| Tolia | |
|---|---|
 The map of La Rossa. Tolia can be found on its north-western coast. | |
| Country | La Rossa |
| Administrative status | City-province |
| Government • Dux | Vincenzo Barozzo di Tolia |
| Area • Total • City | 29,414.53 189.14 |
| Population (estimate) • Total • City | 820,000 640,000 |
| Demonym | Tolian |
| Economy (42 PC) • GDP (total) | 28.80B argotto |
| • GDP per capita (average) | 35,126 argotto |
| • Median personal income | 24,925 argotto |
Tolia is a city-province located on the north-western coast of La Rossa. Once home to a bustling mining industry and manufacturing sector, it has seen an economic collapse following the Silver Crisis, which left a third of its population in poverty, the highest proportion in the nation at the time. Historically, it has been home to the affluent Barozzo Family, which held a significant hold on its businesses and economy prior to La Denunzia, boasting high degrees of wealth considering the size of the city. The city's population counts 640,000 citizens, with an additional 180,000 hailing from the surrounding towns and villages.
Due to the extraordinary economic impacts the Silver Crises left on the city, surpassing even those on the rest of the island, the small city of Tolia stood as the fiery center of the revolution that ensued. Home to the revolutionary leader Giulio Falcone, he was swiftly crowned the island's Dux following the announcement of the fall of the government in Buglio. The following years saw the great dismantlement of the ruling Families' riches, yet proved unable to offset the depression in production.
Remaining the poorest city on the island, owing to an abandoned manufacturing sector and lackluster inflow of investment, the city remains a strongly-held political bastion of the Rossan opposition, marked most strongly by its anti-elitist stance against the Six Families of aristocrats that ruled the island throughout most of its national history, and the growing sentiment against Rossan internationalism. Dux Falcone, despite his policies being mostly abandoned by the more moderate leaders that followed him due to his increasing authoritarianism, remains a highly popular figure in the region.
History
Although the earliest records of settlement around the city of Tolia date to approximately 2400 TT, the distant communities only began to assemble into a larger township by the coast of the island several hundred years later, likely before 2000 TT. The town would, over time, organize into a city-state, with old archaeological fragments consistently pointing towards well-ordered organs of statehood and government. While it is unknown when the tradition had started, written records across centuries describe a proto-democratic system. With each citizen handed a special coin on election day, their votes would be cast onto a pile corresponding to a specific candidate, with the votes being counted in the end. Using such a method, a dictator was elected each year. While the term did not possess the negative connotations it knows today, the role gave autocratic power to the ruling person, with only a loosely defined government, based on hierarchical societal relationships, such as age, serving as a constraint. A relic of the past that persists today, and in many ways seen in the system of the Dux that rules La Rossa, it is especially noticable in Tolia's local government, which sees no separation of powers.
The Barozzo family, its last name having most probably developed as the city government formalized, likely traces its lineage back to the earliest of Tolia's settlers, over time accumulating moderate wealth and influence, earning noble status as one of the founding families of the city. Their claim to power would come with Marcus Lucios Barozzo di Tolia (162X TT - 1564 TT), now hailed as the starting head of the Family, whose machinations have seen him described as "one of the island's first politicians" by historian Gianluigi Nozzi. In the first recorded instance of organized vote-buying (with minor, isolated instances being recorded in the past), Barozzo had offered payment to a great number of citizens willing to part with their voting coins. Mostly first- and second-generation newcomers to the city, the relatively poor commoners accepted the money of the affluent heir of the founding family, sealing his victory.
Given hands over power, the Family consolidated its influence over the city's government, trade and politics, ensuring that their family's status would remain enshrined, and that competition in trade was to be swiftly eliminated. Establishing widespread control over local industries, the Family's mining ventures in search of mountain salt would uncover large deposits of silver under Montesuvia, triggering the Silver Rush of 1296 TT. For the following two and a half centuries, Tolia would remain in armed and trade conflicts over the deposits with surrounding city-states, which had similarly seen consolidation of their own merchant monopolies. The hostilities would cease with the Unification of La Rossa, which saw a contractual agreement between the six surviving city-states, to prevent antagonism and trade barriers between them by establishing a central government over them, led by a Dux elected by the Six Families.
Tolia would see several great Duxes born within its city across periods of history. Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia (ruled 714 TT - 701 TT) presided over the creation of the printing press, and quickly moved to nationalize it and prevent its use on the island by anyone but the state, defining speech, opinion and policy in La Rossa for the next six centuries. Raffaello Barozzo di Tolia (ruled 258 TT - 246 TT) for the first time created the Rossan Moschettieri, a personal guard that would evolve into a national law-enforcing armed force. The industrial city of Tolia was a crucial centerpiece during La Denunzia, as the popular leader of the movement, Giulio Falcone (ruled 5 PC - 15 PC), orchestrated protests in the city most ravaged by the Silver Crisis. Crowned in the city, he ruled for a period of ten years from the Palace in Tolia. Highly popular in the city-province, after his abdication, the city developed a similarly centralized and absolute system of government for its local matters.
The city has been home to a growing isolationist movement following the Rossan Opening, with many citizens having claimed that the eastward-oriented trade diverged resources from the struggling west coast. Advisor Antonio Morobaldi, having represented the city-province at the time, from 35 PC to 49 PC (when Vincenzo Barozzo was elected Dux, eliminating his position), highly centered his rhetoric on anti-internationalism and a promise to withdraw from the newly-established House of Light. After the bitter end of his final term, he would form Isola, the first political party in La Rossa, claiming to uphold the legacy of La Denunzia.
Government
The city-province's local governance is left to the Advisor (or Dux) representing the area. Directly elected through a popular vote, the governor often delegates their duties to an appointed advisory body, which recommends measures and policies concerning local issues for the governor to sign off on. As all power formally rests in the governor, the appointees are, albeit uncommonly, able to be replaced without a public vote on the matter. The governor possesses near-absolute power, with power for any decree to go into force without further consultation as long as the Dux, as the national leader, does not override it. Although the national Advisory Council's power of veto prevents the Dux's decrees from gaining force should four Advisors object, it has been argued by scholars that, while acting as local governor, the Dux's powers may not be prevented from stepping into effect.
Geography
The urban city lies located on a cape on the north-western coast of the island of La Rossa, with a protective gulf that has been used as a safe port since the times of the Storm. The coastline lies on mostly flat ground, and most of the surrounding villages and townships (under the administration of Tolia) find themselves located on the coastline. Though most of the city-province stands below 500m in elevation, jagged peaks and sharp inclines follow its border with Mineria. The mountainous regions have for centuries been used for mining purposes, although the Silver Crisis greatly diminished the industry, leading to mass unemployment and the shutting down of many mines. Several mines remain operational, however, mostly in search of mountain salt.