Bastillian

Bastillian on the Lord Regent's map.

Bastillian is the northernmost city in Serkonos. Populated by a citizenry that most consider "rowdy", the city of Bastillian rests upon a peninsula that runs north along the northwest coast of the island.

History

Long ago, only isolated groups of peaceful shepherds and nomads called Bastillian home. The modest size of its population protected it from the Great Burning. Their biggest threat came from the sea; marauders, likely from Gristol, began to raid the coasts, driving many of the people inland.

These raiders added insult to injury, settling along the coast and mixing with the locals, creating a new culture. Over the centuries, Bastillian’s proximity to Gristol put the region at the mercy of a number of such invasions, creating a people accustomed to hardship and violence. They learned to capture moments of joy where they could find it. In the 700s, Bastillian faced invasion yet again, this time from a civilization based in Dunwall. A group of foreign lords arrived, enforcing new customs designed to send wealth to a distant capital. The Dunwall elites consolidated a number of villages into the town of Bastillian and built a fortress to defend it from “marauders.”

In fact, these marauders had lived on the coast seasonally and came to free their fellows, many of whom counted them as kin. The fortress ended up not protecting the people, but imprisoning them. The Dunwall domains, stretched too far, eventually collapsed from within. The people drove out some of its nobles, but most simply remained, mixing with the locals like the raiders had before them. Bastillian fell into a period of decline, and eventually entered into a tributary relationship with the civilization out of Saggunto. After Saggunto’s decline, Bastillian served largely as a source for mercenaries and conscripted pirates as well as a base to resupply before continuing further into Serkonos. The people earned their rowdy reputation, aided by leaders from Gristol. They had a tendency to exile criminals and ne’er-do-wells by sending them on ships to Bastillian’s fortress.

As Gristol grew in prominence, Bastillian fell even further under its orbit, eventually becoming part of a duchy in Gristol. Only the War of Four Crowns decided Bastillian’s true allegiance. Its central location between two crowns made it subject to intrigue and central to military strategy. When the Duke and Duchess of Karnaca inspired the mayor of Bastillian to join their side, the rest of Serkonos fell in line. Bastillian became its own region within Serkonos, and the mayor became the Marquess of Bastillian.

After clashes erupted between the eastern and western cities of Serkonos in the 1700s, the people of Bastillian eventually submitted and swore loyalty to Duke Theodanis Abele.

Trivia

• Bastillian produces peaches and figs.
• The Rivera fig wine, popular in Karnaca, is produced and bottled in Bastillian.
• The Lord Regent's map featured above has the city's name misspelled as "Bastillan".
• A gang known as the Channel Reapers operates within the city, dealing in human trafficking, gold, and bonecharms.