Pelagrino
Contents
Description
Pelagrino is a prosperous city state in northwestern Arcadia.
It was founded, and is named by famous Arcadian Halfling explorer, frontiersman and adventurer Stephen Pelagrino. According to the legend, old Stephen was so enamored with the land that he decided to cut his adventure short, and settle there for the rest of his life. To claim the land as his own, he used his tablecloth as a makeshift flag which was later used as a pattern for the city flag.
Pelagrino is the home of the Inventors Guild and famous for it's fleet of flying airships that utilize the cutting edge hot air balloon technology. It's a city of merchants, bards, entrepreneurs. It is also a major Fynwell and Argyle trade partner.
Demographics and Culture
One of the most striking features of Pelagrino are it's demographics. It is one of the few nations in the world that is mostly populated by so called "little people", namely Halflings, Gnomes and Dwarfs. The short stature of it's inhabitants is so prevalent and commonplace that most of the city buildings are not constructed to accommodate larger races which constitute less than 5% of the total population. In fact new buildings are not zoned or designed to accommodate humans or elves which discourages those races from migrating into the city. It is simply not practical or cost effective.
Majority of Pelegrino citizens (roughly 48%) are Halflings. Gnomes constitute 25% and Dwarfs 22%, rest being larger races such as Humans, Elves, Half Orcs and Dragonborn. Among Halflings, 62% of citizens are Lightfoot, 32% are Stout and remaining 6% are other sub-races. Despite such skewed demographics large people are not discriminated against and welcome in the city as long as they can deal with cramped quarters and tiny beds.
The people of Pelegrino work hard, but also love to celebrate. They are friendly and welcoming but also shrewd and clever. It is one of the few places in the world where education is mandatory and all children must learn reading, writing and arithmetic.
The city is well known for it's lavish holiday celebrations, frequent firework displays, street markets and feasts.
Trade Empire
Pelagrino is famed for it's swift airships. Most of these are owned by private merchants or merchant conglomerates that run trade routes all around Eoran. Their vessels are faster than any land or sea based transport, and can reach places no other merchants can visit in record time. Thus despite the city's small size, many of the Sky Merchants have accumulated more wealth than most Arcandian royals
Military Might
A city mostly populated by Halflings could seem as an easy target for conquest minded enemies, but this could not be further from the truth. The might of the Pelagrino military lies not in the strength of the individual soldiers but in their tactics and methods.
Pelagrino has complete air superiority in Arcadia. Their hot air baloon tech is used not only for trade, but also in warfare. The city have won many battles by simply bombarding enemy forces with corrosive or poisonous alchemical concoctions.
The city is also defended by the famous Sky Knights - brave fighters trained to ride Arcadian Falcons to battle. They can be deployed from the ramparts, or from airships, and can mount devastating hit and run attacks darting in and out of range of enemy archers.
Politics and Government
Pelagrino is a representative democracy patterned after the Fynwell model but with much less class stratification. Stephen Pelagrino envisioned his nation as a classless society without aristocrats, and thus there is no landed aristocracy in Pelagrino. But, naturally this does not mean there is no class differences, as the wealthy Sky Merchants are definitely the upper crust of society and have huge amount of influence over the senate.
Pelagrino has also envisioned his city as a place where no one goes hungry, and thus the tax revenue is diverted into providing community services for the least fortunate members of society. Additionally all citizens receive a small universal stipend to help them with living expenses. As a result of these policies there are astonishingly few beggars and homeless people in the streets for the city of that size.
The social programs are, of course, inconvenient for the merchants and tradesmen who form one of the two major political factions of the city. The Mercantile faction fights to reduce or eliminate many of such programs. Their rival faction known as Dreamers, on the other hand fights to keep the dream of the city's founder alive.
