Tulwood

The Free City of Tulwood is the heart of a vast trading empire with outposts spanning much of the globe. This city-state is composed mostly of the city of Tulwood itself, which has grown to encompass the majority of the territory, as well as the remnants of the Tulwood Forest that gives the city its name. This forest, primarily composed of the unusually durable white oak, once provided the timber used to construct the city-state's impressive navy, is now preserved as a living monument to the region's early history.

History

The city of Tulwood was founded around the dawn of the Age of Sail by the kingdom of Arenberg at the mouth of the White River, a large river considered too fast to navigate safely, in hopes of building a grand shipyard to construct a powerful navy for the kingdom. This region had previously been crown lands, encompassing some of the inland hills known for their iron mines and stone quarries, as well as the coastal Tulwood Forest and a smattering of fishing villages.
The king of Arenberg declared what was then a backwater region to be the Tulwood Duchy, assigning its new lord the task of building the shipyards and a city to support them. Duke Gerlof I led the construction efforts, and managed to establish a small city around a busy looking shipyard. However, in secret, he delayed efforts to outfit the ships meant to form Arenberg's fledgling navy and redirected much of the funding provided by the king toward ensuring that the crews of the ships, once they were finally ready, would be loyal to him personally, and not to the king.
Decades passed, and three kings of Arenberg died in a handful of years, succumbing to a plague that had struck the more travelled parts of the kingdom. Upon hearing of this plague, Duke Gerlof I set a guard on the borders of his duchy, cutting off trade with the rest of the kingdom, effectively rendering Tulwood independent. By this point, Tulwood had already grown a modest merchant fleet and was capable of bringing in all the supplies it needed by sea. As Arenberg descended into chaos in the wake of this plague, Tulwood quietly stopped paying its taxes, and after a decade of increasing unrest and the passing of his father, Duke Gerlof II officially declared Tulwood an independent city state. A mere 30 soldiers were sent to quell this rebellion, all of whom were killed by the mercenary guards hired to police the border.
Gerlof II died childless 20 years later, by which point the kingdom of Arenberg had broken up and was in the process of being brought under the sway of neighbouring realms. Leadership fell to the Factors Council, an advisory body made up of 2 magistrates, 2 elected representatives of the public, and leaders of the 5 wealthiest companies in Tulwood. Originally, 4 of these were mercenary companies, but they have since been supplanted by merchant conglomerates.
In the centuries since, Tulwood has embraced its status as a free-city republic, and has flourished under the leadership of its council. The city has grown from being neutral territory that was too annoying to conquer and useful enough to keep around to one of the greatest seats of political power across the world. Its large navy protects a dozen competing merchant empires, which have established outposts (many of which operate according to Tulwood laws rather than those of the local country) throughout the known world and have often been responsible for exploration of unknown realms. Despite this global influence, Tulwood claims no lands beyond the relatively humble borders of its original duchy - even the outposts held by its companies are, at least officially, still the territory of their host country.