Gossary: Crown of Sweeping plains and coastal dunes[]
Gossary is a populous and prosperous Crown in the south of Alamastra. It is composed primarily of well-watered and richly fertile plains that slope gently for for a distance of 100 leagues toward the sea. These plains are known as the Sweeping Downs. The heartland of Gossary is drained by the mighty river, the Tzaltzan. Its multitude of tributaries fan out across the Sweeping Downs. These have been carefully dredged and regulated to create a vast system of canals and irrigation networks across this fertile land. This has transformed a vast prairieland into a breadbasket of the nation. The canals providing efficient transport of agricultural produce from the hinterland to the Yamari Ocean for sale on the international market. This transportation system has also allowed many prosperous trading towns to grow up within the interior, including the mighty guild city of Gade. This the only trade city within the Crown to be prosperous enough to buy a communal charter from the High King and have it confirmed by the Duke of Gossary. Gade sits at the crossroads between the prosperous Crown of LeBano, the Fingers, the Imperial City of Eishen, and the massive trade port of Sandriff at the mouth of the Tzaltzan Delta. The other great city of Crown Gossary, is Sandriff. This city is ancient when compared to Gade. Founded in the dawning years of the foundation of Alamastra, it was once the seat of the High Kings of the fallen House of Starcrest. It is ringed by a massive double wall crowned by towers 70 cubits high. It is also ringed by a massive artificial lake, as it stands at a double fork in the Tzaltzan Delta. This city has the largest port in Lower Alamastra within its orbit, artificially dredged for deepwater access directly to the Yamari Ocean. Crown Gossary is ruled over by a powerful Duke. At one the Duke of Gossary was a Prince-Magnate of the Realm, but through various years of turbulence, especially as the result of the Great War and the Balraen Invasions, has seen its status demoted and stripped on a number of occasions. Before the fall of the House Starcrest, a member of the royal family was installed as Arch Duke over the Crown. As the Great War ran its course, partisans of Starcrest were gradually deposed from positions of high counsel. When the current High King of House Mair rewarded one of his faithful lieutenants with command of this rich Crown, he was enthroned as a Duke, since he was not of royal blood, but of royal association. The Crown of Gossary has long history of foreign entanglements, and as a result has regularly been the target of foreign reprisals and international scourges. The Port of Sandriff was dominated by Pirates of the Pirate Ports from Across the Yamari for a period of ten years, before the Duke of Gossary was able to evict them. The Tzalzan Delta has repeatedly changed hands between the Balraens and the Alamastrans over the last century of conflict, with only Sandriff continually holding out against the turbulence, by maintaining its open access to and dominance of the coastal sea lanes.