Dragon Princes

This world map is actually "The Cottoniana", an ancient Anglo-Saxon world map. But it's extremely close to how I've always imagined Tellaia looking! It's arranged so that east is at the top, like many other medieval maps - because the Garden of Eden was supposed to be somewhere in Asia. It also has Jerusalem as the centre of the world, while Tellaian mapmakers tend to make Auromia be the centre of their maps. However, the 'real-world but not' look is correct. The enlarged Mediterranean, with the rest of the map curling around it, is absolutely what I've been imagining. And in this map, Italy is a massive subcontinent, which is absolutely true for Tellaia!  Art: 'The Cottoniana Map'. Artist unknown, c. 995.

Mezziano is a city in northern Tirenia, in fertile plains bordered by multiple rivers. It serves as the main trade route for goods travelling across the northern mountains. As a result, it is an extremely prosperous city, and was historically seen as a rival for the great city of Auromia itself. From the beginning, the silver dragons who live near Mezziano have been its protectors. They were curious about the humans, and kept a watchful eye on them. This is also why there is such a high proportion of silver dragonborn in the city. Mezziano was absorbed into the Auromian Empire after a brief war - the gold dragons thinking that the long-term benefits of unity would outweigh the short-term suffering, while the silver dragons believed that the ends could not justify the violent means. The silver dragons soon sued for peace, wishing an end to the destructive conflict. Mezziano entered the Empire on favourable terms, and those silver dragons that were willing (and later, other dragons a