Argengrast (pronounced AR-gen-grast) is a Tirionite colony on the western coast of the Chaska Sea. The breadbasket of Tirione, the colonial situation in Argengrast has been complicated by unrest - simmering tensions have recently given way to outright rebellion.
Geography, flora, and fauna
The climate and ecology of Argengrast is heavily driven by the Chaska Sea. Like most other regions around the Chaska, Argengrast sees quite mild weather - warm summers and mild winters are characteristic of most years.
Most of Argengrast was originally covered by grasslands and plains, and much still is. Dotted by groves of trees, and more substantial forests in some places, these grasslands are habitats to animals both large and small. A significant proportion of these plains have since been converted to farm- or pasture-land.
One major river, the Adeban, runs through Argengrast. Tributaries of the Adeban converge before the river eventually flows out into the Chaska Sea.
Farther inland, Argengrast includes the northern-most extent of the Sagaritian Uplands. Home to a number of unfriendly giants and dangerous creatures, the colonists have generally considered expanding into the region of buttes and mesas to be not worth the risks.
The two-headed amphisbaena is an unfortunately common threat within Argengrast - some communities have skilled snake-catchers that have honed their abilities in hunting these creatures.
In some stretches of the Tupavo River and its tributaries, travelers are advised to be watchful for carnivorous beavers. Similar in appearance to normal beavers, these black-pelted creatures prefer to build their dams not out of wood but rather out of the bones of their prey. These beavers will eagerly attack any creature they think they can bring down, whether that be wild animal, domesticated livestock, or people. Whenever their dams are spotted, groups are quickly organized to eliminate them before they can spread disease and filth downriver.
History
Early history
The town of Kition was the first modern settlement in what is now Argengrast. Founded by settlers from southern Hellea, Kition and its outlying region grew slowly over the centuries.
Beginning of colonization
By Y9600*, Tirione began to take an active interest in the area. By providing large amounts of raw material, the colonial efforts in Nionegrast had proven successful in reviving faltering Tirionite industry. Next, Tirionite leaders wished to reduce their reliance on food imported from Khapesh or Ishtar. To do so, the colony of Argengrast was established in the fertile lands of the western coast of the Chaska Sea. Like in Briathone and Nionegrast, existing inhabitants of the region were included in the colony whether they wanted it or not.
The Long Ten Years
Though Argengrast has been greatly beneficial for Tirione for almost four centuries, willful mismanagement and a lack of concern for the population has frayed the once good relations between the governing conglomerates and the ordinary people. Unlike in Briathone or Nionegrast, the companies and colonial administration long maintained policies of listening to and addressing the concerns of their workers and citizens. When a drought from Y9958* to Y9968* rendered Tirionite farmers completely unable to support the cities of the nation, however, Argengrast was forced into providing almost all the food to ensure the metropole did not starve. Tirione has recovered in the years since, but the actions of the colony remain fresh in the minds of Argenites.
During the Long Ten Years, as it is known to the people of Argengrast, the agricultural output shipped from the colony to Tirione well outstripped what was actually capable of being provided when considering local needs. The people of the colony were left with little food of their own. Famine was mitigated only through the services of a great number of sympathetic clerics, but Argengrast suffered greatly nonetheless.
Unrest and the Lamplighter Rebellion
As a result of the Long Ten Years, the social and political situation in Argengrast has deteriorated greatly. Various dissident groups formed in the years since. Many have close ties to the clergy of a number of deities, though the largest and most influential, the Lamplighters, are officially secular. While some of these organizations prefer political solutions, others are not afraid to shy away from violence. All have one shared goal - the dissolution of the colony and independence for Argengrast. This new period in Argengrast's history is commonly referred to as the Lamplighter Rebellion.
The rebellion has been low in intensity and scale so far. Phoenix Crest has been functionally autonomous since Y9965*, the first settlement to be loosed from colonial control, and in Y9972* the town of Soluntum quickly fell to an alliance between the Lamplighters and the local centaurs, almost without a conflict. In most of Argengrast, the rebellion is more of an insurgency, with underground groups sabotaging the forces of the colony. Some of the religiously-affiliated organizations keep a more public profile - temple grounds are de facto neutral territory, something the rebels use well to their advantage.
Demographics
The inhabitants of Argengrast include individuals of many ancestries, though with a human plurality. Aasimar, ganzi, half-elves, half-orcs, gnomes, oreads, and others accord for much of the rest of the population.
Within inland Argengrast, near Soluntum, live one of the few remaining groups of centaurs outside Hellea. Though isolationist and suspicious of the colonists for much of Argengrast's history, their assistance during the Long Ten Years built much closer ties between the centaurs and the Argenites.
Culture
Religion
The gods of the Chaskan pantheon are most typically worshiped in Argengrast, though the Hellean pantheon has significant influence as well. Temples and clerics to Marya, Aduntarri, and Hasamel have long been widespread in the colony. Though her traditional role was as an agricultural goddess, worship of Marya in Argengrast has begun to take on a much more revolutionary aspect. A very new arrival to Argenite religious life, the local Cult of the Phoenix has spread quickly through the colony since its beginnings around Y9965*. Members of this cult worship a semi-mythical phoenix seen as the embodiment of the Argenite people that some claim appeared just before a successful uprising in Phoenix Crest. The cult is intrinsically tied to the political situation in Argengrast, as the faith advocates for their independence from Tirione as one of its core tenets.
Languages
The people of Argengrast primarily speak Telan and Common, though other languages are not unknown.
Architecture and urbanization
The architecture of Argengrast is broadly similar to that of Tirione, Unlike in Briathone and Nionegrast, where towns are frequently constructed and soon abandoned as resources deplete, the communities of Argengrast are built far more to last. Towns and cities in Argengrast have generally remained relatively small - Kition, the largest city, only home to only ~17,000 individuals.
Magic
Wardstones, large magical standing stones with runes inscribed on their faces, can be found around Argengrast. None are quite sure who created these magical defenses - weathered by the water and wind even despite their magical power, the wardstones have been standing since long before Tirionite colonization. Many communities in Argengrast have been established around these wardstones, under the belief that whatever they were meant to protect from, it could not hurt to continue putting them to use just in case. As a result, any type of teleportation, even short range spells like Dimension Door, simply cannot be used to enter many Argenite towns. Evil creatures also cannot pass close to the stones, though it seems these restrictions do not always apply to natives of the Material Plane.
The Lamplighter Rebellion
There are many factions that are involved in the struggle for Argenite independence, though most have aligned themselves with the Lamplighters. The largest of the pro-independence groups, the Lamplighters are a motley alliance of Argenite commoners, independent merchants, religious zealots, and centaurs. Though they have managed to work together thus far, the lack of central leadership and sometimes wildly diverging methods have posed a continual issue in their rebellion.
The Lamplighters acquired their name through their use of lanterns to send coded messages. Despite their best attempts, the ever-changing meaning of the patterns in the light have confounded the colonials' attempts at decryption.
Along with the Lamplighters, a number of religious factions are active in the insurgency. Argenite clerics of Aduntarri have made clear their support for independence, but refrain from any action further than supporting the rebels with healing, food, and shelter. A subset of the Cult of the Phoenix that calls themselves the Argenite Phoenixes are far more active in their role, working closely with the Lamplighters. The faithful of Marya involved themselves relatively late in the conflict, but their influence has steadily grown.
Together, these factions are opposed to the colonial forces. For most of its history, the conglomerates maintained only a token guard force, more to protect against wild creatures than to pacify the colony. Since the beginning of the Lamplighter Rebellion, they have rapidly and hastily militarized. Most of the colonial soldiers are under the employ of the Balanos Consortium or Macaria Colonial Concerns, supported by a small detachment from the Tirionite navy. The Balanos Consortium has negotiated a partnership with the Nivarian Paradise Company in order to procure the same clockwork guards used in Briathone. These clockworks, and more uncommonly golems as well, are deployed as part of squads of flesh and blood soldiers. Macaria Colonial Concerns, meanwhile, has hired mercenaries from far and wide. The mercenaries have earned themselves something of a reputation as effective if sometimes difficult to control.
Government
Similar to other Tirionite colonies, in Argengrast various companies are granted charters over the land and all resource found within. Though there are others, the major conglomerates in Argengrast are the Balanos Consortium, Macaria Colonial Concerns, and Trade Winds Shipping. This triad exercises political authority in the colony, effectively governing it themselves - like in Briathone, Tirionite administrators can override the companies but rarely do so.
Economy
Unlike the situation in other colonies of Tirione, Argengrast's economy is not primarily oriented around resource extraction. Rather, the conglomerates that manage Argengrast focus on food production, the vast majority of which is then shipped to metropole on the eastern coast of the Chaska Sea.
Though there are currently few in number, some mines in the Sagaritian Uplands produce iron pure enough for easy refinement into cold iron. Some within the colonial administration believe this resource to be a significant source of untapped wealth for Argengrast.Template:CitiesArgengrast