Metropolis is founded under the name Anekka because a group of settlers couldn't travel any further.
Anekka has no power, and was settled in the center of the continent, with virtually no resources. It was settled by a random group of settlers who got unlucky and took a bad route, settling where there was no resources. Eventually, a network of roads got built through the continent. Anekka starts taxing travel through the city.
Metropolis is founded under the name Anekka because a group of settlers couldn't travel any further.
Anekka starts to gain power. Two large cities with large import and export rates have risen on either side of Anekka, and Anekka gains a lot of money from taxes. The city hires an outside militia as a police force. A new library gets created and knowledge begins getting collected. Entrepreneurs and scholars flock to Anekka to learn and start businesses.
The The Forgotten Continent is cursed, the curse gradually overtaking the whole continent. Residents flee, Humans and Aasimars fleeing to wherever they could, some going North, creating the Winter Tribes, while other non-Humans try to flee to whichever country has the highest concentration of their race. Businesses flee to other countries, who have better non-Human protection laws, which raises prices, but also boosts the country's economy, providing more employment. Trade becomes impossible in any way except for through Plurum, and Metropolis, already powerful due to their trading power, rushes to consolidate power, financially ruining other trade towns, decimating roads to them and modernizing their roads.