Treaty City
One of the more ancient cities that has been rebuilt numerous times, Treaty City has had several names but has been called Treaty City in honor of the treaty that initiated the first bloodless transfer of power ever negotiated. The city is also one of the largest trading ports in the world. Add to that the library that is considered to be one of the foremost in the world and you have one of the most metropolitan places in all of Storm Bridge. Noted by most visitors for the strange mix of ancient and new structures, from the classical designs of all the races of the world, it can be difficult to take in in only a week or two of travel.
Natural Resources
The coast line around the city has been carefully attended by aquatic druids and so none of the fisheries have been depleted, making for a bountiful fishing area. Forms of seaweed and ocean plants have even been seeded to allow the fisheries to grow larger and support a larger population.
Only week or two from the city is the base of the coastal mountains which are fairly mineral rich though not as prosperous as some other mines. The coastal rains keep a rich and verdant forest growing along the mountain range, various groups do approved logging cutting only the oldest growth trees to allow the young to flourish, so the forest produces furs, food, and lumber while being cautiously watched for depletion. Faster growing trees are imported for the main base of lumber. The sand/silt that collects in the harbor is collected not just to keep the waters safe for ships but to supply the glass blowers guild that operates out of the city.
History
What is now called Treaty City was founded some 7200 to 7300 years ago. The first builders were the third expansion of elves heading out from the Old Empire. The major hero of the third expansion an elf who renamed himself Tristan (a custom of the expansionist elves to sever their ties to the old empire) was the first known defender of the city before moving on to press the elvish borders and work to found a new kingdom by conquest. His lasting impact on the city was in the digging out and creation of a great cistern in case of a siege by a vengeful empire following after those who would turn their back on it.
While the last two elvish expansions are during the lost years, indeed these expansions even contributing to the lost history and confusing dates that muddle the histories so, the more recent events such as the cities founding can be worked out to around four thousand years before the Storm Bridge.
After the city stood for the first two hundred and fifty or so years* the goblin, hobgoblin, bugbear, and other local people who had been in the area before the arrival of the expansionist elves pushed back and conquered by them. The city for the most part was redesigned and many destroyed parts had to be rebuilt. This led tot eh fist instances of mixed architecture that would one day become a hallmark of the city. The conquering Chaka had a single successful inheritor who held his father's kingdom until late in his life. Records conflict on this a bit and there may have been a third generation in succession, bearing her mother's exact same name, but generally it is believed that is discounted and the guessed at time frame is two hundred to three hundred years of rule by the Chaka's family.
The city was then claimed by Kobolds who may or may not have been part of the Chaka's own ruling regime (adding to the reputation that kobolds cannot be trusted with power). Over the next fifty to eighty years restructuring and some rebuilding was done to make the city more welcoming to nature and to make the place more hospitable and less militaristic. The city was mostly redesigned using druid magic to shape stones, create hanging gardens, turn ally ways into water reservoirs that were stocked with fish, and it was mostly expanded both down into the earth and up into the sky rather than outward as had been both the elvish and goblin custom.
A grand magical academy was founded at some point in the next three hundred years. Over the next hundred years the magical academy became the largest structure in the city and many history books hint that they city itself was more a magocracy than the democratic form of government that kobolds seem to favor. No matter the reality, historically the area was ruled by a kobold senate as a republic, for at least the next thousand years.
The next major event of significance is either a flood or series of floods in the area that caused underground erosion issues possibly originating in the ancient neglected cistern built by the elves. This issue was unfortunately forgotten as so many issues were with the Storm Bridge event which occurred before the matter was dealt with. As happened all over the world chaos ensued for the next several centuries. Humans attacked the city on multiple occasions but were always rebuffed by superior forces.
The human menace was just starting to be settled when certain war mongering factions decided to use the recent unrest to stir up more trouble and begin the third cleansing, in an attempt to eradicate the gnomish people who are known for their necromatic practices and disregard for the sanctity of the dead. This comes into the cities history because the gnomes retaliated by collapsing the entire academy grounds into a sink hole. After the devastation the academy barely had time to try and recall the magi they had sent to help in the cleansing efforts when the near by humans ever ready to take advantage as most scavengers are, attacked. With the cities defenses in disarray it fell.
Being unable to rebuild the city properly they took the easiest route available and buried the academy buildings and grounds, filling in the sink hole with rubble and trash from the damage caused by the siege of the city. They then began building again from scratch on the top of the rubble which various elves, kobolds, and other native races have magically solidified to keep collapses from happening.
Humans only held the city for eighty years or so, long enough for the descendants of the expansionist elves to come and reclaim their ancient home. With elven rule in place the city was then rebuilt properly over the next two hundred and seventeen years. Then in exchange for other sites of significant cultural heritage Treaty City was granted in the Peace Accords to the alliance of races, made up of course of Dwarves, Kobolds, and even humans. As part of the treaty Gnomish lands were returned as well.
The alliance then began reconstructing the roads throughout the city to make it easier for nomadic dwarves to come and go in their wagons. Also for races of different sizes to travel easier, partially with the recreation of the ancient 'goblin high road' that runs about the town on the second level of the city. Which brings us finally to the last six hundred years and current times.
That's all for today's lecture, See you all again tomorrow.
Historian Radigan Jung, 5th generation expansionist elf.
Alternative Name(s)
Break Free Landing, Rosetetra, Victory City, and Eduard's Prize.
Type
Coast / Shore
Location under
Included Locations
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