O-Hirasenka

Also known as the City of Rivers and the Heart of the Heartlands, O-HIrasenka is an ancient, bustling metropolis at the most Coreward tip of the great inland Sea of Auspices. Located at the centre of the great crossroads between the Highlands to the east, the Emerald Expanse to the west and the "Sea of One Hundred Ports", Hirasenka is the largest and most cosmopolitan city in the Commonwealth, ahead even of the Empyreal City. It's current population is approximately 340,000 people. Ideally situated between the continent's ancientmost trade routes and somewhat away from the watchful gaze of the Empyreal Palace, Hirasenka is an ideal place to trade in nearly any type of good or service.

O-Hirasenka is one of the longest continually-populated centres on the plane, settled by the semi-mythological Iyō Peoples after their defection from the Kelpeater Empire in the Middle First Age.

Geography

The Commonwealth of Marai

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Including the Skylands to the east and the Kula'wongai to the Voidwest. Map covers Waking Materia's Lower Alpha and Upper Beta Quadrants.

The Greater Hirasenka Region (GHR) encompasses the territories of (clockwise from Voidward) Clan Sokenzan, Izuka, Raan and Okara.

Description

See also: Scenery of Marai (External)

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The Heart of the Heartlands is built at the tip of a coastal delta divided by three major rivers, resulting in four geographic districts. A small sliver of the Voideast coast belongs to Clan Hina, who are vassals of the Sokenzan. The Voidwest coast belongs mostly to the Yagyu, vassals to the Izuka. Larger areas extending from the coasts to the middle and Coreward regions of the GHR belong to the Okara eastward and the Raan westward.

As a general rule, the higher-elevation plateaus & seaside cliffs of the Dragons and Great Elk give way to the valleys and floodplains of the Komainu and Nightstalkers as one moves westward. Further inland is an arc of cropland, pastures and temperate parkland.

Western Districts

Territories of the Sokenzan and Okara. The western districts are considered the "Old Town": a place of business, government and wealthy but quiet neighbourhoods. This, of course, overlays the back alleys and acqueducts and apartment complexes of "secondary industries" (industries with "poor optics" in the eyes of the nobility, is a common Nightstalker sentiment), that nonetheless diversify and stabilize the whole. Both territories range from drab suburbs to sometimes breathtaking examples of architecture and natural vistas. Sokenzan districts in particular are known for libraries, temples and palaces of ancient Iyōan, Alanthian and proto-Maraian make.

Eastern Districts

Territories of the Raan and Izuka. The eastern districts are the "New Town": a different, emergent cultural capital of philosophy, art, foreign cuisine, alchemy and its own streetwise business acumen that has left the Empyreal City more divided in power than any other time save its inception. It's here you can shop for an artisanal Iname Voidweb, a minutely-woven Kula'eora wallrug or some spicy Khayyamite sausage-on-a-stick, without even walking far. Vibrant new business & entertainment districts overlook ancient, stilted port townships dedicated to fishing, shipping and piracy, a throwback especially to the Izuka's "diverse" past.