Last week I talked a little about the founding of Gair and H’arkenlowe back at the beginning of recorded history (in 1E:1 and 1E:9 respectively). While Nessa was technically the next city to be founded (in 1E:275), I’m instead going to skip ahead a bit to the next city that was founded after that: Lutra.

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The above thumbnails depicting Lutra’s expansive coastline aren’t from Beyond the Western Deep, but from an old prequel comic that Rachel and I put on the backburner when it became clear that the main story would be told in webcomic format. The prequel, tentatively called War of the Western Deep, focused a bit more on the races and locations I knew we wouldn’t be covering much in the main BWD story. Specifically the Polcan and the city of Lutra.

For the sake of Beyond the Western Deep, the Lutren capital is pretty much “Sir Not Appearing in this Film”. At least the Polcan can make cameos here and there throughout our heroes’ adventures across the kingdoms!

Lutra was founded in 1E:432, though the Lutren had been living in scattered tribes up and down the western coastline for as long as they could remember. Tribes eventually began to consolidate when they realized there were other races out in the world that might want to take over their land (notably the Tamian, whose tree-dwelling manner did not match well with the Lutren’s seafaring lifestyle). The status quo was maintained for many hundreds of years, and Lutren civilization slowly but surely began to grow.

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By the time the second era rolled around, the Lutren and Tamian had been at loggerheads for more generations than most could count. They simply assumed that their races would live separately from one another, never encroaching on one another’s territory. This changed rapidly when the Polcan showed up in 2E:98. Their story will likely be covered in future Western Deep tales, but the important thing to note is that Lutra and Terria, capitals of the Lutren and Tamian races, finally came together to conquer their mutual foe. Sunsgrove was born from that alliance, and the Polcan repelled.

Despite the Polcan remaining a threat, the coasts of Lutra are relatively calm these days. Unlike the Felis, the Lutren do not have any oceanic trade routes established, mostly because the Western Seas are too dangerous to sail and what lies on the other side is a mystery.

Instead, the Lutren harvest their food and their livelihoods directly from the sea – which they revere as God-like and a key element of the Lutren creation myth. Factoring in land alone, Lutra is the smallest of capital cities, but most Lutren are just as at home in the water as they are on land, with house boats and other floating barges serving as housing for those without permanent dwellings in the city itself.