Salandirik

Category	Cities
Continent	Karterus
Region	Ma'Ohari
Owner	Burterinii
Population	50,000+
Founder	Captain Gadbog
Founded	27 Witchrite 1002
Map	Anutoth

Like most holds of Anutoth, Salandirik originated as a pirate base. It was established in 1002 by Dromite pirates serving under Captain Gadbog. The base steadily grew in size and population throughout the years of the Great Exodus (998 - 1017), a period when six empires were compelled to relocate to other regions and continents. This led to a flurry of refugee ships traversing the Sea of Mourning and the Salzârrâk channel sea. Captain Gadbog, who was not a slaver, would ransom people if possible; otherwise, the ship would be stripped of its valuables and allowed to continue on its way.

In the waning year of the Great Exodus, 1017, the well-fortified town of Salandirik succumbed to the naval forces of the Ivory Asylum. Under its new proprietor, the settlement underwent swift expansion. Its administration was entrusted to an Elderaunt clan, which had persistently vexed the government of the Ivory Asylum.

A decade after the establishment of Tâchumâz, Salandirik's leadership recognized the emergence of a commercial rival. The tribe overseeing this decade-old settlement was the Irastâ. This tribe, in Elderaunt parlance, a collection of families united by loyalty to kin, then tribe, and finally empire, closely resembled those at Salandirik - a potential threat to the stability of Ivory Asylum. Consequently, they were "relocated" to manage one of Ivory Asylum's expanding frontier outposts.

During the Ivory Ward Campaign (1465 - 1467), the city of Salandirik was conquered by Admiral Bloodtusk and his formidable naval forces.

For the next three centuries, the city was governed by Empress Cryanus. After the Black Tide War (1465 - 1486), her prudent economic principles steered the Bloodtusk Regime toward growth and prosperity. She expanded the city's port and dredged and patrolled nearby rivers to facilitate trade with the interior (c.f. Yaram). Regrettably, many lost their lives in this endeavor, succumbing to disease in the fetid swamps and bogs or falling victim to the threats of beasts and monsters. However, those who perished were not left to waste, instead becoming part of Salandirik's esteemed Sleepless Guard - a force of undead, which grew over time without conflict, born from a principle religiously followed by Black Tide's adherents and, no doubt, disciples of the undead god Thasmudyan.

Necromancy is a potent element of warfare. Our living soldiers fight a dual battle, first as mortal beings, and then as reanimated undead.

Pinth, excerpt from his book - "An Army of Living Dead"

The city's lich queen made efforts to expand the city by bringing in more living creatures. Half of this population were slaves, while the other half were willing to overlook the fact that undead under magical constraints were ubiquitous, yet risked staying as long as they could profit. This arrangement persisted for approximately two centuries, with Salandirik becoming the most significant port in western Ma'Ohari. Cryanus, an agent of the Council of Nine, was instrumental in this success. Eventually, however, the city's undead population surpassed the living. In the final century of Bloodtusk rule, economic stagnation and misery, brought on by the undead, reversed all of this progress. The situation in Salandirik spread outward across the Kingdom, rendering them vulnerable to neighbors who sought to eliminate the Black Tide influence.

In 1798, the third year of the Burterinii-Bloodtusk War (1795 - 1800), Salandirik was captured by the forces of the B.B.A. Soon to have their longtime adversary on both sides of their cities, the Pirate Lords, party to the B.B.A., observed with some concern as the city fell under the banner of the Burterinii Empire.