rzboaie

Rzboaie is a fictional city-state that appears in several works of contemporary fantasy and in accompanying media. Located on the southern coast of the Verdant Sea, it combines a walled port district on a crescent peninsula with a network of tidal canals that connect to a sheltered harbor. The name is commonly believed to derive from a composite of ancient terms meaning "light" and "harbor," though the exact origin is debated within the fiction's scholars.

According to its lore, Rzboaie was founded in the early medieval period by the Baier clan and grew as a center for trade, shipbuilding, and seamanship. It endured periodic attacks from rival city-states and black-market guilds, but its strategic harbor allowed it to prosper. In the 14th century it achieved de facto independence and maintained autonomous governance under a magistrate and a rotating council of merchant guilds. In modern depictions, Rzboaie remains a semi-autonomous polis with cultural ties to surrounding polities.

Rzboaie is governed by a magistrate who is advised by a Council of Guilds and a City Assembly. The economy centers on maritime trade, shipbuilding, textiles, and salt production. The Rift Market, a seasonal trading fair, draws merchants from across the archipelago.

Society is pluralistic, with speakers of several languages and a tradition of scholarship in navigation, linguistics, and cartography. Public life revolves around the harbor, with festivals such as the Lantern Parade and the Tide Reading. Cuisine features seafood, citrus, and dried figs.

Notable landmarks include the Lantern Gate, the Tide Observatory, and the Gate of Echoes. Rzboaie hosts a university of navigation and seamanship, along with several guild colleges that train sailors, cartographers, and craftsmen.