#lossan

Borders and fortifications

The north of the city is bordered by the Kismet Ocean. Shipbuilding and fishing have become prominent industries on this northern coast of the city and the beaches are necessary to visit if one is touring the area. Sailors and fisherman who have lived and worked on the coast for many years always muse to bar patrons, their protégées, and tourists that there is little more humbling than looking out into the vastness of this ocean.

To guide ships returning to port, there are 3 lighthouses named for elven deities. The central lighthouse has been affectionately named “Lady Moonbow” after elven goddess Sehanine Moonbow. The western lighthouse is called Lady Hanali for the elven goddess of romantic love and beauty. The eastern lighthouse is called Lord Naralis, named for Naralis Analor, the minor elven god associated with healing. These lighthouses and their corresponding deities were praised and honored as guides to bring home returning travelers. They were also places one could get healing if needed when returning form a voyage, but also places of safety and protection in times of invasion and war. Not only are these places of great utility as lighthouses (and outfitted with battlements and other wartime protections), but they are often frequented and revered by visitors as if they are also temples to the elven deities.

Despite the protection provided by the Kismet Ocean to the north and Two Moon Bay on the city’s eastern and southern borders, the city’s planners over the past many centuries have nonetheless erected a wall around the city, as is seen protecting many of the landlocked cities. Fortifying the city has been a priority since the city’s founding from both coastal/foreign and domestic invasion, the latter of which was more pressing around the period of the Reign of Human Kings but less pressing after the peace and unification under the Free State of Falschegal. The former, in contrast, was more of a prominent concern prior to the arrival of humans on the landmass that would become known as Falschegal. The city’s elven and dwarven founders protected the city from invading nations to the west, most of all humans. Humans would eventually arrive on Lossan’s shores claiming a desire to peaceably integrate themselves into the city’s society. The native non-human populations would, over time, watch the human population burgeon and displace the founding and native families in civic and other prominent positions of power. 

As this history has long passed, every generation of the city’s leaders since then has been jokingly chided for maintaining the coastal fortifications. The truth, everyone knows, is that the lighthouses and the Northern Wall are integral parts of the city’s heritage.

Though coastal and foreign invasion was a frequent concern throughout the city’s history, the more contemporary worry since the rise of Dunghill Kunt has been domestic invasion from the east. The city’s Western Wall has, as a result, garnered more attention in recent years. That is the only part of the city bordered entirely by land, and though the adjacent cities have historically been Lossan’s allies, the city’s leaders have still not wanted to risk adjacent cities being used as pathways for other domestic invaders. The Western Wall’s fortifications have been strengthened over the past few years as a result, and the city’s liaisons to the neighboring towns have insisted that it is nothing personal against their allies. Human followers of Dunghill Kunt have used the situation to their advantage, attempting to sow discord among Lossan and its allies, with the hope that Lossan will find itself isolated and more vulnerable to attack when the time comes.

The iron mines for which the Iron Coast is known are not located in Lossan and her sister city, Angesco. For Lossan, rather, the mines are clustered around the city along its western edge. Historically, Lossan and Angesco rose to prominence as mining populations in adjacent cities sought nearby locations for commerce, recreation, and eventually long-term habitation. As Lossan and Angesco have also played prominent roles in converting saltwater to freshwater in their respective parts of the region, they have burgeoned over the years as sprawling metropolises. While smaller in size and population than Broadison and Wells Pier, Lossan is nonetheless larger and more populous than its southern brethren, Atlas and Sixth Terrace.

To the south, the Iron Bridge connects Lossan to a neighboring city, Haeldürn. Founded by dwarves who were heavily involved in the iron industry, inhabitants of Haeldürn have remained allies with Lossan (though, anecdotally, the uncouth, rough-handed miners have had a thing or two to say about the “softness” of Lossan’s city folk). To the east, the Waller Bridge connects Lossan to another ally city, Khleebur, which was founded by elves and grew around one of the Iron Coast’s more prominent universities. There is arguably more cultural and intellectual similarity between Khleebur and Lossan than Lossan and Haeldürn, which has led to good relations between Lossan and Khleebur through both cities’ histories. Indeed, students from Khleebur often find themselves in Lossan for recreation when they are taking breaks from their studies.

Topography and climate

Lossan is perhaps most known for its hilly topography. Indeed, the hills rise the farther one travels into the city, and from a distance outside of the city, it is clear that the hills have raised the center of the city high above the walls at the city’s borders. Such is one of many visual quirks that speak to Lossan’s uniqueness and beauty. Some say it is a cornerstone of a childhood in Lossan to have stood at the top of one of these hills and let a smooth marble or a wheeled toy race down a steep hill, rejoicing as gravity accelerated the chosen objects down to the bottom. It is also for this reason that the city government and records are housed at the center of the city, where the hills are highest (the rationale being that, in the case of invasion, the higher ground would be the most secure and harder to storm).

Naturally, the variant topography has affected the distribution of the population within the city by social class over the past few centuries. The center of the city has been hailed as more prestigious, particularly because of its higher ground and greater protection. Those that have made the City Centre their home or place of business tend to be wealthier and are able to afford the requisite transportation to get them to the tops of the hill. The wealthier occupants of the city are also rumored to have exclusive, heavily-guarded destination circles for teleportation to avoid strenuous uphill travel, though existence of these circles has never been confirmed. In contrast, the poorer populations have found themselves relegated closer to the city walls and farther from the City Centre.

Aside from its hilly topography, Lossan is also known for its warmer weather, despite being farther north than many inland cities that experience colder average temperatures all year round. That being said, a morning chill has been to known to overtake the city, as does a distinct fog that surrounds the Iron Bridge before dissipates by the early afternoon.

Culture and relations

Culturally, Lossan is distinct in its own right while also being emblematic of a broader common culture on the Iron Coast. Lossan bears similar cosmopolitan characteristics as Angesco, Broadison, Southport, Wells Pier, Sixth Terrace, and Atlas in that the city’s population is more diverse in the races and species that occupy and pass through the city daily. Such diversity has normalized an acceptance and peace among varied races and species that are less common in smaller towns farther inland, where many towns have self-segregated by race and species, with human towns being the most insular.

Anecdotally, it is often observed that those from the Iron Coast are far less tense than those on the Lake Coast, particularly those living in or near Broadison. Again, most of these observations are entirely anecdotal in nature, with very few studies or empirical evidence confirming this distinction or its causes. Nonetheless, one only needs to think of friends or family raised on the Iron Coast and compare their general disposition to those raised on the Lake Coast — the reader is free to come to their own conclusion about these alleged regional differences.

There is often a playful rivalry with the Iron Triangle regarding the competing iron mining, processing, and manufacturing industries. Such a rivalry is most prominent in the dwarven populations from both competing regions, as dwarves have historically been most proactive in the rise of the iron industry. Around the time of Falschegal’s unification and the expansion of travel, there was some brief competition between the two regions, as they both fought to retain overlapping buyers and distributors in equidistant regions. Overtime, however, the competition surrounding mining has tapered off, as the quality of the iron itself from either region was found to be comparable. The primary difference was found to be in the manufacturing process and the purposes for which the iron was used. As the dwarven miners were less responsible for what happened to iron ore after it was mined, they let the rivalry carry over to the manufacturers and distributors. Thankfully, the rivalry now is mostly in jest, as many of those who work in the iron industry gather from all over the country, from Iron Coast and Iron Triangle alike, to amicably discuss the status of mining in their respective regions, compare techniques and seasonal yields, and revise standards for worker safety.

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