Eosuri

Eosuri is a major trading city, and the second largest city, within the Lein Empire. Situated at the confluence of the Atgama River with the Meidorién River, it is an important hub of riverrine and land trade, carrying goods from the western Kairen into the Imperial Jurisdiction, and eventually to Meiron itself. Because of this trade, which in turn reaches beyond the Empire into lands far to the west and north, Eosuri is a very wealthy city, and a major economic centre of the Empire.

Geography and Population
Eosuri is one of relatively few major cities within the Empire whose shape deviates greatly from the idealised, rectangular and grid-centred city plans favoured by the Tarakasane. This is, to a large extent, determined by its shape and geography; the city occupies a tapering peninsula where the Atgama River first flows south, and then southeast, to join the Flowing Sea. At the same time, the pragmatic needs of river trade, which includes massive harbours and dockyards, creates a city criss-crossed by canals, ponds and drydocks.

The centre of the city is known as the Upper City, or the Heights (Itarakoské: Rauna Eosuri'an); a large artificial mound of rammed earth, built from the excavation spoils of the dockyards, it is where the city's government, and most of its economic elite, reside.

The vast majority of the population, however, live below the heights, around the dockyards and markets where they work; this often leaves them vulnerable to serious flooding, a problem which has never been fully resolved even with immense effort being expended on water defences.

Economy
Yellow tiled roofs line up, row on row/Every day a thousand gold bricks' rent/As long as the Flowing Sea will flow/The luxury here shall never be spent...

-- Gazing on the New North Dock, by Kié Bemanas

Eosuri and the imperial capital Meiron have always been seen as two differing poles within the Empire; while the capital is concerned with power, law, sanctity and ritual, Eosuri with its irregular city planning and its massive wealth represents the pragmatic side of Imperial rule.

The economic engines of the city are its massive numbers of markets and docks. Before the Lein Dynasty, there were three dockyards, namely the Rose Dock, North Dock and the Great Southern Dock. Further expansion of the intra-Empire trade during the Lein era, however, led to the construction of the new Yellow Slope Dock, reserved for governmental shipping, and the New North Dock facing the Atgama River.