[center][u]Phastos[/u][/center]
[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/2Wl3rVh.png[/img][/center]

Name - Phastos, Merchant Coast (colloquial)
Demonym - Phasto
Location on Map -
[img]http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Gorgenmast/MerchantCoast.png[/img]
Flag - A black silhouette of a wasp with wings spread apart against a solid field of red, purple, or saffron.
Capital - Sanhedar
Other Major Settlements - Margho, Rassa, Qolshar
Population - ~.45 million
Races - Predominantly human with negligible numbers of other races.
Culture - The culture of the Phasto people is distinct from that of the surrounding realms; a result of their history. According to the Vastiad - a historical document detailing the early history of the people of the Merchant Coast - the progenitors of Phastos came from a southerly, flowered land across the sea known only as "Rha Shem". Traces of this ancient tongue, mixed and adulterated with loanwords from native languages, comprise a language that is rather distinct from that of neighboring realms and, purportedly, challenging for foreigners to master.
Crimes - While the ownership of slaves is reviled in most parts of the world, Phastos practices the institution of chattel slavery on a scale unseen in the modern world. Slaves arrive from all across the world to the Slave Bazaar in Rassa from whence they are auctioned off throughout the Merchant Coast. Slaves do all manner of task - from construction to prostitution and all work in between. While the institution is a barbaric vestige of the ancient Rha Shem civilization, it is a few respects more progressive than other forms of slavery found throughout the world. Slaves [i]can[/i] purchase their freedom or that of a loved one, though it happens terribly infrequently. The faint prospect of earning one's freedom is intended more often as a tool to keep the slaves - who comprise up to a third of the population in cities such as Rassa and Sanhedar - from revolting.
Government type - Confederation of despot-led city-states.
People in power - WIP
Industry - As a confederation of populous urban centers, the chief industries of Phastos primarily concern themselves with the production of manufactured products constructed or produced from raw materials purchased at wholesale prices. Jewellery, alcohol, furniture, and metal crafts are among the most desirable produce, which are distributed throughout the realms by means of the seafaring Phasto merchants for which their homeland is often called. The same roving merchants also serve to facilitate the two largest imports in terms of quantity: food and slaves.
Military - The Merchant Coast has little in the way of a standing army; the lords have little interest in expanding their realms and feel quite safe within their seaside fortress cities. In spite of their lack of a traditional army, the wealthiest merchants have seen fit to invest in small fleets of warships devoted to protecting their goods on the seas. These fighting ships are typically built in the dromon style and are chiefly used to dispatch pirates and other nuisances to trade. Occasionally, these vessels have been used to support land operations, most notably the current siege of the pirate stronghold of Galso by Talmar of Elepho. There, Phasto vessels have been affixed with shipbound onagers and ballistae to facilitate the siege.
Landscape/Terrain - Urban cities of carved stone, surrounded on one side by sea and the other by trackless desert. The peripheries of the inner cities are comprised of cheaper plasters and, in the slave quarters, mud huts.
History - WIP