Port Tuugaq

Port Tuugaq is a large harbor city located on Shimsom Big Island, and is a natural trade hub between the Earth Kingdom and the Southern Water Tribe. Following the Platinum Affair, Port Tuugaq was designated as one of the four shang cities open to international trade.
== History ==
Port Tuugaq was located at the deepest harbor of Shimsom Big Island. It was not truly a permanent town until the Platinum Affair occurred, and was instead the site of trading posts and temporary Water Tribe fairs, though there were some qarmat of turf and stone that had been maintained over the centuries, important centers to members of the Order of the White Lotus. After the isolationist period of geopolitics began, Port Tuugaq was selected as the site of one of the shang cities due to its natural advantages as a harbor, and a true town was quickly raised from logs and stone.
Port Tuugaq was smaller than the rest of the shang cities, and traders from the Southern Water Tribe easily rather avoided clearance by staying clear of city limits and using go-betweens. This meant that the city was considerably less corrupt than other shang cities, such as Bin-Er, and its inhabitants were generally happier. Its zongdu at the time of the Unanimity project, Ashoona, was also a rather uninfluential figure in the political game of the shangs, as he had been at a constitutional in Agna Qel'a for half a year.
Ayunerak, the Executor of the White Lotus, was sent to Port Tuugaq to investigate bright lights and noise along the tundra outside the city, suspecting spiritual activity taking place. At the same time, Avatar Yangchen was misdirected to investigating the Unanimity project in Port Tuugaq, after Kavik betrayed her at the urging of his brother Kalyaan. After landing her flying bison, Nujian, further away from the city, Yangchen made her way into the city by distracting its guards, earthbending the frozen ground loose to create the effect of dust on the wind. Disguised as an Earth Kingdom woman, she saw several people walking in the same direction as she tried to get to the docks, and noticed she was being tailed by a short man with a patch on his parka, and then by two more men on the opposite side of the street. She noticed from their next moves that they were herding her east into a trap, and as a fight threatened to break out, she knocked them unconscious by earthbending the sod from Port Tuugaq houses, taking them as her captives. Noticing the significance of the building from her past lives, Yangchen appealed to the White Lotus in Port Tuugaq, sledging the bodies to the qarmaq with her earthbending. The man at the door was bewildered that she knew the passcodes, and said he would speak to a higher-ranking lotus.
Inside the qarmaq, Yangchen tried to rest and eat for the first time in days. She met "Mama" Ayunerak, and the Northern Water Tribe woman told her she knew the passcode must have come from her past lives, as she was too unpredictable. After speaking about Yangchen's gift, her Avatarhood, and the role of the White Lotus, Yangchen told Mama everything she knew about the Unanimity project. Mama was surprised to learn of the project, but stated that she had not found any record of the ship Kavik had told her to look for, the Sunbeam. Deciding she had been too dismissive of Mama's information, Yangchen asked to investigate the spiritual activity, and Mama and her guest walked out of the city gates together easily, before Yangchen whistled for Nujian. While away on the rest of the island, Yangchen and Mama discovered the traces of the target range that the combustionbenders had used. Yangchen concluded that Kavik was simply wrong about the Sunbeam and Port Tuugaq, and left the city. A messenger hawk with Kavik's confession of betrayal arrived after Yangchen left, but the bird returned to Bin-Er.
Events over the following months would lead to Yangchen and her companions putting a final end to the Unanimity project at the Convocation of Taku. While Yangchen had originally intended to end the Platinum Affair in its entirety at the convocation, she came to believe that such a drastic move would lead to a state of affairs no less problematic than the shang system itself. Therefore, in a private meeting with Earth King Feishan, Yangchen asked him to endorse the Avatar administering all remaining shang cities as a neutral, incorruptible and trustworthy party in world affairs. Yangchen intended to control all reins of power in order to properly let go of them. Ashoona's upcoming retirement was used to justify the Avatar taking hold of Port Tuugaq.
== Layout and description ==
Port Tuugaq is located at the deepest natural harbor of Shimsom Big Island, with most of the buildings having been rather quickly constructed in the wake of the Platinum Affair. The unimaginative blocks in the city are scored into the gravel coast like a baker would divide flour.
The houses of the city are built of timbers from Yesso Island, which were unsanded and still bleeding sap soon after construction. Houses are double-walled with sod for insulation. The streets are paved with little splinters of bark, trampled down by countless footsteps.
In the aftermath of the Platinum Affair, the city was the site of a large amount of trade, especially valuable ivory, hides, and cod-flounder from the Southern Water Tribe. Due to Port Tuugaq's smaller size compared to the other shang cities, it had a stockade wall around it, with one opening to the water, and the other bulging around a massive lumberyard containing stacks of logs as big as houses.
== Notable figures ==
* Zongdu Ashoona
* "Patch"
== References ==
Category:A to Z
Category:Locations
Category:Settlements
Category:Yangchen novels