Geography: Bonsur stands beside the fresh and frigid glacial runoff of the Trier Sea, which bounds Alastari on the west. To the east of the city lies the Smoking Plain (Delarq Tor is just a day's ride toward the sunrise). Some miles to the north are the rugged Langrani Hills. To the south, in a valley amid the Jacinth Peaks, rises the city-state of Talcama. The land around Bonsur is adequate for farming, and is heavily cultivated. Though not on a major river, Bonsur's low altitude allows irrigation from the Trier Sea. Thus, the city is surrounded by a network of well-maintained canals. Farther east, the steam-warmed grasses of the Smoking Plain provide good grazing for sheep and goats, even during the harsh winters.
Economy: As a major port on the Great Eastern Route, a caravan trail that runs through southern Alastari, Bonsur enjoys a high volume of trade. In addition to the silver from Illis, steel and rubies from Talcama, wine and foodstuffs from Tricorus, and timber and furs from Xochithlan that flow through Bonsur, the city exports its own wine (not as famous as Tricoran Gold), and is strongly supported by the fishing industry. However, its main economic strength is its world-renowned artisans, famous for their beautiful jewelry, cabinetry, and enchanted swords.
Culture: Bonsurians are racially mixed population (mainly humans, elves, and mer-folk), with a fairly well-unified culture. They revere beauty, taking pride in the willow-lined streets and graceful white domes of their city, and striving for physical perfection in themselves, their surroundings, and their personal belongings. Often hedonistic to the point of thoughtless cruelty (or even deliberate sadism), the Bonsurians are known as a sensual people with loose to nonexistent sexual mores. They love music; one will always hear pipes and lyres playing in their marketplaces and anywhere else they may gather together, and it is a rare Bonsurian who cannot dance.
Government: Bonsur is an absolute monarchy, currently ruled by the young and beautiful Queen Gemra. Members of the nobility may govern fiefs in the surrounding countryside, command fleets of merchant ships, or hold positions in the court. Currently the most influential noble is the Adjutant-General, Duke Eron of Galdoth, who both has extensive land holdings to the north (along the border of the Osksian Empire), and commands Bonsur's navy. Queen Gemra is a spoiled, hedonistic little bitch with excellent thieving skills. There is no real malice in her; she often orders people beheaded when they bore her, but almost always changes her mind.
History and Politics: Bonsur joined the Delarquan Federation some sixty-five years ago, soon after its formation, thus forestalling an attempted conquest by the Osksian Empire. It was Bonsur that brought the Kingdom of Talcama into the Federation, and the two kingdoms usually support each other against the more overwhelming members of the Federation, the Osksi Empire and the Mordanti Confederation. Bonsur enjoys friendly relations with Talcama and Illis, and a strong rivalry with Tricorus, an Osksian city a few miles to the north (competing with them as ports on the Great Eastern Route).
Note: The merchant ships which carry the caravan trade southwest from Bonsur are very often plagued by pirates, the primary threat to the prosperity of the city.
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