Port of New Hope
Geography
The Port of New Hope is a city-state of the of The Southeastern Threshold, located where the Great Grass Sea meets the land of Harbourhead, overlooking the Flittering Morass to the southwest. It sits upon a tall plateau, rising almost two thousand feet into the sky, its top occupied nearly entirely by the city and the farm plots that supply it with fruits and vegetables. Down the vertical cliffs of the plateau thread numerous thick Firevines, though ascent by the exterior would still be near-impossible.
Access to the top of the plateau is achieved through following a series of natural caves and tunnels spiraling up the interior, along a broad path carved out alongside an underground stream which sinks from a spring at the top down to flow out into the Flittering Morass below.
The Port of New Hope is a trading city, home to a large market for local goods and slaves.
History
The Port of New Hope was founded by a group of refugees in the aftermath of the Balorian Crusade. Mostly Dphon, this group fled the deadly environment of the Flittering Morass and the hostile inhabitants of Navelborne, finding shelter in the caves within the plateau and eventually making their way to the top where they established a settlement in which they could live safely as they recovered.
Politics
The Port of New Hope has considered itself a foe of Navelborne since its founding, and that has dictated much of its foreign policy in the centuries since. The two states compete over the scattered villages within the surrounding grasslands and swamps, they compete over slaves (and often enslave each other), and they even compete in religious terms due to differences in their chosen gods of war. When Navelborne embraced relations with the Scarlet Dynasty, The Guild found the Port of New Hope eager to welcome their factors and caravans.
Relations with Harborhead are not good, due to mutual slave-raiding and religious differences.
The Port of New Hope is ruled by its eldest citizen, who takes the title of ‘Great Chief of the Grassy Seas from Mountains to Horizon’.
Economy
The Port of New Hope has little in the way of metals, textiles, or foodstuffs, requiring it to import goods from the surrounding lands. It is however prosperous, due to its two key exports: the first, slaves taken in raids on nearby tribes and villages, and the second charcoal, produced from the plateau’s Firevines. Due to the lack of trees across many Southeastern grasslands, and the poor quality of some savannah trees for burning, New Hope charcoal is highly valued in Southeastern markets, large quantities being exported through the caravans of The Guild.
People
The people of New Hope are a varied, cosmopolitan lot, the original Dphon now a minority. Skin or hair colour are of little import to identity, though physical uniqueness is celebrated, and the population likes to dress in unique cuts and combinations of colours.
Religion and Military
While most tribes and natioons of the Southeast worship Ahlat as god of war & cattle, and Bright Spearpoint as god of the hunt, the Port of New Hope is an exception. Not as numerous as the Five Peoples of Harbourhead or the Navelborne, and lacking space to raise Cattle herds, the people of New Hope were drawn away from the cult of the Bull God by political maneuvers in Yu-Shan. Disturbed by the dominance of Ahlat as war god in the Southeast, Sunipa the God of Eastern War has sought to push her own purview southward to meet that of the Bull God.
Embracing her cult, New Hope organized its army as a small force of professional soldiers, well equipped and well drilled, with clear chains of command and efficient tactics so as not to overextend or cause wasteful destruction. Though outnumbered by its foes in the region, the superior troops of New Hope are able to hold their own.
This organization and precision is also applied to taking captives as slaves, the soldiers of New Hope being exceedingly efficient at the task. The cult of Rabszolga, god of slaves, is large in New Hope, and it embraces Ystara as his consort. The priests of Ystara in New Hope keep in close contact with their counterparts in Navelborne, exchanging small symbolic luxury gifts regularly, and providing an unofficial diplomatic channels between two powers whose official leaderships are heated in their feuding.
