Free City of Betranox

**Population:** 99% Westrasi Human, 1% Others **Capital:** Bertranox **Government:** Plutocratic Republic

#### **Culture**

Betranoxians share the same values and cultures of the Saramese kingdom, being sophisticated lovers of knowledge, free-thinking, and esotericism. However, they are also fierce believers in republicanism and the rule of those who work and produce the wealth, rather than those born to power.

#### **Religion**

Those with religious ideas too radical to be tolerated even in the Saramese kingdom often find exile in Bertranox. The city is a haven of heretics, apostates, prophets, and doomsday cults. While most of the people in the city/island believe in Gloria and Etalia, the Church of Divine Duality has a hard time enforcing its dogmas on the islanders, and as such, most GE temples are run by the Bertranox Chapel of Gloria and Etalia.

#### **Organization**

The City is ruled by a council of composed by one member of each of it's thirty-two guilds, who elect a First Chairman for life. Upon death, they elect among themselves a new chairman. This council appoints a High Marshal of the Guard to command the small contigent of soldiers who keep the peace in the island. Aside from that, the council seeks to only deal with affairs that affect the island as a whole or foreign relations, and the guilds each address the issues inside their areas. Due to this 'hands-off' approach, the island of Bertranox is almost a 'legal' haven for pirates, who the City will not attempt to arrest or prosecute unless they break the law while landed on the island. So many pirates choose to make a home there while reaving the whole Westrasi sea.

#### **Origin**

After a failed revolt that sought to install either a liberal republic or a constitutional monarchy (depending who you ask), many Saramese rich citizens and nobles fled to the City of Bertranox, the last bastion of the Rebellion after their continental forces were crushed. The Saramese attempted a naval siege but were soundly defeated by a fleet of ships hired by the rebels from the Veranese. Subsequent attempts to retake the island failed twice more before the government simply decided to let the rebels be. The rebels named themselves an independent 'free city', and this has been the status quo for the last sixty years.

#### **Diplomacy**

Veranese quickly regretted their support for the island, as Bertranox became a haven for pirates who plague their Westrasi Sea trade routes. The Saramese Kingdom still claims the island is part of its domain and will often refuse trade with countries that openly deal with Bertranox as a free city. In the Saramese Kingdom there has been a 'count of Bertranox' and the last 60 years the titled was passed down from father to son twice and neither has set foot on the island. They instead reside at the king's court waiting for the faithful day their family holds will be restored.

#### **Geography**

A rocky island filled with cliffs and surrounded on one side by a barrier of reefs that limit a lot the naval approaches to a potential invasion, a reason for their independence to last this long.

#### **Economy**

The city trades mostly in goat and sheep byproducts and survives merely serving as a warehouse for foreign merchants and haven for pirates, as they have little to no arable land, and rely on outside trade to even feed themselves occasionally.

#### **Player Character Notes**

The Free City of Betranox is an infamous safe haven for those seeking shelter after displeasing authority figures in other nations.  Many pirates, rogues, thieves, political malcontents, rebels, and cultists now live here, having been driven from other lands.  Many natives to the island are proud of their reputation as radical free thinkers, and get in trouble in more conservative societies.

#### **DM Plot Hooks**

Bolt Hole: All sorts of trouble makers seek refuge in the Free City.  PCs trying to track down a the criminal/political/evil mastermind behind their latest string of adventures may find themselves fighting through a villa full of hired thugs, followed by some hostile encounters with angry authorities.