Sendar

Sendar is one of the most important cities and city states of the Messellat Mdûlûn east of the Grey Sea. It is likewise the capital of its polity. Sendar was and still is a sworn enemy of the Tarrabaenians, although currently a smoldering conflict with the city state of Rodasaikus and its allies overshadows the conflict with their nothern neighbours. It leads an alliance of several city states itself and in especially well known and respected for its naval military capabilities. Sendar is also a trade partner to many: Messellat Mdûlûn city states, the Tarrabaenians and some Andaperna peoples to the East.

As capital of the polity called Sendar, the political institutions important for the functioning of the state are situated in the capital. Some military subdivisions, though, are located in border towns or by the sea, to meet threats posed by outside forces or to secure sea trade. This means that Sendar is the seat of its government, that is to say its council of oligarchs, the seat of the supreme general, but not the head naval officer and also the seat of the treasury. It is also centre of the tax system, because all coastal trade ports have to report back here and all wares are carried to Sendar first before being redistributed into different areas, which in turn also means a centralisation directed to the capital.
The main religious institutions are all located in the countryside and, other than one might expect with sea elves and especially sea elves so deeply involved in seafaring as those from Sendar, rather in the mountains than by the sea, as the city state of Sendar mainly worships dieties of springs and waterfalls.

The Council of Sendar is at the same time the legislative and executive organ of the state. It was originally made up of the oligarchs of Sendar alone. With the foundation of the Military Union of Kudari Isto, one representative of each allied city state was brought on the council, not permanently, but for decisions pertaining to the conflict with Tarrabaenia and the usage of the common coffer. Later on the alliance became more and more one-sided with Sendar abusing its majority which it also held in the extended council and dominating the decisionmaking processes.

The military is divided into two major divisions: marine and land army. While the marine is led by one supreme general, the sutaikun, who is deployed in Punkogan, Sendars main marine harbour, the military has three equally responsible leaders, which are called paikeje ('trainer of the foot soldiers'), pairebomaje ('trainer of the riders') and paiparsunje ('trainer of the archers'). While technically each one of the presides mainly over that part of the army their title indicates, this is indeed mostly true for training purposes. Otherwise eacht has to be instructed well by his colleagues on the capabilities of the respective part of the troop, since in case of war, only two of them are send into battle, leaving the third one as a reserve. Training takes place in Sendar, troops are then send to border stations to secure the borders und the leadership of a subordinate commander.

As a fairly centralised state, all goods make their way through the capital. This provides the authorities with major control over the flow of wares and with chances to deduce fees and taxes. Trade carts are only allowed to enter the city through two of the five city gates, the southwestern Sankaimalat Monbira and the eastern Orinanat Monbira. Wares are declared there and a fee is deduced to have them enter the sendarian domestic market. Bringing wares into Sendar without passing the capital is an offence and will get severely punished.

Sendar was founded relatively early with the Messellat Mdûlûns migration to the East, as it lies in one of the first fertile patches of land after coming from the mountainous aud rocky North. Nonetheless at first it was merely a first stop, as many delved further South, taking advantage of the unclaimed lands there instead of competing for resources in the busy North. The name Sendar probably refers to this status as a first settlement, as it probably goes back to the Tamôl roots 'sen' (first, beginning, incipient) and 'ta' (watchtower, secured space), both of which are preserved in standard Tamôl 'senmays' (first, leading) and 'mibalda' (watchtower, lookout).

Being the closest to the old settlement area to the West and being provided with ample wood from the neighbouring mountains, Sendar had no problems establishing itself as an intermediary between the new settlers in the East and the rest of the Messellat Mdûlûn. The oligarchs of modern Sendar are all descendants of the first families, who were lucky enough to come out of the competition for wood sourcing, establishing trade contacts, shipbuilding, handicrafts and also cultivation of olives for Olive oil.

The ongoing conflicts, first with the Duiniken, then with the Tarrabaenians, led to the establishment of a strong army, especially naval forces. This led to the formation of some alliances with varying partners on this or the other side of the Grey Sea. The culmination of this was the aforementioned Military Union of Kudari Isto, which was founded, when the Tarrabaenians got a foothold in prior Duiniken lands and proved to be a more formidable adversary, than expected. In 1477 of the Era of the Earth, the union suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Asterius Poírius Acássia, which put Sendars hegemony in the East under question. Vexed former partners of Sendar broke of, with Rodasaikus soon taking on a leadership role.