Saggunto

Saggunto is a city located in western Serkonos. It has ornate wooden bridges, built by Rabinos Abele. Saggunto is also known for its variety of flatbread, popular both in Dunwall and Karnaca.

Geography
The city of Saggunto lies in Serkonos’ western mountains. The smaller Isle of Serkos protects it from natural disasters, while the Serkos Channel provides a source of water for the inhabitants.

History
Saggunto largely avoided the fate of other Serkonan towns. While Bastillian bore the brunt of marauders to the North, pirates favored the many hidden coves of Southern Serkonos and its islands. Left largely to its own devices, the people of Saggunto largely eked out an existence on the mountains, herding goats and mining iron, all while developing irrigation under the guidance of a growing elite.

This level of infrastructural sophistication allowed Saggunto to defend itself well against marauders and pirates, especially those that dared to cross the Serkos channel. As the people of Saggunto expelled the raiders, refugees from the other Serkonan cities sought refuge in the city.

The Lady of Saggunto, Ximena, showed little compassion towards these refugees. She created an underclass of workers that toiled in mines, cut down trees, built stone monuments, and formed the bulk of the infantry of Saggunto's army. With no second thoughts to that, the reign of the Ximenan dynasty lasted for a century, resulting in a golden age of fine arts.

The Ximenan dynasty ended abruptly, and the successors proved ineffectual, resulting in the underclass rising up against the city's rulers. They sacked the capital, destroying symbols of the Ximenan Golden Age, resulting in the establishment of a collective dedicated to ruling the town. Many nobles during this period in history went into hiding. As a result, Saggunto lost its influence, as the surrounding islands fell to piracy.

Eventually, a traditionalist group took over Saggunto, and reached out to the king of Karnaca in the hopes that centralized leadership would benefit the city. They asked the king to appoint a new ruler for them, and in a show of wisdom, the king of Karnaca appointed a descendant of the Ximenan dynasty to rule, who retained the ancient title of Lord of Saggunto. The Lords in succeeding years would serve the king, and later the duke of Serkonos, with loyalty.

Saggunto would have gone peaceably if not for the rise of the Abbey of the Everyman in the 1700s, which found in Saggunto blasphemous altars to dark forces, dating back to ancient times. The spread of the new religion resulted in an iconoclasm not too dissimilar to the days of the collapse of the Ximenan dynasty. The Oracular Order in Karnaca saw a way out, and converted these ancient altars to concepts familiar to the congregants of the Abbey. Thus, these ancient sites were made to be sites of pilgrimage to the Abbey, with little remembering their ancient origins.

Trivia

 * The name Saggunto bears a great resemblance to the real-life Spanish city Sagunto.
 * A valley east of Saggunto produces wine.
 * Kristo, a friend of Rapollo, lives in a "tiny manor" in Saggunto.
 * The history of the iconoclasm of Saggunto and the conversion of the altars for Abbey use is vaguely reminiscent of the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, with the religious icons of the Aztec and Incan Empires converted into symbols for the Catholic Church.