the City of Argea

Here's the latest map for the Atlas Elyden, with some art and lore on the city of Argea - capital of Sarastro, and centre of the Sarastroan empire. This one was specifically commissioned by Chris Karnezis and I'm pleased with the result. It has an orientalist vibe and shows off the disparity between the Lichfort and the seemingly-tiny houses and villas beyond it!

This is the low-res version available to everyone.  Become a Patron at the Acolyte tier for access to my back-catalogue of High-res, PSD and textless maps. That includes the High-res version of this map, as well as the textless version.

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Considered one of the major metropolises in Elyden, Argea is a sprawling city where one can find almost anything for sale in its many markets, whose wares come from across the Salt Road. It is famed for its narrow streets and their overarching walkways, and for the great white domes that crown its skyline.

Origins

The city was planned, and built atop the great steep-sided Excian Hill at the behest of Sathep the Risen, with construction starting in 339 RM. It was a time of great change in Sarastro, which had been under siege by Korachan for years. Starving and desperate, its people were nevertheless defending their home vehemently against the imperial warmachine, and it was only with the sudden reappearance of the Archpatrician Malichar after centuries of being thought dead, that the nation was finally taken.

In a move that few expected, Malichar appointed Sathep, then ruler of Sarastro, as his regent there, following two years of overseeing the transition to imperial control. The Saoshyants were stripped of their powers as imperial patricians and industries flowed into the nation. Sathep was otherwise allowed to rule as he saw fit, so long as all expected tithes owed to the empire were paid in full.

Sathep’s design for the city was simple - a gigantic fortress (later known as the Lichfort) would crown the existing hill, with vaults and catacombs delving deep into its heart, and municipal structures within and around it. Surrounding the fort would be the city proper, with temples, villas and bureaucratic structures close by, and apartment blocks beyond, with simple hovels being farthest from the city centre. Surrounding the city or miles around would be farmland.

Originally built to a grid along a strictly defined plan, its eventual growth and regeneration over the years left its once-wide streets and predetermined districts and streets changed, narrow and winding, flanked by multi-storey apartment blocks and large palaces that cast the streets below in near-perpetual shadow. Though the planned municipal structures, churches and palaces were complete within 9-decades of the first foundation stone being lain, the city continued to expand, with people adding new streets and blocks to its peripheries with little planning or care for the original intent to a cohesive design.

The original plan to surround the city with walls was rapidly eschewed as the city rapidly outgrew the original design, and only a 1-mile stretch of wall was eventually constructed, little of which remains to this day (most of the bricks used in the construction of the wall were repurposed later on in renovations and rebuilding of surrounding structures). The workers’ settlements that had appeared at the base of the fort were rapidly absorbed by the expanding city, with new workers’ settlements appearing farther and farther afield. Over time many of these were converted to farmstead, becoming small communities that would, over time, also become devoured by the ever-expanding city.

By. c. 600 RM the city had gained a reputation for being a centre of culture and architecture, and people flocked to it from across the empire and Sarastro alike, requiring a near constant expansion that both outgrew and outpaced any original plan or intent for the city. As new shanties and slums emerged in the peripheries of the city, older slums were demolished, their people forcibly ejected, to make room for new palaces, villas and civic structures as they were needed. It is thought that it reached a population of 1,000,000 soon after this, in c. 620 RM, making it one of the largest cities in the Inner Sea Region.

A major effort at beautifying the inner city commenced in 2231 RM. This saw entire districts demolished to make way for new boulevards, gardens, statues and triumphal arches in a bid restore some of the prestige to a city that many claimed had been left behind by advances elsewhere. Though largely successful, some of these projects were never completed, most notorious of which is the Grand Market, a multi storey structure that was to serve as a hub of culture, commerce and administration alike. Only half-finished before a change in administrative direction saw works halted, it soon attracted a lower class of people who squatted in its unfulfilled bowels, attracting crime and disease. An attempt to demolish it in 2623 RM was met with resistance by thousands of occupants, and after months of conflict, plans for it were eventually abandoned, with the distinct allowed to rot. It remains today, a blight on the streets of Argea still known as the Grand Market.

Civil War and Independence

The Secular Dissolution of 1393 RM granted more powers to the Church of the Machine and allied patricians and Saoshyants. The church subsequently pressured Sathep, whose laws had become remarkably tyrannical, his arrogance resulting in the erection of great steel monuments that came to echo the dark days of the Defiler Kings’ rule. The Church, alongside its emir and patrician followers, opposed his rule, leading to a long civil war that started in 1491 RM, and which over the years would consume most cities, including Argea. A large battle outside the capital in 1531 RM was Sathep weakened, ending the war with the formation of the Overcouncil in 1532 RM, whose members were drawn from patricians and emirs sympathetic to the Church of the Undying Machine. Their major contribution to Sarastroan history would be the protracted wars against Arkos, which resulted in appropriation of its Citadel Mounts between 2326 and 2412 RM.

Over the years Sathep was able to corrupt most of the Overcouncil to his whims, turning its emirs to umbraphagy, supplying them with all the umbra they could need. With most of the Overcouncil under his control, he was able to restore his strength, and in 2974 RM he silently rid himself of the handful of disloyal Overcouncil members, with the remaining members serving as puppets. This forced the Holy State of Hagradea to supplicate itself to him, reuniting Sarastro after years of conflict. A few decades later the Korachani empire would fracture, leading to not only the independence of Sarastro, but the elevation of Argea as capital of the Reformed empire.

Consolidation

The next centuries were harsh, filled with restructuring of the city. Many major thoroughfares were widened, allowing ease of access between governmental structures. The Lichfort was refortified, with new structures appearing outside it, effectively concealing its new bastions.

New industries were brought to the city, which had never been a major industrial centre. Old Korachani monuments and structures were toppled, replaced with new ones that honoured Sathep as ’liberator’ even as his Overcouncil tightened its grip over its people. The city grew in wealth as diamonds from the Delomig and soulstones from farther south were mined, at great cost to the workforce. The corruption of teh Overcouncil and emirs alike only increased with Sarastro’s newfound independence, and the city became a haven to decadent nobles, even as the common folk found life becoming harder than it had ever been.

Despite this, the city expanded greatly following Sarstroan independence, with people from the Reformed empire flocking to it over the ensuing centuries, and its population soon ballooned to over 2,000,000 by 3100 RM.

Unrest in the lower wards of Argea spread rapidly during a particularly hot summer in 3139 RM, following months of rationing of food. This led to months of strife and the stalling of many important industries. An agreement was eventually reached later that year, effectively creating the first workers’ unions in Sarastro, in return for fresh bread being distributed to its populace for free, a tradition that remains in effect to this day, and which Sarastroans remain proud of.