Shid’al [CID-ALL]

Current location: Slightly north but far west of Tyranoth, located in the northern deserts of Ercus.

Population: Nearly four and a half million citizens are registered to the independent city state of Shid’al.

Relations with other cities/countries:
Neutral. Shid’al attempts to keep out of the conflicts of other empires and city-states as its economy is built solely on trade.

History:
Long before the Age of Mortal Wars a small yet highly fortified trading outpost was constructed in the northern deserts of Ercus, this outpost was called Shid’al. The outpost became hugely popular to all traders in Ercus because of its radical trading policy; in which any individual may exchange their products or services by competitive bidding, open to all, without constraint or government imposed restrictions.

Shid’al was created by the remnants of a criminal syndicate lead by an Elf named La’l Pa’cul. However because of the immense success of the outpost in its early years he bought out his partners and assumed absolute control of Shid’al. Seeing the outpost success, La’l began to build a more tangible government.

While Shid’al remained as neutral as possible during the many wars of the era now called “Age of Mortal Wars”, it still suffered from attacks and thus a decline in trade. Seeing the situation for what it was the government of the small city-state of Shid’al are reported to have received loans in the form of currency, military supplies and other resources but from who and where was never told to the public. Even so the initial effects of war threatened to destroy Shid'al.

However, within two decades the city-state of Shid’al was able to start paying their loans back, the city had been greatly improved. A massive wall of stone surrounded the city, an official militia force had been trained by hired mercenaries and retired soldiers that the city had recruited. The city began to grow as its economy was no longer solely based on that of traveling traders, permanent shops, taverns and micro-markets opened up within the city. This attracted the attention of other city-states and eventually Shid’al was used as an intermediary between different governments wishing to establish neutral trade routes.

Half way through the Age of Mortal Wars Shid’al experienced another growth spurt, with all its loans and debits paid off. Fifteen percent of the government’s annual income had been freed to be used however they wished to, being the wise elf, La’l Pa’cul was. He used this extra flow of income to systematically purchase more land from surrounding city-states that were at war.

By around 700AR Shid’al had become the booming city-state that it known to be today, with a population in the millions. Shid’al had established itself as one of the most economically powerful cities in Ercus, with many trade contracts with city-states and Empires, Shid’al serves as a half-way point for many trade routes.

Government:
The government of Shid’al is both a unique one and one that has borrowed ideas from past governments. Shid’al government is structured as follows:

The Mayor
This is where Shid’al is unique, though officially a mayor is selected by a vote of The Council of Peoples, once the Mayor’s term of ten years is over. Shid’al has had the same leader, La’l Pa’cul for centuries.

The Council of Peoples
Comprised of one hundred citizens of the city, council members are responsible for creating new laws, taxes and trading policies. Though nothing can be passed without the Major’s approval. Council members are elected by a vote casted by the citizens of Shid’al, this vote happens every five years.

The Protectorate
The Protectorate is Shid’al’s higher judicial system, which is run by the ‘High-Judge’ selected and fired at the will of the Major. Twelve citizens are also elected ‘Protectorates’ by a vote, held once every seven years. Each elected official is given judicial domain over the district he was elected in. The responsibility of a protectorate is to oversee all judicial decisions made by the courts in their district and to serve as a higher appeal system to the standard court system should the occasion arise.

Current Leader: La’l Pa’cul.

Military: Shid’al is not an aggressive state and has never participated in a war. Only during the Age of Mortal Wars did Shid’al’s militia participate in battles, even then it was border protection only. With an active military of 50,000 trained soldiers, the milita’s only duties are to protect the borders and serve as the city’s police force. Shid’al also has a reserve of 75,100 inactive soldiers who are given a four week training course. While the reserves are nowhere as near as trained as the active militia, it is a precaution the government has taken in the event an unavoidable war approaches. Soldiers in the reserve are offered a slight tax break in exchange for a contractual obligation from them to fight, should a war occur.

While Shid'al has a very well trained military, that includes an entire division for mages. They only are trained to defend the city, offense tactics and etc. are almost a foreign concept to the militia. They do not have the experience nor (most likely) the numbers to do anything but defend their city. Should they ever attempt an offensive move, against another empire or city-state they would all most likely die a horrible, painful and sad death.

Description:
It is almost impossible to tell from looking at Shid’al that once, centuries ago, it used to be a mere trading outpost. The city spans many hundreds of square miles and has retained a rectangular shape.

Shid’al is a bustling metropolitan city, with tall apartment buildings to open markets to taverns and anything else one might hope to see in a city. There doesn’t actually seem to be a particular architectural style to the city, some buildings are bland while others obviously exhibit influences from varying empires.

While not a militaristic city-state, Shid’al has an active militia of extremely well trained men and women, though the city’s pride and joy is the ‘Great Barrier’. A massive wall built from stone with an outer layer of steel that surrounds all of Shid'al's territory.

Current Culture:
If someone says “Shid’al” it is almost always associated with the trading market.

A socioeconomic melting pot of cultures, races, beliefs and religions. The very nature of the city involves people from different empires and city-states to meet and mesh in order to trade so it’s not surprising that the residents of the city can often have two completely different backgrounds.