City of Lu Pri

As one walks into Lu Pri, they will be greeted with warm coastal weather, vibrantly painted streets, and swords. And men lining the streets, two on each corner, three at each gate, four outside every external door to every administrative building, and one very tall one near the Africani residence within the city. You'll note that they're all clad in gold and green and that all their swords have the same gem stone at the base of the hilt at their sword. A cut jade is given to the men who have proven themselves in battle. Emblems of the great Lords of the West, the Jade Earls, the Noble Africanis. To tell the story of the City of Lu Pri without the Africanis is to speak of bricks and stones moving on their own. Of men in guild armour marching in lockstep with no instruction or direction. The story of Lu Pri is intertwined intrinsically with the identity of the Africani. From the people who inhabit the city, the majority of whom descended from the original conquers of the land, to that very fact, the fact that the miles and miles of land they have built their metropolis on are their spoils of war. Conquered and nobly stolen from under the feet of the tribes of Titans that once lived in the area, instead of granted to them by the crown like the cities of Goria or Aleri or brought together by loyalty like the Killgold. Those who were not killed outright or used as labor to build what is basically a monument to their inferiority were assimilated. The ones who refused those fates ran from the coast and the hills to the plains, and their descendants live there still. Then the land was developed. Forts went up in each corner of the city. Fort Ruin and Cyrus in the south and Fort Hel and Marigold in the north. Then came the palaces. They built one on the banks of a distributary, where it meets the sea, at a place called the Bay of Swords. It serves as the city's administrativ e building. They say at any hour there's always a Noble Africani in that building. There's also one further north, near another bay, called the Bay of Sails, and its where every one of those massive green-painted ships that make up the majority of Kimion's navy is built. The shipbuilders here can build a fully functioning, ready-to-fight battleship every day under wartime conditions. And this is all overlooked by the palace there, as it serves as the accommodation of the city's admiral, traditionally an Africani position. Just south of the bays, you'll find what the majority of the kingdom considers the City of Lu Pri. The town square. A massive area known as the Bakers' District. As no residences are allowed near places of commerce in the city, it's just shops and markets here. Blacksmiths and forges. Weapons dealers and magic venders. And the highest density of soldiers anywhere in the kingdom. If you visit the city as a commoner, this is what you will be greeted with as you walk through the massive stone gates, held up by even greater walls of rock. South still, from here, till the border Lu Pri shares with The Free City of Iriss, are where the people live. Rich and poor alike live away from the money changing hands and the swords cutting them off. It has been said the people of Lu Pri live an insular life, as many never leave the city; in fact, if you ask, they'll quicker call themselves Luprian or Western before Kimish. It has often been called the Kingdom in the Kingdom. Yet it's still just a large city in a much larger kingdom. But that city is huge. The only thing limiting its size seems to be the ever-important Green Stream of the K'Thoni River, which runs north-west, creating most of the city's massive eastern border. With the sea on the west and the cities of Goria and East OmeniTo the east, beyond the river as well as the Whiterrot forest and the Erros Hills, the city is most likely done growing. Though the Noble Africanis have shown a willingness to build outside the city limits as they've defined them. The family's primary residence, the sprawling and unimaginatively named Africani Estate, and the stone keep there, known as Africani Hall, serve as evidence of this. Purpose built out of black stone along the banks of a distributary that runs through the Whieroot forest, its closer to the Amber Palace of the Killgolds than the City of Lu Pri. closer to the city and technically within its limits is Fort Subari. It employs 20,000 men at any given time and is always dead silent as a matter of discipline. It is where new recruits of the Africani legions train before taking their first orders. There's also always an Africani here. Lu Pri has a four-member council, in contrast to other cities where the head of the family serves as the city's leader. The family head, of course, is included, as well as the commanders of the family navy and land army. There is also a representative of the people voted by the people and confirmed by the head of the Noble Africani family. Lu Pri is said to be the happiest city in the kingdom. It is actually the safest. Obviously the biggest, undeniably the most populated, and undoubtedly one of the richest. That is the City of Lu Pri. Do not ask about the villages of Tyre-near-Sea or Southtown.