The Free City of Gabyr

The Free City of Gabyr, also known by the simplified name of the Principality of Gabyr to outsiders, is a rich and ancient city-state whose foundation is shrouded in mystery.

Occupying the southern coastline of the grand isle of Keldorn, it has been a safe haven for merchants and pirates alike for at least a thousand of years, if not longer even. Governed by a powerful leader called the Sea Lord, who is surrounded by an oligarchic council of minor actual functions, Gabyr possesses the largest war fleet and merchant navy in the known world, thus her control of sea trade is practically uncontested by all states considered a great power, of which combined naval power could not match that of the Free City.

Also known and infamous for sheltering the first lich, his apprentice, and paving the way for the creation of the undead state to the north, she is a long-time rival of Froturn and Etrand, which therefore have little to no influence over the foreign affairs of Gabyr's maritime empire. As a matter of fact, Gabyr is sometimes called the "Secret Empire of the Sea", not just due to its naval hegemony, but also because of its recent and not-so-recent history of having established colonies and tributaries accross both the Occident and the Orient, such Charnek, the Qariash Islands, and various city-states on the Reyang Peninsula.

Form of government
The Gabyrian state is known by two names: the Principality of Gabyr and the Free City of Gabyr. This duality is mirrored by the fact that Gabyr is both a monarchy and a plutarchy at the same time. The easiest way to describe Gabyr's form of goverment would be to describe it as a megacorporation with hereditary leadership, or some sort of crowned corporate republic, but even that wouldn't do it justice.

Gabyr is ruled by a prince, who may appoint his/her heir at will, though the heir is usually the oldest or most competent child of the current prince. Below the prince is a council of "golden seagulls", which is an eloquent way of saying shareholders - the Gabyrian state in many ways functions like a private corporations in which private individuals can buy shares and have a say in things. One would think that this would result in foreign domination of Gabyr and a large number of foreigners having a lot of say in Gabyrian policies, but in reality, it has always been the complete opposite, with Gabyrian interests being projected even aboard. The prince's family has always had the largest amount of shares. Needless to say, those involved in the governing of Gabyr are primarily motivated by their own selfish, capitalistic interests and a pursuit of profit. Naturally, as one would expect, this led to pretty much everything (including law enforcement) being privatized - though, with the princely family being the richest and holding the most shares, this just effectively means, that all those privatized institutions are filled with mercenaries on the prince's personal payroll.

Demographics
The total population of Gabyr as of 831 AEKE is 0. The total population of Gabyr and Keldorn combined is 0, meaning that Gabyr has % of the island's population.