Ika reai ('i.ka 'ɾɛ.aj)

''The square is the core of the city, its beating heart from which thousands of vessels emanate''.

-common saying

At the centre of every self-respecting Ikaharinese city lies a great square. From holding markets to being the stage for grand rituals and legal affairs, the ika reai is the beating heart of the kanhan's public life. 

General layout

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''Don't know what you were expecting... It kinds has to be empty, don't you think?''

Due to their many uses, the main squares don't have many permanent structures. However, from merchant tents to stages for ritual performances, there are many temporary or movable elements to be found there.
Besides the actual contents of the space, it's also worth talking about what surrounds the plaza. On three out of the four sides, those are tightly packed apartment complexes of the commoners, a myriad small streets carving their way through them. Matter of factly, in most cities' suran there is only one wide and straight street, which connects the square with the city gate.
On the side opposite to the one the main street is in, one can find a wall, a wall painted with murals. It marks the boundaries of the city's citadel, the enclosure where the aristocrats live largely secluded from the peasants.

Talshir

''1: There are, in this suran, four groups: commoners, slaves, visitors and barbarians. The group one belongs to determines both how their trials are carried out and what punishments they are to be given''.

-excerpt from Sunkar's law code

Essentially the only permanent structure in any ika reai, the talshir is a massive obelisk on whose surface all the city's laws are recorded. As most people are illiterate, and the few who are not are most likely to be unable to understand the complex characters used in legal terminology, it is customary for the high judges of the cities to read them every now and then. 
Furthermore, this slab of rock also serves as the symbolic centre of the city's official legal activity (as rare as that is).

Functions

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Type

Market square