Izla
Izla was the oldest city in Sapphros. Located in Vhakizla and founded in the Vanished Time on the banks of the Heartvein River, dozens of flags flew over the ancient monuments and canals of Izla over the centuries – wildborn, human, draconic and undead.
Geography
Izla was founded on the banks of the Heartvein River, the water source that once gave all of Vhakizla life. To the north spanned the marshland basin known as the Ghostmire, so named for the undead spirits that haunted its unclean waters. To the east, the Heartvein opened to the Spoiled Shore and the small island depot of Phary, a bug for river traffic long before the coming of Thanatos. To the west loomed Mount Tyraxes on the southernmost spur of the Sphinxes, with the fortress-city of Vhak looming over all the nation. Like all of Vhakizla during the Thanasian occupation, Izla was a dead city. No living plants nor animals – apart from its human populace – called the city home. Most notably, the Heartvein River was stopped by some necromantic ritual, causing all the water to stagnate. It was this effect that produced the dreaded black bloat, responsible for so many lives in the early centuries of the Second Age. Izla was divided into several districts:- The Basins: Founded following Caliphar II's conquest of Vhakizla, the Basins were deep sinkholes, dug into the surrounding topsoil, where the native human laborers of the city gew the food that sustained them and the rest of the nation.
- Canalside: The vast majority of Izla was abandoned following the Night Wars, leaving the largest district – Canalside – a wasteland of crumbling buildings and urban decay. The Temple of Vhakizla was here located.
- Catacombs: Due to its advanced age, Izla was known for its expansive undercity. Made from equal parts sewer and equal parts old city, the catacombs spanned beneath much of Izla.
- Drahir Canal: The city's undead aristocracy dwelled in the grand villas and palatial manses of Drahir Canal. Even as the structures collapsed around them, the unfeeling dead did not seem to mind.
- Old City: The aptly-named Old City predated the undead, the dragon and even Vhakizla itself. Its massive tenements and animal-shaped idols were the overcrowded home of the city's human population.
History
Vanished Time
Little was known about Izla's true founding or even its original name. It was believed that the ancestors of the wildborn constructed the city on the riverbank, long before humanity's arrival on Sapphros. It was their deities – strange and animal-headed – that adorned the Old City for centuries after.First Age
When humanity arrived on the shores of Sapphros in 0 1A, they quickly spread across the continent – yet Izla was the original settlement and the well-spring through which all that migration flowed. It was unknown how well they interacted with the wildborn founders of the city. When an anti-draconic faction sought refuge from the spread of Zahakarosh's influence in 369 1A, they returned to Izla and the surrounding to found their new nation. Izla became the new nation's population center and breadbasket, its fertile fields fed by the lifegiving Heartvein River. When the nation eventually adopted a dragon in 546 1A, Izla remained the most vocally opposed to Vhakizla's reign.Night Wars
Due to its proximity to Thanatos, Vhakizla was among the first tyrannies invaded by the undead armies, Thanatos making landfall in 899 2A. Izla is where the first blows of the war were struck. While the draconic legions were initially successful in pushing back the dead armies, once the Thanasians were able to halt the river's flow, it quickly starved both Izla's garrison and its populace. One decisive victory later, the dragon was vanquished and Caliphar II reigned over Vhakizla.Second Age
During Caliphar II's brief reign, the few humans who remained in Izla – those who did not flee, were not slain and proved immune to the black bloat – fell deeply under the vampire's sway. While his seat was technically high above Vhak, the vampire wretch would frequently visit his people below and drink personally of their blood. When Vhakizla returned – now as a dracolich – in 35 2A, her welcome, particularly among the Izlans, was cold, at best. While many outwardly professed love and obeisance to their returned draconic overlord, a pro-vampire resistance movement – known as the Sanguine – arose in Izla and was responsible for drugrunning, ritualistic murders and other insurgent activities. In 67 2A, Vhakizla hired the infamous Menagerie to help quash the Sanguine rebels.Politics
In the Second Age, Izla was the only settlement in Vhakizla with any human population. That population – overwhelmingly poor farmers and laborers – was downtrodden by an undead aristocracy, magically enthralled to the dracolich. This resulted in a deeply stratified society. The humans toiled to produce food for themselves and goods for the undead. The undead, meanwhile, who required no rest or sustenance, worked the humans practically to death. During this period, anti-draconic sentiment was high. Under vampiric rule, life was marginally better for the human population and many remembered those days fondly once Caliphar was gone. The Sanguine – the pro-vampire terrorist faction – held a powerful sway over the local populace and proved impossible for Vhakizla's unthinking undead legions to stomp out entirely.Economy
Even before the undead invasion, Izla was the breadbasket of the region. The Heartvein River naturally irrigated and made fertile the surrounding farms and the warm climate allowed local farmers to produce agriculture almost year round. All that changed when the dead invaded. With the surrounding soil ecologically devastated, the city's food production plummeted. Even the innovation of basin-farming, imported from Thanatos, was hardly enough to feed the local populace. Those living that did not work the fields were either out-of-work or forced into menial labor to benefit the undead populace of the city.Demographics
For much of its history, Izla was a melting pot, containing humans, dragonborn and wildborn in equal measure. When Thanatos invaded in 899 1A, however, the influx of dead radically changed the city's demographics. The city's intelligent undead – chiefly wights but many mummies and vampire spawn as well – ruled over the living population, which was overwhelmingly human. The sentient dead were served also by legions of unthinking skeletons and zombies as well.Culture
Over its long history, Izlans experienced a wide range of cultures and worldviews. As belief in the ancient animal gods waned and new settlers from the north arrived, a strong anti-draconic sentiment became core to the identity of the city's populace. Even when Vhakizla adopted a dracotyrant in 546 1A, Izla was still seen as the center of anti-draconic resentment. This resentment was eventually weaponized by Caliphar II, who saw their hatred for the dragon as an avenue to conquest. While initially resistant to the vampire's rule, he worked tirelessly to sway the public's opinion and eventually succeeded in winning their hearts. When the dragon returned in 35 2A, she once again found Izla turned against her and devoted to the vanquished vampire. For as long as people have dwelled along its banks, the Heartvein River has been the foundation of Izlan culture. Its many canals all branch from the river and travel is as common by riverboat and gondolas as by foot or cart. This eventually proved the city's undoing during the Night Wars. The stagnant Heartvein became a hotbed for black bloat and much of the city's population refused to accept the reality that their beloved river was killing them in such numbers.Campaigns
The Menagerie
Izla
City of Canals
Country: Vhakizla
Authority: Necrotyranny.
Demographics: Isolated (71% undead, 24% human, 5% other
Demonym: Izlan
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