Location from Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams
The southern empire that once ruled the known world — now a proud duchy nursing imperial memories, political intrigue, and the conviction that civilization flows from south to north.
Nabban was once the dominant power in Osten Ard — its Imperators ruled from the coast to the edge of the Nornfells. That empire fell centuries ago, but Nabban hasn't forgiven the world for moving on. The duchy retains its cultural pride, its political sophistication, and its conviction that northerners are barbarians with better table manners. Nabbanai politics are serpentine. The great houses — Ingadaris, Benidrivis, Prevan — scheme against each other with a refinement that Erkynlanders find bewildering and Rimmersmen find contemptible. Religion and politics intertwine through the Sancellan Aedonitis, the seat of the Aedonite faith. Under the surface, naval power and merchant wealth make Nabban indispensable to whoever sits on the Dragonbone Chair.
A Mediterranean landscape of sun-warmed stone cities, terraced hillsides, coastal ports, and the remnants of imperial architecture that still dwarfs anything the northern kingdoms can build. The city of Nabban itself is a faded jewel — grand plazas, crumbling aqueducts, churches that double as political fortresses. The light is golden. The wine is better than Erkynland's. Everyone knows it.
Also known as: Nabban, The Duchy