Uba

Uba sits on the northwestern coast of the Kodno, tucked into a well protected inlet. It is probably the most accessible of the Elf cities to human and other western traders, with the waters of its coast not nearly as treacherous as those around Mutsu. The city itself is quite cosmopolitan, with their docks boasting a dazzling array of nationalities and cultures. Despite this, the rest of the city remains gated and guarded against the spread of this diversity, preventing all but the most important envoys from travelling further inland. This has concentrated the wealth in the city, making the docks a bustling and exciting place to be. Uba acts as a hub for trade across the rest of the Kodno, with many human merchants managing their business from the city. Clan Asuka governs Uba, though their holdings and vassals are much smaller than those in the south near Sabu. Instead, mercenaries have made up a sizeable part of Asuka forces, especially recently as their ruler Eita seeks to expand his influence.

Politics

Uba has always been a trade city. It’s position at the root of the Maeji inlet made it a gathering point for villages up along the coast, as well as ones further inland. This allowed its rulers to extend influence over its neighbours, which grew ever greater as the city and its surroundings did as well. While once in time Clan Asuka was the unrivalled master of the northeast, this has somewhat changed over the past few centuries. Their once grand holdings have been slowly eked away at by the Sena in Sabu, usurping the fealty of vassals and enlarging their own holdings at Uba’s expense. With the ascension of Eita as Master of the clan, this slow death seems set to be reversed, or at least slowed. Eita has seen his clans biggest weakness was numbers, with his own clan and their supporting vassals unable to match the sheer numbers that the Sena can muster up. His solution has been to invite and hire tremendous amounts of mercenaries from elsewhere in Oderen, primarily the human realms of the Routot. These warriors are then used as a political cudgel against vassals who question their allegiance, as well as to support their own loyal vassals in their minor wars to expand their holdings. This process has managed to go without Sena retaliation for the moment, but it seems that this might not remain for much longer.

Groups

Landmarks

Docks

The Docks of Uba are a fascinating place to be. They concentrate the cosmopolitan and varied nature of a trade city into a single small suburb of the city, offering a bustling trade market with the other entertainment options one would expect to find in a port town. The docks open onto the rest of the city through two massive gates, heavily guarded by Clan Asuka warriors to prevent any foreigners from entering the rest of the city. Elf merchants and traders are allowed into the area, and then carefully inspected when they make to leave back into the rest of the city. Smuggling is common, and some have found reasonable success ushering humans and other races past the guards. The penalties for this are quite steep, and so not many are willing to brave such a dangerous task.

Personalities

Asuka Eita, Asuka Clan Patriarch, Master of Uba

Uba is a rapidly growing city. Gorging itself on the trade from further west, it grows and spreads. It’s biggest obstacle is geographical, occupying a narrow strip of coast between sea and the northern part of the Ashi mountains. This has long been the greatest adversary of the Asuka clan, limiting their expansion and putting a hard barrier on their total influence. Eita, the clan’s current patriarch, has done more than any of his predecessors to overcome this hurdle. Using his growing wealth, he has worked to conquer and subdue lords spreading down the coast. While Uba’s own forces are relatively small, he has imported mercenaries from across the Kodno and abroad, throwing these swelling armies at his enemies. For the most part it has been a successful strategy, overwhelming the weaker lords and solidifying his clan’s supremacy. And yet Eita is not satisfied, setting his eyes instead on the title of Emperor. Eita is an older, but not yet ancient Elf, with long black hair tied up into a topknot. He is haughty and arrogant, caring only for his desires and those that concern his clan’s legacy. Pragmatic and ambitious, he has a hand in much of the business moving through Uba.

Hatsue, Innkeeper

The market at Uba is a busy place, filled with all sorts of people and goods. Among the more mundane to the Elves are the selection of slaves for sale. Typically captured Halflings or their native cousins Gnomes, the odd more foreign race does make an appearance. Humans are tangentially involved in this trade, some selling prisoners to Elf slavers or otherwise ignoring the existence of it altogether. While slavery is very common in the Kodno, not every Elf approves of the practice. There are those that risk their lives to help usher these indentured souls to freedom overseas, using the busy marketplace as a cover to help hide their actions. These figures stretch across the Kodno, using whatever means they have available to help escaped slaves. A key figure in this enterprise is Hatsue, an innkeeper at the Uba docks. Using her contacts among merchants and traders, she helps to find escaped slaves passage aboard outgoing ships, stowing them away in her basement before helping them make their big leap to freedom. She has been suspected by the Toronuhi multiple times, and yet has never been caught with any illicit hideaways yet. She has friends in Erengrad who help assist her escapees once they arrive in Oderen itself. Hatsue is thin and rakish, with very little figure to speak of. Her hair is long and black, and she wears various coloured robes most of the time.