Golden Beaches

The City of Golden Beaches is a prominent city in Mitsudai. It is the southernmost member of the Four Cities, a group of cities that are considered to be regional powers in northern Mitsudai. Along with its economic and political prominence, Golden Beaches is also well known for being a center of the art of Summoning, its elite class consisting of ancient families adept in the art of summoning and binding spirits to assist them in a variety of ways.

## History

The area that would become Golden Beaches was settled in the ancient past, far before the migration of modern Mitsudain groups to the region. This unknown civilization vanished by the time the ancestors of modern Mitsudains showed up, leaving only pockets of mysterious ruins. One of these ruins became known as the still-mysterious city of Silent Voice, and another large ruin was resettled by the original founders of Golden Beaches. The exact date of Golden Beaches' resettling is unknown, but it is older than its sister cities of Ocean Veins and Falling Leaves. The city was named for the beaches that the ruins sat upon, but by the modern day these beaches have eroded away for unknown reasons.

During the Raojian god war five hundred years ago, the then-Scorpion God was utterly defeated in battle against an unknown foe, and fled to Mitsudai. Fearing his death, he bound himself to the Toba family, one of Golden Beaches' most prestigious summoner families. However, by this point, the summoner hegemony had led to a uniquely anti-deity philosophy establishing itself deep in the culture of Golden Beaches, and the deity status of the Scorpion was lost in his binding, rendering him the much less prestigious title of the "Scorpion Guard" of the Toba family.

## Geography

Golden Beaches is the southermost of the Four Cities, with its territory located mostly in the latitudinal center of Mitsudai. It likely has a warmer climate than Ocean Veins or Falling Leaves to the north, but whether this manifests as a tropical or a temperate climate is not known. Like Ocean Veins, Golden Beaches is a coastal port city, which has led to an economic rivalry between the two cities as they attempt to establish dominance over maritime trade in the region.

Outside of the city proper, Golden Beaches also claims a vast breadth of nearby territory as under its dominion.

## Culture

The culture of Golden Beaches is notably distinct from nearly all of its neighbors in Mitsudai. Instead of being ruled by a god and their cult, the city is instead dominated by a summoner aristocracy. In addition to rejecting the rule of gods, Golden Beaches also rejects the *divinity* of gods, considering them more akin to powerful Legents that were simply summoned ambiently rather than through constructed rituals. The summoning culture has led to Golden Beaches becoming a major center for Mitsudain Magic, but the summoners have also developed a Legent-summoning ritual that can be used by non-mages as well if they possess suitable materials. This summoning method has spread worldwide, to places as far north as the city of Indigo in Windrose.

Outside of magic, Golden Beaches also fosters a rich secular academic culture, with multiple prestigious universities and museums. The architecture of the city is also very unique, melding traditional Mitsudain architecture with the mysterious marble palaces of the ancient ruins the city is built upon.