Ersas city-states

Ersas city-states
Flag first used by the city-state of Thira, now flown by many mercantile vessels out of the islands
Capital	None
Ruler	None
Government	City-level merchant republics
Demonym	None; generally use city-specific demonym
Adjective	Ersas
Languages	Hellean, Common
Religions	Hero-gods; Hellean pantheon

The Ersas city-states (pronounced air-SAHS) are a loose collection of disparate cities across the Ten Thousand Islands of the Sea of Ersas. These mercantile city-states have large aquatic populations, and the cities themselves usually include districts both on the surface and beneath the waves. Caught in the ongoing conflicts between the Halakran League and Iaramnae, most of the city-states are split between the influence of the two large nations of the Hellean mainland, while a handful have steadfastly managed to maintain their independence.

Geography, flora, and fauna

See also: Ten Thousand Islands

The Ersas city-states span a number of islands across the Sea of Ersas, stretching over 600 miles from north to south and including those both near to the Hellean peninsula and those quite close to Thadria. The climate of the region is generally warm and relatively dry, even in the winter months.

Though referred to as the Ten Thousand Islands, none can agree on the true number of islands encompassed by the alliance of city-states. If one were to count only the major inhabited islands, they would reach an answer far from ten thousand, but the multitude of tiny islets inflates this number greatly. Much of the coastline of the islands are rocky and eroded, though there are areas with sandy beaches.

Ersas flora and fauna are similar to that of elsewhere in Hellea, but better adapted to life on the islands. Groves of date palms both grow wild and are tended for food, along with olives and other edible and non-edible trees and plants. The islands are home to a large variety of birds as well as lynx, martens, and so on - most of the terrestrial life on the islands is smaller in scale than on the mainland. However, the waters are home to an abundance of creatures of many sizes and shapes, including those both magical and mundane.

Though not particularly common, dragon turtles are sometimes seen near the islands. Normally more at home in the open waters of the Chaska Sea, these huge turtles sometimes venture closer to land in search of food and gifts.

Demographics

The city-states have a terrestrial population of humans, half-elves, and undine, along with smaller numbers of inhabitants of other ancestries. Many cities, however, do not end at the shore and instead continue under the water. Tritons and locathah are the primary inhabitants there, alongside some merfolk who have left their traditionally insular underwater cities.

Culture

See Hellea for more information on culture, geography, and history that is common to the nations of the peninsula.

Religion

Like elsewhere in Hellea, the hero-gods play a prominent role in Ersas religion. At present, no hero-gods are known to reside in the archipelago.

Aside from the hero-gods, the people of Ersas also follow the deities of the Hellean pantheon. Temples in the city-states tend to be somewhat more austere than elsewhere in Hellea, at least from the outside - while often indistinguishable from the surrounding buildings before one has entered, interiors are just as ornately decorated as they would be elsewhere. Worship of Triteia and Khalkeus are particularly emphasized by the population of the islands. The gods of the Khapeshan pantheon have found some followers in Ersas as well, but there are few major temples to these deities on the islands.

Languages

Though standard Hellean is the most widely spoken language in the archipelago today, some towns have been resistant to adapt this semi-constructed dialect and have instead maintained their own version of Ersas Hellean. This regional dialect has been slowly declining, however, as city-dwellers in particular abandon it in favor of the convenience of a single regional dialect. Common is widely understood as well, as are various ancestral languages.

Food and cuisine

The agriculture and cuisine of the archipelago are oriented around the sea. In addition to the surface farms and groves of crops common to Hellea, underwater seaweed and fish farms supply the aquatic citizens of the cities with their food. To a large degree the terrestrial and aquatic peoples have blended their cuisines into a fusion of both, resulting in some unique dishes and methods of preparing food.

Architecture and urbanization

While the dwellings of those who live above the water in the Ersas city-states are much alike those built elsewhere in Hellea, the underwater sections of the cities take on radically different appearances. Most are brightly colored and decorated as if they were constructed of coral, even though they are actually stone.

Those who live in the Ten Thousand Islands primarily reside either in the major port cities or in smaller coastal fishing communities - inland towns are much less commonplace. The cities account for roughly half the population of the archipelago.

Travel

As might be expected, nearly all travel within the archipelago is by way of the sea. Even movement between communities on the same island is usually undertaken with small boats. On some islands small roads reach inland, but on others there are simply no set routes once one has left town. The only active anchor sites in Ersas are in the cities of Ochalis and Oktonia, along with one in Pandosia that was destroyed by a past volcanic event.

Among the water-dwelling inhabitants of the archipelago, hippocampi are widely tamed and used as transportation. Vast herds of these creatures graze wild in the shallows around the islands.

Magic

Magical practitioners in Ersas take a variety of forms, though sorcerers of aquatic bloodlines are more common than elsewhere in Hellea and the broader world.

Education

Merchant families in most city-states sponsor schools, along with other civic institutions. This funding, however, is almost always contingent on the local navarch's support of the families, and can be withdrawn if inter-family tensions in the cities rise.

Government

The Ersas city-states are a collection of primarily mercantile port cities without central governance. The individual city-states vary in the specifics of their leadership but are generally ruled by figures known as navarchs elected from among the major merchants and influential families. While originally a rank used for those who led fleets of warships, roughly akin to an admiral, the smaller sizes and populations of the city-states led to them being military surpassed by their neighbors centuries ago, and therefore in the modern day they rarely undertake any military expeditions aside from those targeting pirates and raiders. The title remains, however, but now indicates an almost entirely civilian status.

The city-states rarely make collective decisions, yet when forced to in times of crisis the navarchs convene to form a council that then chooses which direction the alliance will take. One of the few matters the city-states consistently cooperate on is in the deterrence of piracy, which they all abhor and seek to end in their waters.

Military

In most cities the bulk of their guards are drawn from the archipelago's triton population. As the only reasonable way for most to reach the islands is by water, soldiers that can disable vessels before they even reach shore are highly advantageous.

Economy

The Ten Thousand Islands are, broadly speaking, not particularly rich in natural wealth. Little raw material is exported, as the mines, farms, and so on of the archipelago are capable of supporting the local population with little excess. The city-states have, however, leveraged their position in the Sea of Ersas to become quite influential in the trade networks that connect the Chaska to Viridia, northern Hellea, and the Phiora Sea.

Relations

The city-states of the Ersas have a highly competitive relationship with the Kingdom of Eretrebus to the south. Though they are without the resources and connections of the Midanites, Ersas merchants nonetheless compete on many of the same trade routes.

As tensions have once again flared into open conflicts between the Halakran League and Iaramnae, the city-states of the Ersas have found themselves caught in the middle. Both mainland nations compete for influence, if not outright control, of the city-states, less out of a desire for territory and more for taxation on the lucrative trade networks through the sea. Iaramnaen and Halakran warships are now common sights in the Sea of Ersas as well as in the harbors of the city-states, where they exerted ever-increasing sway through a combination of threats and diplomatic maneuvering.