Epirus, Shadow in the Golden Circle

Birthplace and home of LordDiomedes.

Shadow: Golden Circle

Treaty Status: Due to the balkanized politics of Epirus, some city states have provisional membership, others do not. Provisional membership is something the wealthier states covet and jealously hold onto as much as possible.

Technology: Renaissance.

Broadsheets are extremely common in the City States, nearly displacing the role of the Agora as a focal point for politics of the City States.

The City States also extensively use an arcano-alchemical creation called GreekFire. It is primarily used in naval warfare but some City States have begun to put it to peaceful use in things like streetlights. It burns brightly with a yellow-orange light.

Magic: A recognized branch of knowledge and studied in academic fashion in most of the city-states. Alchemy is the most developed of the esoteric arts, because of its uses in conflicts.

Culture and Government: Byzantine Greek City States (with some Italian influence) with variable forms of government, but usually centered around an Avtokrator with more or less power, depending on the City State (and indeed, current condition). There is no shadow-wide government, although coalitions and aggregates of the city states often form, grow, divide, dissolve and reform. While open warfare is forbidden those City States who have provisional Golden Circle trading rights, there are always plays for dominance and heated words can turn to small conflicts now and again.

The City states aren't quite as male centered as their counterparts in the City States of the Italian Renaissance, but there is a significant
gender disparity at work in the shadow.

Religion is monotheistic, but the Epirus citizens love to debate even the most minor aspects of the doctrines of their religion, with each other and especially with strangers. The Archbishop in Ioannina is considered the leader of the faith and this helps give Ioannina additional power and influence.

City States within Epirus include:

Galata Largest of the City States and was home to VanessaAlexandraBotaneiates, Diomedes' late mother. Well justified tales of the beautiful mosaics and artwork that the city is home to is what lured PrinceBrand to visit the shadow for the first time.

Ioannina A City State known for having the largest Church in Epirus, a beautiful domed structure of marble. It is second only to the military and economic might of Galata among the City States, and often was the ranking City State in times past.

Salamis Located on one of the islands off of the northern coast, Salamis is an aggressive trading city even by the standards of Epirus. Salamis is also notable for being the point of �first contact� with traders from Amber and the rest of the Golden Circle, and is often still the disembarkation point for visitors to the Shadow.

Chimara Noteworthy for being an inland City State (albeit on the Saxos River), it is a jumping off point for those who would dare the mountains to the east, since one of the few decent passes is located near it. It profits very well from skins, hides and other products brought back from the dangers of the interior.

Biome:

The coastline is rough, fjord-filled and hilly if not mountainous. Transportation between the cities is mostly best accomplished by water, and the maritime skills of the Epirus are well developed. The climate on this seacoast, where the City States are concentrated, range from wet, cool and rainy in the north, to dry, warm and Mediterranean in the South.

A large, wide belt of mountains in the 10-14,000 foot range separates these City States from the interior. Serious development of the interior has been halted by this imposing natural barrier with few passes. Beyond the mountains, however, the geography becomes more varied, with a large hot spot caldera basin at altitude just beyond the center of the range as the center point of the wondrous topography, but an extensive badlands as well upon its plains.

The conclusive evidence for the relative shallowness of Man's imprint here is the presence and thriving of Pleistocene-like megafauna. In the landward portion of the mountains and further east, giant ground sloths, saber toothed tigers, mammoths and American lions roam the landscape with Buffalo, Elk, Bears, Wolves, and much more. Not only a sportsman's paradise, this fauna makes seeing the natural beauty a challenge to visit and is a reason why serious settlement of the interior has not occurred.

Import/Exports: The numerous city states of Epirus fiercely compete for extra-shadow business and trade. The city states have specific specialties, but in the main vein, they export a fair amount of timber, fish, olives (some of the best in the Golden Circle), apples, and crafted objects in silver and gold.

They also export silk, having secretly obtained silkworms from a nearby shadow which long held silk production as a monopoly. There is a little exporting of the rare goods from the interior, at high prices (mammoth ivory, hides, furs and the like).

The Epirus city states import beef and grains not easily grown on the seacoast.