Thessidy

> *"The City, The City, my dear Rufus, stay in it and live in its limelight... All foreign travel - as I have judged since I was a boy - is skulking and paltry to those whose work could shine at Thessidy."* - Tullius
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**Thessidy** is the most populous city in the Nine. The word is also used to denote the Thessidian Autonomous Region (TAR), as well as in reference to the Portals themselves. It is also the most densely populated major city ineach of the Nine Planets. Located at the Portals in the center of the luminous hemisphere, the city is the center of the Thessidian metropolitan sphere, the largest metropolitan sphere in the Nine by urban landmass and one of the Nine's most populous megacities. An interplanetary power city, Thessidy has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world. Due to its nature as the single entrepot between all Nine Planets, it exerts significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. Home to the headquarters of the Thessidian Peace League (Paradiso), the Alliance of Independent States (Andis ), the Coalition  (Sassan), *and* the United Front (Eutopos ), is is the single most important center for interplanetary diplomacy.

Situated at the Portals, Thessidy consists of twelve unique buroughs, each of which is a separate county of the Thessidian Autonomous Region. Six boroughs - Benevolence, Sassan, Xia, Paradiso, Andis, and Azaya - correspond directly to their respective planets. The three remaining planets have two boroughs each, as the portals are separated down the middle by rivers and thus created historically disparate communities. All twelve boroughs were consolidated into a single city at the beginning of the Thessidian Age. The city and its metropolitan area constitute the premier gateway for immigration across the Nine Planets. As many as 300 languages are spoken in Thessidy, making it the most linguistically diverse city in Ennead. Thessidy alone has a higher production rate than three of the Nine planets.

## **History**

### **Etymology**

The word "Thessidy" unsurprisingly derives from "the city." Curiously, the name translates directly across all twenty major languages of the Nine, despite considerable linguistic differences. This suggests that Thessidy, was the first source for the idea of a "city" in all Ennead.

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**PT: This is simply incorrect, but I am once again outvoted. Old Kingdom Aegypt, among many others, possessed cities of considerable scale far before Thessidy was ever established. To suggest that Thessidy was the first introduction of the "city" as a concept is ludicrous.**

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### **Early History (Era of Chaos - BTA1)**

For much of planetary history before the Abations, the area surrounding the Portals was utterly uninhabitable due to great storms. After the First Abation, humans undoubtedly crossed the portals in order to establish the various pre-Thessidian kingdoms.

### **Establishment**

The city was established almost immediately after the Final Abation. It is unknown in which planet Thessidy was founded first. The order does not particularly matter, as the city is defined by its interplanetary nature; in fact, some theories posit that the city was founded simultaneously (or at least, on the same day marking 1TA) across multiple portals.

The first confirmed reston documentation of Ma-Thessidy has been dated to around 3TA, seemingly depicting a trade agreement between Mauryan, Sassan, and Xian ambassadors based on dress.

The government of Thessidy certainly did not begin in its current form. Whether Thessidy began as a series of self-ruled autonomous counties, a singular kingdom, or some sort of interplanetary oligarchy remains to be agreed upon. At the very least, by the time of the Great Collapse, Thessidy was governed by between five and seven independent oligarchic boroughs, which in turn voted three governors every two years.

## Government

Thessidy is nominally an independent city state, although in practice its actual independence is planet-dependent.

### Legislative branch

Legislative power in Thessidy is vested in the Thessidy Council. Each borough retains the right to adopt local laws in addition to (but never in opposition against) the Council's ordinances, resolutions, rules, and regulations.

The council is a unicameral body consisting of 36 Chairs, with three allotted to each borough. Their districts within each borough are defined by geo-social boundaries set by the borough itself (usually based on population). Chairs are elected every two years, and districts are redrawn every four years. The Speaker of the Council, selected by the 36 Chairs, is considered the most powerful post in Thessidy's government.

Bills passed by a simple majority are sent to the Speaker, who may sign them into law. If the Speaker vetoes a bill, the Council has 15 days to override the veto by a two-thirds majority vote. The codified local laws of Thessidy are contained in the Ma-Thessidy Administrative Codex.

### Borough and community government.

Thessidy is composed of twelve boroughs, collectively comprising fifty-nine community districts. Each borough retains an independently run governmental system which, among other things, elects three Chairs to the Thessidy Council. Generally, each borough possessed a borough leader (archon, governor, king, etc), and a major bureaucratic instituion (council, bureaucracy, senate, etc).

#### Constance

There is a greater cultural similarity between Constance and the western portals (Benevolence, Azaya, Andis) than between Constance and Byzantos, which is more similar to Sassan and Maurya especially.

#### Xi'an

Up until the Xinic Wars, Xia possessed the largest and most comprehensive bureaucracy of any borough.

## Economy

> *"And, of course, the portals. Eight massive beams of pure planetary energy streamed straight from the ground to the sky, forming a massive circle around the city. There were a couple miles between each one, and the towers immediately around the portals were illuminated such that one couldn’t tell the difference between night and day. The audita would know, of course. Her cramped tenement was somewhere in that light, stacked above a mom-and-pop flower shop near the portal to Benevolence. She had thought living above flowers might mask the scent of the city. It hadn’t."* - Night Train
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### Overview

Thessidy is a planetary hub of business and commerce, as a center for finance, retail, planetary trade, transportation, real estate, advertising, legal services, accountancy, insurance, theater, fashion, and the arts. The ports of Byzan, Paradiso, Cahoka, Sassan, and Andis are major economic engines of their respective planets.