Fasulafalis

Fasulafalis (FAHS-OOL-AH-fah-LIS) (formerly Mabourathu) is a heavily fortified port city on the coast of the Nadaria region of Carasala. It is currently the capital of the Kingdom of Bialcaria, a state sponsor of piracy which is largely based in the city's harbor. The city has served as the main port for the Nadaria region since ancient times. Its current population is 83,000, making it the largest city in Nadaria.

## Etymology

The name Fasulafalis is a corruption of the city's Middle Noulaenic name, Faislulafalos, derived from the name of the Faislula (lit. "mid earth") Sea and the word *falos* ("harbor"). The original name of the city, Mabourathu, derives from Nadaric Rigini *mabou* ("big") *rathu* ("water"), a reference to the sea as well. The city was Noulaenicized as Maboulathu between its capture in 469 NE and it's sacking in 598 NE, after which it was repopulated with Malaenic peoples and renamed Faislulafalos.

## History

Indigenous peoples of Nadaria fished along the coast line of the region during the early historical period, and several fishing villages existed in the region of Fasulafalis, though none were permanent. The invasion of Rigini culture in the 6th Century BNE led to an increased emphasis on animal husbandry and reduction in the consumption of seafood. Rigini peoples had little interest in the sea and largely avoided the rocky coastal areas. The native peoples continued to dwell and fish along the coast, however, retaining some of the indigenous language and culture in the area.

The Haraklina began construction on a colony named Nanasighka a few kilometres away from the later site of Fasulafalis in 120 BNE, but native peoples attacked and destroyed the colony in 117 BNE. Locals began construction of their own harbor at Fasulafalis in 97 BNE, following a similar design to the ruined harbor facility at Nanasighka. The harbor was primarily built for Haraklina trading ships, mostly engaged in the slave trade which was active in Nadaria at that time. They named the site Mabourathu after their name for the sea.

Mabourathu was a busy port and a modest town built up around it to service it, with a population ranging from 20,000 in 1 NE to 32,000 by the end of the 4th century NE. It grew in importance in the 5th century as the Haraklina began to supply arms and gold to the Nadaric region to counter Noulaenic expansion in the region, as it was the primary port through which Haraklina goods were moved. The city grew considerably from the 430s through the 450s due both to increased trade economy and the arrival of war refugees from other regions, reaching a maximum of 85,000 in 466 NE.

The primary united Nadaric force, which included many fighters from Mabourathu, was defeated by a Noulaenic army in 463 NE, leaving the city poorly defended. Continued support from the Haraklina allowed the Nadaric peoples to slow the invasion for several years but Mabourathu was captured nu Noulian after intense fighting in the surrounding plains in 469 NE.

The empire renamed the city Maboulathu and set about improving the fortification of both the city and the harbor. The Noulaenic fleet was heavily inferior to Haraklina fleet in the region at the time, however, and the port was effectively embargoed until the destruction of last continental Haraklina city, Larakali, in 512 NE. During this time trade through the port was essentially non-existent and the city withered economically. By the time the port was re-opened for trade, the population of Maboulathu had shrunk to under 20,000.

Following the sack of Larakali, oceanic trade through Maboulathu was restored but still suffered heavy losses due to Imaric and Ialic pirates in the eastern Faslula Sea. The Noulaenic fleet was considerably improved in the following decades, however, and Maboulathu became the key naval base for Noulaenic anti-piracy operations. As the area became cleared of pirates, goods bound for Dersialdara and Malaena began to move through the port at an increasing rate and the city became an important trading post once again. By 595 NE, the city had grown to a population of 95,000.

A number of unpopular Noulaenic policies, especially forced resettlements and privileges for ethnic Malaenics in Nadaria, led to anger and unrest in the Nadaric region during the 6th century. A full scale rebellion broke out in Maboulathu in 595 NE which soon spread to the entire lower Nadaric region. The Noulaenic fleet anchored in Maboulathu was burned and the local garrison was massacred. Noulian responded with both heavy naval and infantry assaults on the city and it was sacked in 598 NE, with over 15,000 of its citizens killed in fighting.

That year, Maboulathu became the last city to be subjected to the Noulaenic practice of tri-partition, under which a third of the remaining population was slaughtered, a third enslaved, and a third resettled in harsh frontier lands away from their families. This move proved unpopular throughout the empire. Although larger Haraklina cities had been subjected to this practice, Maboulathu was the largest Noulaenic city ever subjected to tri-partition and the first one with a considerable ethnic Malaenic population. The unpopularity of this decision is often cited as a likely motivating factor behind the assassination of Emperor Daramsis V in 599 NE.

A new city was constructed around, over, and from the remains of Maboulathu in the style of the fortress city of Laduaen in Falea, with some modification to the design to allow for access to the expanded harbor. This city, initially named Faislulafalos, was completed in 603 NE and populated with ethnic Malaenic peoples, many of whom were veterans of the campaign against the rebels and their families. The city was designed to house 200,000 people and initially populated with 107,000. Upon completion it became the county seat of Nadaria.

The city prospered as a port and its population grew with migrants from elsewhere in Nadaria, who became a substanstial minority of the population despite a number of discriminatory laws and practices against them in the city during this period. The port also became an important staging area for anti-piracy operations once more and was populated with a significant garrison of soldiers, ships, and and sailors.

Unrest in the Nadaria region flared in 760s once more and the upper Nadaric region rebelled in 764. Most of the Noulaenic naval forces were engaged in anti-piracy operations at this time and the garrison at Faislulafalos was significantly reduced below its normal level. The bulk of Faislulafalos's remaining garrison was formed into an infantry legion, numbering 10,000 soldiers, and sent to quell the rebellion. This force was defeated and captured at the Battle of Defanusi in 765 NE.

Nadaric rebel forces, armed with seized Noulaenic weapons, arrived at Faislulafalos in 766 NE and surrounded the city. Despite a number of sabotage attempts by Nadaric militants within the city, the city resisted capture for five years and was able to avoid famine through naval trade. In 771 NE, however, news reached the city that Malaena had been invaded and the city's leader, Count Faelsis Aernial Daramfal, realized that the city could not expect relief. He ordered his military prefect to negotiate the surrender of the city and fled with his family to Carasilaen in secret while the negotiations were ongoing.

Nadaria was briefly united under the warlord in control of Faislulafalos, Biamiathios Deifal, who had declared himself King of Nadaria in 767 NE and established a court in Faislulafalos after its capture. Other warlords broke away from his rule shortly afterwards, however, and King Biamiathios was killed in battle at the Battle of Sara Cliffs in 775 NE while attempting to defeat his rivals. His son King Faelthios was nontheless able to consolidate control of the lower Nadaric basin region around Faislulafalos in 776, agreeing in treaty with several rivals to call his kingdom Bialcaria. Peace proved elusive, however, and the region continued to see internal fighting for decades to follow.

Faislulafalos continued to be an important port and military stronghold during the inter-imperial period, and was on several occasions the only territory that the King of Bialcaria effectively controlled. The city's relatively large population and heavy defenses allowed it to repel invasions and regain control of the surrounding valley for most of the inter-imperial period.

The Kingdom of Bialcaria found itself fighting a losing two-front war with Calancaria and Ialia in the late 12th century NE and the last inter-imperial King of Bialcaria, Besis III, accepted a demotion to Count of Nadaria in exchange for Noulaenic military intervention in 1201 NE. Fasulafalis, as it was called by this time, became a county seat once more. The empire, in an attempt to show the benefits of imperial lordship, lavished the city and region with wealth and preferential trade treatment, helping to make Fasulafalis a prosperous and populous port once more.

The city prospered during the "Golden Age" of the second empire as a high tonnage of valuable freight from the mines in Lasucsala moved through its ports in the 14th through 18th centuries. The city reached its all-time high population of 355,000 in 1792 NE before an outbreak of plague the following year killed a tenth of the population.

Imperial authority dwindled during the 19th century and trade through Nadaria tapered off as the mines of Lasucsala were emptied. The economy of Nadaria fell into free-fall and while Fasulafalis remained more prosperous than most of the rest of the region it nonetheless suffered from dwindling economic activity and trade.

The Count of Nadaria in Fasulafalis declared himself King Falersis I of Nadaria in 2060 after several other Noulaenic vassal states had declared independence from the empire with little consequence. The viscounts of Bincaria and Carasanada refused to recognize this title, however, and successfully broke away from King Falersis's control. A treaty in 2062 divided the region into three kingdoms, with Fasulafalis once more becoming the capital of the Kingdom of Bialcaria.

The nominal Noulaenic Emperors in Carasilaen consolidated naval control over the southern Faslula Sea during the following decades and Fasulafalis increasingly became cut off from trade as ships increasingly sailed past Nadaria to either Dersialdaric ports or Biroreida in Ialia. The port was frequented by pirates, however, and the Kings of Bialcaria increasingly turned a blind eye towards their activities. By the end of the 22nd century, the kingdom had become an open state sponsor of piracy and built up a significant pirate fleet that terrorized the eastern Faslula Sea. Numerous attempts to destroy this pirate fleet have been made by both the Noulaenic empire and, more recently, the Elaenic fleet, but the heavy land and sea defenses of Fasulafalis have proved insurmountable for would-be attackers and the fleet remains in operation today.