The area is astonishingly urbanized. To give some perspective, there are 3 million people in the lowlands around Lake Felster, an area roughly comparable to the Silver Sultanate, Kostaddi, and Darjiin combined. The population density in Safelster is 50% higher than the most urbanized part of Dara Happa. Some 500k+ live in urban environments (settlements of more than 1000 people). Safelster is just dense with people (like Esrolia).
That means lots and lots of peasants growing crops to support these cities. Safelster DOES NOT have castes, not even a fig-leaf of them. The split in Safelster is between enfranchised citizen of a city and everyone else. Although most Safelster cities have a titled ruler (traditionally using an old MSE title like Duke or Count) they are in fact effectively ruled by some oligarchy, but some are tyrannies, and rule by all citizens is a popular philosophical movement that explodes in violence from time to time.
There are some 16 significant city states in Safelster, each dominating numerous other cities, towns and villages. Some cities have federations with these lesser settlements (so frex, an enfranchised citizen of the small city of Meresos population 2k is also an enfranchised citizen of the large city of Syran), other cities appoint lords to rule their conquests.
>Also,
> do tell us how much malkionism influences Safelster these days, and in which
> form (no need to talk about the backwood pagans "whose lifestyle is barely
> living at all").
Philosophically, most Safelstrans acknowledge the Invisible God while giving sacrifices to a pantheon of divine gods, heroes, spirits, and other magical entities. A city may have several schools of wizardry (each claiming to trace its lineage back to Arkat or one of his companions), a pantheon of gods each with a festival celebrated by the city, secretive mystery cults, and several cults or schools not recognized by the city oligarchy. More on that in the Q&A.
It is perfectly normal for a wealthy Safelstran urban citizen to venerate the Invisible God, study smatterings materialist philosophy, offer sacrifices to the divine gods of the city, and have cursory membership with a "secret" society (maybe animist, divine, or wizardry).
Jeff
Jeff
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