Honorable Ecinevian League

Racial make up: 75% westrasi humans, 25% others

### **Culture**

The states which compose the league are bound by treaties of mutual defense and trading, but they would never have been established in the first place without the common grounds due to the original típu tribes. These peoples already showed an aversion towards bloodshed, a skill for sailing and favoring the accumulation of wealth that could then be used to settle disputes.

These traits remain. The league faces challenges and settles things by using money. Although other nations might define their aristocracy by superior breeding, divine rights or physical power, here is a matter of how much wealth one has. The ruling families might change from one generation to the next, as people born wealthy rarely are that competent in keeping it.

Wealth is the means to all ends. It ensures one has slaves to grow the food, mercenaries to fight the wars and the dowry needed for marriages.

However, there is one field where wealth isn't paramount: the sea. Even if the captain won a bid for his position, the crew will value him for his actual skill at keeping law and order aboard the ship, his knowledge of the monsoons, his experience facing storms. The league might hire the generals that command its armies, but the role of admiral is only given, and never sold or bought, to the best naval commander available, no matter how poor he might be.

### **Religion**

As a whole, the league worships the twin gods Gloria and Etalia. The first is worshiped as the ruler of the skies, giver of rain and lord of the sun. The second is reverenced as the queen of the oceans, provider of fire eels and lady of winds. They are seen as the ideal couple, each one complementing the other. Not out of love, but because both benefit. Each and every league settlement, even if far from the waters, has one lighthouse-temple which serves both deities.

Some regions adopt other minor gods, if only to appease the natives.

###  **Organization**

The Honorable Ecinevian League is a federation of two hundred cities, petty nations and even some chiefdoms grouped together through treaties of mutual aid during wars and disasters as well as a complex web of trading monopolies. Each member sens one ambassador-senator to the Great Council in Ecinev, where they must elect one of their own as the Sereníssimo, the title for the ruler of the whole league, the Grand-Admiral, responsible for its warships, and the First-Citizen, responsible for law and order. That Alexander Silveira currently has all three positions is a testament for his fortune and skill. That he survived two dozen assassination attempts means that his peers fear such accumulation of power.

### **Origin**

The details differ according to whoever is telling it and whoever is paying the historyteller, but most agree that the members of the league came to be after the legendary overthrown of the Treants in the Fourth Era. While there are mentions of glorious battles and rebellions, the truth is closer to a gradual diaspora of coastal tribes creating canoe fleets to cross the sea and conquer the aboriginal clans of Vishga-Immunga and elsewhere. It was during this time that the tribes discovered how to process the oil of fire eels into the fuel used in flame-projectors against the Treants and, later, against enemy ships.

The Fifth Era is marked by the transition of tribes into city-states, which constantly sought to establish dominance over each other by any means available. There was little open conflict inland, but many naval battles, underhanded sabotage, bribery and assassination attempts.

The Honorable Ecivenian League came to be in the midst of the Sixth Era, as Ecinev managed to become the "shark in the reef" by assassinating, buying or bullying its opposers. Many of the other cities, tired of conflict, came to accept its suzerainty. The rest had no option but to follow suit.

### **Diplomacy**

The members of the league are predictable. They can expected to make a profit in whatever it is they do, and they believe the profits justify the means. As they don't expect their own neighbors to be trustworthy, they make and enforce very elaborate contracts which are followed to the letter. They also don't see anything wrong with this, and will be the first to provide such advice. The fact that they gave said advice will be included in the contract as well. It's only fair.

They have a distinct relationship with the Boro nation. Members of the league don't trust locals to be their bodyguards and private militias. But the well-equipped buerse warriors are considered trustworthy and even a sign of social status, and so are employed by most of the merchant families.

Against Belara and Mourloux, the league maintains revolts, corsairs and proxy wars but it knows that it is ready to face and overcome only one of these powers in a proper war.

### **Geography**

The league's homeland dominated by grasslands and rocky outcrops, except at the north and west, both influenced by the monsoons. The dry seasons bring fires and the wet seasons bring floods. The rivers are flanked by gallery forests, many of which provide good lumber and charcoal. Much of the interior is given to the herding of cabybaras.

### **Economy**

The league's homeland has its fair share of resources, supplying foodstuffs and some metals, but what brings them wealth is trading. Metal crafts from Boro, silk from the Celestial Empire, amber and lumber from the Treants, gold from Radmir, opium from Mai-Xi. Thousands of ships ply the seas, buying from here to sell there.

That doesn't mean that the league doesn't have its unique items. In fact, there are two: the homeland's plantations produce half's the world's sugar. And the colored glass from the Muirano Island is unmatched in color, transparency and reflexion.

#### **Ecinev, the Capital**

##### **Carcerary Fleet**

Hundreds of vessels pass by Ecinev every day. And every night, a couple more hulks are left to rot nearby. These ruined vessels quickly become part of the floating slums which threaten to choke water traffic. To avoid this, Ecinev's authorities established a prison ten kilometers downstream, the Carcerary Fleet. It is made out of the old hulls, modified to fit as many people as possible. And they're fuller than they should, filled with mendicants, thieves, murderers, pirates and all sort of scum, both men and women. The air is so damp and foul that lamps can't burn. The heat is so overpowering that anyone which still wears more than rags might prefer to go naked. The death rate is high, for there isn't enough food to go around. Guards must form groups to enter the cells and retrieve dead prisoners to prevent cannibalism, diseases or simply that shivs are made out of their bones. Now and then, a whole ship and its cargo is sold for slavers.

##### **Ecinevian Floating Market**

Open land is scarce in Ecinev. Almost everything has been built over, and expansion is only possible by filling up the waterways. Which is against the law. Even the open plazas of old have been covered by six-store tall buildings. But this hasn't stopped the commerce. As the public spaces were occupied, the traders gradually started to have their shops on the very ships which brought the merchandise. Eventually, the city's authorities noticed this and decreed that the Caixas canal, easily a kilometer long, as well as both wide and deep enough for three caravels abreast, would become the new market.

From dawn to nightfall, it contains a mess of boats, canoes, dhows, barges, floating shops, gondolas and much more, many of which are connected by planks of wood. Money flows faster than water here. One can find countless merchants, clients, artists, adventurers, mercenaries, pickpockets, priests, homeless and a few city officers trying to oversee everything. They always fail. One can find glass coins, tons of amaranth grain, domesticated clay monkeys, soap made from wyvern fat, the fur of a giant lion, obsidian daggers, scribes for hire, Treant wood, giant pearls, quartz jewels, a breastplate made out of a turtle's shell, second-hand slaves, golden stools, even the ruined core of a Godmachine. And much more.

Come the night, come the vices. Most of the previous ships go away while new ones enter the canal. Floating brothels full of red lamps and bards aboard gondolas dispute space and customers with barge-cassinos and leaky canoes full of barrels of cheap rum. People sing, dance, eat, drink and get warm in the arms of whores of several races and preferences. Fortunes in gambles and bribes are quickly spent and not all bodies found floating at the next morning drowned against their own will.

##### **Chinampa Fields**

Tens of thousands live in Ecinev, a city built in islets of a lagoon surrounded by swamps. Tons of foodstuffs are needed daily. To feed so many, engineers hired by the senate arrived at an ingenious solution. They built artificial islands fully dedicated to farming. Barley, lentils and other plants are harvested multiple times a year. The canals between the chinampas are fenced and used to raise giant salamanders, crayfishes, capybaras and fire eels. A network of dikes, sluice gates and aqueducts prevents that the farming areas aren't filled with salt water. Alchemical fertilizers, the swamp's mud and the city's night soil keep the fields very fertile. The chinampas are worked by multitudes of slaves and peasants. A whole tribe of canoe nomads and their tamed crocodiles was hired and brought from overseas to police the workers, keep the jaguars away and prevent bandit raids. Here and there, watermills grind maize. And every day, thousands of boats navigate towards the Ecinevian Floating Market to sell their produce.

##### **Ilion, the Tower of Dancing Lights**

Built over an artificial island in the middle of the harbor, lies the tower of the senate. Here, two hundred and two representatives discuss, argue, bicker, plot and sometimes fight each other. Their housing quarters also are inside the tower, together with their families. This is the epicenter of the League's political game.

The Tower is a hundred and twenty meters tall and tiered, resembling a wedding cake made out of ten layers. Its base circumference is of a thousand meters. It is called the Palace of Dancing Lights due to the hundreds of Muirano-made sculpture holding prisms which decorate the exterior walls. Besides being aesthetic pleasing, they channel sunlight inside the building. An intricate clockwork system, powered by watermills, moves the prisms in such a fashion that they reflect the sun towards the towers' thousand rooms at all hours. The rest of the tower's exterior is no less glamorous, being covered in mosaics of quartz, ceramics, brass and marble which depict maritime animals, ships and great moments of the League's history, such as the Treant Wars.

Besides housing the senate, Ilion's top tier also serves as the harbor's lighthouse. It has an assemblance of mirrors and lenses that can be readjusted in several ways: it can reflect sunlight, both to spare firewood during sunny days and to ignite sails; it can also serve as a powerful telescope which can gaze upon astronomical bodies as well as observing distant ships. The whole machinery is complex enough to allow for the astrologer-watchers to perform two or three of these tasks at the same time, although better results can be achieved if the whole system is employed towards one single task.

##### **Mendan University**

Although being called an "university", it is actually a community of teachers, scholars, alchemists and magicians occupying a whole cluster of islands, each researching and teaching their respective fields of study at their homes, halls or even in the open. Many teachers teach the same fields, so they compete for students, leading to rivalries, espionage and even sabotage. The district also has three libraries which together have about 350,000 manuscripts, codexes, lead and clay tablets, old scrolls and much more. There are laboratories, workshops, dorms, guild halls and schools for over 10,000 students, many which come from other cultures and far lands. Here one can learn rethoric, singing, swordsmanship, poetry, several living and dead languages, magic, literature, ethics, law, zoology, cartography, medicine, painting, writing and reading, astronomy, astrology, alchemy and metaphysics. The university also has a grand hall of curiosities, artifacts and relics from all over the world, and it always seeks to expand its collection. Finally, there is a small zoo with such beasts as parrot wyverns, a new litter of akhluts, shadow dolphins and even a scarcrawler.

##### **Muirano Islands**

A cluster of islets previously used as a resort, its villas were recently converted into workshops and housing for all the previously spread glassmakers of Ecinev. The idea is to concentrate the entire glassmaking industry into one place from which all imports and exports can be easily guarded. Despite this, smugglers still manage to move glass products out of the islets. How they manage to do this is unknown: some outlandish theories include trained clay monkeys or some sort of underwater breathing apparatus. To prevent further contraband, the senate has forbidden glassmakers and their families from leaving the area without official escorts. It produces mainly glass beads, mirrors and chandeliers, but its alchemical furnaces can produce wonders such as soft glass and cast obsidian blades of incredible sharpness.

### **Citadel of Fug**

The Citadel of Fug is the easternmost trading outpost of the Ecinevian League. It is the protector of all Ecinevean trade in the east, protecting other colonies in the region and acting as the hammer to enforce trade deals for the League. It is known as one of the strongest citadels in the world, protected by a range of hills and some of the strongest walls in the world. It is constantly garrisoned by 7,000 soldiers, and maintains the funds to hire a large mercenary army to enforce its interests. The harbor also maintains a fleet of 40 galleys. The city around Fug is primarily populated by the families of merchants who conduct trade in the area, and the families of soldiers stationed at the citadel. Fug is also home to one of very few Ecinevian mints with the authority to mint glass coins.