Sun's Beacon

From The Coursebooks Wiki
Revision as of 05:20, 10 November 2012 by CourseDirector (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Sun's Beacon is a city on the High Cape, a prominatory of land along the Sword Coast. Sun's Beacon was an important stop along the road to the Alliance's capitol city of Arindell. Stradling the High Cape, Sun's Beacon provides access to towns along both sides of the Stormreaver Range, including a direct rail line to Border Watch.

History

Sun's Beacon is one of the oldest cities in the Alliance, dating all the way back to sometime in the Dynastic Period of the Mage Wars. It was also among the few cities to survive the fall of the Alliance, if only after a fashion.

Pre-Alliance

Exactly how who first founded the city or when remains in something of a debate. The presence of a tel or mound identified during the Golden Age indicates long-term habitation, but excavations to determine exactly how long-term would require the demolition of most of the city.

It is estimated that the population had already reached one million by around B.G.A. 1000. Opinions vary, but there is evidence the site may have been inhabited as far back as the Age of Darkness.

By 500 B.G.A., the city had a firmly established population of over two million. it was around this time that refugees from the lacanados rift valley began flooding to the city, seeking shelter from the Marconi Alliance.

In 498 B.G.A., Arch Magus Julius Phinius Juto mobalized the now extensive labor force and used it to rebuild the overcrowded city in what may have been one of the earliest examples of large-scale urban planning.

Alliance Rule

Uther conquered the city in B.G.A. 5, with an army of roughly 80,000. The city's population at the time was perhaps two and a half million. It was considered an autonomous region and lacked major defenses. A fortified Mage Tower on the slopes of the Stormreaver Range lacked line-of-site for most of the city, and the few ground forces they had were quick to defect.

Once captured, much of the city's industy was converted to manufacturing good and equipment for the army. Uther would use the city as his base of operations well into the Golden Age, though Arindell had already been named as the capitol within the first few years of the age. For some time, Sun's Beacon was considered the capitol, and in many ways was a much more important and prominant city than Arindell.

However, the extremly poor defensibility of the location made it, in Uther's opinion, an unwise choise of capitols. It was ideal for launching military campaings all over the continent and across the sea, but generally not a good place to be on the wrong-end of an invasion.

The city flourished during the Ages of the Alliance, growing to a population of over fifteen million including surrounding suburbs and incorporated areas. Developments ranged mostly north along the Sword Coast where high anual rainfal and open land produced good crops, while directly along the coast enjoyed mostly good weather year-round.

Sun's Beacon became an important tourist destination, as well as a sea-side retreat for the well-to-do of the Alliance government.

Post-Alliance

After the fall of the Alliance in A.Y. 751, Sun's Beacon suffered catastrophic attacks at the hands of Samuel Fate. The population of the main city dropped from 5-6,000,000 to less than 100,000, and most of the surrounding urban centers were abandoned. The series of resorts along the coast were destroyed, and mostly reclaimed by the sea during the Long Night.

As the new Day began, the city was finally allowed to return to prominance as an important stop along the coastal shipping routes that served the new Alliance.