The Cortanian Union [CORE-TA-NEE-AN]

Current Location: Western tip of Ercus.

Population:
Approximately 23,854 citizens in total.
5% of the population are Dwarves.
6% of the population are Ogrin
89% of the population are Human.

Relations with other cities/countries: Neutral, The Cortanian Union is far too small for any city-states or kingdoms to bother with.

History:

The first of three districts to be formed was Minington. The first district of the Cortanian Union has a long history of ups and downs, periods where the town will do well for itself followed by periods in time where the town is struggling for survival.

Minington was founded in 558 AR by a small dwarven mining company. However, it was quickly abandoned when what they had thought was a deep gold vein turned out to be nothing more than fool’s gold.

A dwarf by the name of Keel Regfist, the assistant to the assistant of the dwarf the company had put in charge of the town, took over control once it was abandoned. Even though the company pulled out within a few months, most people stayed as their need for a paying job was great.

Instead of mining for gold, Keel set up a stone quarry. While it enabled the town to build strong homes, they quickly found themselves hard pressed to find any towns to trade with.

In 561 AR, Minington bought two hundred cattle through the trade city Shid’al. The investment turned out to be a very wise one. Minington cattle farms grew relatively quickly and their meat was sold to various butchers in Shid’al.

In 569 AR, Minington began to construct a small community, about half a day’s ride north east of Minington. This small community was located on the coastline and was created in the hopes that it would bring in a steady flow of exportable seafood.

Unfortunately in 573 AR, the cost of shipping and the protection of goods to Shid’al became far more than what the cattle farmers of Minington were making from the trade. Reluctantly trade was stopped with butchers of Shid’al and for a few years Minington was left with an excess of cattle and far less income then needed to support themselves.

It wasn’t until around 577 AR that the new coastal district, named Caruse, started to pay off. The previous year, 576 AR, saw nearly a hundred out of work, fishermen migrate to the small community town of Caruse. Having found a large supply of fish, lobsters, crabs and many much more the new district of Caruse enjoyed a very comfortable first few years, unlike most new towns which tend to struggle at first.

It was during the middle of 604 AR, that construction began on another new district for the Cortanian Union. The third district, called Cordan, was planned to be a farming community – in hopes that the Union would be able to export seafood, cattle, stone and now a large variety of crops. This would potentially make them a considerable powerhouse of trade among the dozens of other towns in western Ercus.

Unfortunately, the new district of Cordan took much more investment then the Union had initially expected. Two decades passed before the land had been cultivated to point where crops could grow reliably.

It was during Cordan’s twentieth harvest season in 624 AR when they managed to grow nearly double the amount of crops they had in their first harvest season. Since then, the amount of crops grown has stabilized and rarely increases or decreases from season to season. As such, Cordan is able to trade about forty three percent of its harvests yield a year.

On a much darker note, it was during Tshi-Sa'mun of 625 AR that a string of grisly murders occurred in the district of Caruse, where each of the eleven total victims had been gutted like fish, or at least that’s what the local town paper claimed. Technically the accurate description was that each victim was cut open from the gut while they were hung from the ceiling by their arms and legs. As such, when the victims gut was sliced open, organs and other such things of that nature had a tendency to fall out.

Luckily with help of the sheriffs from the districts of Minington and Cordan, Caruse was able to catch the killer – but since the Union wasn’t equipped with a prison for murderers, the culprit was merely exiled.

This dark event in the town’s history is the origin of the ‘Sharp Fisted Jark’ urban legend that exists in Caruse, Cordan and Minigton.

Government:
The Government of the Cortanian Union is very simple, there is a governor who is elected every six years by a vote from all three districts of the Union. It is the governor’s responsibility to make sure trade relations with other towns are maintained, taxes are paid and other such jobs.

For each district, a mayor is elected once every eight years. The mayor is in charge of the district he has been elected to. And finally the last position of public office is that of the sheriff, like the mayors, there are three sheriff positions. One for each district of the Cortanian Union, a sheriff is elected by a district wide vote every twelve years.

Current Governor: Dole Irott
Current Mayors: Minington: Eran Mistos | Caruse: Monro Fisser | Cordan: Kaci Aberson
Current Sheriffs: Minington: Bodo Sori | Caruse: Lance Corton | Cordan: Mark Aberson

Military:
Aside from three sheriffs and perhaps a total of one hundred and twenty deputies working in the three districts, there is absolutely no semblance of an armed force in Cortanian Union.

Description:
To the south east of the coast you’ll find; lot’s of farm land, with houses, barns and other structures seemingly sporadically spread across the town. However the ‘downtown’ region of Cordan district, where the markets, bank, shops and other commercial abodes can be found. These buildings are all clustered together like one would expect to see in a city.

To the west of Cordan district you’ll find that Minington is spread across a fairly large amount of land, with the west portion of the town dedicated to cattle farms. In the center of the town is the stone the quarry – which is only worked for four seasons out of a year. East Minington is home to most of the town’s residents while the north of Minington has the majority of the town’s commercial buildings.

And to the north east of the Minington district, located on the coastline, you’ll find; the district of Caruse is spread across a fairly large area of the coast line, the most valuable houses in the town are ones on the cost with their own small docks. The town is essentially a very small version of a city; Caruse has banks, shops, a few theatres and a surprising amount of taverns for its size.

The only unusual aspect of the town is its design, unlike most towns which enjoy the wide open spaces, Caruse’s buildings and houses are all fairly close together, similar to a city.

Current Culture:
Even though the Cortanian Union isn’t anything like one of the big cities of Ercus, it has a fairly diverse culture for a town of its nature. This is can most likely be attributed to the fact that each of the three districts within the Union were created for a completely different purpose in mind then the other.

For example if you were to find yourself in the Cordan district you would be able to ask anything about a particular crop and anyone in the town could answer you. But ask the citizens their opinion about the new trade path being constructed to east, and you’ll receive blank stares and quite possibly a rotten fruit or two to the face.

…Whereas if you found yourself in the district of Caruse, you would quickly discover that; “Work hard and play hard” is the unofficial motto of the town. The district of Caruse is famous (famous among the neighboring towns) for their unusually frequent festivals. Even when there no festivals to celebrate, one can always find a large group of people at one of the many taverns in the district.

And should you ever find yourself in the district of Minington, then all you would find are people who concerned with stone cutting and cattle farming. Anything else going on outside of the Union is irrelevant to Minington.

The Cortanian Union rarely gets visitors that aren’t traders and even then, they are few in number. So naturally the people of the Union don’t care what’s going on outside of their town.