Elendel Basin

Elendel Basin
by Isaac Stewart
World	Scadrial
Universe	Cosmere

The Elendel Basin is a lush, fertile basin created by Harmony during the reshaping of Scadrial to allow civilization to build itself back up over just a couple of generations. It is named after Elend.

Geography

Most of the population of the northern hemisphere of Scadrial was centered in this area, either in the capital Elendel, or in the surrounding cities and countryside. The Basin is surrounded by mountain ranges: Channerel Range and Faleast Range to the north, and Seran Range to the south. There are passes leading out into lands the rugged frontier lands known as the Roughs. The Roughs are much less fertile than the Basin, because Harmony didn't design them to be fertile like Elendel.

The Basin's coastline matches up with the coastline in the Final Empire.^{[citation needed]} One can see that the peninsula that contains Bilming is the same peninsula on the Final Empire map, just west of the Ashmount Doriel.

Some of the major cities besides Elendel are Mycondwel, Tathingdwel where the Terrispeople live, Alendel, Wyllion, Dazarlomue, Drypost, Rashekin, Vindiel-Cameux, Doxonar, Doriel, Tarier, Elmsdel, Garmet, New Seran, and Bilming. There is a small farming settlement, Dulsing, which the Set is interested in. It grows excellent tomatoes . The Basin is bordered by the Sea of Yomend and the Sea of Lennes to the west. All rivers lead to Elendel, in the center.

Because it is lush and fertile, few people want to move beyond the Basin. There is a whole culture living in the southern hemisphere, but there is little communication between the two civilizations.

Politics

There does not seem to be one over-arching government of the entire basin. Each individual city has its own government. Despite this, the city of Elendel maintains an economic hegemony it uses to influence policy throughout the Basin.

It maintains power via taxation. The Basin itself was created by Harmony with canals running like the spokes of a wheel. New cities cropped up along the canals, but the canals only run to and from Elendel. Any city that wishes to trade good with any city other than along its own spoke has to trade through Elendel, which taxes those goods heavily, specifically to maintain its position of authority.

When the first railways were laid, they followed the paths of the canals, denying the outer cities any avenue to trade without going through Elendel. Since Elendel remains the only city wealthy enough to create and maintain railways, the outer cities lack the resources to make themselves independent. This has led to extreme animosity from the outer cities, and talk of possible civil war.

Elendel also taxes the outer cities outright, but this specifically pays for what are considered communal services, particularly the canals and railways. This tax does not directly pay for anything like the Governor's salary. However, the taxes on goods shipped through Elendel does.

The outer cities have lobbied for years to have new rail routes set out in a loop but have been denied.

Despite the lack of a collective ruling body, constabularies throughout the Basin seem to have a degree of camaraderie.

Notes

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