Hyfrost

Hyfrost is a city and bailiwick of the Seven Ports, on the northern coast of the Benacian continent. It is an exclave of Amokolia.

History

(Based on a fact sheet by Scott of Alexander)

Due to a quirk of history, the twin exclaves of Bjorngard and Byzantipol remained Shirerithian even as the rest of Western Benacia was ceded to various newer polities like Amokolia, Ashkenatza, and Batavia. Although originally rural and mostly irrelevant, they gained prominence after the foundation of Byzantipol by Kaiser Hasan I; after his death, the power in the area shifted to the Hyperborean colony of Hyfrost south of the Amokolian Strait.

When West Elwynn revolted against the Shirerithian crown, Bjorngard, as part of Hyperborea's sphere of influence, remained with Shireroth in the final settlement. It didn't hurt either that there was a massive fortress manned by Hyperborean paladins in the center of it which kept the rebels not only out of Bjorngard but from invading Agningas to the west. However, the territory was small, insignificant, and hard to defend. Some in Shirekeep - and even a few Hyperboreans - thought the easiest route would be to just give it up to the West Elw rebels in exchange for concessions elsewhere.

The plan the Shining Garden eventually settled upon, however, was very different: turning Bjorngard into a major economic success story and the lynchpin of its efforts to restrict the supply of money and resources entering West Elwynn.

It had been noticed since the days of the Automatics that the seas north of Lesser Automatica were dangerous at the best of times and often impassable during the winter - trying to round Cape Farewell with an important cargo was considered foolish at best. Ships used to dock at La Terre, Tsofnhafn, or Civitas Nova with cargo intended for Amokolia or northern Ashkenatza, and sometimes even cargo for Shireroth coming from the west.

The Shining Garden's plan was to turn Hyfrost into the top port of north-central Benacia. It subsidized a massive reconstruction of the port facility, turning it into the only city on the North Coast capable of receiving supertankers. Then it cut port taxes to zero, subsidized world-class receiving facilities, refineries, and business centers, and waited for the ships to come.

Contrary to that plan was the borders problem. Tsofnhafn was an easier port for anything bound for Ashkenatza, and La Terre was easier for anywhere bound to Amokolia and later EAH. Hyfrost decided to make a virtue of necessity and turn into a smuggling port; anything bound for Ashkenatza that didn't want to pay the official taxes could dock in Hyfrost, cart its goods to the long and porous Agningean-Ashkenatzan border, cross undetected, and profit.

Finally, the Hyperboreans relaxed the terms of the Thousand Years' Hate on the port of Hyfrost. Goods entering Hyfrost could enter EAH without sanctions. Interestingly enough, this meant that any goods bound for Shirerithian East Elwynn from the west had to go through Hyfrost unless someone wanted to cart them all the way down through Ashkenatza and Brookshire to avoid EAH territory, or attempt the perilous crossing of Cape Farewell.

Hyfrost has so far been unable to capture the lucrative trade in shipments going to EAH via La Terre; although there are some attempts to offload cargo ships at Hyfrost to then have their goods shipped on smaller routes to places along the EAH coast, the increased hassle of border crossings have made them mostly inferior to direct EAH goods offloading. There are a few projects under development right now to increase its competitiveness, possibly by cooperating with the Ashkenatzans to promote access to the landward areas of EAH and maybe even some smuggling; right now the main roadblock is Ashkenatza's desire to keep a good relationship with their neighbors to the northeast.

But on the whole the Hyfrost Project had been successful. Hyfrost is a busy port which serves as a transportation hub for much of the Benacian North Coast and prevents economic activity and further development of the north coast of EAH. It has also grown to an important city in its own right: By the time of Elwynn's reunification it boasted a population of 450,000, and was the third largest city in KaiRaikoth, and punched above its weight economically due to its status as a free-trade zone.