Aalthir and Cittinova: When Cities Meet

Cittinova is a Thyatian colony on the northern coast of Davania, and is effectively the main town of Thyatis on Davania (though Raven Scarp would argue that point). It has a population of 2,000 people (mostly humans, a few jungle elves and a handful of other races).  Compared to smaller colonies and outposts such as Herakanthia it is a bastion of civilization, and is relatively secure from the monsters prowling the jungle. And yet as far as other cities in the Known World are concerned it is rather small and insignificant, and would really only count as a provincial town. Cittinova has a town guard of 200 soldiers, mostly armed with chain mail and either longswords and light crossbows or else longswords and polearms such as pikes and halberds. These town guards keep the peace within town and also fend off roaming monsters - although they need to fight in formation to defeat the larger dinosaurs.  

The Floating City of Aalthir is in a completely different league. Created and lifted by incredibly powerful magic, Aalthir has a population of 23,000, of whom 2,000 are magic users. That means for every man, woman, child, elf or whatever in Cittinova, there is magic user capable of casting Magic Missile or Charm Person in Aalthir. And there is a council of 12 archmages who both act as the rulers and  navigate the city through the skies of Mystara.  Any one of those archmages could wipe out a town like Cittinova, guards and all, from a safe distance. 

And now Aalthir has come to rest over the sea just north of Cittinova, in plain sight of the Thyatian town. This has caused considerable consternation and speculation among the population, and many citizens are fearing annihilation or conquest. After all, Aalthir originally comes from Alphatia, and although now it is effectively an independent city-state, it still has many cultural and political ties to that great empire. And as everyone knows, Thyatis and Alphatia do not usually get on well together. 

Instead, the archmages have sent a delegation down to Cittinova on a skyship, claiming only wishing to trade and establish friendly relations. Of course, the Thyatian governor of Cittinova doesn’t trust these Alphatian wizards at all but firstly he knows they have the upper hand in nearly all respects, and secondly many of his citizens are fascinated by this magical marvel. Even the merchants of Cittinova are eager to do business with their fellow traders a mile above the ocean.  

 Art by VargasNi, Source

The Aalthir authorities are quite careful about who they allow onto Aalthir itself - only a few select Cittinova officials actually set foot in Aalthir. One enterprising skyship captain has been offering sight-seeing trips to the curious people of Cittinova, taking them on her skyship (an exciting adventure in itself!) and then circling around the floating city several times but not landing as the captain and her crew point out landmarks and features that the tourists would find interesting. At one point a squadron of six hippogriff riders flew from Aalthir over Cittinova for a fly-by. But this scared both humans and livestock  who were not sure if this was some attack. The rulers of Aalthir have forbidden any future visits by hippogriff.  As a friendly gesture it did not go as well as planned but as a display of military might it was certainly demonstrative. 

For the moment there is a bustling trade in the main marketplace of Cittinova, with goods and passangers being ferried to and from the floating city via skyships. The merchants of Aalthir are buying local specialities including jungle fruits, rare woods from the enormous nearby trees, and animals, both butchered body parts and also the occasional live specimen. One Aalthir wizard has bought a captured phanaton as a pet, despite the phanaton's protestations. In return the merchants of Cittinova are buying silks from Ochalea, tea and spices from Bellissaria and many magical potions and curiosities made in Aalthir itself. A visiting trader from Minrothad has joined in with the buying and selling, partly to make money but also to see how Alphatian merchants operate and what they have to offer - making connections between Minrothrad and Aalthir could be profitable. A mysterious archmage called Ellaria has travelled by magic carpet from Aalthir to briefly visit Cittinova, though she always wore a silver mask that completely covered her face and long clothes that covered her skin.  

One skyship took a band of Aalthir mages deep into the jungle of Davania, and they have returned with various trophies including a sedated giant chameleon, a grateful but rather confused rakasta whom the Aalthirians rescued from a hungry Tyrannosaurus and the severed head of said dinosaur - the rest of its body had been blasted by lightning bolts, and a charmed Deinonychus. The new owner of the Deinonychus insists that it will stay friendly; Other people on board are not so sure. But a jolly good time was had by all, except for the crew hand who got attacked by a carnivorous plant. He survived but is still badly shaken. 

 Art by ValerySazanov, Source

But what is going on behind the scenes? Firstly a Thyatian wizard visiting from his home back in Port Lucinius has teleported back home and ridden to Thyatis City to report on this visit. The Thyatian government is now aware and considering its response. Secondly one of the tourists onboard the sight-seeing tours is an Imperial Thyatian agent and has used his elven cloak and boots to hide on the ship, then snuck off when it docked, so now there is a Thyatian spy on Aalthir, though his ability to report back to his superiors is limited. Similarly an Alphatian wizard has wandered away from the trade delegation into Cittinova and is now looking to see what is going on in this Thyatian backwater, although he does not have the same government connections, and might be doing this for his own curiosity. 

Will this calm down the tensions between the two empires or will it exacerbate them? How will central Thyatis react to what could be interpreted as an intrusion? Did Alphatia approve of this event or did Aalthir conduct this entirely on its own? The ramifications of this encounter between two settlements of rival empires are yet to play out.