Vennosat City is the capital of Vennosat and the prime trade port in the Rhiat.
Vennosat City has always been a wealthy, active port since sedentary population inhabitated the Rhiat. After the dissolution of the Heteri Kings, and the unifying violence of the Chlendi Empire, Eskla and Chlendi nobles took control of the town, ruling by the grace and proxy of the Empire. As the largest port in the Rhiat, most goods went sent up river through Vennosat City to the core of the Empire. When the Mindat Wars shifted the the eastern front, the Emperor’s council placed immense tariffs and taxes on shipping and trade flowing though the city to fund the effort. With the backing of the the Shn-Kvaruth, and the sabotage of Mindat cells, the noble houses pooled their might and declared independence in 2679.
Now burdened the infrastructure of a new nation, and lacking the order and numbers of a military, Vennosat City became an immense “frontier town” as merchants and less savory traders took advantage of new found out economic possibilities. Any guilds without noble ties to the new regime were shut off the market rush, and fought their way back in to trade among peasants. The wharf district was overrun with slave trade, as much of the indentured labor was dragged north when the Empire pulled out. Noble houses, now the rulers of a nation, were content to profit and hide behind the walls of the manor houses. They took over the royal enclave in the western hill, and walled the district off to forstall the rapidly encroaching wharf distract, and it’s accompanying filth and disease. Other noble families took residence in the burgeoning city of Noduan on the southern coast. As long as the profits were strong, the nobles were content, and underseers began bargaining with underworld gangs and guild influences to make their cut on the side. These deals spawned modern crime syndicates such as the Viceers and the Blacktongues.
But everyone from Vennosat knew that if profits were at stake it could not last. After his head accountant and his family were slaughtered, Venras Ducat, newly “crowned” head of the city oligarchy, took action. A veteran of border conflicts with Balancont, he brought violence to bear, hiring an entire troupe of Heteri mercenaries as his private army with the city. They swept through the wharf district, cutting down or shackling able bodied men, and razing buildings to the ground. Faced with a labour shortage and loss of merchandise, the guild had little option than to strike a deal with the noble houses.