Agano

Agano, a vast and beautiful underground city, is also known as The City of Light.
It is the base of a movement, called the Taima-Rika (loosely translated as 'the torch (or light) of science') founded by five individuals - a philosophy based on rationality, reason, evidence, and free speech. Like-minded folk began to come together, firstly in small secret gatherings within towns and cities. Much later, networks grew that crossed national and regional borders.
It has become a haven for those who believe religious teachings, including their gods, to be false. Many citizens of this city have been subject to some form of persecution for holding and expressing this belief.
One of the founding five, a woman named Athrene Lurenne emerged as the leader of these people.
The main danger to Agano is the predominant religion in the region, The House of the Seven Divines. They are constantly searching for the location of the city and when found, plan to level it, destroying all within.

History

Through careful and focused communications a decision was made to form a settlement. Initially, a village was formed, sustaining itself through farming and trade in practical items for the home and industry. The village was called Hawkstown and quickly gained recognition as a supplier of innovative and high quality, largely non-magical, devices that improved efficiency in farming and, later on, industrial processes.
As the village grew to a town it came onto the radar of the various religions, for it was noticed that some people were leaving their homes for a new town rumored to be peaceful and free of the restrictions and instructions of religion.
Fortunately, the founders had anticipated and prepared for this eventuality. They long had plans to relocate to a secret area and had deployed scouts to identify a suitable place. Incredibly, within the space of two days, the entire town had vanished bar the remains of certain buildings. Not only was the previous town deserted, but it had been left in such a way to become a haven for wildlife.
No clues, or even rumors, were left behind as to their new location. The religious establishments have searched but to date have been unsuccessful.
Construction of the new city took ten years in their new underground location beneath the Heisen Mountains. Basic at first, the city was continuously developed and was a truly spectacular feat of engineering.
When the work was complete, the city's leaders decided that a new name was appropriate to reflect this new start. A grand ceremony was held and they dubbed themselves Agano, The City of Light.
Athrene was nominated as its overall leader with the other four founders as the ruling council.