Free City of Sydia

Minority spoken:

* Lanthyrian (spoken by merchants)
* Sicairi (spoken by merchants)
* Gnomish (honorary usage by the Alchemist' Guild)
* Halfling (honorary usage by the Alchemist' Guild)
* Elvish (historic, popularly used in poetry)
* Dwarvish
* Infernal

The **Free City of Sydia**, informally just **Sydia** but sometimes referred to as the **Republic of Sydia**, is a city-state located on the Glistening Straits that separate the Farren and Hcar seas. The city of Sydia is the single-largest metropolis in Antagarich, with a population of over 400,000 permanent residents and tens of thousands of temporary residents throughout the year, with several tens of thousands more Sydian citizens living in overseas possessions. Situated on the strategic Glistening Straits, the Free City is a powerful maritime and mercantile power that controls the single most important maritime trade route in Antagarich in addition to its many colonies on the southern Hcar coast, the island of Corbus, Flower Isles and Garth's Rock.

The hundreds of thousands of people who call Sydia their home are a diverse and cosmopolitan bunch that can trace their ancestry to human settlers and immigrants, with an ever-growing number of recent arrivals coming to make the city their new home. In the last two years since the Reach came under occupation by the Kingdom of the Westerlands and Lanthyrian Empire, an increasing number of refugees have fled to Sydia through the Riverlands and Vatania. Although their numbers are low - both as a result of distance from the Reach to Sydia and massacres perpetrated by the Westers and Lanthyrians in the Riverlands to stop refugees from fleeing southwards - many of them became resident-farmers under the hospices of Sydia's landowners, being offered shelter, warmth and food in return for their labour on farmland just outside the city's walls.

Like any true metropolis, Sydia is home to countless merchants, craftsmen and guildsmen, among throngs of inhabitants it is easy to spot factories and workshops, different guildhalls and astonishing buildings of architectural wonder such as the White Amphitheatre, Glistening Palace, the Gates of Thyrion and Hierarch's Square which sits in the very centre of the city and is the site of public announcements, executions and other similar affairs. In addition to many marvels, Sydia is also the site of daily markets which occur in different parts of the city include Hierarch's Square, and once every year, from the 14th of Jeol to the 28th, the city is the site of the Market of Shades: the largest collection of sellers, tradesmen and merchants of all shades of cloth, skin and goods.

## History

### National Emblems

The most recognisable symbol in Sydia is the swallow, with the bird often appearing on coats of arms of Sydia's prominent families and clans. Aside from imagery of swallows, common symbols in Sydia include a golden key or silver rings - both of which are said to represent prosperity - and motifs of the city's walls which often appear on the shields of the city's guard. The city is commonly associated with imagery of ships, waves and anchors.

The official colours of Sydia are alizarin crimson, eerie black and arylide yellow, and they appear on the city's banners, shields of its soldiery and sometimes even the coats of arms of local guilds and institutions.

### Founding

Sydia was founded over a thousand years ago in 3E433. Before its founding, it was an elvish trade republic that grew in size over the centuries through the arrival of halfling, gnomish, dwarven and eventually human immigrants between the late Second Era and the early Third Era. The pre-Sydian town was called Ziraela'baeth, or Swallow's Kiss, in reference to swallows that live there. Zirael'baeth became Sydia on the day of its founding, but was known as Sydia many years before it in reference to the half-elvish sorceresses Sydia Lara Ililen who sacrificed herself in 3E417 to protect the town, by this point a minor city. from a kraken that lurked beneath. The renaming is believed to have occurred because humans and halflings, and especially dwarves, struggled with the original name's pronunciation, but it was also a way to honour Sydia Lara Ililen and her sacrifice.

## Governance

### Government Model

Sydia follows an incredibly unique system which combines elements of monarchy in the Hierarch and aristocracy and democracy in the College of Councillors. The Hierarch is elected by the College from amongst its ranks for a term of 4 years, holding much of the responsibilities a King would and possessing the power to veto legislation passed in the College. The College of Councillors is an elected assembly of Sydia's aristocrats and freemen, a 280-strong body that elects the Hierarch, approves the appointment of ministers, votes on legislation and creates the laws to govern the city, in addition to holding the power to veto any decrees issued by the Hierarch through a 2/3 majority vote. The 280 members of the college are elected for periods of 4 years, but members - particularly aristocratic ones - are regularly re-elected ensuring that the councillors are politically-capable men. Elections are open to all citizens of Sydia who can prove at least 5 years of residence, employment and that they have attained the age of 25. People vote for either factions or independent candidates, who usually represent an area of the city, and votes are collected and counted by the Bureau of Counters. Factions submit a list of councillor-candidates prior to the elections, faction lists are linear from top-to-bottom, which allows a faction to punish disorderly members come next election by moving their name further down the list - making their chance of re-election lower. In this system the Hierarch and College are both impose restrictions on the other through the veto and overturning votes, creating a system where "the executive can do nothing without the legislative and the legislative can do nothing without the executive".

The ministers are nominated by the Hierarch personally but approved by the College of Councillors individually, forcing the Hierarch to select ministers that will be able to obtain legislative backing, thus securing that they are not executive puppets. The ministers then select "wise men" from amongst the sitting or former members of the College to act as their advisors and aides, forming a full ministry which answers to the hierarch, collaborates and advises the College on matters relating to their ministry and acts as executioner of decrees and laws relating to their ministry.

The College of Councillors can be divided into factions of dozens of members that cooperate together to pass laws their faction supports and to halt the passing of laws they oppose. The most-influential of these factions is led by Eithan Vilme, the eldest son of Oscar Vilme and heir to the Vilme banking family, and it has long been speculated that they, together with other banking families, have been colluding for their own benefit.

Everyday bureaucracy and administration is handled by a stratum of hundreds, if not thousands, of dedicated bureaucrats. Sydian bureaucracy is among the most complex but also efficient in the world, in addition to being uniquely different to the feudal and aristocratic administration in the rest of Antagarich. This specific form of administration is known as Sydian Bureaucracy. Dedicated bureaucrats are mandated to wear special clothing that will distinguish them from everyday rabble and other government officials:red hats with swallow feathers on the left side, fine yellow shirts with black trousers.

### Banking Families

Sydia is home and the birthplace of many powerful banking families that have long dominated the banking industry across Antagarich. They possess a rich lineage that can be traced to the founding of Sydia in the early Third Era, with the two oldest - the Vilme and Ilinala - having been founded in 3E437 and 3E436 respectively. These families, the guardians of wealth and commerce, hold an unassailable grip on the city's economic pulse, their influence stretching like intricate tendrils through every corner of society. Their influence has increased and diminished over the years, but in contemporary times it is once more at an increase with their members and allies sitting in the College of Councillors, with many ministers being outright members of these families or suspected allies or puppets.

Aside from their political influence, these banking families own swathes of farmland around Sydia and its possessions as well as other realms, with the Mercers notably owning a vineyard in Rowan. In audition to this, many local factories are partly owned by these families or individual members, they also sponsor many cultural events and provide patronage to theatres, galleries and other such institutions. The post-Cataclysm renovations of the White Amphitheatre were almost entirely funded by them, and the first games and chariot races held there in the re-opening ceremony were funded in part by Valphine-Dadove's matriarch at the time, Rosa Valphine-Dadove IV.

Sydian banking families include:

* Vilme, founded in 3E437
* Ilinala, founded in 3E436
* Reynan, founded in 3E493
* Mercer, founded in 3E558
* Valphine-Dadove, founded in 3E613

The notable tieling sellsword Xenofex is an employee of the Vilme family, serving as the personal bodyguard of Oscar Vilme's daughter, Shara Vilme.

### Pervasive Underworld

Although the authorities would tell you otherwise, attempting to distract you with the sights of towering spires and marvellous marble pillars and galleries, in the sprawling metropolis that is Sydia lurks an ever-present criminal underworld, an underground empire that thrives amidst the flickering lamplight and cobblestone alleys. Known as the Giriza, this web of enigmatic and notorious criminal factions hold sway over the city's underworld, each with its own insidious reach and treacherous ambitions. In their world loyalty is a fickle currency, and alliances are forged and broken with the speed of a flickering candle. Constant power struggles, covert operations, and subtle betrayals shape the criminal underworld of Sydia, where even the strongest and most cunning can find themselves entangled in a web of treachery. The city's law enforcement, weary and outmatched, struggles to contain the influence of these malevolent forces, their efforts often thwarted by bribes, corruption, and the shroud of fear that blankets the city. While outside the city's walls one may find highwayman or bandits, within the Sydian Walls one will come across a vast network of fences, smugglers, assassins, gamblers, racketeers, and other criminal scum.

## Economy

### Market of Shades

The Market of Shades is an annual market held in Hierarch Square from the 14th of Jeol to the 28th. It sees merchants from all across Antagarich and beyond, with traders and guests coming from as far as Barsi and Jadame, gather in Sydia to sell, buy and trade goods and showcase foreign goods and inventions. It is believed that the annual event attracts as many as 100,000 guests, if not more. Aside from trade, the Market of Shades is a ground for foreigners to form agreements with one another and powerful Sydians. Guilds, such as the Alchemists' Guild or the Guild of Swordsmiths and Armourers, often use the market to recruit new members and to hold competitions to see whether outsiders can beat their guild members in their fields.

## Demography

### Residents

Sydia is home to a colourful population of both permanent and temporary residents of different cultures and creed.

## Culture

### Architecture

Sydia's architecture combines the styles of its original inhabitants, the elves, and the future settlers and immigrants, humans, halflings and dwarves, that came to make Old Sydia their home throughout the Third Era. The diverse population blended together, with cultures mixing and assimilating into one another which led to the creation of a incredibly unique and diverse architecture that primarily combines human and elvish elements. Sydian buildings are both stylish and functional, combining elvish elegance and human-halfling functionality with skilful dwarven management and planning. The greatest symbols of Sydia's unique architecture are undoubtedly the White Amphitheatre and the Glistening Palace, the centre of entertainment and governance respectively.

The White Amphitheatre is the site of chariot races and gladiatorial games, as well as extravagant plays and performances held almost daily. Its name comes from the marble and quartz that was used in its construction. It was built between 3E798 3E812, repaired in 14AC and again in 248AC. It has enough capacity for 50,000 spectators. The Glistening Palace houses the chambers of the College of Councillors, the Hierarch's chambers and quarters, the offices of the ministers and numerous other chambers and areas, including the Sydia Gallery which is in the "open palace" while government chambers are in the "closed palace." Aside from being the centre of Sydia's governance, the palace is also an architectural marvel of intricate designs. It was built between 3E499 and 3E543 and was repaired in 2AC.