Kanthas

Structure

The City of Kanthas is supposed to be a free-city but as with all things a hierarchy has formed. The city is governed both by the Commandments of the Coin, the holy book of but also by the city council. The City Council is made of 10 Arch-Merchants of roughly equal power and the Mayor. The Merchants are representatives of the 10 largest companies that has a presence on the city, decided by open auction for all "legitimate" companies which wish to have a representative, with each company only able to have one representative. The Mayor is elected by open election, where any person living in the city may declare their vote in public for any representative, the candidate with the highest votes winning right out. This process is far from fair, with the companies generally controlling who is elected through bribery, blackmail and the odd discount to those that vote for their preferred candidate.

Culture

The City is a haven of commerce, for good and ill. On open markets and in the homes of most it is one of the few places where any and all faces can and do blend into the crowd with little prejudiced for those that have exotic origins or bear the brands of chattel. The culture is built upon the ideals of freedom, with the idea that unwilling submission to anything is weakness and suffering. This ideal often proves counter productive though. Many of the companies founded here or that work here have their roots in far less savoury business and more than a few work in slavery and trafficking. This has lead to the entire city state being regarded as a deluded by those that live in areas affected by said companies.

Public Agenda

The city exists as a place to allow for free development of commerce and cooperation all across the continent, acting as a heart to take goods and coin where it is desired.

Assets

The city and it's council owns little. A small raised island to north of the City has the palace built upon it. This palace is inherited by the current Mayor and is where the Council and Masks meet when necessary. The Palace also has a small jail in the basement for those awaiting the Masks, alongside the cities small treasury. The mayor and arch-merchants equally share the costs of maintaining a small police force in the city, though the palace's upkeep falls upon the Mayor alone, ensuring only the wealthy may attain the title. The cost being placed upon the rulers explains why the police force and Masks are encouraged to fine or exile rather than imprison criminals as execution is barred by the Commandments of the Coin. The city guard does maintain a small dockside barracks, which double as a port for the sizeable navy the city maintains.

Demography and Population

The City is one of the most diverse places on the continent. No one group makes up the majority, though traditionally civilised races do make up a rough majority. There is no direct census and many come to and leave the island city every day making determining those that live rather than just visit hard to determine. That being said there are some exceptions, primarily Dwaves and Orcs.
Whilst Dwarfs are a common sight they rarely live or stay for extended periods. Partially this is due to lack of a natural affinity for water, but also because of their affinity for the clan and company means few are willing to part from their normal home for extended period. Orcs are rare due to blatant fear. Whilst many monstrous races do live in the city, orcs are almost always seen as outsiders due to the third Horde's raiding of the city during the cities establishing period.

Territories

The City is made up of 3 Islands, southside, the coin and the palace. Southside is the largest of the three islands being around 9 square miles, supporting 90% if the islands dockland and housing. Unlike the other two, small portions of the island are yet to be covered with buildings, and most buildings are one or two stories. The coin was named for it's roughly circular shape, alongside the small lake (read: puddle) which was converted to a fountain once the Church of Gold was erected. The Coin has a circumference of around a mile, filed with stacked buildings, narrow streets and open markets. The coin functions both as the housing for the powerful or rich as well as the only place in which companies may operate. Whilst Southside takes some of the burden for selling essential such as food, clothes and drink to locals, ever guild or company wishing to extensively deal in Kanthas must rent or own offices for the purposes of dealing with other organisations. Notably the only public place of worship in the City is here, in the form of the Church of Gold. The palace is on a separate island to the rest of the city and is essentially just a palace, courtroom, jail and treasury with small connected gardens. The Palace is small but it does gently curve alongside the Coin, ensuring the palace is 7 meters from the Coin at it's further point.
The city is notably slanted such that the palace and northern sections of the Coin are several meters above water-level. All of the islands are connected by bridges over the gaps. There are 3 bridges between Southside and the Coin, two of which are old stone affairs made when the city was founded, engraved with multiple artistic painted murals. The third has constructed later in between the two and is made of light cobbled stones, stuck together with noticeable mortar. Whilst the other looks like they had been carved from a single chunk of stone, likely through careful magics and artistry, the middle bridge is impressive given the location, but nothing like the previous grandeur.

In freedom coin, in coin freedom.

Type

Geopolitical, Free City

Capital

The Crucible

Alternative Names

The City of Kanthas, The Kanthasian free-state, the Brass Blight (derogatory)

Demonym

Kathasian

Government System

Corporatocracy

Power Structure

Autonomous area

Economic System

Market economy

Currency

Standard (Copper Serpents, Silver Bucks, Gold Eagles, Platinum Dragon)

Legislative Body

City Council

Judicial Body

The Masks of the Coin