Sola is a quaint queendom with ancient heritage and traditions - but celebrating a more modern, inclusive, adaptive worldview. The weather is warm and pleasant (subtropical or Mediterranean), but snow can be found on the magnificent peaks nearby. The city’s buildings are elaborate and distinctive; the architectural style could be described as “ultra-stereotypical high fantasy”, with massive castles sporting colorful, superfluous parapets and towers. Even the hovels of the poor have a certain flair; all people take pride in where and how they live. Dress is similarly stereotypical and ornate; the rich have elaborate gowns and armors, and the poorest citizens wear interesting clothes that seem to be made entirely of patches.
The realm was once more strongly matriarchal; akin to Ob and the Crescent Barrens. In Sola’s early days, constant war between rival chiefs (all male) and ill-conceived campaigns against foreign cities culminated in a devastating decade of destruction and despair. War, disease and famine had reduced the adult male population to less than a quarter of the female population. The power vacuum was total, and order was only restored when women took control of organizing and maintaining the fractured civilization’s formerly patriarchal institutions. The people of Sola came to see men as violent instigators of chaos, to blame for the unnecessary war and suffering that had ravaged the country and its neighbors.
Hundreds of years later, this notion was shattered by the “Women’s War”: a violent decades-long civil war of succession where all instigators, and even most fighters, were female. This war changed the culture and preconceptions of the people, but did not shatter the nation’s institutions or speech patterns, and so modern Sola is effectively egalitarian yet with female-normative language and terminology. For example, though the monarch can be male or female with equal probability, the nation is referred to as a queendom. Fishers can be any gender but are commonly called fisherwomen (or fisherwym, per the wording traditions of Ob) regardless of gender. Men who act might be referred to as male actresses. And so on.
A brief war between Il Farore and Sola has just ended. Leaders of the respective countries have admitted to themselves and their citizens that the war was the result of a gross misunderstanding – one that is darkly comedic. However, animosity has been stirred between the two cities, and both sides have secret garrisons of highly trained soldiers hidden in the others’ territory.
Solana Heritage: 2nd Wave Pan-Auldrin (Norrish, Sunder, Vasa Lothran and Ustrachi.) Some additional 3rd Wave heritage from Norraine and the Sapphire Islands.
Population: 7 (150x)
Cultural Influence: 6 Sola is the nation-state embodiment of a colorful, cozy Thomas Kinkade cottage. It’s not the source of many cultural works of note, but it derives notoriety from its sheer, overpowering quaintness.
To the extent that Sola follows international fashions and ways of thinking, it always tends to be a decade or two behind.
Sola’s architecture is what puts it on the map. The “fantasy nouveau” style that Sola has exaggerated to perfection has caught on elsewhere. For example, the grand palaces of Fortuna’s financiers and Alba’s archdukes are modeled after Sola’s royal castle. Sola’s elaborate fashions and art styles are considered overly flamboyant and outdated.
Economic Influence: 8 Sola is considered quaint, backwards, and isolated – yet despite being a bit of a backwater, it is reasonably well integrated into the international economy. The people are actually quite wealthy overall, though they don’t have a particularly materialistic mindset. They have money and resources, but lack the consumerist ideology necessary to be an excellent export market. Thus Sola isn’t as lucrative a trading partner as its riches and beauty might imply. (Sola enjoys a significant trade surplus.)
Military Influence: 5 Sola is not a great military power – though they know how to utilize defense. Sola used to be more militaristic, but the culture has shifted to strongly emphasize peace and disengagement. Thus its standing army is small, limited mostly to a city guard and small special-operations force (part of which is camped out in Il Farore’s territory at present). Sola maintains a feudal-esque system whereby the monarch “calls her banners” in times of war or emergency, and the nobles (or the vassals or sub-vassals of the nobles) draft armies from their holdings. The impromptu armies assembled in this fashion aren’t exactly well-oiled machines. They’re good at defending their castles, but their power projection (e.g., their capacity to sustain prolonged campaigns in foreign lands) is very poor.
Sola’s navy works in the same fashion: the queen owns a few impressive warships, and most nobles have a small warship or two, and some of their merchant vassals have ships that could theoretically be outfitted for war, and their fisherwym sub-vassals have some… boats… and when there’s a war to fight all these vessels assemble into one “unified” navy. Their flags are impressive, at least.
Sola’s army and navy are fully egalitarian, but by totally random coincidence that surely has nothing to do with lingering matriarchy, most high-ranking officers are women.
Defense: 11 The countryside around Sola is saturated in grand, stylish castles constructed for both form and function. Sola (the city) has spilled out of its old city wall long ago, but it is peppered with small castles, keeps, and other fortified stone structures. The majority of the city – even the royal palace - could be conquered by a resolute army. Yet conquering the city in its entirety would be a truly daunting undertaking even if the inhabitants could be outnumbered ten to one. Urban warfare becomes a huge nightmare for an invading force when every third building is an independently-defensible fortress of one kind or another. Not to mention, forces from overlooked castles a day’s march behind an invading army can harry supply lines and cause general mischief.
The scenarios described above did happen on more than one occasion; invaders (in one case, a usurper’s army during a civil war) generally gave up after claiming the royal palace but little else. As they retreated, they pillaged and burned everything they could out of spite. This is why few of the city’s buildings are made of wood; they were burned generations ago and replaced with stone structures. (Note: during an invasion, the royal family always stays in the city to oversee defense – but from a randomly-selected castle within a few miles of the palace.)
Sola Cultural Stats:
Government: Constitutional monarchy; all citizens can vote. Matrilineal lineage but equal succession.
Most Common Criminal Acts: saying not nice things, jaywalking, MurderDeathKill.
Justice: Monarch decides all cases. Almost always fairly… but she's so busy.
Climate: Mediterranean / subtropical
Nights: Some street lighting. Citizens tend to go to bed early.
Food: For the large afternoon meal: meat, potatoes, many varieties of edible flower, and any fruit or vegetable that can be grown on a tree or vine. Served with curious local spices that provide more color than flavor. There are four snack-times (like British tea-time, but with watered down wine or gin) where various cakes and cheeses are typical.
Clothing: Lavish, elaborate, quaint, outdated.
Festivals & Holidays: Solaria (a local variant that draws on traditions from around the World) is celebrated in a BIG way here, and it lasts twelve days. Royal feasts and proclomations of various importance are common, but their timing is sporadic, dependent on the whims of the Queen. Remembrance Day is a somber memorial to the dead. The Queen's Birthday (and other life events) are a big deal.
City Appearance & Architecture: High-fantasy Uber-quaint Kinkade-on-Steroids Rainbow Fortresses
Common Sounds & Smells: flowers, fresh-cut grass, singing, the fruit, fish, and meat of the markets, vendors hawking their wares, royal proclamations, unusually loud mimes.
Governance Building, Iconic Structures & Landmarks: Queen's Keep, Kellswym Keep, Finara Keep, Firewym's Tower, Lorekeeper's Study, Flowerfall Keep, the Royal Hospital, Tavern of Aurana's, the Trumpeters (fountains), the Eternal Rose, Rainbeau Spires, the Deva.
Districts, Sectors, Zones, Regions, Wards, and other big places: The Old Wall, Cartwheel Market, Mothers of the Refounding (Statue Street), the Splashes (Lake Docks), The Queen's Barge (part of the city floating on the lake), The Orchard, the Fountains, Flora Park, Birdsong Bay, Halcyon Heights, Boulevard of Spontaneous Musicals
Produces, Exports: Sunflowers, tree crops, dyes, marble, firestone (coal), gems, feathers, herbs & flowers. Sola produces an impressive amount of hewn stone, but nearly all is consumed locally.
Demands, Imports: meat, horses, furs, textiles, clocks & contraptions, books, gold, weapons, coffee
Satellite Cities & Towns: xxxx
Highly optional game-related or story-related material:
Important People: xxxx
Plot Hooks:
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