The High City of Heraklion

[Custodi]

Heraklion Ηράκλειο

Overview

Heraklion is a Corsair city in the northern region of Crete known as Attica. It's the largest city in the region and its capital. Ruled and governed by the Custodi, it's inhabited by about six million people. Its area is roughly four thousand square kilometres, due to small population density resulting from lacklustre urban planning outside the richer areas. The term "High City" has originally been only used to refer to the central, walled part of the capital, however many people from outside use it to refer to one of its seven districts as well.

Society

While all citizens of Heraklion are equal in the eyes of the law, in practice it rarely works out that way. Due to unencumbering inheritance law, modest taxation and other factors, the society of Heraklion developed a very clear divide.

Those with the most money and the most power shaped a very clear aristocracy class. Many of the Custodi aristocrats are on permanent retirement, having their ancestors "put their money to work" so that the next generations of their families would not have to dirty their hands with acquiring wealth. Nevertheless, the Heraklian aristocracy is perpetually involved in a political game of power, making sure their sources of wealth and status remain intact.

While the service sector of the Heraklian economy is not particularly developed, specialists in certain tasks are in high demand and as such are paid a good credit for their job. They usually inhabit the slightly poorer districts of the city as a cost for almost complete economical stability and an above-average lifestyle. These are the government administration workers, scientists, engineers or even more rudimentary professions such as bank clerks or waiters.

The bulk of the Custodi population is made up of farmers and food-processing workers, whose only job is to provide the population of Attica and to a larger extent the entire Crete with all so precious food. Those tending to the large expanses of farmlands in Attica are often uneducated, either not having the money or the head for the University. The average wage of a Heraklian farmer is about enough to sustain a family and that's often sufficient to keep these people happy.

At the very bottom of the Custodian social hierarchy are impoverished Corsairs who have voluntarily or involuntarily rejected the social norms and remain on the fringes of civilised society. Often called by the Dorian slang term disenfrancisto, they are too poor to afford even the most basic education and too lazy or simple-minded to work at the farms. As such, their main sources of income are scavenging, theft or other forms of crime. Fortunately, most disenfrancistos never managed to gather in any sort of organised criminal units thanks to the continuous efforts of the Heraklion City Guard.


The High City

Argent Island, The High City

The High City is the central and most populous of the Heraklion districts, carefully planned based on architectural design of ancient Greek cities. The district is almost perfectly circular and it its the only one with clearly marked borders. Nowadays the function of the wall rounding off the High City, despite it being over six metres tall, is nothing but aesthetic. The walls are fully open for foot traffic and indeed one can easily walk directly from the Citadel to Manta without setting a foot on the ground.

The central district of the capital is also where the weekly popular assembly of the Custodi takes place. Any citizen or outsider can spectate, however only Custodi men and women over thirty years of age are allowed to participate and vote on their matters. Among other government buildings, the High City also houses the Supreme Court of Heraklion.

High City is divided into two almost equal parts by the River Haliacmon, the largest and one of the very few rivers on Crete. In the river is also the Argent Island, whose main purpose is to provide the High City with access to the sea. It houses a harbour for the aristocrats living in Heraklion as well as passenger ferries moving people up and down the River.

Asphodel

Royal Promenade, Asphodel

While the common idea of Heraklion is one of blindingly white-marble architectural marvels interspersed with dense, low-built houses for the ordinary people, this description does not match the modest district of Asphodel. Asphodel is much less densely settled than the rest of Heraklion and contains a fair number of orchards and parks among its scattered residential neighborhoods.

Stretching from the coastline to the Citadel, Asphodel is the least populous district of Heraklion and contains the most undeveloped land. As such, the population of Asphodel lives mostly near the borders with other districts, due to inconvenient commute to the other parts of the city.

Acropolis

Nymphyrgos

Acropolis Hill and the district named after it is the highest point of Heraklion. The inhabited parts of the district are mostly residential and the rest are unusable due to inconvenient and rocky terrain formation. On the top of the Acropolis Hill lies Nymphyrgos, an open-sky temple loosely inspired by Ancient Earth's Parthenon. Usually, if the weather is good, a well-sighted visitor can observe the coasts of the Atlas Island from the temple.

Citadel

The Citadel

The Citadel District is owned and used by the Monastery of the Archangels, an organisation formed in the fourth century A.S. for people devoted to the path of the Cult. The Monastery is the main provider of public services in Heraklion, ranging from health care and urban cleanup to various means of voluntary and charity work. The Monastery also manages the only orphanage in Heraklion. Adepts of the Monastery are taught the ways of the Cult, making sure they can understand and apply its values, as well as general subjects ranging from mathematics, through jurisprudence, to philosophy.

Esmeraldas

Eat Row

The northernmost district of Heraklion is Esmeraldas. In the first centuries of Heraklion's existence, Esmeraldas was an enclave of the Dorian immigrant population coming to visit Attica and staying for work, family or other reasons. Originally much of its land was suitable for farming but due to Heraklion's rapid growth, agriculture had to make way for urbanization. Nowadays, Esmeraldas is one of the poorest regions of the city.

Nevertheless, Esmeraldas is often visited by Custodi wanting to have a taste of the Dorian culture without travelling down to the deserty equator. One of the most significant points of interests on the map of Esmeraldas is the Eat Row - a promenade spanning through a large portion of the district featuring skilled chefs of cuisines from all over Crete and more recently, even the entire Sirius.

Meletis

Meletis

The district of Meletis, also known as the Government District by those who aren't entirely acquainted with the Heraklian culture, was the first urban expansion beyond the High City. While the High City houses most of the government buildings, Meletis houses most of the government workers. Almost everyone with ties to the Custodi aristocracy - be it a lowly bank clerk or the Archon himself - lives in Meletis. To this day it remains peopled by the cream of the Heraklian crop, including the very rich and the most powerful.

Manta

Stretching along several kilometres of northern coastline, Manta district is a mixture of high and low. It boasts a number of splendid beaches, luxurious resorts and other attractions as well as functioning as Heraklion's only harbour. On one hand, it's dominated by local tourism of its beaches and a small holiday resort, on the other it gives jobs in the sectors of fishing, aquaculture and other associated industries.

Although the public perception of Manta is as an aristocrats' playground, this is only partially true. It's true that spoiled rich kids from Meletis and Gialos congregate on its beaches, but Manta also has a sizeable white-collar industry in research, medicine, information technology and others, especially after the Custodi's rise to the stars. Manta's ferry port is also the only place one can reach the Atlas Island without jumping into the water.

Atlas Island

As a district, the Atlas Island is in a class of its own. Unlike other regions of Heraklion, Atlas is never permanently inhabited and any sort of urbanisation of the island is strictly prohibited by Heraklian law. Instead, it's maintained as a kind of national park, with outside influence limited to the absolute minimum. The only permanent residents of the island are park workers whose job it is to maintain the Island and make sure nobody from the outside overstays their welcome.

Atlas Island can only be accessed from the Manta district by the Stylianos Memorial Ferry. Atlas Island is a common destination for Heraklian artists, poets and philosophers to find a source of inspiration and a place of peace and quiet, away from the noise of the High City.

Mesis

Mesis

At its core, Mesis is exceptionally unexceptional. Originally destined to house the vast population of farm workers of Heraklion, the district grew and grew along with the population of the city. Now full of low houses and blue-collar workers, Mesis remains the largest district of the Custodi capital. Rich in small temples, markets, hotels and bathhouses, Mesis bears all the resemblance of a typical, suburban residential district.

Gilaos

Another district most of the time dominated by aristocracy, not dissimilar to Asphodel, Gilaos also resisted the unrelenting urbanisation of other districts of Heraklion. "The suburb of the rich" is likely the most accurate description of this southern district. Gilaos is interspersed with villas and all the space not filled by private property of Heraklian aristocrats is incorporated as resorts, luxury restaurants or small houses of white-collars who somehow managed to snatch a property in the district despite the skyrocketing prices. Gilaos doesn't have a large permanent population as most of the aristocrats prefer spending their working weeks in Meletis, Asphodel or the High City, however it becomes lively during weekends and the holiday month of April, during which there are no Ecclesia gatherings.

To Gilaos also belong the islands of Akros, usually called the "Akros Twins". Famous for their incredible sights and beautiful beaches, the Akros islands are only accessible by ferry and are historically the most expensive properties in Heraklion.

Velasco

Velasco

Velasco district covers the entire southern section of Heraklion, from the historical city of Velasco across to the western coast. In the first centuries A.S. Velasco was a completely separate town and now it remains the most populous district of the capital, although its aging infrastructure and comparatively remote location make it relatively poor.

Beyond the southern border of Mesis lies a ring of warehouses, unfinished tower blocks and outdated stations for old, oil-powered vehicles that have together become the most extensive slum of the otherwise beautiful city of Heraklion. Given its state of physical, social and economic disrepair it should come as no surprised that Velasco has the highest crime rate in the city. While the City Guard do what they can, much of the district has been already completely surrendered to disenfrancistos and the locals have been known to rely on the gangs for protection and law enforcement rather than the City Guard.