Sargedain
| Nation | Snefaldia |
| Province | Dayan |
| Population | 24,676,850 |
| Districts | 8 Districts |
| Elevation | 0–125 m |
| Principal Industries | Steelworking, Hydroelectric generation |
| Twinned Cities | none |
| Dialling Code | 100 |
Sargedain is the capital of Snefaldia. It is bisected by the Saard river, which is heavily leveed as it runs through the city. It has been the seat of government in Snefaldia since 1895, when the Republic established itself there, moving from the ancient Aatem Nal seat of power in Serasarda to lessen the influence of the religious order.
History
Sargedain began as a tiny fishing village on the western shore of the Saard. It grew to importance after Dain-da-Hol's Revolt and the death of Dain-da-Hol in 1525. Renamed for the famous leader, it grew in importance and size, establishing a crowned republic after the Tejaaran model. The Sargedain Republic grew rich on the shipping and agriculture that thrived during the waning years of the Golden Age of Aatem Nal, and Sargedain's representative in the Tuhran Bel wielded immense power, a position which allowed the city to conclude a trade alliance with Taxilha to monopolize shipping on the Saard, an arrangement which lasted until 1651, when the resurgent power of Sringi kingdoms in Isaardlang, Washukanni, and Millawanda reduced the importance of Sargedain's seat in the Tuhran Bel and forced the trade monopoly to expire.
The latter half of the 15th century saw Sargedain's power further challenged by the increasing importance of the Belädányá lands in the south and a resurgent Bae in the east. The political situation in Dayan was also becoming less accomodating; the peace ensured by Aatem Nal's common bonds was weakening as religious institutions became less interested in political administration and local aristocrats began to reassert control. The Sargedain Republic fought three wars in the 1690s alone: one with Washukanni, one with Wołlmænö, and a final disastrous conflict with Tarhuntassa and Ånienë that saw the city sacked and the Republic ended with the installation of a northern Prince, who was died conveniently in his sleep in 1710.
The Segovan period saw the reestablishment of a centralized authority around Aatem Nal, and the eventual reestablishment of self-rule in Sargedain; the necessity of conquering independent Taxilha made Sargedain's control of the upper river more important, and the city's senate (in the absence of their prince) dispatched ships to aid in the 1710 conquest of Thiestilm, and again in 1730 by contributing to the fleet that captured the southern port city.
The independent nature of the river-straddling city was reinforced in the 18th century by a series of forward-thinking and shrewd Senators and Segovanners who expanded the hegemony of the city into Dayan and kept the growing power of the kings of Washukanni at bay, concluding alliances with Neeri hegemons who could protect their southern borders. Sargedain was the center of a Dayan cultural renaissance in the latter half of the 1700s after an infusion of Neeri culture and ideals, including a young Sønël Tåsøll, who studied in Sargedain before joining the Segovan as a progressive leader.
Sargedain's position as a center of progressive did not insulate it in 1825, when the Tuhran Bel, concerned with the liberal direction of the increasingly democratic body, ordered its dissolution and sparked the series of Tåsøllian Wars. Despite refusing to align with Sønël Tåsøll and even sabotaging his efforts by removing the arsenal to the countryside to prevent its capture, Tåsøll's forces encamped in the West Bank in the third Tåsøllian War, and the city was besieged by the forces of Tudhaliya IV. There was a general bloodbath as the King's army broke the defense of the West and rampaged through the city seeking to murder anyone with progressive tendencies; believing the northern soldiers to be liberators the Eastern Bank defenders opened the bridges to them and were slaughtered as well, a bloody sack for which Tudhaliya became known as the Agony of Sargedain.
Rather than align with the hardliners in Serasarda after the War, the people of the city and its environs nursed a hatred of Tudhaliya and his politics, and the city became a center of Progressive organization, raising a large militia with which to defend themselves. Grand Librarian Almonus Hugo attempted to force them to submit, but his heavy-handed administration had alienated many of the allies who had fought against Sønël Tåsøll, and the untimely death of Tudhaliya IV in 1840 saw the tides turn and the Grand Librarian was deposed and exiled.
By the second half of the 19th century, Sargedain's leaders had been replaced by less politically astute and more conservative figures who eschewed the radical liberalism of the early century and laid a steady course, but the actions of the Four Anti-Progressive Monarchs caused widespread outrage among the common citizens who had the most sympathy for liberal causes, and the conservative Senate was shut out by an angry mob in 1875, after Wagasanali XXII of Isaardlang declared war on Washukanni and called for all progressives to rally to his banner; Sargedain declared was on Alondarien and led a coalition to depose Udhavar Ondarjabello, the vampire-Lord of that kingdom.
Sargedain became the center of liberal, republican thought, hosting the First Congress of Republicanism in 1885 and leading the Conquest of Serasarda in 1895, becoming the capital of the Republic of Snefaldia the same year.
Modern Day
Sargedain today is a huge, modern metropolis, home to the Chancellery, the Snefaldian Parliament, and many of the nation's stock exchanges and corporate headquarters.
