Silver Coast
The Silver Coast is a region on the westernmost edges of Occident. It is a rocky and hilly region. Its name comes either from the rich silver veins in its hills and mountains, or from the great wealth generated by trade with Great Ethlan and Hekuashi across the Silver Sea.
Geography
The silver coast is a rugged hilly region, stretching from the borders of Tarhusia towards the Mountains of Night on its westernmost coast. Between the two lies fertile valley land, where some of the best grapes and olives in all of occident originate from. The true population centers in the region are either on the coast or in the plains that make up the southern reaches, a region known as Polesas. Here the ancient cities of Armon and Makaria lie, grown rich off trade in the Scylliac Sea, and more importantly with the continent of Hekuashi far to the west. While the city-states of the Silver Coast cannot claim anything close to a monopoly on the Scylliac Sea due to the efforts of the enterprising Hadashtans, they dominate the sea-lanes westward.
Natural Resources
The silver coast's fertile valleys produce excellent grapes (and thus excellent wine) as well as olives. The true wealth of the silver coast, however, is in its namesake. Its hills are home to perhaps the richest silver mines anywhere in the world
History
The silver coast was first inhabited, as far as can be told, by the Ethlanor (or "high elves", as other races call them). From them come the great ruins of white stone that dot the region. This was arguably the beginning of the golden age for the Sons of Ethla, who were amongst the greatest of their kind without a doubt. During this time, savage humans arrived from Tarhusia and the lands beyond, and paid homage and tribute to their elven lords. So mighty were the hosts that dwelt in the silver coast at this time that they fought back even the rune giants of Nefrekar, and even further; as Nefrekar's corruption began to poison the very air itself, the elves of Great Ethlan mustered forces in their colony and their disciplined phalanxes marched to war. While the rune giants were stronger, both magically and physically, it did not avail them. Their great warrior-champions were brought low by rank upon rank of spears, wielded in a unison only those who have fought together for centuries can achieve. In the face of their master's defeat, Nefrekar's slave-races, the lamias, humans, dwarves, and catfolk, abandoned them and aided the elves.
Eventually, however, the elves of the silver coast came to identify less and less with their kin in Ethlan, and more and more with their subject races. Eventually, all ties were broken, and even later the elves of that region became largely either interbred or assimilated into a new hybrid culture informed by both human and elven sensibilities. Without a threat from the outside world aside from the isolationist tarhusians, political fragmentation continued until eventually all central authority was lost and all that remained were a thousand squabbling city-states. These eventually fell, through both diplomatic and military prowess, to the growing might of Remara. Under Remara, tensions ran high as the local kings, merchant-lords, and assemblies, which were used to managing their own affairs, suddenly found themselves answering to governors, priests, and other officials appointed by the remaran emperors. This would be leveraged by the merchant lords of Revali and Makaria to create open rebellion following the increase of imperial tariffs on trade with Hekuashi. While the princes themselves did not survive, killed by the mobs they unleashed, it did bring about the short-lived Empire of the Coast under the imperial claimant Aureli Maxem. The Remaran response was disorganized and ineffective, but eventually they managed to bring local leaders around to their side with promises of autonomy even greater than what Maxem offered. Maxem was killed at the battle of Lake Krasimi, and his wife and children, along with some of his most ardent supporters, fled west to Hekuashi.
When Remara collapsed, one of the first regions to break away was the Silver Coast, and their traditional fractious autonomy was returned However, eventually the descendants of Maxem returned from the west, with a host of Tlatlua warriors to reclaim their empire. This invasion was repulsed only with great loss of life, and there are still several cities that were either founded by or are now primarily inhabited by Tlatluans. The last migration into the region was by refugees from Great Ethlan, who have established numerous havens on the coast while others have attempted to integrate into the broader society of the region. The descendants of the original elven inhabitants view these recent comers as intruders, and tensions are high between them.
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