The Ersas City States (pronounced air-SAHS) are a loose alliance of disparate cities encompassing the Ten Thousand Islands. These mercantile city-states have large aquatic populations, and the cities themselves usually include districts both on the surface and beneath the waves.
Geography, flora, and fauna
See also: Ten Thousand Islands
The Ersas City States span a number of islands on the western side of the Sea of Ersas. The climate of the region is generally warm and relatively dry, even in the winter months. In some of the taller mountain peaks, both on the islands and on the peninsula, rainfall and even snowfall on rare occasions are more commonplace.
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.
Chuspikis, small mouse-like creatures that can soar on the wind, are native to the Ten Thousand Islands. Far more intelligent than their form would suggest, chuspikis are common sights in the archipelago as they ride the winds between islands. Some powerful spellcasters in Ersas seek out chuspikis as familiars.
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. Locathah and tritons are the primary inhabitants there, alongside some merfolk who have left the 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 gods 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. Khalkeus, Ino, and Eutychia 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 as of yet no 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 Aquan and racial languages. It is not uncommon to find inhabitants of the cities who are bilingual in both Hellean and Aquan, and who regularly speak both in order to communicate with both halves of their city.
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
Though incorporating the common features of Hellean architecture, buildings in Ersas share many of the same adaptations as are used in the Alyma Archipelago and other island communities around Hellea. Houses and other buildings on the islands are usually constructed of mortared stone which is then plastered and painted white, often with colored accents around doors and windows - blue is common, but so are red and orange. The underwater sections of the cities are brightly colored and decorated as if they were constructed of coral, though most are actually built of stone.
Those that 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 support, however, is almost always contingent on the lord-mayor’s support of the families, and can be withdrawn if inter-family tensions in the cities rise.
Government
The Ersas City States are an alliance of primarily mercantile port cities. The individual city states vary in the specifics of their governance, but are generally ruled by lord-mayors elected from among the major merchants and influential families. The city states rarely make collective decisions, but when forced to in times of crisis the lord-mayors 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 the city guards are drawn from the archipelago’s triton population. As the only reasonable way for most to reach the islands is by water, guards 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, mills, and farms of the archipelago are capable of supporting the local population without much excess. The city states have, however, leveraged their position in the southern Sea of Ersas to become quite influential in the trade networks though the sea.
Relations
The city states of Ersas have a highly competitive relationship with the Kingdom of Eretrebus to the south. Though they are without the resources of the Kalistocrats, Ersas merchants nonetheless compete on many of the same trade routes.