Petrodis

Main Street of Petrodis, with the Presidential Palace at the centre.

**Petrodis** (or **Trodi**) is a city in the central south coast of Aphthonis that functions as the capital of the Province of Petrodis within the Thornian Empire. It is located almost exactly in between the neighbouring town of Sabara and the island settlement of Lakasa. It is the largest settlement in Aphthonis, and is among the top five largest settlements in Thornia.

The city is largely made up of a pre-existing village with further expansions made by the provincial government (and later the regional government) in every direction around the village.

The city is home to the largest royal palace, though it is not designed to be opulent nor aesthetically pleasing, the facilities of the residence are comparably luxuriant compared to that of the rest of the town. With the overthrow of the monarchy, the palace had become the government administration building for the province and Aphthonis.

Throughout 2022 and 2023, the city was pivotal in ensuring the restoration of the monarchy and had become one of the four cities which the Imperial Court conducts various aspects of empire-wide government business.

## History

### Discovery

The town was known to exist, but had not been visited, from at least 2018 when maritime activity around the Sabaran Sea began. The collapse of the original Umic Republic and the rise of the Holy States saw almost all economic activity shift southward around the Umic Sea. The Sabaran Sea was largely abandoned until late 2019 when the Thornian state re-emerged as an autonomous region. The Thornians expanded their territory northward into what is now Aphthonis. However, naval expeditions were largely limited to exploring the western rivers of the savannas, the coasts of North Goruid, and the Galinisian Islands.

By April 2020, Great Thornia had greatly expanded its economic influence into the north with the rapidly growing town of Volovna in North Goruid fueling demand for exotic resources not found in the south. The nominal provincial capital of Aphthonis, Sabara, was found to lack adequate resources for developing the village, and so authorities sought to establish a new settlement on the island of Fylakasanisi at the mouth of the river valley that borders Septia.

Thornian naval ships spotted Petrodis from afar when shuttling building material between Fylakasanisi, Sabara, and Volovna. On 27 April, Thornian Army personnel landed in Petrodis for the first time after travelling up a river separating a sand dune island from the mainland. The expedition discovered that the town was much larger than anticipated and was in a region rich in minerals and timber, as well as having the benefit of being in a savanna where crops could be grown freely. The pre-existing population also allows for internal trade.

This informed the decision to have Petrodis replace Sabara as the capital of the province. The settlement under construction in Fylakasanisi was changed to a garrison to allow the army to police the border.

### Thornian settlement and expansion (April 2020 - Present)

The Thornian settlers began clearing out the trees among the town's houses and cleared up the roads. Among the first new structures to be built have been the nether transit building and sheep pens. Work on a royal residence began on 30 April and finished on 2 May, making it the fifth residence belonging to the Crown.

The town has been expanded in almost every direction with new buildings built in the Elysian and Volovnese styles of architecture. Townhouses are the most common new buildings as the government seeks to pack as much of the population around the central core of the town (roughly the area of the original village and the royal residence).

#### Coup of the Golden Trident (August 2020)

In the aftermath of The Great Plague, much of the elite of the nation formed the Order of the Golden Trident to assemble like-minded citizens into an organised force to overthrow the monarchy. The order believed the monarchy had butchered Thornia's response to the anarchy in Tyavyli and the retaking of Shanjing. It successfully overthrew the monarchy in a bloodless coup in the Petrodis Palace.

The order established a Transitional Council based in Petrodis to takeover the governance of the nation. The council was forced to move to Elysia after the Massacre of Elysia, which led to the Second Pillager War. Government investment in Petrodis has largely frozen due to the need to reinforce military control of the Goruid peninsula against pillager forces.

### Thornian Civil War and aftermath (2021 - Present)

*See: Thornian Civil War (2021)*

During the Thornian Civil War, the town became the second capital of the Okthi clique after its capture. The Okthi government elevated the town back to the level of city. The capital remained largely unharmed throughout the rest of the war and was the de facto capital of the entire Great Thornian realm (aligned with the Okthi clique) until the capture of Elysia.

Since the end of the civil war, the city once again became the capital of an autonomous Aphthonis. The city government also began preparations for expanding the city in every direction, starting with the demolition of hills and clearing of land for new roads. The city also became the first to use deepslate bricks for roads. The city's (and the region's) coffers grew nearly five times over, allowing it to overtake Elysia in wealth within a week.

#### Raids by pillager forces (April 2022 - Present)

Since mid April 2022, the city has been under constant attack by pillager forces. The city's iron golems have managed to repel all attacks, though villager deaths have been increasing as the city government tries to keep up with iron golem production.

The city government successfully flatten a mountain south of the old village, clearing the way to spread Petrodis southwards towards the Sabara Sea. Hills to the west of the city have also been flatten, where the city could stretch westwards towards a natural harbour and the mountains of the western Greater Petrodis region. The provincial government has been in negotiation with the Armed Forces of Thornia-Aphthonis to move the Volovna Brigade to Petrodis where it would have direct access to the city's military-industrial complex and plentiful food supply.

Excessive spending on Petrodis Plaza (a multi-tenant building containing underground survival facilities, mining support facilities, spider spawn production, public housing, luxury hotel, and rooftop tree plantation) has resulted in the city government experimenting with cheaper building materials.

## Transportation

The main forms of transportation in the metropolitan area is walking and horses. The town has a rough grid of roads that allow easy access to different locations throughout it. The South Aphthonis government is mulling developing its own rail network stretching both eastward and westward from the city to other settlements in the region.