversee the local government. Large migrations from the countryside to these new hubs took place, with immigrants fleeing the hate and violence of rural natives. Cities swelled, and began to be seen as the optimal place to find jobs and housing.

Modern Cities

Cities still house the majority of the population throughout Theyndora. Many have expanded quite far from the original borders, leaving behind old, dilapidated structures and infrastructure. These areas now house the desperately poor and lower classes. Underground merchants hide within these neighborhoods, selling their Dentherion merchandise out of unstable booths in the larger markets. They are also places that local rebels congregate, since city guards rarely venture into them.
Dentheria has split several larger metropolitan areas in two, with empire-friendly residents in the wealthier, maintained section, and all others in the older, falling-into-ruin section. Jiy is a particularly egregious case, where the ruling class and wealthy merchants live in luxury, far removed from the rabble of the old city and the Pit, a morbid reminder that Dentheria rules, in life and death.

by Shanda Nelson