Sunport

Sunport, known in Atarlied as Amunhopa is the capital city of the Atarlie Empire's Province of the Sun and Moon. The city is a metropolis, with a mixed population of mostly Atarlie elves, but with a strong minority presence of humans, in particular. The city is the northernmost major settlement in all the empire and a major point of trade with the Kingdom of Bastonia to the west of the Atlas Mountains.

Geography

The city is surrounded by a low, flat plain and salt marches, sitting on the eastern side of the delta of the Tripolitan River where it joins the Northern Sea from its source in Tripolis. Sunport therefore has two harbours - an expansive sea-harbour on its northern side and a large (but not quite as large) river-harbour on its southwest known simply as The Landing. The city is lightly fortified in the physical sense, though its towers and turrets also hold potent arcane defenses.

A hill near the middle of the city hosts its temple district along with the offices and residence of the Prefect of the Province of the Sun and Moon, who rules the city directly as a personal holding, though always in council. Unusually for such councils, of late the city council of Sunport has always included representatives from the most powerful trading companies in the city, regardless of race, and so a small delegation of humans also joins in this rule.

Economy

Any listing of the most wealthy cities in the Empire would have to include Sunport, with its only real rivals being the Imperial City itself and the ports at South Point. As the only major port of trade with Bastonia, and the only major harbour along the northern shores of the empire, the city is crucial for the Empire's heavy reliance on arcane craftsmanship and the Arcwhale Oil the best products of that industry demand. The whole material wealth of some other Imperial cities flows through Sunport with each moon.

Politics

In addition to its council, there are two other competing powers which vie for political and material control of the city in backroom deals and beneath-the-table influence - the merchantile class themselves forming a syndicate that can be hard to unify and leverage its full potential, and a criminal underclass dominated by the Redhands, a powerful thieves' guild said to have at its heart a cultic connection to Shalaevar Shamaris.