Leucia

Leucia is the capital city of the Grand Republic of Antrusca, a nation lying on the Cordic Plains. It lies to the east of the Santerine Hills, with roads leading north and south to the Antruscan towns of Elur and Sinrua, and east to the Cuchian town of Alympa and the Paisian town of Stiuma.

## Etymology

Leucia derives from the Hog Latin word 'leucum', meaning 'company'. The exact reason behind this name is unknown, but is suspected to have something to do with the town's trading roots.

## History

Leucia was founded as a Reman outpost during the 3rd Century BCE. Its position on the edge of the Cordic Plains made it a trading town first and foremost, and before long Leucia was vying with Arcum and Sigeum for a monopoly on the wool and milk trades in the area.

Fortune was kind to Leucia, and it became the primary trading city on the plains at around the same time it came under control of several trading companies. These companies poured wealth into the city, allowing it to develop further as settlers came south.

When Reme came into contact with its southern rival Kharos, trade on the plain was stifled. The armies marched in from the north, fortifying Leucia and its surrounds. The more amateur of the merchants were driven off, giving Leucia a reputation as a hotbed of disreputable traders and, before long, the city itself had a reputation as an undesirable, ugly and harsh city. This sentiment was only made worse in 138CE by the decision of the garrison commander, Cnaeus Ervinius, to build thick and squat stone walls using the black stone found in the Santerine Hills.

The walls were untested during the Reman era, and fell quickly into disrepair once Ervinius was replaced after a mis-allocation of army funds. Under one of his indirect successors, the future Consul Junius Laelius, the city became known as a testing-ground for new civic projects. Laelius used his patronage to funnel new money into Leucia, beginning with a great canal designed to redirect the Vubula River through the old merchants' district.

This new canal revamped Leucia's trade value - it became the only Cordic city with a river link directly to Reme itself. The city entered a new golden age, becoming the most important city on the Cordic Plains. It stayed this way until the middle of the 7th Century.

In 644, the Vardano-Reman Religious Wars began. Several prominent figures in Leucia at the time - the master of the merchant guild Lucius Demetrius, the garrison commander Carius Vilivictus and the city treasurer Julius Rhaerus - began to preach heresy and Ekdianism.

The city was very receptive to this heresy - Leucia had never been overly acceptive of the Reman Pantheon, and had a large population of Parsanians and Balardians already. Leucia was the centre of two revolts - the first, led by Carius Vilivictus, spread throughout the region before it was harshly put down by the Legio de Fulminatus. The second was led by a retired soldier, Cambius Ferventus, and was stoked by the rage that had spread through the population when the Legio de Fulminatus had been in the area.

Ferventus' revolt led Leucia to secede from the Reman Republic entirely in 651, following in the footsteps of the Corrinean League - though Leucia was too far from the League to seek safety in its ranks. Instead the new government of pro-Vardanid Leucia formed the Republic of Leucium. This nation lasted into the late 7th Century, supported by several Reman legions which were employed as mercenaries by Leucia's massive coffers.

In 688 Leucium was invaded by the neighbouring Kingdom of Erevica, which conquered the city but was quickly overrun by a republican revolt co-ordinated in Leucia, Craeusa and Myra. This revolt overturned Erevican rule in the area and established the new Republic of Antrusca.

Since then Leucia has been fairly stable as a minor trading hub - it has been overtaken by Milos and Mantum in recent years - and has served as the capital city of Antrusca.