Richardia

Demographics

The largest demographic in terms of species in Richardia are still Humans, its original founder species, making up around 44% of the population. The second largest group are elves, numbering around 21% of all inhabitants. Dwarfs are the third largest group with around 14% of all inhabitants being Dwarfs. Eight percent are orcs, six percents are Gnomes and Halflings, four percents are goblins, the remaining three percent are divided into groups too small to be named here.
Richardia is noteworthy for having a relatively small poor working class, with only twelve percent of the population meeting the criteria. Instead, it has a large group of skilled workers manning the many manufactories in the city, making up around 22 percent of the population. It is also noteworthy, that the city has a very high share of merchants, clerks, as well as "investors", e.g. early capitalists, making up eleven percent of the population. This is due to the importance of the city for the global trade.

Government

Being the capital of the Richardian Republic, it is subjected to all laws and regulations of it, meaning that the city as of itself has little legislative and executive power. However, its citizens are among the most powerful in the Republic as they effectively control both the Assembly and the Royal Court, mostly by virtue of their wealth and close proximity to both. The executive and legislative tasks normally associated with running a Metropolis are handled by the royal authorities who keep a tight grip on the city, as it is the crown jewel of the republic. To understand the nature of the government and why a Republic is ruled over by a king, read the article about the Richardian Republic.

Defences

Being the capital of one of the strongest empires in (relatively) recent history, as well as being at war with its neighbor for the past centuries, combined with an almost unimaginable wealth has made Richardia one of the best-defended cities in the known world.
To properly defend the city, there are three layers of defense, the inner, middle and outer layer.

The outer Layer

Used to fight off minor pirate and bandit incursions, as well as guaranteeing safe travel, the entirety of the land around Richardia is dotted with smaller forts and bastions. These can range in size, some are merely a stone tower with messaging equipment while those on the border to Uphratus are fully fledged citadels, housing more than four thousand soldiers each, being equipped with catapults, balistas, elite cavalry, pikemen, entire mage parties, and even early artillery. Overcoming those can be almost impossible for anyone but the best-equipped of armies (Such as those raised by Uphratus), providing an early warning system and deterrent for any attacks against Richardia. It is expected by the Richardian High Command that these citadels can hold out at least four weeks before falling, allowing Richardia to call soldiers from other parts of their empire and assemble an army sufficient to meet the Uphratians in open battle.

The middle Layer

The city itself is surrounded by a great wall with several bastions, which are built in a manner comparable to the Theodosian walls. The last of these three walls reaches a height of forty meters, making it one of the most impressive fortifications in the known world. The last wall is around ten meters thick and enchanted with additional spells to guarantee its continued stability. Ever since the completion of this project in 1032, no enemy managed to break down a part of the outer walls (They did, however, manage to go over it). Since then the area before the wall was continuously transformed into a true obstacle for any invader. For example, the elaborate parks outside of the city can be flooded in case of a siege, creating a complex network of canals exceptionally hard to traverse for a larger force while under the fire of the defenders.
Towards the seaside, the defense consists of a massive fleet, ready to crush any attempt of a landing, as well as some minor fortification in the harbors, designed to crush ships that try to dock. Both the naval and land defenses are manned by soldiers of the Frist Army.

The inner Layer

Should the enemy manage to overcome the network of smaller fortifications and overcome one of the largest fortifications ever created, to achieve victory they still have to overcome the jewel in the Richardian defense system. The Citadel of Richard. This artificial mountain sits in the center of the city and is around one hundred meters high. It is surrounded by the tallest fortification system of the entire Chon-Delta, the wall measuring 120 meters in height. The only way up is a magically powered elevator system, which can be deactivated at a moments notice, as well as several staircases, which can be sealed by dropping large quantities of already prepared rocks into them. As such, the citadel is impregnable against all assaults, at least as long the enemy is not able to fly. On top of this mountain are practically all important government building, most of the emergency garrisons of the first army, food storages for several years as well as water reservoirs with the possibility to draw directly from the river Chon. Besides these war essential buildings, there is also an intricate network of underground housing inside the mountain to house the entirety of the Richardian population in the Delta in case of an attack.
Not content with just sitting and waiting for the enemy army to retreat because they got tired of sieging them, the defense plan for the inner layer includes some additional measures which concern the middle layer. These are the defense plans "Fire", "Water" and "Earth". The plan "Fire" describes the detonation of secret stashes of explosives hidden under the city. Plan "Water" enables the flooding of the entire city safe of the citadel and plan "Earth" was made to break open the ground on which the city is built. When all three plans are in effect, the area around the citadel becomes a hostile wasteland, inflicting more than enough casualties to drain even the mightiest of armies. It is important to remember that those plans are emergency measures, only used when there is no other hope to scare away the invaders.

Guilds and Factions

As is to be expected, a major trading city and metropolis is home to multiple factions vying for influence over the city.

The Hohenberg Trading Company

The most important faction in the city and thus the Republic is the HTC. While effectively a family business, the company is home to many different species and religions, making it one of the most diverse groups of the City. Having become rich due to international trade, as well as conquering profitable islands as private property (Until the Land Clearance Act of 1344) their interest are very much focussed outwards. They are generally on board with expanding free trade, be it with civilized discussion, as well as military might. They always push for more colonization, to expand markets and acquire more exotic goods to sell. However, they are very much opposed to fighting any other trade organization on a large scale, as it would only hurt their profitability. It is for this rather peaceful attitude that the Republic has not tried to subjugate its neighbor for the past two centuries.
In their methods, they tend to use peaceful and "honorable" methods to solve their problems, but if enough is on the line they will not shy away from using intrigue, backstabbing, and open violence to achieve their goal.

The Regerdam Trading Association

The second most important faction is the RTA. As opposed to the HTC it is not a family business, but rather a loose association of many smaller traders who grouped up to present a decent counterbalance to larger trading companies. As such, there is not one single thing that makes the RTA rich, rather everything (and sometimes everyone) is traded by at least one member of it. This has lead to some problems in the past, as it was not able to properly control its members, which then took part in illegal practices like slavery. Unlike the HTC the RTA is not a friend of unconditional free trade, fearing that unchecked competition might lead to the demise of many of its not so prosperous members. As such, they are not opposed to open more countries to free trade (Sometimes it is RTA captains who force smaller nations to open) but wish to be careful about it. One of their most important points, which is always one of contention for the larger trading companies, is their love of strict anti-trust laws. As an association of small traders, it is very much helpful for the RTA when its bigger, more consolidated competitors are cleaved into pieces by the government. They are neutral on the subject of war, fearing its potential for destroying peoples livelihood, but also seeing the opportunity for small, but brave individuals to climb societies ladder, thus indirectly strengthening them.
In terms of methods, they are quite diverse, mostly due to their federative nature. When faced with the RTA, anything can be expected, from polite talks to open street warfare, depending on what group is currently in charge.

The First Army

Representing the official military of the Republic in the Delta, the First Army is a force of 60.000 men permanently stationed in and around the capital, guarding it against any aggression. Officially sworn to the stadtholder, meant to take a neutral position in political conflicts, this is rarely the case. Rather the council of generals is subject to all kind of influence by other parties who try to sway them on their side to gain an edge against their opponents. While the nature of the council makes it impossible to ever gain control of the entire army, controlling about two-thirds is enough to effectively coup again the stadtholder and put one of your own in their position. In terms of political positions, the First Army has little concrete goals, safe for keeping its funding and sometimes expand its ranks and get special land grants to build another fortification. As such they rarely find themselves in political conflict, due to their wishes being easily satisfied.
Should they, however, think that they need to take more active measures to get their will they will most likely not use violence, rather threatening it, as they are very well aware, that no other force in the Delta could possibly challenge them.

The Stadtholders Court

Describing all who regularly assemble at the Stadtholders court and pay homage to him as their leader, it is probably too much to ask to define the court as a homogenous group. Rather it can be understood as a collection of deeply partisan groups, constantly trying to outsmart each other for the Stadtholders favor. The few uniting elements among this mixed group is their (relatively) stable loyalty to the Stadtholder, as well as the wish to uphold his power, albeit more out of personal interest than monarchist beliefs. They are probably the group with the most stable influence on the first army, as they can count on the Stadtholder to intervene on their behalf if it would ever start to waver. In general, the court tends to be isolationist, refusing to participate in wars of aggression and colonization, as they fear that it may strengthen their rivals in the republic. They will rather advocate for investing more resources in the heartland to strengthen the many holdings controlled by members of the court and to better protect them against possible raids of Uphratus.
Regarding their methods, the court is not one to bloody its hands. Rather they will use the Stadtholders support to crush a rival publicly or if the Stadtholder is not inclined to listen, proceed to unleash an army of legal advisors to drain the opponent in never-ending legal battles. As the court rarely takes action outside the civilized parts of the Republic, these comparably civil methods are relatively successful.

The Metal Working Guilds

While many industries exist in Richardia, few are as important to the continued commercial success of the metropolis as the Metal Working industry. To ensure that their interests are properly heard and acted upon the owners and guild masters of the mines and manufactories of the Republic formed into the MWG, as to channel their considerable power into united action. As the Guilds are acutely aware, their metal products are superior to most other products sold in the known world, thus always pushing to open up more markets for them to export the goods produced in their evergrowing forges. However, they do not approve of excessive colonization as propagated by the HTC, as those colonies only rarely supply goods necessary for their own production.
Their methods are different to the others on this list, as they are the first group to be named that has access to a massive pool of people willing to support them who are not armed. They know to use this potential by organizing strikes or even the occasional riot. While especially the latter may rather create a feeling of distrust towards them, the looming threat of one is normally enough to start another round of bargaining.

Geography

While the terrain the city was built upon was originally a plain, great efforts have been made to increase the average height of the city, to better correlate with the walls. To this extent, the height of each city section is about ten meters less than the original height. While this makes no difference for the first section, the last section is thirty meters above the ground to achieve this goal. As the city itself is built in one of the largest Deltas of the known world it has ample supply of fresh water, which is pumped throughout the system using a combination of steam-powered pumps, as well as magical equipment. In case of a siege, the city has massive cisterns located right below it, making water an effective non-issue.
The view from the innermost section out on the Delta and the ocean is considered to be one of the most beautiful to have ever been created. While it offers little in terms of natural beauty, it is a testament to civilized ingenuity and its ability to shape a world anew.

Alternative Name(s)

Cradle of the Empire, Beacon of Prosperity

Type

Metropolis

Population

3.2 Million

Inhabitant Demonym

Richardians

Location under

The Chon Delta

Owner/Ruler

Bertus van Grenäu

Owning Organization

Richardian Republic

Characters in Location

• Bertus van Grenäu
• Christina van Hohenberg