Hloamar

The "Old Town" district of Hloamar at night.

**Hloamar** (Yi'yenian: **Helyen**, Old Almadorian: **Helemar**), originally known as Yi is the regional capital and largest city of Nir Province in the Aurlûnor Velande. Once known as **Sokalis**, Hloamar was a part of the former Takumakken Empire prior to it's collapse. It was founded by the Crow people as a trade outpost in hopes of finding trade partners in the Gulf of Heaven, though it was transfered to the Aurlûnor Velande in the Treaty of Smaugonik. It would eventually be attacked by barbarians, razed, and rebuilt; following the reconstruction, the city became the primary shipyard and semi-official home base of the Dragon Navy.

## History

### Sokalis Era

*Full article: Nir Province*

Though the area had been previously occupied by Celestial Elves and the Yi'yen culture, the city of Hloamar/Sokalis itself was founded by the Takumakken Empire after the sacking of the ancient city of Yi. Its then-mayor, Link0Pasta, would oversee municipal administration. It was called Helemar prior to Krow People conquest.

The Takumakken years would see the construction of a few houses, a Nether portal, wheat field (though agriculture was not very conducive to the brackish coastal swamp) and livestock pens, as well as a bizarre series of tunnels used for mining and quarrying. Much of the quarried rock was used to build the old Sokalis Cathedral.

### Transfer Crisis & Great Fire

In the final days of the Takumakken Empire, the town was put into a kind of condominium state with the Treaty of Smaugonik, but was not formally annexed fully into the Aurlûnor Velande until Takumakken's collapse. This was met by hostility from the new emperor of Takumakken, which demanded that Aurlûnor to relinquish the claims. War almost broke out yet again, but a compromise was signed. With that, the settlement was formally annexed and renamed to Hloamar, which became Aurlûnor's important military outpost along the bay, keeping watch in the east.

Much of former Sokalis would be left to ruin, and it would be a shanty town by the time the Aurlûnoren obtained it. The Great Fire of Hloamar would occur following a week after it's capture when barbarians came to raid and pillage it. The fire would destroy most of the buildings in the town.

### Hloamar Era

New settlers from Lhûmar begun to populate the town, with one of the citizens, Zax, tearing down the then-charred cathedral that was present there as it was a "heretic building", and Mao Meili, a Celestialkin who had lived in Hloamar since it was under Takumakken rule, making efforts into rebuilding the town in the same architectural style as the rest of the country, marking Celestialkin domination of the former Crow People outpost.

The Great Fire was used as an opportunity by Hloamar's surviving residents to rebuild the city. The old Crow buildings are nearly completely demolished or modified beyond recognition, and the new Celestialkin immigrants have taken to fishing the swamps around the city and the coral reef off its coast, bolstering the local identity as a partially-seafaring people of the marshes. After demonstrating her talent and dedication in the rebuilding, the Velereth (Coffeecubus) appointed Ms. Mao as imperial governor of Nir Province, granting the town functional autonomy from Lhûmar (the territory was under its *de facto* control with the lands plugin).

The new Twin Dragon temple, the Temple of the Four Sages, was built atop the foundation of the old cathedral. The city's eastern side was established as a middle-class suburb, adjacent to the shipyard and port facilities owned by the Aurlûnoren Velandic Navy. The original neighborhood and docks in the western part of the city, a district known as Old Town, would be retained as a historic district, and the eastern "New Town" continues to be built up.

   In May of 2021, the city would finally be connected by a real bridge to the mainland for the first time in its entire history, making it no longer necessary to access by boat only. The following month, the only modern building other than the Temple, a Femboy Hooters franchise, was built on the last remaining open plot of land in Old Town.

On June 30th, in light of the allegedly attempted coup d'etat against the Velereth, the National Hammer was built. It serves as a method of public execution for criminals deemed worthy of capital punishment by dropping an anvil on their heads, killing an unarmored person upon impact.

In July of 2021, the island to the north of the city would be flattened and turned into a public beach, and incorporated into the city proper. It remains one of the city's most popular tourist destinations, alongside the Temple of the Four Sages which now hosts cultural and natural artifacts deemed worthy of both preserving publicly and offering to the Sages.

In late January of 2022, the city's iconic cobblestone walls were torn down as a part of a project to expand the buildable land in the city. They were replaced with walls made of slate and basalt.

## Culture

Hloamar, being a coastal town, is very dependent on the sea, and maritime culture penetrates much of the city. The most famous Hloamar-style dish is *Lingremian*, made with fried fish and either rice or wheat noodles. Rice is the most commonly consumed starch and is the staple crop of the region, as the swampy lowlands are conducive to rice cultivation. Rice balls and *zongzi* are made with local ingredients. Most local meat comes from the sea or swamps, with the majority being fish; alligator, turtle, game birds, shellfish, and even monkeys are also eaten, usually relegated to the lower classes as they are seen as 'dirty'. Fish is usually fried or blackened with lots of seasoning. Peppers grow well in the humid climate of Nir, and bell peppers and spicy peppers both feature in Hloamar cuisine extensively.

Most people in Hloamar are employed in the fishing industry, mining, tourism, shipbuilding, or metalworking. Historically a fishing town, much of the Old Town district is comprised of fishing docks and fishermens' homes, as well as seafood markets and restaurants for tourists. It was designated as a shipbuilding port for the Dragon Marine in the mid-930s ACA, and most of the navy's ships are built in the southeast quarter's dry docks. A small amount of nature tourism occurs in the Ha Anga Bayou National Park just outside the city.

Coal and iron mining are rapidly-expanding industries in Hloamar, as the Sokalis Coal Measures host the most productive anthracite mines in the whole Velande. Coal-powered steam pumps are used to extract water from the saturated rock layers above the aquifuge, and plans to use similar steam engines in other industrial settings like steel mills and ships are underway. Concerns over space (as the city is small) and pollution have been raised after many of the local upper class announced plans to build Aurlûnor's first factories in the eastern parts of town.