City-States

There are 15 imperial city-states, four ancient nature cities, four neutral cities, one fey city, and one free city in the region of Talune.

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Allettare

Type: Elemental
Population:4,000
Ruler: Elder Fiorebella Lugli
Symbol: Field of stars

The city of stars. A terraced city on the Fiume Stellato (river of stars), a city where the ancient cosmic religion is still strong and holds sway. Ruled by a council of elders, it holds onto the old ways and has many observatories and temples in its highest terraces. It is designed to match the planets and zodiac.

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Alveo

Type: Imperial
Population: 100,000
Ruler: Duca Iacomo Trentavasi
Symbol: Lionfish

The city of canals. A massive imperial city on the Fiume Cadente and at the north end of the Conosciutean Sea, it is a city of deep canals, a city built upon itself. It is a city of nascent industries and ancient pollutions, of stinking waters and major progress. It is ruled by the Trentavasi family.

The Guild of Builders, Smiths, and Machinists has its headquarters here.

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Andato

Type: Neutral
Population: 16,000
Ruler: Conte Santuzzo Fissore
Symbol: Nonagon

A small, neutral city, it is the western most city of the Talunese region, sitting on the Gattore Sea. It is also called the City of Hearts; it stretches along many miles of coastal land and beaches, never going very far inland due to the marshes and hostile terrain nearby. The people are stereotyped as "very emotional" and "always listening". It is a city of gossip brought from around the world by sailors coming to its port to trade with the western regions. It is ruled by the Fissore family. The Teatro del Cuore is one of the main draws of the city.

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Assembratta

Type: Imperial
Population: 4,000
Ruler: Barone Elmuccio Lattanzio
Symbol: Fish with teardrop

Located at the mouth of the Fiume Maggiore on the eastern coast of the Conosciutean Sea, Assembratta is a small imperial city that was once a fishing village. Now it is the heart of the fishing industry on the Conosciutean Sea. It is a dreary town, and its many bridges and deep waters are infamous for the number of suicides that have taken place there. It had a growth spurt a few decades ago and has stalled out as the waters from Alveo to the north pollute its waters.

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Barbantica

Type: Neutral
Population: 12,000
Ruler: Barone Loderingo Piccolomini
Symbol: Three mushrooms

The fungus city. A city made from giant mushrooms, located on the far eastern end of the Fiume Mostro. Many hundreds of years ago, some magic made a colony of mushrooms grow to be dozens of feet high and wide, and the people in the region learned to use them as homes, to cultivate them, to expand them, growing their strange city into a bizarre urban cluster of connected fungal structures. They also have a strange communication system using the roots of the mushrooms. It is on the Via Corta and Via Paluda.

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Cantora

Type: Imperial
Population: 5,000
Ruler: Barone Donato Gargiulo
Symbol: Open-palmed hand

A coastal city at the far southern end of the region on the Mezzoregnan Sea, Cantora is on the edge of Foresta Tremante, the Forest of Shivering Trees. It is home to many of the local spirits who have sway over dreams, and it is well known for its goblin population, chemists, and small port. People say it is haunted just like the forest near it, and those who take a night's rest there often have frightening visions. Though the Via Grande terminates there, few travel the final stretch through the Foresta Tremante due to the horrors lurking there. Thus, trade is mostly by sea.

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Cenpianu

Type: Imperial
Population: 100,000
Ruler: Duca Ottobuono Morimondo
Symbol: Grey crown and cross

Founded by Liotru Morimondo, a man driven out of Sbocciare a thousand years ago for allegedly killing his wife, this city is still ruled by the Morimondo family. Sitting at the confluence of the Fiume Maggiore, Lago d'Argento, and Via Paluda, it is a major crossroads city in the east. The lake is so-named because of the silver mines nearby, which is the source of the Morimondo family's wealth. They built a massive, sprawling palace on the lake - literally on top of it - and have a cemetary floating on it as well.

The Entertainers Guild and the Textiles Trades Guild are headquartered here.

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Falciare

Type: Neutral
Population: 30,000
Ruler: Barone Priamo Gulotta
Symbol: Triple tower

A city on the southern coasts of the islands far to the south, Falciare is the city of towers. Massive spires dominate the city, some of them crumbling, some of them still well built. Famously, there are walkways between the towers that the more affluent use so they "never touch the ground" while works live in the shadowy slums below. It rests on massive cliffs, and the towers are built into the cliffs as well, making a strange, elevated city that sprawls inland as well. Its port is supported by a system of pulleys.

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Fioirire

Type: Imperial
Population: 70,000
Ruler: Duca Amdusiass Niccolini
Symbol: Six orange spheres

A major river port on the Fiume Mostro (a river named for the huge river beasts in it), sitting at the crossroads of the Via Centrale and Via Lunga, it is an important imperial trading city. It rests on both sides of the river, connected by a series of ferries controlled by the duke. Crossing the river comes at a price based on how laden your wagons are; docking here costs as well. Many deals are made here. The river is the heart of the city. It is known for its trumpeteers, its violent storms, its twisted trees, and its nine-circled palace.

The Guild of Merchants and Money Changers is headquartered here.

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Fortebianco

Type: Fey
Population: 55,000
Ruler: Duca Bertolo Venturi
Symbol: Pard's head

The city of glass on the Fiume Nero, Fortebianco is a city whose founder, Foca Venturi, was a powerful fairy who fled the realm of Faerie due to a deal gone bad. Instead, he used his fairy magic to create the city of glass, a place of legend and delight where he could play. Eventually, he passed and his son Bertolo inherited his debts and his city. Bertolo is very old now, but he is a shrewd ruler. The city is full of glass buildings, mirror-lined lanes, translucent walkways and bridges, and the famous Palazzo di Vetro. Throwing stones is illegal here. It sits on the north end of the Via Tomaia.

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Ginocchia

Type: Imperial
Population: 60,000
Ruler: Duca Gaius Cheffalo Adorno
Symbol: A bowl-torch in a city square

The city of light on the Flussian Sea, at the mouth of the Fiume Verde, Ginocchia is the heart of the Talunese slave trade. Called the city of light because of the magical lights that illuminate the city at all hours, the lights were first installed to watch for escaping slaves. Its history is marred by its role in the slave trade, but many there are very proud of it. The population of the city does not include the thousands of enslaved people who move through it or live there.

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Laccio

Type: Imperial
Population: 25,000
Ruler: Duca Tomasso Criscuolo
Symbol: Two-tailed seahorse

The city at the end of the Via Est on the coast of the Mezzoregnan Sea in the east, Laccio is called the sunken city or the city of milk due to the milky color of the sea there, caused by the marble buildings resting under water. Nearly 1,000 years ago, the old city sunk into the sea during an earthquake, and the new city was founded atop it and inland. It is said that during the earthquake, the rich and powerful abandoned their servants and slaves to die and escaped, sometimes literally on their backs, leading the city to be cursed - the milky waters let few fish survive. It now survives as a trading port and the terminus of the Via Est.

The Shipping and Transport Guild is headquartered here.

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Lupposto

Type: Imperial
Population: 255,000
Ruler: Duca Remigius Licinius
Symbol: Two-headed wolf

Once the heart of the Talunese Empire, Lupposto remains the largest city in the region and one of the largest in the world. On the Fiume Calcola and Via Grande, it is called the city of wolves. Legend says that it was founded by wolves, and now so many millennia later, wolves continue to roam the city freely. It is ruled by a small number of families who retain their ancient Luppostan names and claim a pure heritage, and purity of heritage is a major value of everyone who lives there. You may not be a Luppostan citizen if you cannot prove your ancestry is connected to the city, meaning that only a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands living there are official citizens. All pay taxes, however. It has one of the strongest militaries in the region.

The new Spicers Guild has just opened their headquarters here, and the War Guild has long has its headquarters here.

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Moltionda

Type: Elemental
Population: 8,000
Ruler: Elder Homobonus Tringali
Symbol: Torch

A small port city in the islands in the shadow of the active volcano Violabruccia, Moltionda is a city built upon the ruins and ashes of many former cities. Ruled by a council of elders and the priestesses who honor the volcano spirits, it is one of the hearts of elemental power in the region. The people there honor their ancestors, the volcano, and the seas, and the city is protected from imperial interests by the power of lava itself. The ruins of ash at the heart of the city are a memorial to times past and the people lost, and these days, even though there is a good relationship with the volcano spirits, there is still a clear evacuation plan in place.

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Montacqua

Type: Imperial
Population: 30,000
Ruler: Duca Antionotto Ossola
Symbol: Six-horned bull

An imperial city nestled in the mountains at the terminus of the Via Nord and Via Tomaia, Montacqua is named for the mountain springs upon which it is founded. Built into the mountainsides, it is a massive earthen city of twisting maze-like streets, deceptively small buildings (which have deep underground spaces), and hidden pathways and doorways disguised in the sides of buildings. It is a city designed for defense against invaders from the north.

The Guild of Food and Medicine is headquartered here.

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Nuoposto

Type: Imperial
Population: 150,000
Ruler: Duca Condellu Iannuzzi
Symbol: Red pepper

The largest port city on the Mezzoregnan Sea, along the southwestern coast along the Via Grande. It is the second largest Talunese city-state and the heart of imperial naval power in the area. Its port is a massive trading port and naval base, and it is home to a vast sea wall which is adorned with special torch towers that are filled with burning siege engines wielding megalifotia to defend the city. Within the city, there are fortifications with flaming towers and pillars of smoke as foundries and smithies spit out weaponry. From this city, fleets of conquest have sailed. From this city, wars have been won on the Mezzoregnan Sea. From this city, blood has flowed.

The Guild of Fang and Leaf is headquartered here.

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Ontano

Type: Imperial
Population: 15,000
Ruler: Duchesa Mariella Erbezzo
Symbol: Blue and yellow vertical bars

The city of shade, Ontano sits at the intersection of Via Stella and Via Tomaia, two major highways in the western region. In fair Ontano, the streets are covered to block the sharp summer sun on the open plain. Sparse tree cover is made up for by intricate construction designed to spare the citizens the heat. The culture is a proud and vain one, and laws enforce keeping the city clean and beautiful to a level others envy. It is a city of statues and architecture, mosaics and murals. The laws also ban "ugly people" from being outside, however, and ableism runs deep here.

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Pesante

Type: Elemental
Population: 12,000
Ruler: Elder Larthi Facui
Symbol: Cetus

A diffuse port city on the east coast on the Gremboni Sea, it is the last major city that still honors the ancient seafaring religion that once dominated the coasts and islands of the area. Ruled by a council of elders, it is a city that relies upon its seafaring culture, fishing, and trade, and it keeps the imperials away by being friends to the seas. Dolphins and giant fish (ceti) and octopuses and other sea beasts, beds of algae, and the waves themselves protect the people of Pesante.

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Piapperto

Type: Neutral
Population: 30,000
Ruler: Barone Venutomartio Rampazzo
Symbol: Thirteen-leafed vine

Famously ruled by the millennia-old black dragon Venutomartio Rampazzo, Piapperto is a city that has maintained its neutrality because of the fear others have of its ruler and his followers. Sitting in the wetlands and forests around the Via Stella, it is a city of gardens. A city of thick greenery designed and controlled as the territory of a powerful dragon who maintains it meticulously. Waterways choked with vegetation, eerily expansive trees, shrubs and bushes lining every walkway, wooden paths over the waters and quicksand, and wildlife everywhere live alongside the thousands of people who call it home. Vined walkways run across the canopies that run to the massive swampy maelstrom at the heart of the city in which lives the barone.

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Rotondo

Type: Elemental
Population: 7,500
Ruler: Elder Jacopo Draghi
Symbol: Tree of life

A small city on the Fiume Verde at the end of the Via Stella, Rotondo is so-named because it is a perfectly round city in a sparse riparian woodland that is naturally shaped around its buildings. Ruled by a council of elders and druids, it is a city that has never given up the ancient nature religion of its past. They worship Mother Shem herself and try to remain attuned to the land and world. They resist the imperial machinations around them, but they do get involved when they are threatened. The people there are descended of older cultures that once dwelled in the area long before empires came here.

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Sacra Vitta

Type: Imperial
Population: 2,000
Ruler: Pontifece Urbano Culmine
Symbol: Black and white keys

A city on a small island off the west coast in the Mezzoregnan Sea, Sacra Vitta is the heart of the Imperial Church, the syncreitc religion of the White Crown Concordance. The ruler, the Pontifece, is considered the head of the united Imperial Church, with the heads of the various constitutent churches being the religious leaders of the various empires. They chose Sacra Vitta as neutral ground, and each empire sends representatives to elect a pontifece when the last one dies. The current one is older but not near death, a major world leader, and the last arbiter of religious doctrine for multiple imperial religions. The city is mostly made up of members of the church, pilgrims, desperate people, and servants and slaves. It is a city made of white metal buildings and streets, a city constructed - forged and foundered - from steel and magical metals. Famously, the Teatro Bianco, a famous theatre for religious plays, is on a small islands connected to the main city by a white bridge.

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Santamaria

Type: Free
Population: 24,000
Ruler: Mayor Zillia Cecchetti
Symbol: Orange and white horizontal stripes

The Free Republic of Santamaria overthrew their imperial rulers a few hundred years ago. It is a city designed by the people to serve their needs. It rests on the far east coast on the Gremboni Sea at the end of Fiume Vecchio. During the war that saw it liberated, the warrior virago Maria Serbatoio died to save it, and in doing so became its namesake. The war saw the city mostly razed, but the people rebuilt it with a civic-minded design. It is a city of small communities and intentional planning that meet its needs. It is run by an elected mayor and council, and it is the only major port in the region where slave trading is illegal. Their Doctrine of Freedom means no one who sets foot in it can ever be enslaved again. It is the terminus of Via Lunga and Via Est.

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Sbocciare

Type: Imperial
Population: 55,000
Ruler: Duchesa Ingorgidia Giuffrida
Symbol: Sceptre and star

The financial center of the region and a major port on the southern islands, sitting on the interior of the Conosciutean Sea, Sbocciare is a city on a set of islands on the larger islands of the south. It is home to major banks and mints, gold and diamond mines, and vast vaults. While the Giuffrida family are the ostensible rulers, the Fuegolumina crime family has major control of it. Famously, the Fuegolumina Diamond is publicly displayed in the main square.

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Scudola

Type: Imperial
Population: 25,000
Ruler: Contessa Giaccolina Conti
Symbol: Bloody knight's helmet

A moderate imperial city on the southern end of the Via Est, Scudola is known for its terrifying blood knights, knights who make a blood oath to their contessa and gain power as they fight. They ride blood red horses and wear blood red armor, and the color red is a major theme throughout the city. While the contessa and her family rule the city, their main vassal is the dragon Scalanarancio Sanguino, whose magic empowers the knights, it is said. The city is also called the open-air city, for many of its major buildings have special roofs that open up, allowing for air to flow, as the sea air flows in and cools it often, and its mild, dry climate allows for it. It is also home to a massive market.

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Tregua

Type: Imperial
Population: 40,000
Ruler: Duchesa Boriga Marcucci
Symbol: Opinicus

Tregua lies at the confluence of Via Corta and Via Lunga. It is a moderate imperial trade city that has ambitions to grow. They have invested greatly in their own growth, taking out major loans and building up its military. They have also invested in a magical system of electrical power, something unseen anywhere else in the imperial world at this point in history. It is an experimental electrical system powered by the souls of the enslaved, and the city is ruled by a ruthless family who will do anything to maintain their power - and gain more. The electrical system powers lights, weaponry, and special devices that are in use by the imperial powers.