Buglio

Buglio
The map of La Rossa. Buglio can be found on its eastern coast.
Country	La Rossa
Administrative status	City-province
Government • Advisor	Feliciano Buonestrotti
Area • Total • City	26,509.7 308.64
Population (estimate) • Total • City	500,000 400,000
Demonym	Bugliese
Economy (42 PC) • GDP (total) • GDP per capita (average) • Median personal income	20.95B argotto 43,911 argotto 29,785 argotto

Buglio is a city-province in the Republic of La Rossa. Commonly referred to as the breadbasket of the nation, the city was built on large open plains fit for agriculture. Numbering a total population of over 500,000, the city-province is home to a number of foreign immigrants, mostly from the allied nations of the HoL. The island of Soluga, historically part of Buglio, and lying opposite to the city, has been renamed to Lighthouse Island following the creation of the alliance, and is currently in shared control by the nations of pact.

Home to the Buonestrotti Family, the aristocratic Family rose to power in the 1600s TT following the rebellion of the farm-owning nobility against the city-state's monarchical rule. Following the revolt, the Buonestrottis would centralize power in their own hands, subjecting the town under their rule. Holding onto their power for centuries, its favorable terrain and importance in production of food has made it largely avoid conflict, due to fears that invasions could damage the supplies of food and place armies under the risk of starvation. The city would cement their status as a regional power following the unification of La Rossa.

Following the Rossan Opening in 41 PC, the city would largely benefit from the trade that ensued with the nations of the Attu Archipelago. In addition to attracting a number of foreign workers, the city remains a large exporter of grains.

History

Believed to have seen first signs of settlement around the year 2700 TT, the vast plains that would one day comprise the city-province of Buglio would become a central key in the island's agricultural development. Following a mostly herding lifestyle in the mountains of Montesuvia prior to this point, with little domesticated plant cultures to speak of, the fertile valleys would attract huge numbers of settlers from the town of Mineria, established to the north. Although traces, found in old destroyed cobble and masonry, indicate that the plains at first gave home to largely dispersed groups of farmers, farmsteads would eventually span across the entire size of the valley. Although deforestation would lead to more land being uncovered, the valley had by this point been distributed among the original settlers, leaving little space for later travellers. Beginning to see a rise in the class separation of the region, the land-owners, holding the rights to the farm and land themselves, would come to employ later settlers, who would be granted certain amounts of produce in exchange for tilling the lands that had become too large for the original owners to fully occupy.

According to stories recorded centuries after the fact, raids between farmsteads were common, and disputes were often made regarding the borders of claimed land. The town of Buglio, which had formed on the shores of the Gulf of Mineria, had become a large market of grain and produce that often attracted traders from Mineria and Averno, city-states which were unable to grow much of the foods on their own. Fueled by agriculture, the city had exploded in size, eventually seeing a rise of government. Emerging from the established land-owning nobility, which sought to establish peace in the land, a monarchical state had emerged, holding domain not only over the city, where much of the nobility resided, but also the farmsteads they owned in the surrounding region. The ruling Rex (known as Re later on), establishing the Viviscone dynasty, would pass on the title to his eldest child after his death, which would regularly engage in marriages with the nobility of Buglio (or the other city-states) in order to keep the lineage going. Encompassing large swathes of land, armies were drafted from the local serfs that had tended to the farms, chosen each year randomly via lottery. Freed from serving their usual masters, the chosen soldiers would be obligated to instead tend to the affairs of the region, resolving and enforcing land disputes, as well as working on establishing infrastructure beneficial to the entire province, such as shared waterways. To pay for their service, a tribute in the form of a primitive tax had been imposed on the nobility, in part passed onto the non-serving serfs.

The 1900s TT would see an uprising among the nobility following what was seen as encroachments into the powers of the land-owning nobles by the reigning Rex, seen in harsher impositions of taxes and the taking of pieces of land from certain noble families following various criminal convictions. Resulting in a successful overthrow, the local army would quickly be left in disarray. Having formed a power vaccuum, the nobility would engage in hectic landgrabs from each other in order to centralize as much power as possible to avoid being left out of power as the others did the same. The Buonestrotti Family would eventually rise to the top following a mass drive of mercenary soldiers that led to the expulsion of a great number of their enemies. In the ensuing violence, many farmsteads were burned and nobles executed, with only those swearing loyalty to the Family and the new Rex, Ioannes Buonestrotti di Buglio, commonly taken to be the progenitor of the Family as it currently exists. The Buonestrotti Family would continue to hold a position of rulership over the city-state for centuries afterwards.

Although the Silver Rush of 1296 TT had led much of the island into conflict against each other, prompted by the discovery of large deposits underneath the mountains of Montesuvia, the city-state of Buglio remained largely protected from its impacts due to its ubiquitous role in supplying large volumes of food to the city-states surrounding it. Having fought little to establish a presence on the mountains, the city-state had largely fought to preserve the area it had already commanded. Using access to grain as a major bargaining ship, it had for the large part avoided conflict, with most efforts against it being silenced after a disastrous campaign against them by the city of Mineria. Signatory to a treaty with Salino following approachment by Giuseppe Giannone, the document would serve as a foundation for a future unification of the island, after which its claims remained uncontested and permanently frozen within the confines of its city-province.

The city would be home to the invention of the printing press in 709 TT, following the construction of such a machine by Fabio Fontana. The device would eventually be confiscated by Dux Niccolò Barozzo di Tolia, the ruler of the island at the time, although its inventor would be handsomely paid. Following the order, all printing technology would remain in the hands of the state, ensuring no unapproved material was mass-printed and published, giving the state a hold on the technology to this day.

La Denunzia, a popular revolt beginning in 1 PC and caused by the economic turmoil of the Silver Crisis, would hit Buglio as much as anywhere else, even more so due to housing Mario Buonestrotti di Buglio, the Dux at the time who had largely mismanaged the economic depression. Dario Silvano, a local leader and politician, would rise to the national stage following his appointment as Advisor by Dux Falcone, a popular dictator that rose in the aftermath of the revolution. Silvano would eventually become Dux in his own right, dying in an unfortunate accident following a fall down the stairs. A follower of Falcone's footsteps, Silvano saw little use in fundamentally reforming the city's monarchical, hereditary system that preceded him. Although still claiming nigh-absolute rule (superseded only by the Dux of La Rossa), the only difference imposed stood in the fact that the position became an elected one. Merging the titles of the Re of Buglio with its Advisor, the city has followed a government structure similar to that of Tolia.

The city would largely benefit following the Rossan Opening, a campaign of international approachment led by Dux Leo Minestrici di Mineria. Integrating the city into the archipelago's system of international trade, the export-focused city located on the island's east coast largely benefited from its facing of the wider archipelago and proximity to other nations. Following the establishment of the House of Light, an economic and military alliance that was itself a product of a dispute over Lighthouse Island with Deysachin (both nations claimed their people were there first), the city would attract a great number of foreign workers, employed to varying degrees across the city's agricultural, manufacturing and service industries. Although its population has largely decreasing following the island's industrialization and mechanization, the city has once more attracted an influx of immigration.

Government

The city-province's local governance is left to the Advisor (or Dux) representing the area. Directly elected through a popular vote, the Re often delegates their duties to an appointed advisory body, which recommends measures and policies concerning local issues for the Re to sign off on. As all power formally rests in the Re, the appointees are, albeit uncommonly, able to be replaced without a public vote on the matter. The Re 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 Re, the Dux's powers may not be prevented from stepping into effect.

Geography

The city of Buglio lies on the coast of the Gulf of Mineria, a protected pocket of water that was largely shielded from the Storm. The vast, open plains of the city-province have largely been covered in farmland, with deforestation oftentimes being resorted to in order to expand its availability. No major cities besides Buglio exist in the city-province, although several townships have sprung up. The regional area is largely devoid of hills (the highest point measures a meager 157 meters), as it is the only city-province untouched by the Montesuvian mountain range. The Strait of Soluga, resting between the city and Lighthouse Island, stood as an important and unavoidable trading route during the times of the Storm, although its importance has vanished following the Calming. Home to a temperate-to-warm climate, it has allowed a variety of agricultural plants to sprout, which tend to struggle elsewhere on the island when outside of glasshouse conditions.