Atara

 is a city located northwest of Portia. It is a member of the Alliance of Free Cities. It borders Lucien, Highwind, Sandrock, and The Peripheries.

Atara is considered the most developed city in the Alliance. Many types of vehicles are in use there, including Atara's own Dee-Dee Transport System.

Politics
Atara is vocally opposed to Duvos's recent aggressive actions against the state of Ethea, but does not seem willing to take any real action to prevent conflict.

University of Atara
The University of Atara is widely regarded as a prestigious school. One of its professors, Professor Longstone, published an analysis of the ongoing Duvos-Ethea situation in the Portia Times.

Nora is a student at the University of Atara, while Polly wants to get a scholarship to go to the University of Atara one day.

Atara Times
The Atara Times is an affiliate newspaper of the Portia Times with a high circulation. Its editor-in-chief is Eduardo.

Mei's dream was to become a reporter for the Atara Times. While she was able to get a job there, she was never assigned any reporting jobs and was relegated to making coffee for her seniors. After complaining about it, she was transferred to the Portia Times, with stories from her ex-coworkers about how Portia was a boring place where nothing news-worthy ever happened.

Atara City Museum
The Atara City Museum is reportedly the biggest museum in the Free Cities.

Musa Investment Corp
The Musa Investment Corp owned by Musa is the largest company in Atara.

Connections to Portia
Not much is known about besides the following:
 * Mei and Lucy are originally from there.
 * Mei worked at the more advanced Atara Times before being transferred to the Portia office.
 * Nora is from Highwind, but she studied at the University of Atara.
 * Emily's parents currently live and work in Atara.
 * Mali is from Atara. Gale requested that she be sent by Atara to investigate Portia's ruins.
 * Gust completed his education in Atara. Before his studies there, he resented Ginger for the death of their mother, Liza, but he changed a lot while he was gone and began doting on her after his return.
 * Albert and Gust met when they were both students in Atara.
 * Molly wants to live in Atara one day.
 * Cent is from Atara, and he claims to be the reigning Wild Card champion for the last 3 years.
 * Gale got the idea to implement the Dee-Dee Transport System in Portia after seeing it in Atara.

News Reports
The following stories are published in the Portia Times during the game:

Conflict Imminent!
"A conflict between the Empire of Duvos and the Principality of Ethea is imminent as both states build up troops around the Orzu Ruins region on their border. Sightings by witnesses paint a picture of partial mobilization in Ethea, with almost all of their air assets moved to the border region.

Prices for power stones have sky rocketed in the capital city of Grace, as the military have received most of the shipments in recent days.

So far, there has been little word from the Alliance of Free Cities. Atara has stayed out of the conflict of words between Duvos and Ethea. Experts point to the recent thaw in relations between Duvos and the Alliance as the main reason."

- Dispatch from Ethea Capital Grace, Reported by DuMont

Analysis of the Orzu Ruins Situation
"Going by history, there is no question that the Orzu Ruins belongs to Ethea, one of the oldest existing states. In fact, Ethea existed as an entity very soon after people went underground after the Day of Calamity 330 years ago. While the extent of the borders of Ethea is debatable, since for so long it existed as a loose confederation instead of a political union, there's no debate when it comes to the Orzu region. Etheans have dived in these ruins for the last 250 years. Even Peach mentioned going there in his journals. Duvos does not have anything to stand on for their claim, other than they have an army stationed there.

While people have different speculations as to why Duvos is interested in these ruins, I think they're after the large amount of power stones and industrial engines under the Orzu Ruins. One must remember that Duvos fought a war with the Alliance of Free Cities over the ruins of Lucien for these exact same resources. Even though that war technically ended as a draw, Lucien was almost wiped out while the Empire barely suffered any structural damage.

In the bigger geopolitical picture, Duvos wants to gain a distinct advantage vis-a-vis Seesai. While it has less people and less resources overall, Seesai has good to great relations will almost every state on its border, except Duvos. I think the Emperor of Duvos wants to disturb or break this balance of power anyway he can to reach hegemony. That's why we have the current contentions at the Orzu Ruins.

What is strange however is the deafening silence coming from Atara. Ethea is not a part of the alliance; they are, however, the cultural home of our ancestors. Even though we have just signed a treaty of peace with Duvos, it does not mean we can just stand by while our friends face an existential threat."

- Professor Longstone of the University of Atara