Pearl Port

The Free and Federated City of Pearl Port (Tethari: al-Madinat hura Mina' al-luwliwa, Gastrinian: Civitate Liberae et Foederatae Porta Margarita) is an autonomous city on the southern coast of mainland Ovaicaea in the Empire of Gestrin, and the administrative heart of the northern provinces that constitute Old Tethar. Prior to its annexation to Gestrin, Pearl Port was the capital of the independent Kingdom of Tethar. It is the fourth-most populous city in the empire, and is a major hub for trade, commerce, and industry in the region.

Pearl Port earned its name for the extensive oyster farms near the city's Old Town, which provided supply of pearls for export. As the center of commerce and wealth, Pearl Port was a natural seat of government for the Kingdom of Tethar.

Pearl Port surrendered to Gestrin in 921, though a treaty was not finalized until 927. It was absorbed into the empire was a federated community, a kind of autonomous city-state that retains its own municipal government under Gastrinian oversight. As long as Pearl Port pays tribute to Gestrin and proves its civic loyalty, the empire maintains a policy of noninterference; Gastrinian troops are mainly for urban security against armed insurrection and exurban banditry, and the military governor rarely intervenes in local politics.

Although Pearl Port faces challenges, such as overcrowding, food supply, fresh water supply, and crime, it is also a center of culture, learning, trade, and the arts.

History
Evidence for human settlement in Pearl Port has been traced to the 3rd millennium Before the Empire, around the time primitive humans made landfall on Ovaicaea. The area appears to have not been settled prior to this, though adjacent areas of coastline were settled by desert elves. Humans began to cultivate oysters and other shellfish in the shallow lagoons at the mouth of the Pearl River, and gradually expanded their settlements into a network of villages. These came together into a city-state just over a thousand years before the Imperial Era. The export of pearls harvested from oysters sparked a revolution in maritime commerce that greatly enriched the town.

Pearl Port came to be a vibrant port town, ruled by the Amir of al-Luwliwa. The city gradually developed a system of direct democracy. Initially, only major landowners and wealthy merchants had the right to debate law, and to advise and elect the Amir. Over time, the franchise was expanded to other property classes, though it excluded slaves, foreigners, and the landless.

Due to its wealth and prominence, Pearl Port came to be the prime meeting place for diplomatic conferences between Tethari tribal domains. As a free city, rather than a tribal capital or fortress, Pearl Port was one of the few political entities in Old Tethar that was not a matriarchy. This gave it a politically and culturally neutral status among the Tethari. When the kingdom of Tethar unified from among the tribal mothers in the 5th century BE, Pearl Port was chosen as its capital. The Queen of Tethar took her seat in a palace just outside the city boundaries, but the city itself supported much of the royal bureaucracy and served as the continuous meeting place for the Council of Mothers.

In the year 21 of the Imperial Era, Amir Rahman III died without an heir. The assembly failed to decide on a prince, and the kingdom's Council of Mothers was unwilling to appoint one. After four years of interregnum, the assembly agreed that the Amirate should be exercised by the former Amir's advisory council, which would thereafter be elected by lot. The membership of the council would be secret, as they would be in theory the "humble, unseen advisers" of the vacant Amir. In truth, they would collectively hold supreme executive and judicial power in the city, though they would be subject to the oversight of the Queen of Tethar and the Council of Mothers.

This situation held for almost nine centuries. However, between 907 and 927, Tethar was caught in the grips of a major war with Gestrin. A long stalemate led to Pearl Port's economy suffering as maritime trade was blockaded and raids along roads made land trade dangerous, and thousands starved. In 917, Gestrin's legions laid siege to the city, and Pearl Port became the first region affected by what came to be called the Red Plague; fleeing merchant ships and caravans carried the disease throughout Tethar, which led to two million deaths. Pearl Port fell to Gastrinian forces in 921. The occupiers began resupplying the city with food, medicine, and fresh water, and opened the port for both trade and as a safe landing site for Gastrinian armies. It's estimated that, during the war, Pearl Port's population declined by 100,000 people due to famine, disease, and war deaths.

After the war, a treaty was finalized the kept most of Pearl Port's political institutions and traditions intact. In the intervening century, Pearl Port's population has recovered and the city is now the 4th largest in the Gastrinian Empire.

Local government
Pearl Port is an autonomous city-state, governed by a mix of direct democracy and oligarchical committees. The city is ostensibly ruled by the Amir, a kind of sovereign prince; however, there has not been an Amir of the city in almost a thousand years. The Amirate has been held in commission by the Masked Council, or Masquerade, a committee of nine public officials elected by lottery every nine years. The Masquerade is called such because, in public, its members wear masks and keep their identities secret. The subject of who the members are is a common topic of political discussion and rumor-mongering, and most city oligarchs consider it a game to discover their identities.

The Masquerade is vested with supreme executive and judicial power in the city, tasked with administering many aspects of city government. Their secrecy is held partly to protect themselves and their families, but also because the council is intended to be an "unseen" cabinet serving the (non-existent) Amir. The presidency of the Masquerade rotates each year. Members are subject to public inquiry on their activities at the end of their nine-year term. Other public officials are elected by lot, including the treasury commission, the master of the city watch, the port authority, the city water commission, the keeper of the city seals, the keeper of the keys, and other civil magistrates, as well as all judges.

The deliberative body of the city is the Ecclesia, a directly democratic assembly that makes laws and elects most public officials. The assembly is open to all freeborn citizens with property who have completed their thirtieth year of age, regardless of race, sex, or gender. It is closed to slaves, freed slaves, foreign residents, criminals, serious debtors, children, young adults, and those without significant property. It is rare to see more than 5,000 citizens participating in full sessions of the Ecclesia.

Thirty public officers, called ecclesiarchs, are elected by lottery from among the assembly's participants once a year. These officers keep order when the assembly is in session, maintain debate and decision-making procedure, and direct the agenda of the assembly. The Ecclesia meets on the day following the full moon of each month. A decree of the assembly empowers the ecclesiarchs to act as a "small assembly", the Council of Thirty, which handles day-to-day lawmaking when the Ecclesia is not in session. A full session of the Ecclesia can overturn any decree of the Council of Thirty.

The city courts hold judicial authority over all criminal and civil cases, and over matters of both law and equity. There are three judicial districts, with trials and hearings presided over by panels of nine judges.. Any matter in the city courts can be appealed to the Masquerade in their judicial role. The exception to this are homicides of Pearl Port citizens, which are tried in the first instance before the Masquerade. As Pearl Port is a federated community, its citizens have the right to appeal to the Gastrinian governing magistrate and further to Gestrin's courts if a decision is unsatisfactory.

While Pearl Port is democratic on the surface, in practice, a few aristocratic families control local politics. These families regularly participate in assembly meetings, hold most of the municipal elected offices, and dominate the judiciary as well as having control over the city's economic life.

Gastrinian relations
Pearl Port is a federated city under treaty with Gestrin. Political communities in the form of cities and townships are the heart of the Gastrinian political system, and they are categorized based on their legal relationship to the Gastrinian state and the citizenship status of its native inhabitants. A federated community is one that is bound by treaty to a state of vassalage to Gestrin.

Pearl Port is obliged to provide soldiers for the army auxiliary, and pays a 3% tax levied on the value of all imports. In return, its inhabitants are granted federate status and have limited citizenship rights. Federates have the right to engage in local government in the manner determined by their community, to engage in commerce and contracts, to own property, to sue and be sued, and to appeal to Gastrinian courts. They cannot, however, vote outside of a federate community, and lose their citizenship if they live outside of that community.

Certain members of Pearl Port's population, typically those of high leadership roles, have been granted full Gastrinian citizenship by royal decree. This is often done to retiring members of the Masquerade council, whose identities are known to the Gastrinian governor.

In addition to its own autonomous government, Pearl Port is the administrative center of Margarita Province, the Gastrinian civil district containing Pearl Port, the mouth of the Pearl River, and much of the nearby coastline. The local governor maintains a staff of around 300 functionaries and servants, mostly locals. A full-strength legion is stationed at Pearl Port, garrisoned at Citadel Island and three smaller forts on the outskirts of the city. The Gastrinian legionary commander also has command authority over four other legions stationed in southern Old Tethar. As such, the Gastrinian command center on Citadel Island has a considerable military staff alongside the civil government.