Sephir

Sephir, sometimes referred to as simply 'The Free Port' due to its policies on trading, is a City-State entity that exists on the northern coastline of the '404' continent. Centrally located on the south end of the Interior Ocean the port itself was an important hub of trade before international travel was common and has since only grown further in importance. The city was also once the capital of one of the primary precursor kingdoms on the '404' continent, but it has become seperated from previously owned lands due to the encroachment of the Mean Mean Forest.

Geography
Originally a major port for the Kingdom of Feoris, it would benefit greatly from the almost unnatural geographic feature of the Wide River, a flowing source of fresh water that cut the continent almost in half and spanned well over a mile wide even at thinner points. It as at the mouth of the Wide River, where it meets the Interior Ocean that Sephir was settled. The surprising rate that the Wide River deepens on its shore made it a suitable Deep Water Harbor that could welcome in even larger ocean going vessels after sea walls were constructed to divert the actual flow of the water to focus on the far bank. In essence, this makes Sephir a penninsula because of the ocean coast making up the majority of its north and east borders. The climate itself is naturally warm and the seasons tend to blur together more than in most other regions.

History of Sephir
Sephir was once the primary port and capital city in an expansive ancient kingdom called Feoris. This same kingdom is connected to the ancient peoples that would eventually settle and develop the penninsula kingdom of Scolla. Feoris itself was vast, but largely lacked the necessary governmental control to maintain itself structurally and suffered from constant infighting as a result. Smaller kingdoms were constantly splitting off and rebellions were a normal thing. With time though, the vast tracts of potentially valuable land would be hidden beneath the ever encroaching growth of the Mean Mean Forest.

The Forest itself originated just south of Scolla, but over decades began to invade and overgrow even populated towns. Fearing the terrors that lurked in the dense wood, people fled their homes and livelihoods as they took off towards the safer western lands. Some of these people, also choose to travel to the ancient capital of Sephir where growing petition meant the king would try to act against the expanding forest. Sephir itself loomed closer to the forest's path year by year though. No amount of manpower or force that could be mustered against the endless wall of trees on the king's part did anything to dent the progress of the forest itself. With little time left to consider, the King ordered the construction of the 'High Wall' along the southern most limits of the capital. This tall brickwork wall stood taller than most buildings in town, on par with the tall forest trees themselves. It spanned fully from the Wide River to the west all the way to the coastline on the capital's eastern limit.

The plan worked to a degree, when the trees eventually reached within range of the capital the wall and a determined force of city guard who were entrusted with thinning the encroachment managed to make it so the treeline never made it into the town itself. However, they could never stop the forest's growth and over time the lands that had once belonged to a vast kingdom were swallowed whole. Sephir was now cut off from land travel completely, forced to use its blessings as a large port that had the benefits of the Wide River port to continue to trade for supplies.

Sephir needed to be reinvented, but the Kings had not done enough to encourage this as the former capital was left to struggle to survive. Revolt would change everything though, soon the Kings of old were dethroned and a council began to rule in his place. Originally just a union of 5 prominent town members, time would burn a tradition into the seats of the council which linked each one to a particular faction inside of Sephir. Governed by these 5 who answered to the people instead of their own wills, Sephir's radical change began when they declared the port free of all tariffs and trade was to be as free as the people of Sephir herself. This alongside with the fact that it was now possible for low-born citizens to become a member of the ruling council meant that people began to truly see themselves as free and the serf mentality of old would deteriorate naturally over years.

Sephir would continue to grow within its limtied space, luring in trade from all others on the continent with its free center of commerce in a centralized coastal port. Scolla and other major states that had not suffered from the Mean Mean Forest would bring goods, customs, ideas, and technology to Sephir where any person with sufficient drive could earn their place in society. Once the storms and winds that had cut the world off subsided, Sephir would once again make its mark as a centralized location, welcoming populace, and free trade center enticed even closed-minded cultures to communicate and do business with the now blossoming City-State.