Banyek

Demographics

Banyek is easily the most racially diverse city in North-East M'dia. Narrowly, the majority of the population are Tamijhiin but more than a third are Espirion and there is also a sizeable Haravi population. Banyek was founded by a conclave of the Ban tribal shamans on a radical principle of freedom and equality. It is therefore guaranteed in the founding document of Banyek, 'The First Calling of the Conclave', that all people irrelevant of race should be equal under the law. This is based on the concept in Tamijhiin spiriturality that all people and animals are the incarnations of fragments of a unified World-Spirit and are therefore each sacred. 
Most of Banyek is populated by Tamijhiin of the old Ban tribes, who were once nomadic in the area, and some of the population are the descendants of Espirion 'Hinterlanders' who had lived in the region for generations, even before the founding of Banyek. There is also a considerable proportion of the population who were once slaves (mostly from Bairek) who escaped and managed to make the long journey to relative safety in Banyek where slavery is illegal and all slaves who cross the border are considered instantly free.

Government

Banyek is governed by the entirely Tamijhiin Shamanic Conclave. The Conclave is made up of the Shamans of the Ban tribes which unified to found Banyek. The Ban shamans have mostly carried on following their traditions although the Northern Tamijhiin have not built cities or defended borders for more than a thousand years. Most of the shamans have a strong connection to the spirits of the shamans who came before them and these spirits, along with the natural spirits of the river which flows through Banyek and of the surrounding forests, are technically considered to be permanent members of the Conclave also. There are around 40 corporeal members as well as around 30 active spirit members of the conclave claimed by the shamans. Despite the broad expertise this would suggest, the conclave has largely struggled to make significant progress expanding the city or its infrastructure. At it's founding, none of the members of the Shamanic Conclave had ever lived in city and few had seen one before. 
The conclave has no official leader although a group of the 5 oldest and most spiritually connected shamans form something of an executive council in a de facto sense only. The shamans meet weekly under a sacred tree in the centre of Bairek, performing spiritual and civic duties the rest of the week. Recently the Conclave has begun appointing mandarins with remits focussed on military organisation and infrastructure expansion.
Most of the Conclave's efforts go toward protecting its northern border which the Toseki and Okredeki militaries regularly test with intrusions of small forces. Banyek would likely have fallen already if Tosek and Okredek were not already threatened by one another and by Bairek and Nangkap. 
The Shamanic Conclave is the de facto government of the surrounding hinterlands as well as the city, often called the 'Banyek Hinterlands' or the 'The Holdings' within Banyek. This land extends around 80km North to the border with Tosek and Okredek and south to the steppe. East of Banyek is the Iron Valley, a thin strip of Toseki holdings. The Toseki government has sought to maintain it's dominance over the valley to ensure continued control of iron mines in the region.

Defences

The centre of the city is on the southern side of the river which acts as a natural barrier to invasion from the north. The city centre is surrounded by a 10-foot wall made from wood and stone.
The Tamijhiin easily traverse the forest which has been their home for many generations and the Hinterlander warriors are notoriously tough. As trade with Cyiros is steadily increased, fairly small shipments of metal weapons and armour have been brought to Banyek and the Conclave now commands a small well-armed militia as well as a larger network of Hinterlander scouts and a few Tamijhiin archers who, having four arms, can wield two bows. The Conclave recently commissions a delegation of Pirol trappers, calling themselves the Brothers of Silence, to investigate the value of traps and poisons for defending the city and the realm's borders.
All this said, the Ban are clearly outmatched by their more technologically advanced and better resourced northern neighbours who might have already taken the city were it not too risky for them to engage in all-out war when their own borders are at risk from Bairek and Nangkap.

Industry & Trade

Most of the population of the city are occupied by foraging food, hunting or farming. A rudimentary bartering economy exists with very limited use of currency brought in by migrants or traders from other kingdoms.
As foraging and hunting steadily depletes the surrounding wilderness, the city is more and more reliant on farming. Increasingly, an animal farming is an issue of contention within the city where the majority Tamijhiin are herbivorous and hold sacred all life while the Espirion and Haravi are omnivores. 
Banyek has a monopoly on the cultivation of many culinary and medicinal herbs. The Tamijhiin and Haravi have rich oral herblore traditions and have leverage this knowledge to domesticate a number of species that had only previously grown wild.
Other important industries include construction of buildings and infrastructure and gathering of medicinal plants for domestic use and trade. Most building is done by the Guild of Engineers while the foraging efforts are lead by Tamijhiin herbalists. A small fraction of the population is employed by the Conclave's armed militia or in the military organisations the Old Forest Brethren and the Brothers of Silence. The conclave has recently begun organising a class of mandarins to manage infrastructure projects and a merchant class to work the burgeoning trade with Cyiros and Nangkap.
Both Okredek and Tosek have trade embargoes in place preventing trade over Banyeks northern borders. To the south however, Tam Gon taders mediate a growing trade between Banyek and Cyiros. There is even a small but increasing trade with Nangkap via more northern Tam Gon tribes.
Banyek's main exports are:

• hard wood lumber to Cyiros
• animal hides to Cyiros and Nangkap
• medicine to Cyrios and Nagkap
• culinary herbs to Cyiros and Nangkap
• clay and clay products to the Tam Gon

Banyek's main imports are:

• tools from Cyiros
• metal from Cyiros
• weapons and armour from Cyiros
• textiles from Nangkap
• glass and glass products from Nangkap

Infrastructure

The city is centred on a sacred tree chosen for its large size and age (around 800 years old). The spirit of the tree, called Mahuasanigalaoweo or 'I have watched the passing of the ages' in the Norther Tamijhiin dialect, has a position of honour in the Conclave as the host of its meetings.
The Conclave has struggled since the cities founding to establish adequate infrastructure. The city is fairly sprawling and mostly made up of the kind of wooden cabins that are typical of Tamijhiin villages but which seem out of place in a settlement of this size. The city is carved into the forest and the roads are worn smooth by walking but none are cobbled or paved. The city is full of trees and there are many streams that cut the city leading into the river which splits the city in two.
The river is bridged in four places by rudimentary bridges made by laying large logs across the length of the river.
A number of the Espirion ex-slaves who fled from Bairok founded a Guild of Engineers and used their skills to begin quarrying in the drier ground to the south and to establish some minor industry including firing clay and and stone building construction. The ground around Banyek is too soft to support large stone structures but the Guild has succeeded in building some smaller stone structures and partially stone structures and also in erecting defensive walls with stone and wooden elements around the centre of the city.
The Espirion Hinterlanders have formed a band of scouts, the Old Forest Brethren, a key element of the cities military, who have built a few small ships able to navigate the river.
The city floods annually so many of the newer building have an empty first floor or are built on stilts.

Assets

The Banyek Hinterlands have little in the way of valuable natural resources aside from hardwood and medicine. The shamans have been able to secure a steady supply of medicinal herbs and scavenged fruit and nuts though the banks of the rivers are increasingly bordered by farmland. The soft soil is sufficiently fertile to grow a wide range of crops although the winter months in Banyek see storms and frost which limits growing time.
There is very limited mining in Banyek so the economy relies primarily on bartering rather than metal coins. The Conclave has begun collecting modest taxes although, in some ways, Banyek operates as a single corporation with the Conclave directing all its resources.
There are a few treasures held by the state, including a number of ancient Tamijhiin amulets and tablets, considered to be relics from the time of the Opal City. Although establishing a merchant class has been slow, trade with Cyiros via the Tam Gon to the south is beginning to bring in tools and metal in exchange for medicines and lumber.
Although it is unconfirmed, there are rumours in Tosek and amongst the Tam Gon that the conclave holds a copy, perhaps even the original copy, of the Sanguine Tome.

Guilds and Factions

The Shamanic Conclave

See 'Government'. The Shamanic Conclave is the executive, legislative and judicial branch of Banyeki government. It was founded when Banyek itself was founded and declared Banyek independent in a declaration of basic law called 'The First Calling of the Conclave'. Additional callings of the Conclave have established later law and policy. The conclave commands an armed militia of Tamijhiin archers and a number of mandarins with executive power to oversee infrastructure projects. The Conclave are also the Tamijhiin religious leaders who continue the practice of Tamijhiin reverence towards guardian spirits of nature especially the spirit of the sacred tree at the centre of the city Mahuasanigalaoweo ('I have watched the passing of the ages') and the river spirit Himelasiganaseha ('I breath through the forest').

The Old Forest Brethren

Loyal to the Conclave, the Brethren are a militia of Espirion 'Hinterlanders' who inhabited the woods around Banyek before the city was even founded. They act as scouts and hunters. They also work to preserve the tradition of worship of the Mirjiini pantheon who they have been dedicated to for generations. 
Their relationship with the Tamijhiin has been tense since the start. Before the founding of Banyek, the Hinterlanders were settled in small homesteads dotted around the Holdings of Banyek (which were then called the Hinterlands). They had loose trading relations with the kingdoms to the north and to the Tamijhiin. When the Tamijhiin founded Banyek, many of the Hinterlanders saw an opportunity to build a stronger homeland for themselves, that has not necessarily made the relationship cordial though.

The Brothers of Silence

The Brothers are a small secretive society of Haravi. They meet to worship the Haravi All-Mother, Ma'at. They are also skilled trappers and poisoners. The conclave has enlisted their help in protecting the borders of the realm using innovative booby-traps.

The Old Ban Clans

Many of the Tamijhiin of Banyek still remain loyal to their original clans even though the clans are nominally all unified. Some of the clans still live and work together in communal dwellings in an attempt to preserve their histories and revere the spirits that have long guided them.

The Order of Broken Chains

The fledgling order has been commended by the Conclave for their secretive work across the northern border of Banyek spying on Tosek and Okredek and helping slaves to escape to freedom in Banyek. They are a mixed group, mainly of former slaves but including Hinterlander trackers and Tamijhiin archers, working together for the cause of liberation.
They are most renowned for their stealthy operations into the northern kingdoms where they ambush slavers on the road and free those they have incarcerated to lead them back to Banyek. Their work is considerably broader in reality though, with many of their members focussing their efforts on helping the former slaves settle into their new lives in Banyek.

History

In the year 62BU, amid political chaos in the lawless hinterlands south of Tosek and Okredek, the family of tribes who called themselves 'The Tribes of Ban', after their eponymous legendary ancestor, declared themselves a free, sovereign and independent state and began construction of a new capital city, Banyek.
The project was controversial even amongst the tribesmen themselves but with the looming threat of a Nangkapian empire with an appetite for westward expansion to the East, the neighbouring nations took to ignoring the fledgling Banyek, temporarily at least.
Banyek has since become a safe-haven for escaped slaves, Tamijhiin, Espirion and even Pirol, all living together as near equal citizens (although ruled by the Tamijhiin Shamanic Conclave). However, the new nation is fragile and struggling to build infrastructure and police its streets and borders. With new refugees fleeing to its promised safety every day, it is unclear how the Shamanic Conclave will cope. Recently, allegations of black magic use by the conclave have further destabilised the delicate balance of power.

Geography

The area around Banyek is very flat and low-lying. It is forested with denser forest in the west and less dense forest to the east and south. A river splits the city in two and floods it annually.
The river spirit is called Himelasiganaseha or 'I breath through the forest' by the Tamijhiin and the river itself Himelasiganasehavlani or 'Himelasiganaseha's River' or just Himelasi for short. The river is call the Obraan by the Hinterlanders, an old name whose meaning is long forgotten.
The soil is clay-rich and wet all year round especially near the river. There is little rain throughout the year, although more in winter than in summer. The rain mostly falls in the highlands to the north-east which feeds the river.
The woods around Banyek are not very dense but are certainly lush and verdant. There are many ponds and clearings where rare plants grow and amphibious animals thrive. The forest is laced up by climbing and hanging vines and the trees are coated in colourful lichen and fungi in the autumn. There are a number of bird species which nest in the woods of Banyek in spring.

Natural Resources

The natural resources to be found near to the city are:

• medicinal plants
• culinary herbs
• edible fruits, seeds and fungi
• fresh water
• hard wood lumber
• reeds (for making rope or paper)
• animals for hides and meat
• fish
• clay

Alternative Name(s)

Banimga

Type

City

Population

25000

Related Ethnicities

• The Hinterlanders

Inhabitant Demonym

Ban

Location under

M'dia