With The Healing Empress, coming out soon, I wanted to do a post about the setting where a lot of the action takes place, the city of Kipos.
Kipos is one of the few places on the planet that has remained independent of Achlys, Oreias, and the Kalarian Empire. How independent it actually is however, is questionable. All three nations have a presence there, due to trade. The fact Kalare has not conquered Kipos, suggests that perhaps it’s a puppet of Kalare, or at the very least, is under enough control that the Kalarians can focus their attention elsewhere. Still, the city tries to maintain its neutrality between the three nations, which is why it was selected as the location for peace talks. Its kind of like the merchant cities of Italy during the Renaissance.
Kipos has an almost tropical climate, but its location near the sea keeps its temperatures from being sweltering. The city is far enough away from the sea to not be strongly affected by any storms that blow up from it, as it sits several miles upriver on its port. Its primary source of income is trade, though it has a booming tourist industry as well. Because it is such an important trading center, it has been able to avoid being conquered by its larger neighbors. None of them want to disrupt the lucrative trade that they have with the city, and Kalare has been too busy to pay much mind to a city that has no imperial ambitions of its own.
The people of Kipos are diverse, as some have ancestry from the other three nations, or come from a different planet entirely. The one thing they have in common however, is a strong business sense, and a love of independence.