The Province of FreePort
Not only is the province of FreePort the largest on Atla, but also has the greatest population. It is one of the most unique in culture, history, climate and many other aspects, and is home to one of the greatest mysteries of gods and men, second in scale only to the forming of the desert of Kahn and the gulf of Kahn.
FreePort is Atla’s largest trading port, though it hasn’t always been that way. Tru Dahn and Morrid were actually the first port cities of Atla, and have remained major ports even after the birth of the railline. Now, however, with the rapid growth throughout all of Atla, FreePort’s location has given it the title of largest port almost by default.
The hot but long growing season the region experiences has allowed it to become a major agricultural producer. It is also, thanks to the city of Dames, producer of Atla’s greatest wines.
Though the area stands out for its trade history and fantastic wines, there are two events which come to mind whenever anyone mentions the lands name. Even before the wine and the trade, the name FreePort immediately conjured up images of the sinking of the FreePort basin and the attack on Old Dames 30,000 PM and 300 PM respectively.
The Cliffs of Gent, possibly the known world’s most spectacular geologic feature might not be a natural geologic feature at all. Nothing in the way of written history remains now regarding the event, but oral poetry and ancient fables tell the tale of the God Gent causing the strange formation. In shortened form, here is the fable (the fable can be found in its entirety in any library or historic centers throughout the province): Long ago, thousands of years and many more, Atla’s first advanced civilization appeared and thrived in what is now the basin of FreePort. While they may not have been around as long as the inhabitants of Sed, Bedrin or Kahn, they flourished and advanced quickly enough to become the world’s dominant power seemingly overnight. After a time of great blessings and prosperity, the people soon paid little attention to their Gods. Gent, the God of the sea, blessed the people with abundance; from fish to firewood, the land and sea was more than generous. But as these blessings continued, the people grew more and more careless in their worship and boasted in their own wisdom and strength, not the blessings of Gent which allowed them such prosperity. A new spring began once again and the people had all but forgotten about their God. In his wrath, Gent sent a drought upon the land, withering the crops for the new season. The people however, were resourceful and crafty. “We don’t need rain, we have all the water we need from the ocean!” they said. With their advanced knowledge, the people had developed a way to purify the salty sea and use the clean water for their crops. Gent, angry at their persistence and their slothfulness in remembering him, sent the second terror, great and terrible storms. The storms, more violent than any hurricane, drenched the land. Instead of acknowledging their God, they accepted the rain as proof of their own ingenuity in beating the weather (they were working on techniques for seeding the clouds, which they felt they succeeded in doing when the rains came). Though the weather destroyed some of the expanding civilization, any damage was repaired by the next spring. And the next season saw the greatest harvest the people could remember. Angered by the stubbornness of the people, Gent had had enough and was said to have come to the people from the sea in the form of a beast as big as the moon itself. “You have forgotten me in all things and remember to give thanks no longer! For that, the world shall forget you, as well as all the knowledge you have produced by my blessings!” The sea creature, Gent, darkening the sky with his size, bit into the land. As his mouth closed over the ground, he pulled the land downwards, into the sea. Releasing the land from his clenched jaw, water flooded the sunken land. Anything that had not been completely destroyed by the bite of Gent was annihilated in the flood. For thousands of years the once prosperous land remained submerged under hundreds of meters of water.
Eventually Gent released the land from the curse of submersion and the water drained back into the sea. The land settled just above the water, leaving a deep basin surrounded by steep cliffs that marked permanently where the God had placed his mouth. The crags and rock spires all around the cliff are said to be where each of his millions of teeth had clenched into the ground. And as they were pulled out of the land, the rock stuck to his teeth. For millennia after the waters receded the land was left sterile from the curse. And now, even though peace and prosperity have returned, the cliffs remain barren, as reminder to every living person of the blessings–or curses–the gods can give if they are not remembered in all things.
No geologic evidence has been uncovered to give credibility to the fable’s claim. The countless researchers and geologists who have spent their lives looking for answers have come up empty. Stating that there are no geologic processes capable of such peculiar formations, most researches have accepted the cliffs origin to be a matter of personal opinion.
Though the desert of Kahn covers a larger area, the cliffs of Gent are considered the single most important and greatest natural monument in the world. But because of the rugged nature, distance and difficulty in reaching them (not to mention the ubiquitous smell of decay and rotten flesh) and the impossibility of scaling them, the cliffs are not the most visited natural feature in Atla. In fact, few actually travel the distance to them other than scientists and researchers.
The other major event in FreePort’s history which according to some has been a gift in disguise, was the destruction of Old Dames. Up until approximately 500 years ago, the city of Dames was north, nearly to the base of the Morrid Range. It was like any other progressive city at the time, that is, until people began vanishing in the nights. As time progressed, the once thriving and massive city was sent into chaos. So many people had vanished after a few short years that businesses were shut down and agriculture almost completely stopped. The workers and citizens who once spent their time tending the crops and flocks were suddenly forced to spend all their time and energy trying to find the missing people. Before they could make any progress, disaster struck. The city was attacked by a group that has since, vanished from history. The nameless enemies completely destroyed every building and farm seemingly without purpose. However, there wasn’t one single attack that did the city in. Instead, it was over the space of one month that the attacks took place. Terrified by the assault and destruction, the few remaining citizens escaped one night after a particularly devastating assault. Only a handful of the once thriving population remained (estimates and records show the numbers killed during the month in the tens of thousands while no more than 400 escaped).
The people fled many days south to what is now the city center of Dames. But because of the once remote nature (despite its size) of the self-sufficient city, little was done by the rest of the world to figure out the cause of the attack. At that point in time, distances were greater without the railline and it was still over one hundred years before the formation of the GC. As for the cause of the initial attacks, no definitive answers have been uncovered.
The current Balder of Dames, Kennith (Kenna) Mason, is only the most recent in the family line that has ruled Dames for centuries. Even he, a blood descendant of the Balder at the time of escape however, has little in the way of records which describe specifics of the event. Whatever instigated the faceless assailants to destroy the city has apparently been resolved, as there have been no problems in over half a century. Further, if the events were to repeat themselves now, it would be nearly impossible to connect the newest threats with something 500 years old.