Tarxian

Tarxian is the most mysterious Tharshi colony. It occupies a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean with nothing worth exploiting, and serves purely as a military base closed to all outsiders. Even ordinary Tharshi merchant ships may not stop there. All supplies land at a single fortified port, and anyone from the supply ships who goes ashore is put to death.

At least a thousand elite mercenaries and a dozen or more large warships are known to be based there. Some say several thousand troops are hidden in cave barracks in the coastal hills, others that more ships lurk in sheltered coves and lagoons, and there are certainly extensive shipbuilding and repair yards. A workforce of unknown size lives on the island, and perhaps a slave labor force as well.

Tarxian hires no ordinary mercenaries at all. Only elite warriors may apply, and the post is said to pay extremely well, but because of the obsessive secrecy, service there is believed to last for life. Its strategic position and hidden purpose draw keen interest from Tharshesh's rivals, and Atlantis, Ys, Hesperia and even Qaddan are all eager to uncover its secrets.