Cities of Urcea: Difference between revisions

Cálfeld is often contrasted with [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] with regard to its history; as Urceopolis was established as a city of the [[Latinic people|Latin]] [[Adonerii]], Cálfeld was built as a city of the [[Gaelic people]]. Although continuous human settlement is documented on the site for thousands of years, the area did not become a major urban center until around 500 BC. Much of its pre-Levantine history comes from [[Great Levantia|Great Levantine]] sources, and these 400s BC Latin contemporaries believed it to be the "great city of the Gaels". Unlike the grid-like Latin cities of Levantia, ancient Cálfeld appears to have been built in concentric circles, each with its own defenses. Latin legends suggest that two attempts to take the city occurred in the 400s BC both failed as the besiegers only took the outermost ring and were lost in the maze-like interior of the city, though historians are unsure of the historicity of these sieges. The city became the major urban Gaelic power by 450 BC, and for the next century and a half it resisted the Latins' eastward spread. It was finally captured by Great Levantia in around 300 BC, after which time it was heavily colonized by both Latins and some nearby [[Ancient Istroyan civilization|Ancient Istroyans]], though over the next few centuries the city was gradually re-Gaelicized as laborers and slaves arrived from the Ionian Plateau.. During the capture, it appears the innermost rings of the city burnt down but the outermost rings survived during the siege, suggesting that the residents of each ring held a degree of political autonomy which allowed the outermost rings to surrender to the Latins. The innermost rings were replaced with traditional Latin grid layout while the outer rings survived, creating a mixed urban design. Cálfeld, now known as ''Calivaldium'', became a major city in Great Levantia as its port allowed for easy traversal of the Magnag. The city thrived until about 300 AD, when trade and economic activity in the peripheral parts of Great Levantia began to decline, closing warehouses and causing merchants to leave the city. Despite its downturn, its design ensured the city remained relevant as its supply of freshwater and defensive perimeter made it a viable place to live in increasingly dangerous times. Calivaldium was the administrative center of the province of [[Harren#Pre-Ducal_history|Hortia]], which became independent from Great Levantia in [[486]] under an elected local Dux.