Kendal

Kendal is the northernmost city and protectorate of the Meisian Empire and sits right at the fork of the Yarcola and the Saphire Channel. The very rough terrain around the city makes it very easy to defend, but it never allowed the city to build a harbour big enough to become a seafaring force.

Geopgraphy

Kendal sits at the fork of the Yarcola and the Saphire Channel. The creation of the Saphire Channel centuries ago shaped the landscape around the city like no other event in history. What once was rich and farmable land to the east of the city, was destroyed in an attack of the The Everlasting Empire of the Dragon and truned into a deep canyon, connecting the Yarcola to the Ferozabay.
It is impossible for a ship to traverse from the Yarcola into the Saphire Channel, as they are only connected by a massive waterfall. Today Kendal acts as a transshipment point, moving wares from ships on the river, to vessels capable to traverse the high sea. The most destructive incident that ever happened to the city, turned into its most advantagous ressource.

History

The Founding

A humble beginning

Kendal probably started out as a cluster of small farming villages on the shores of the Yarcola river, sometime in the early Age of Arcanum. Over time, these villages grew into a larger settlement, and ultimately into a large city. It became one of the major hubs of the region, but it rarely had a big impact on the geopolitical landscape of the continent. At that point in time, Kendal did not have access to the Ferozabay, and trade coming down the Yarcola river was pretty rare and infrequent.

The Early Days

The Dragon Advances

During the early days of the Age of Arcanum, the The Everlasting Empire of the Dragon conquered big parts of the southern continent, reaching as far north as the Yarcola river. Only the countries that later became the protectorates of Birk and Oistinis stopped their advances further north.
For a couple of years, the Everlasting Empire stopped their advances and even traded with the three northern cities. They even helped to create the Yarcola Channel, connecting the Yarcolo to the western sea. Suddenly, trade coming down the river became way more lucrative as it removed days of travel on the high sea around the Jagged Peaks.
But this peace should not last forever and everybody knew it. The Everlasting Empire always believed to be better than everybody around them and they only waited for their time to strike. And the three kingdoms prepared for that inevitable day.

The first alliance

The beginning of the Meisian Empire

How do you unite different people under one flag? Some would say with marriage, to spark loyalty, but there is a better option. You could try it with force and suppression, but eventually everybody will break and revolt. No, if you want to unite people, the best opportunity that could present itself is a common enemy. People will not unite behind a person, but they will unite against an enemy.

For centuries, the three kingdoms were in constant conflict with each other. But now, with an enemy more powerful than any of them, right at their doorstep, this had to change. For the first time since their founding, all of them came together under the guidance of the Tuomari, and agreed to work together against the Everlasting Empire.
They pooled their resources, reinforced the defences of Birk and Oistinis, and prepared for an attack - but that attack never came, at least not the way everybody was expecting. Realizing that a direct attack on those two cities would cause countless casualties on both sides, the Empire went a different way.
One night, a small group of their most powerful sorcerers flew up the Ferozabay on the back of a dragon. Even if they could not fight the three cities in an open attack, they could starve them out by disrupting their supply lines in the north. The Everlasting Empire could be very patient.

The Devastation

Reshaping the land and the people

It's unknown what exactly happened that night. The group of sorcerers made their way up the Ferozabay, but through sheer luck, fate or exceptional tactical genius by their enemies, they ran into a small group of warriors and mages, just east of Kendal. A fight broke out, and the sorcerers were fought back. In an act of desperation, they unleashed magic way above their abilities in an attempt to destroy their adversaries, but they destroyed way more than that.
The spell carved into the rock beneath their feet, ripping the earth apart. The earth quake created by this event was felt all the way up to Oistinis and Wesaris and even to the Golden Coast, and the shockwave destroyed everything within multiple miles. It left behind a canyon reaching all the way from the Ferozabay, to the Yarcola. Kendal itself only barely survived and found itself right next to the newly formed canyon. Today, this canyon is known as the Saphire Channel, and connects the Yarcola river to the Ferozabay.
This act of aggression and violence was the last straw it took for the people of today's Meisian Empire to fully unite and strike back. Showing the full force of a united Meisian Empire, they fought back the Everlasting Empire, and forced them back south of the Yarcola. From then on, until the Everlasting Empire vanished a couple hundred years later, the Yarcola was the firm border between the three kingdoms, and the Empire.

Work in Progress

This article is still heavily WIP and can change at any moment

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Type

Large city

Teldora

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