Barefarou

Barefarou (bahr-EY-fahr-OU) is a city in Nadaria that was first settled in 195 BNE under the name Prefrou by ethnic Nadaric peoples. The city sits at a historical fording location of the Masousila River that was frequently used by travelers crossing Nadaria. The city was captured by Noulaenic Imperial forces in 466 NE and given its current Noulaenicized name. The city was the capital seat of Nadaria County until the completion of the fortress city at Fasulafalis in 603 NE. It is the modern capital of the Kingdom of Bincaria, a poor, landlocked feudal state. Its population is 42,000.

Etymology
The original name of the city derived from Nadaric Rigini pre ("horse") and frou ("ford"), a reference to the river fords in the city which originally saw heavy horse traffic.

History
The area around Barafarou was used as pasture land in pre-historic times and the fords across the Masousila River were known to pre-historic travelers, though cross country travel was rare in Nadaria in ancient times. The introduction of the Haraklina slave trade to the Nadaria region brought an increase in travel, however, and the fords became more heavily used starting in the 3rd century BNE.

The initial settlement built in 195 BNE consisted primarily of an open-stall marketplace, stables, and a fenced pasture land. The popular marketplace is believed to be the first of this design in Nadaria, and was replicated in many other Nadaric settlements during the pre-imperial period. The early city also saw the construction of a number of temples, which grew important to regional religious festivals in the upper Nadaric basin region.

A wooden bridge over the river was built in 95 BNE to facilitate travel, but this was burned in an attack by raiders on the city in 70 BNE. A new bridge was built three years later, but was sabotaged and destroyed by boat traders who felt it was too low in 63 BNE. A higher bridge was built in 50 BNE but by this time other routes across the region had become increasingly popular and traffic through Prefrou had decreased considerably.

Prefrou became a minor settlement for several centuries, mostly notable for its use as a regional market. Its temples remained in use and it continued to be important for a number of religious festivals.

Haraklina military advisers arrived in the region in 435 NE and attempted to bolster the defense of the region against an eventual Noulaenic invasion. The upper Nadaric Basin region was viewed as key to this defense and Prefrou became the main logistical and staging center for the effort, bringing large number of soldiers and arms into the city and it surrounding lands.

The population was further bolstered by the arrival of many war refugees from Ousilia and Lasucsala in the 440s NE, who were also fed and armed at Haraklina expense. By 450 NE, the population of Prefrou exceeded its modern population with over 62,000 residents, despite the region's already outdated pastoral agricultural system.

Forces based in Prefrou were instrumental in the Nadaric victory in the Battle of Baredisada and the Haraklina advisors attempted to maintain the armed presence in the area. Strain on the local food supply and friction between native Nadaric peoples and Ousilic refugees, who spoke mutually unintelligible dialects, made this impossible, however. Most of the refugees, especially the able bodied ones, continued north towards the coast, eventually settling in Imaria.

Nadaric efforts to repel a second Noulaenic invasion were unsuccessful and Prefrou was taken in 466 after several years of fierce fighting in the area. Noulian renamed the city Barefarou and began construction of walls around the city and of a fortress on an island in the middle of the historical fording area the same year. The city was made the capital seat of Nadaria county as soon as the island fortress was completed in 470 NE.

Noulaenic hydrological engineers changed the Masousila river considerably, diverting much of the water to irrigate plantation farms around the upper basin and deepening the river channel through Barefarou and other shallow areas to make it passable by boat.

Riots broke out in Barefarou in 521 NE driven by local anger at imperial policies that forced local farmers to export nearly all of their grain to Dersialdara at below-market prices. The rioters burned parts of the town, damaged the castle, and killed several Noulaenic nobles. The riots were put down by force and many caught rioting were enslaved or executed.

Following rebellions in other Carasalic counties, the empire began a forced resettlement program in 561 NE which saw peoples removed from restive regions and replaced with either Malaenic peoples or farmers from Ousilia, who were viewed as more peaceful. Due to the riots of 521 NE, Barefarou was subjected to heavy resettlement and nearly two-thirds of the city's native population was removed from the region during the 51 years of the program.

The program failed to engender pro-Noulaenic attitudes but it did succeed in reducing people's association with a Nadaric identity, as peoples in the heavily resettled south were no longer viewed as Nadaric in the north and east of the county. Partially because of this, the upper basin region around Barefarou did not join in a failed rebellion in 595 NE, sparing Barefarou and the surrounding country from some of the worst repercussions of the rebellion. Resettlements in the region nonetheless continued.

A Noulaenic fortress city named Faslulafalis (modern Fasulafalis) was built on the site of the former city of Mabourathu, which was razed after the rebellion, and the county seat was moved to the new city in 603 NE. Barefarou was reduced to a township at this time.

Resettlements were ended in 612 NE under a reconciliation policy initiated by Emperor Lonsis III. The emperor also sought to reduce grain and other duties on the provinces and to give local governors more autonomy over their regions. The reduction of burdensome tariffs and price-ceilings in Nadaria improved the local economy and Barefarou grew into an important regional trading center. The city reached its all time peak population of 112,000 in 752 NE.

A plague broke out in Barefarou and several cities along the Masousila river in 759 NE and lingered in the area through the 760s. The plague was spread by mosquitoes that bred in stagnant irrigation ponds along the valley. Rumors spread throughout Nadaria that Noulian had poisoned the water, however, and anti-Noulaenic sentiment began to rise in the region again. Groups of guerrilla fighters calling themselves the Horsemen began to operate in the region, and a number of spies infiltrated Noulaenic facilities. The Horsemen were active in Barefarou and had spies throughout the city and island fortress. In 764, a group of militants disguised as serving women assassinated the city government, and seized control of the fortress keep. Other spies opened or sabotaged gates to allow a peasant force to enter and seize the city from the Noulaenic government, capturing and imprisoning the city garrison and taking many hostages.

A Noulaenic force of 10,000 soldiers was dispatched from Fasulafalis, which was majority Malaenic at that time, to put down the rebellion. They were slowed by sabotage and disease, and didn't reach the upper basin region until 765. By then, news of the Battle of Sedacarias had reached Nadaria and the Horsemen were emboldened to increase their attacks and openly recruit fighters. The Noulaenic relief force was overrun at the Battle of Defanusi and never reached Barefarou.

Nadaria enjoyed only a brief period of unity as the impoverished region fell into internal fighting in the 770s. The upper valley unified under the banner of the Kingdom of Bincaria in 776 NE, based in Barefarou. The kingdom has continued to exist as either an independent state or de-facto autonomous region to this day, although with varying boundaries.

Warfare continued through the Nadaria region throughout the inter-imperial region, and the region became heavily damaged and economically depressed. Barefarou was reduced to primarily a castle with an attending walled town servicing the castle, and the population was reduced to just 9,000 during this period. The city was besieged by forces from Bialcaria from 812-815, forces from Calasanada from 862-866, forces from Calancaria from 900-901, forces from Ializa from 960-962, forces from Caliabisia from 970-972, and forces from Calancaria again from 1066-1067. The castle was extremely well provisioned and defended, however, and was never taken in any of these assaults.

By the 13th century, Bincaria had lost most of its territory aside from Barefarou, Defanusi, and Bariafudaen and the surrounding farms, but it prized its independence and resisted annexation and invasion by its neighbors. During the 13th century, Bincaria became heavily isolated as its Nadaric neighbors submitted to Noulaenic lordship while the region to its south, Lasucsala, became a vassal state of the hostile Ializa kingdom to the east in 1240 NE. Cut off from trade and lacking allies, the kingdom was essentially under siege from 1240 NE onward. The nobles largely remained safe in their castles but raiders from the south an east regularly attacked farms and farmers with impunity. Peasants migrated into the cities for safety but this exacerbated food shortages caused by farm raids as there were fewer hands left to sow and reap the crops that remained.

A peasant rebellion broke out in 1252, ending with the execution of the king and several dukes in the island caste of Barefarou. The peasant leaders, tired of warfare and raiding, decided to surrender the kingdom to the Count of Nadaria in 1253 after receiving guarantees that the area would be protected from raiders. after negotiation with the remaining Bincaric nobles, many of whom were still fortified in their castles, the Count installed a relative of the executed king as Viscount of Bincaria, with lordship over the three townships still held by the kingdom.

Troops from the relatively affluent northern Nadaric region restored order and regained control of the southern and eastern borders of the region. Farm productivity increased and the region became a grain exporter once more. Increased travel and trade helped restore the Barefarou economy, though the area remained the poorest in Nadaria.

The annexation of Lasucsala as an imperial province in 1351 and the subsequent discovery of diamond and gold mines in that region led to a dramatic increase in travel and trade through Barefarou as the overland route through Nadaria was the fastest route from Lasucsala to the sea. Diamonds, in particular, were often shipped by this route rather than along the river route through Ousilia due to their relatively low weight.

The Barefarou economy continued to be relatively prosperous through the so-called golden age of the second empire but the upper basin remained one of the poorest regions of Carasala and the population of Barefarou never reached the levels it held during the first empire. The city's influence did grow considerably over the period, however, as the feudal holdings of the Viscount of Calancaria passed to the Viscount of Bincaria through marriage in 1712 NE and several townships subservient to the Viscount of Carasanada were ceded to Bincaria as payment for debt in 1782. The castle and other noble houses of Barefarou were considerably improved during this time and adorned in imported gold.

The mines of Lasucsala began to run empty during the 19th century, and the economy of Barefarou and the Bincaric region suffered. Gradual change in the climate had rendered the region colder than it had been in ancient times and farming productivity was relatively poor as well. The region once more fell into a state of impoverished feudal subsistence farming, from which it has not recovered.

Imperial authority in Nadaria weakened gradually but Viscounts of both Bincaria and Carasanada both became essentially autonomous by the 19th century and both ceased making tax payments to Carasilaen and Noulian in the 20th century. The Count of Nadaria formally broke from the empire in 2060 after several other Carasalic kingdoms had done so without consequence. The Viscounts of Bincaria and Carasanada refused to recognize the former Count of Nadaria as a king, however, and civil war divided the kingdom into three states in 2062. Barefarou was once more the capital of an independent kingdom.

Bincaria briefly increased its holding by invading the abandoned Lasucsala province in 2085 but the kingdom lost practical control over the Lasucsalic lords within a century. Trade and travel through the region has ground to a halt, especially since Bialcaria, which possesses all Nadaric ports, has become essentially a pirate state. Bincaria remains one of the poorest and most isolated regions of the continent, with the guilded castles and palaces standing in stark contrast to the surrounding poverty.