Laduaen

Laduaen is a city in northern Falea that has often served as an administrative center, either as a provincial capital, a county seat, a royal capital, or an imperial capital. The area was first settled under the name Lahtushe by native Faleic peoples in 220 BNE. It was captured by Noulaenic forces and renamed Laduaen in 416 NE. It was razed by a popular rebellion in 545 NE and rebuilt as a planned fortress city. It is currently the capital and largest city of the Faleic Empire with a population of 265,000.

## Etymology

Laduaen comes from the Old Western Rigini *lahtu* (water) and the Noulaenic suffix *aen* for city. The older Rigini name Lahtushe used the Rigini suffix *she*, also for city. The name is a reference to several strong natural springs in the city, an important resource on the Faleic plateau.

## Mythic Foundation

Laduaen, like many cities founded prior to the introduction of written history, had an apocryphal mythic story foundation dating to the Age of Heroes. According to the legend, the great Faleic demi-god hero Machichou fought a battle at the site of Laduaen against 5 mythic creates known as Mahbhodheshta, who were giants that came from the sea, while on his quest to reach the corner of the world and find the Essence of Life, a mythic artifact claimed to grant immortality in the myth. Machichou slew each of the Mahbhodheshtas with his ax and water flowed from their wounds, forming five springs. Several of Machichou's men, led by the quarter-god Maflomah, stayed at the site to build Lahtushe. Machichou continued on his journey, which features into many other Faleic myths. Faleic historians placed this journey to the 12th century BNE, nearly 1000 years before the historical foundation of Lahtushe. The story of Machichou fighting the Mahbhodheshtas is of ancient origin but the story of the springs is of modern origin and was invented after the founding of Lahtushe.

## History

Laduaen was first settled as a trading and watering post in 220 BNE by ethnic Faleic peoples. The city was small, with a population under 10,000 but an important meeting point for Faleic peoples in the local area. The city's leaders played a central role in organizing local tribes to assault the Haraklina colony of Lakizhazhi on the Faleic coast in 167 BNE.

The city's economy became dominated by the slave trade from the 1st century BNE through the 4th century NE, with many slave traders passing through the region to trade captives to caravans heading for the coast. The city grew to a population of 20,000, making it the largest city in Falea in the 1st century NE, but it did not expand beyond this in the following centuries due to limited food supplies in the region.

Falea was home to frequent small-scale warfare and Lahtushe was no exception, with nearby tribes frequently organizing raids on the city and its people in the period prior to the Noulaenic invasion. Faleic peoples had a cultural aversion to defensive fortifications, however, so the city remained unwalled and had few defensive structures aside from watchtowers. The relatively large population of the city, however, meant it was successful in driving away raiders with its own forces.

Lahtushe sent much of its forces to the Nilfalam Valley following the Noulaenic crossing of the Nilfalam in an effort to drive back the Noulaenic invasion that began in 410 NE. Faleic forces proved a poor match for the superior arms, numbers, and tactics of the Noulaenic army and the forces sent to drive the Noulaenic forces away were largely slaughtered in the field. Noulian expanded its invasion of the plateau in 414 and overran the poorly defended Lahtushe in 416 NE, renaming it Laduaen and beginning construction of walls that year.

Laduaen was made capital of the new Noulaenic Province of Falea in 420 NE, and remained the capital when the province was renamed Carasala in 440 NE. The city was significantly built up during this period with imperial governmental buildings and the surrounding fields were converted from pasture land to grain agriculture. The population expanded considerably both with growth of the native population, which increased to 40,000 by 500 NE, and with immigration of Malaenic peoples, who number 9,000 by 500 NE.

The provincial capital was moved to Doucusamael in 490 NE and Laduaen was reduced to the county seat of Falea in the process. Growth of agricultural production, especially beef and wine, had grown sufficiently by this time that the county economy was productive and the Count of Falea was a desirable position, frequently granted to close imperial allies.

By the 540s the city had become heavily Noulaenicized with nearly half of its 60,000 residents being ethnic Malaenics and the many of the natives having strong loyalty to the county government. The imperial government had become disliked elsewhere in Falea, however, and the wealthy, Noulaenicized Laduaen was resented by other Faleics. This situation led to disaster in 545 when the peoples of southern and eastern Falea rebelled against the empire and attacked Laduaen. The rebels marched on Laduaen where they were allowed through the gate by sympathizers in the city. The rebels massacred the Noulaenic garrison, then 5,000 strong, and killed many of the residents of the city as well before razing it to the ground.

The empire regained control of Falea in 547 and began the reconstruction of Laduaen, at twice its prior size, that year. The city was redesigned as a massive walled fortress with octagonal stone outer walls 4 m thick and 10 m tall, with an 18 m wide octagonal tower at each corner standing 25 m tall. Four main gates sat in the center of each wall facing a cardinal direction with smaller gates, designed to be easily irreversibly sealed, at other positions along the walls. Four broad avenues followed east west paths through the city from the main gates, joining with a central ring road encircling the inner city. Dense buildings and narrow roads lined the inside of the ring road and surrounded the inner wall, which was 5 m thick and 12 m tall and surrounded the palace complex at the center of the city. The palace itself was 20 m tall and topped with an additional 10 m column, on top of which stood a 5 m tall statue of Calansis holding a pike above his head. The city was visible from many kilometers away and was intended to serve as a reminder of imperial might and power. The design proved popular with subsequent emperors and became the archetype for a number of later planned fortress cities built during the first and second empires such as Bincaraelaen in Doucusada, Faslulafalis in Nadaria and Saladen in Lasucsala.

Count Daramsis of Falea rebelled from Noulian in 764 NE after becoming convinced that the empire had poisoned his three children, including his beloved daughter Falama who had died in 762 NE. The rebellion succeeded and Laduaen became the capital of the Kingdom of Falea in 767 NE. The kingdom fell into civil war in 802 and Laduaen became the capital of Decariasa. Crop failures and feudal warfare in the region left Laduaen and the surrounding regions impoverished during the inter-imperial period but Laduaen's fortifications continued to make it a key city in the region.

Laduaen again became a Noulaenic county seat when the Decariasic nobles, searching desperately for a legitimate heir to the throne, accepted a Noulaenic Count as their king in 1304 NE. The king (Dariasis I) was allowed to use that title within his territory but was officially a count in the Noulaenic hierarchy, owing fealty to both the emperor and the Duke of Carasala. The county was extended to the whole of Falea with the annexation of Calatafalea and Binladua in 1312, making Laduaen once more the seat of government of plateau, a position it retains to this day.

The Laduaenic government declared independence from the Noulaenic government, then based in Carisilaen, in 2054 when the empire refused to assist the county in a dispute with the neighboring Kingdom of Calbaena that year. The Count gave himself the title *Faerfel*, previously reserved for Noulaenic emperors, and declared himself Emperor Fitusis I of Falea. He subsequently had the statue of Calansis removed from the palace spire and replaced with a statue of himself.

Falea continues to enjoy a thriving agriculture economy and the imperial government collects significant duties from the Doucusa River, especially since the Faleic capture of Daradaela in 2312. This has enriched the capital, which currently has its highest historical population with 265,000 residents.