Ascaria

> "*Ascaria truly is the queen of cities, greater even than Constantinople... she is an ancient forest of spires and arches and domes, a city clad in technicolour marble, and yet there is still much space for gardens of staggering variety. Her temples, though serving a heathen religion, easily rival the grandest of our churches in beauty and sheer size. The most conservative estimates say the city houses a million, but I am more inclined to believe that Ascaria's entire expanse may house as many as three or even four times that number.*"
> ― Thomas Laskaris, Byzantine historian, writing some time between 1380-90
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**Ascaria** (lit. "First-Land") is the capital city of both Nesaria and the Nesarian Empire, and is widely considered the birthplace of Nesarian civilisation. Ascaria is the most urbanised and densely populated region of Nesaria, housing just under 19.78 million people, which is 29% of the entire population of Nesaria Proper.

Although the Nesarians have always considered it entirely uncontroversial to label Ascaria as a single city, by most definitions it is in actuality a large metropolitan area made up of multiple connected but distinct cities. Rather than being evenly urbanised all the way through, Ascaria consists of several heavily urbanised population clusters surrounded by less developed towns and villages. Despite the general perception of Ascaria being a single cohesive entity, when Nesarians speak of "Ascaria" without further qualification they are usually referring specifically to Capera, the oldest and most affluent district of Ascaria, where the Imperial Palace lies.

Ascaria came into being in 600BC (900 INC) when King Mathados the Founder united the various local tribes into one. Although he is credited with creating Ascaria, he did not settle the city, as it had been inhabited for several centuries before his time. The Kingdom of Ascaria rapidly emerged as the leading great power of Nesaria and eventually came to conquer the whole country after defeating their main rival in Mortia in a war that took nearly a century. Ascaria itself rapidly became the most populated region of Nesaria, though its growth experienced a significant setback - along with much of Inecuria - during the War for the World, when the large population of Ascaria made it a target for the invading Cosmovores, who slaughtered almost everyone who did not escape with Emperor Athdus III.

## Geography

Ascaria is often described as being blessed by geography - many Nesarian historians argue that its near-perfect positioning in the country made its dominance inevitable. Ascaria's geography makes it extremely easy to defend whilst also being open to trade with the rest of the country over Lake Jerutina.

Ascaria is a mostly flat plain enclosed on the south side by the Ascarian Mountains, and to the east and west by the twin Great Walls. To the north lies Lake Jerutina, the inland freshwater sea in the centre of Nesaria. The north-eastern coast gives way to sandy beaches, whereas the north-western coast consists of cliffs formed by the Table Mountains. The navigable Ebasli River (lit. "still-water") divides Ascaria in two, flowing from underground springs in the Ascarian Mountains to the north-eastern shore. As its name would imply, the Ebasli is known for the lazy pace of its flow.

The heart of Ascaria, the sub-city of Capera, lies approximately one-third of the way along the Ebasli from the north-eastern coast, in a large bend in the river. Its position on the river was crucial to the development of its prosperity and power; it not only provided easy access for merchants, but most importantly allowed for grain ships from the rest of the country to supply Capera - and, by extension, the rest of Ascaria - with far more food than could be produced locally. In modern times, most food transportation to Ascaria is done by rail - with local distribution performed by lorries - but seaborne transport has certainly not lost its importance.

### Great Walls

The Great Walls are two exceedingly ancient structures that protect Ascaria's eastern and western flanks. The eastern wall, called the Wall of Acras, spans from the Ascarian Mountains to the coast, and it forms the border with Cafania (and was the origin of the name of Cafania - lit. "wall-land"). The western wall, called the Wall of Calisa, is shorter and spans between the Ascarian Mountains and Table Mountains, forming the border with Infria.

Both walls have the same basic construction; they are gargantuan earthworks faced with stone, each with a singular wide gate almost exactly in the centre. It is unknown who built them or what they were intended to protect against, but they are known to have originated from the Age of Titans, predating the Annihilation. The walls have been renovated and redecorated numerous times over the centuries - most recently in the Imperial Civil War, when the battlements were altered to make space for cannon; these spaces were later used to hold machine guns and anti-aircraft guns in the Imperial War of Independence.

The basic appearance of the Great Walls has remained largely unchanged since the last major redecoration in the 17th century. They are whitewashed both to protect against the elements and to improve the visual appearance. The wash is renewed every 50 years, with the timing being staggered so that one wall is washed at the midpoint of the other wall's cycle, so that one wash happens every 25 years; this is to spread out the significant cost of renewal, so that the state is not hit with a massive expense all at once.

The gates of both walls are flanked by colossal statues. The gate on the Wall of Acras bears twin statues of a horse and a lion - the animals associated with the Elvetan god Acras - meanwhile the Wall of Calisa bears statues of two Felune, winged warrior creatures who fanatically serve the goddess Calisa. In modern times, the gates remain perpetually open (though the mechanism to close them still exists) and through them flows a highway. Trains used to go through the gates until the rail lines were moved underground in 1968, to give room for both the road and railway to expand.

The top of the Wall of Calisa is open to tourists for a fee, but the Wall of Acras is not. The reason for this is that the Wall of Calisa, being the much shorter of the two, is easier and cheaper to maintain and police; it was judged that the revenue gained from opening the Wall of Acras to tourists would be too little compared to the expense of mantaining it. In the event of conflict, protocols exist for both walls to be occupied by the military.

### Ascarian Mountains

The sharp Ascarian Mountains form a border with Infria. They are, for the most part, impassable; though trails up them do exist, crossing over them is a challenging hike and involves climbing steep slopes. In the winter months, these mountains are topped with snow, but the peaks are not cold enough to sustain ice in summer, causing it to melt and swell the Ebasli River.

The Ascarian Mountains are perhaps best known for what is below them; the underground city of Shengema, Inecuria's largest settlement of Limkas, lies beneath the peaks. However, Shengema is not considered a part of Ascaria, and the entrance to it lies outside the Wall of Acras, in the jurisdiction of Cafania.

### Table Mountains

The Table Mountains are better described as one massive plateau rather than a range of mountains. Lying on the north-western coast of Ascaria, the Table Mountains are a raised area of rugged land that gives way to sheer cliffs on all sides. Transport up to the Table Mountains remains challenging even in modern times; most movement of goods and people between the lowlands and the plateau is done by helicopter, and as a result the plateau is very sparsely populated.

The only significant population centre atop the Table Mountains is the Highlands Resort, a rather expensive tourist resort that markets itself on its isolation. The rest of the plateau is split between a nature reserve and a military training ground.

## Flag

The flag of Ascaria is a very dark grey (but not black) saltire on a white background, with a golden sun in the centre. This is identical to the flag of Nesaria, but with a dark grey rather than purple saltire.

Since the saltire shape represents two crossed swords in Elvic tradition, the grey colour merely represents the steel of the swords. Originally a lighter grey closer to the actual colour of steel was used, but the colour was darkened in the 15th century for purely aesthetic purposes, as the lighter grey was judged to be not distinct enough from the white background.

Ascaria originally used the same flag that is now used for Nesaria, but the grey variant was introduced by Emperor Mathados IV when he declared the Nesarian Empire, taking the old flag of Ascaria as the flag of the Empire. The flag of the Empire was then changed to the flag of Nesaria when Emperor Athdus III introduced the new Imperial Flag that is still in use today.