The Rossan city-states were a number of central towns and settlements that had begun to emerge on the coast of the island of La Rossa prior to 2000 TT. Although related culturally and linguistically through coastal trade, the city-states remained self-governing and locally independent for much of the island's history. Although the city-states practiced various forms of government, ranging from early examples of republics to oligarchies and systems resembling monarchies, over time the surviving cities trended towards becoming plutocracies, where the wealthiest merchant families would accrue the power and capital sufficient to impose their will onto the world around them through paid mercenary forces and economic dominance, becoming de facto rulers of their localities, even if the old systems formally stayed in place.
History
Many of the cities were formed along the coastline of the island of La Rossa early in its recorded history, with a lot of evidence surrounding their origins remaining missing. Thought to be drawn to the coast due to the harsh climate and difficult terrain of the mountains, little trace of settlement past the most ancient of history remains in the mountain ranges, with only a handful of small towns ever being formed there. The ruins of Averno (today part of the city-province of Mineria) date back to 3250 TT, thought to belong to the oldest city-state on the island, with historical evidence pointing to the other major cities and towns only forming several hundred years later.
Trade between nearby cities became common after the emergence of larger townships, although long-distance travel would remain out of reach due to the dangers posed by the Storm. Contanzo Miglio (1362/63 TT - 1302 TT), the founder of Padeno, would pioneer such voyages, leading to greater connection and interdependence of the cities around the island. Originally used as naval ensigns for purposes of trade, the flags of the Rossan city-states would be used as major inspiration for the flag of La Rossa following the Second Calming. They would eventually fall out of use following unification.
The Silver Rush of 1296 TT, a scramble for the mountains of Montesuvia, where large silver deposits were found, would prove to be a crucial point in the history of the island. The two centuries of conflict would lead to economic collapses of several of the island's city-states, which would usually find themselves integrated into the rule of their dominant neighbors, through diplomatic or military means. The city of Donua, for instance, would find itself subsumed by the city of Padeno, formed relatively recently as a merchant hub. An economic downturn forced the merchant republic to seek an economic bailout from its closest neighbor, bringing the city into subservience to the Miglio family.
Six cities - Buglio, Lorma, Mineria, Padeno, Salino, and Tolia - would eventually unify under the Dux, giving rise to an island-wide alliance that sought to protect trade and relations between cities for the benefit of all. The island's territory would be carved up into city-provinces, unchanging territories of influence that the local aristocrats would retain rule over. The seat of the Dux, a unifying, elected figure envisaged to protect the negotiated terms, would eventually come to centralize power into the throne, leading to ever-greater submission of the cities to the island's ruler.
List of the Rossan city-states
- Averno - The oldest city on the island, with ruins dating back to 3250 TT, today the town is a small locality outside of Mineria, found in the lower hills of Montesuvia. Believed to be the beginning of organized Rossan civilization on the island, it is believed that the ancestors of the other cities' founders and settlers originated from Averno itself. Conquered by military force, the elective monarchy of the city was displaced by the rule of the Minestrici family, though not before setting the city in flames while retreating.
- Buglio - Built on large open plains, the largest expanse on the island not interrupted by mountains, the city-state became home to an agricultural explosion, giving rise to great population growth in the earliest times of the island. Once the largest city-state, it quickly centralized power in the local monarchical state, which largely claimed tribute in grains and produce, sold to the other cities for coin, used to uphold a standing army. A rebellion of the farm-owning nobility led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the abolition of such taxation. With the local army out of work and in disarray, the nobles scrambled to take hold of as many soldiers as possible in order to centralize power in their own hands. The Buonestrotti family would eventually come out on top, once more placing the nobility under the state's rule. Burning the fields of the disloyal, the Buonestrotti family, now synonymous with the state, was in ownership of most of the town's workable land, holding onto its power through unstoppable acquired might.
- Corusa - A small independent town in the mountains of Montesuvia, the place would not hold much power to resist pressure after the start of the Silver Rush. Becoming a vassal to the city of Donua, and then Padeno, the town exists today only as a tourist location commemorating the birthplace of Constanzo Miglio di Padeno.
- Donua - A merchant republic dating to approximately 2300 TT, the city-state was dominated by a number of local merchants and magnates, with a small council of them coming to be elected every few years to guide the city's policy. The city-state would eventually be subsumed by Padeno.
- Lorma - A small city-state, the hillside city found its wealth through its unavoidable location at the tip of the peninsula. Capitalizing off the flow of trade headed from the east to the west coast, Lorma made its wealth by being a middleman, giving it significant sway and importance as the conflict raged on. Surviving threats through promises of embargo, the city secured its independence for long enough to have its territory enshrined in the Uniting Charter. Holding itself mostly neutral throughout the centuries, the cartel of the city's largest economic benefactors intermarried as they gained in wealth prominence, eventually collapsing under the name of Morelio.
- Miccorta - A city-state established in the 1800s TT, eventually abandoned and left to ruin. Uncovered centuries later, its name is only inferred through writings from the time, though there is no concrete evidence it refers to the city in question. There is no evidence of a mass exodus or illness, and the most likely explanation remains a slow death through underpopulation.
- Mineria - Likely the second oldest city on the island, Mineria was formed before 3000 TT, and boasts the first preserved signs of written language in the form of the Minerian Stone, a legal codex carved on a pillar of black granite that continues to stand in the middle of the city square. Although the writing significantly differs from the modern Rossan script due to being carved, not written, it is nonetheless believed to hold heritage. The Stone, apart from prescribing archaically harsh punishments for common misdeeds, tells a story of searching fortune away from the fears and dread of Averno and forming the city's own destiny by the sea, and facing the Storm bravely onwards. The city likely holds the origins of Tempestry, tied with Rossan folklore and religious beliefs. Further human expansion across the coastline would allow the Minestrici family to make its wealth through trade with nearby settlements.
- Morna - A small town located in the north of the Minerian city-province, it once was an isolated town hidden among the rocks by coastal cliffs of the island-spanning mountain range. Minerian expansion over the course of the Silver Rush placed it under the rule of the Minestrici family, who used it as an outpost and port that served to block trade between Tolia and Lorma in times of hostilities. Once a collectivistic settlement of commoners escaping from the grasp of debt-slavery to the local magnates, the town once more became subservient to rulers.
- Padeno - A merchant hub formed by Constanzo Miglio in the 1330s TT, the little town formed to avoid tariffs in the port of Donua would attract work and business from the surrounding area, growing its size and influence. Home to the richest trading company on the island, owing to its propensity to travel distances most other merchants would not risk to, the acquired wealth would be used to expand and develop a near-universal monopoly across trade in the city. The city would eventually subsume Donua.
- Salino - A salt-mining city formed by settlers in approximately 1800 TT, the Giannone family, one of its earliest settlers, would quickly acquire the exclusive rights to the city's resources, giving them full access to the city's main source of wealth within a century. Becoming the city's natural hereditary aristocracy, their power would remain unchallenged for most of the island's history. Giuseppe Giannone di Salino, the head of the family at the time, would negotiate ends to hostilities with the neighboring territories of Buglio and Padeno, paving the way to the Rossan Unification, where he was crowned the first Dux.
- Tolia - With the area originally settled likely before 2400 TT, Tolia has traces of township and governmental organization dating to 2000 TT. The oldest records claim a proto-democratic form of government was used to settle disputes in the growing town, with a dictator elected each year possessing little constrained power. The system would eventually be taken over by the Barozzo family, as Marcus Lucios Barozzo, the progenitor of the aristocratic dynasty, would use his acquired wealth and status to influence the yearly elections in his favor through bribery of the poorest commonfolk, before using the loosely-defined power of the institution to consolidate power and enshrine his family as the sole rulers of the island.