Aleath

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alt-Map of the City of Aleath

City of Aleath, the third largest settlement of western Hârn and the largest in the Kingdom of Kanday, is called by its inhabitants the “City of Truth and White Virtue”. A seaport, at the mouth of the River Eryn, the city is somewhat isolated from the rest of Tharda, lying outside the plain of the Thard River. Aleath’s hinterland is only moderately fertile but still possesses a fairly dense population. Boatbuilding and fishing are significant. The townsfolk pride themselves on their high standards of architecture and civic cleanliness, although Aleath is outstanding only by medieval criteria. The streets are regularly patrolled and Aleath is regarded as one of the safest spots on Hârn. Aleathians tend to regard outsiders as morally bankrupt; they themselves are often deemed self-righteous, prudish snobs. The city is a freetown, governed under a royal charter, by a royally appointed lord mayor and aldermen; the king considers the advice of prominent citizens when making such appointments.

Aleath has a trouble past. The city as founded by Alash, a chieftain of the Aleta. in 356 TR. For a century, the city prospered as the capital of the Kingdom of Alethia, its wealth second only to that of Coranan. In 453 TR, the Kingdom was incorporated into the Corani Empire and Aleath continued to prosper. Its port was expanded, and a paved road, linking it with the north, was built.

The city became known throughout the empire as the “fairest city of man”. Between 551 and 559 TR the entire empire suffered a series of plagues and famines fostering the Balashan Jihad. With the fall of Coranan to the armies of the jihad in 565 TR, Aleath, the only untaken city, decried itself a republic and gathered the surviving loyalists its bosom. This First Aleathian Republic lasted for seven years, until the city fell to the Balashans after a bitter three year siege in 572 TR. Some Aleathians fled by sea, undertaking the Aleahtian Odyssey, and many others slew themselves, rather than witness the “Agony of Aleath”, the terrible bloodbath that was to follow the city’s fall.

The city reluctantly became part of the Theocracy of Tekhos, in 572 TR, and suffered its share of religious purges and spectacles. During the Interregnum following the collapse of the Theorcracy in 588 TR, Aleath suffered from the chaos, along with everyone else but gradually gathered power to establish a second republic in 612 TR. Slowly extending the city’s benign influence over the nearby petty states, the republic hoped for a new liberal age but weakened by decades of war, Aleath’s strength was inadequate to the task. With rumors of barbarian invasions in the north, the Aleathian senate chose the least of several evils. In 633 TR, the republic voted its crown to the ascendant king of Kanday, Andasin II, who granted Aleath a liberal charter recognizing its rights as a freetown within its kingdom. The following temples are to be found in Aleath:

 

* Headquarters of the Order.

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