Joranit
Crossroads of the North
Joranit
is the capital of the Satrapy of Karasal and is the largest city
in the province. It is the Empire's only deep water port and has
a thriving market supplied by the merchants from the east, west,
north and south. Joranit is a mighty fortress that has sorely tried
many invading armies through the 1,700 years it has stood.
The Star Captain
Joran, a hero of the Lenshi people, founded Joranit during the Silver
Age, the Time of Kargzant. Joran foresaw great dangers and created
a fortress to protect his tribe and their horses. Joranit was built
on a basalt outcrop on the southern coast of the White Sea - the
outcrop is said to a giant's head - and warded on three sides by
the sea itself. To the south, the city is warded by great basaltic
walls fronted by a chasm 50m across and up to 200m deep.
Legends say
that Joran impaled a sleeping giant with his spear. He twisted the
spear and the giant's blood welled up forming the walls. He twisted
again and the giant's tears welled up forming the hot springs that
keep the city warm. Another twist and the giant's shuddering caused
the outcrop to break off from the land around it forming the chasm
before the walls.
Joranit is a
metropolis, the sixth largest city in the Empire, with a growing
population of 28,000. As the meeting place of so many trade and
shipping routes, Joranit has a cosmopolitan mixture rivalled only
by Glamour itself. Carmanian house traders haggled with Ezarcos
kastoki; Dara Happan merchants barter with Karasali slavers; and
Darjiini factors trade for Eolian furs.
The City's
Quarters
There are twelve recognisable neighbourhoods within the city each
with its own markets and temples, architecture and personality.
There is the Old City, Fishertown, the Quarter of Statues, the Dara
Happan Ghetto, the Slope, the Merchant Quarter, the Carmanian Ghetto,
the High Quarter, the Lunar Quarter, the Military Quarter, the New
City and Joran-beyond-the-walls.
The oldest is
the Old City, perched atop the headland next to Joran's Prow - the
old Keep. The Old City was the original settlement within Joranit,
able to watch for danger to the north and look out over the grazing
lands to the south. The people here are traditionally Karasali and
their temples are here including that of Joran himself. The old
nobility have their homes and palaces here. The old palace of the
kings of Karasal is in this quarter but is not currently occupied.
Twenty-foot walls surround this quarter.
Fishertown actually
predates the Old City but was little more than a fishing village
before the coming of Joran. With the founding of the city, the local
fishers found themselves within the wall and under the protection
of the Lenshi. The people here are rugged and coarse. They are fishers,
whalers, sailors, shipwrights slavers and, when nobody is looking,
pirates.
The Quarter
of Statues was founded in the time of the Greenwood Expansion when
many Pelandans fled their land in fear of the forest. As time went
on, the Pelandans who moved to Joranit tended to join the others
already there and the quarter grew more populous. As is their wont,
the Pelandans populated their home with public statuary and great
mosaics. Here can be found a temple to the High Gods of Pelanda.
This quarter is also walled.
Emperor Anirestyu
built the Dara Happan Ghetto when he re-fortified the city during
the Gbaji Wars. The Overseer built a model Dara Happan settlement
on the lower plain. Over time, this quarter has waxed and waned
and is now sparsely populated. There is a temple to Yelm here and
the perfectly circular walls are 30-feet high.
The Slope also
dates from the Gbaji Wars. More refugees, commoners and those too
poor to find homes within the quarters, flooding in to the city
had begun to settle on the grazing lands between Fishertown and
the Dara Happans. The Overseer decreed that they would have a quarter
of their own and granted them the hillside below the Old City as
theirs. The Slope is still the poorest quarter in the city.
With the increase
in trade through the Empire, the city's harbour was seeing more
use. The Overseer built breakwaters to shelter the shipping and
created the Merchant Quarter for their warehouses. Most of the trader
houses established Factors and traders here.
The Carmanian
Ghetto saw its origins in the keep built by Brevascar the Northron,
the Spolite Military Overseer of Joranit. Through the long Spolite
and Carmanian occupations this quarter also waxed and waned. Most
of it was razed to make room for the Satrap's Palace. There is a
Carmanian Church here.
The High Quarter
is the home of the Lunar nobility and those wealthy enough to live
among them. The quarter was started when the Satrap built his new
palace on the old Carmanian Quarter and the nobles rushed to built
their palaces as close to the Satrap's walls as they could.
The Lunar Quarter
is the home of the Select - the special citizens of the Lunar Empire.
This is where the influx of freed slaves, Lunar craftsmen and the
common hangers-on of the Satrap's court settled. There are temples
to the Seven Mothers here; the Reaching Moon Temple; a campus of
the Imperial University and of the College of Magic.
The Military
Quarter was built to house the Lunar garrison. This quarter is actually
a massive keep capable of housing three thousand troops and providing
slips to dozens of galleys and military cogs. Temples and shrines
to Yanafal Tarnils and every other wargod worshipped by the garrisons
can be found here. The walls are 60-feet high and surrounded by
a deep moat.
The New City
sprang up when nobody was watching. It is a collection of labourer's
housing, poorer merchant houses and minor nobles. The stadium is
here as is the slave market.
Joran-Beyond-the-Walls
is a growing village on Red Bay. These people are farmers and labourers,
fishers and whalers.
Capital of
the Satrapy of Karasal
When Our Father created the Satrapy of Karasal, the new Satrap Marorlus
FinEstu chose Joranit to be his seat of power. He razed most of
the Carmanian Quarter and built his Palace there.
As the capital,
Joranit boasts most of the Satrap's administration: his clerks,
his scribes and his accountants. The Satrap's guard are home-based
in the Palace and most of his extended family lives there as well.
The Satrapial Mint, Library and Treasury can all be found within
the Palace.
The Port of Joranit
Joranit is the only deep-water port in the Empire and is the largest
sheltered port on the White Sea. The harbour remains ice-free all
year, protected originally by Joran's blessings and now augmented
by the Kalikos Expeditions. Located as it is between east and west,
north and south, it has become the central port in the Empire's
trading routes.
All of the Empire's
northern endeavours are depoted out of Joranit. The Cold Line border
forts, anchored at Kalikos Keep in Erigia are supplied from Joranit
and their ice-breaking vessels are built in the shipyards here.
The vast Makabean Order maintains their largest chapter house in
the old Prow Keep. Here they manage their far-flung brethren and
minor houses. Their ships are based here, their Tower of Bleak Despair
is supplied from here and their apprentices come here for early
training. Traders and slavers from the length and breadth of the
White Sea home base in Joranit.
By mandate of
Takenegi Robustus, all vessels travelling between the Poralistor
and the Oslir or Arcos must put into Joranit and tranship their
cargos. The Satrap's Coast Guard rigorously enforces this mandate
and the Harbour Master is harsh to those caught trying to skirt
the Satrap's duties.
Joranit is a
teeming centre of fishing and whaling. Dried and salted fish, whale
steaks, seasoned octopus, and over a dozen varieties of whale oil
form the bulk of the city's food exports.
Joranit's
Markets
Joranit is a centre for all kinds of trade and traders; from Karasali
beef to Bindle smoked crabs and quail from First Blessed; from Darjiini
tapestries to Carmanian sailcloth and Eolian skins. The city is
most famous for its whale products: meat, bones and oils. It is
also a centre for the slave trade with kotun demi-giants from the
North Pent Mountains, Eolians, digijelmi, merfolk and more paraded
around Manumission Square. The kotuns, especially those trained
in Joranit's gladiatorial schools, are very popular in every corner
of the Empire. The wide selection of gladiatorial animals is nearly
as impressive.
The Fortress
of Joranit
Joranit's original purpose was to protect its people from their
foes. Over the millennia that have passed, the city has grown more
capable of doing so. The original walls have had towers and gates
added; the original Ramp has been warded with a gate-keep; the harbour's
breakwater has been fortified; and the internal fortifications have
been improved.
The Imperial
army has stationed several regiments here through history. Currently
the 1st Thunder Delta Slingers is the only Heartland Corps unit
home-based in Joranit. The Kentryan Wall - a regiment of daxdarian
hoplites - from the Garrison Corps serves as the local defence and
law enforcement force. The Satrap's personal guard, the Rastari
Protectors are barracked in the Palace. The Protectors are a mixed
unit of 400 foot guards and 100 horse guards. The horse guards are
the Satrap's personal envoys, messengers and trouble-shooters.
Joranit is the
home base for the Imperial White Sea Squadron and the Satrap's flotilla
of coast guard vessels.
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