Ittiyqa and Baldashmun

The city physically nearest to Cothon-Gadeed of the other Ten Cities of that eponymous league, Ittiyqa lies across the bay to the northwest of Cothon, facing east. Ittiyqa is in many ways the closest culturally to Gadeed, itself also being a former colony of Old Tsurr that managed to weather the long age of the Man-Kzin Wars. It also has a famous harbor (a lake connected to the sea by a long canal and series of locks), and its name is also a reference to its age--Ittiyqa, "Elder", in reference to its being built earlier than Gadeed ("New [Town]"). Yet, despite its "superior" pedigree, Ittiyqa is now considered one of the lesser sisters of Cothon-Gadeed.
Indeed, Ittiyqa once received more trade than Cothon, but between Gadeed's better claim to the mantle of authority of Old Tsurr, and the predominance of Cothon-Gadeed after the Man-Kzin Wars, Ittiyqa's prominence faded. It remains a major trading hub--just not quite as important as Cothon. It is aided in this by the nearby island-harbor of Baldashmun which faces Ittiyqa and is a common stopover for ships passing east or west, to resupply from the springs of sweet water above that town or take on loads of fish caught in the fertile waters surrounding it.
The relationship between Ittiyqa and Baldashmun is like a distorted reflection of the relationship between Gadeed and Cothon. Ittiyqa, the mother city, is not as strict as Gadeed, but there is a section of the city that is reserved for citizens only. The majority of Ittiyqa would in fact seem rather a lot like Cothon. But Baldashmun was the lifeline of the city during the Man-Kzin Wars--fortunately for Ittiyqa, connected by a corridor of sea rather than having to fortify the connection with great walls. And Baldashmun is more typically the location for barbarian metics to dwell, at least at first--for the hinterlands of the island typically allow for more interesting adventure than the headlands of the main coast.
A point of glory for Ittiyqa was its place of honor in the Battle of the Tukkayat Hills against one of the last hordes of the Kzinti to threaten the Ten Cities. For it was the soldiers of Ittiyqa, led by Saint Inistas, who held the field long enough for reinforcements of human and Klackon phalanxes to march up from Gadeed and ultimately crush the Kzinti. In a battle that threatened disaster, the men of Ittiyqa proved themselves staunch and doughty warriors, and helped to defeat the horde of the Kzin warchief Vrrl-Ya. A hillfort and religious outpost was established overlooking the battlefield, dedicated to Saint Inistas and said to hold his famously magical lance, as well as certain artefacts claimed from the Kzinti during the battle. Unfortunately, a raid early last year (Khusra-Fadhlan III) by a Kzin warband made off with certain artefacts and left the library of the fort a smoldering ruin. This was surely the work of the Red Cloud and his gathering horde ... a danger growing over the last years which will have to be challenged by those like Ittiyqa's men of old.

Lake Ishkul
The harbor-lake of Ittiyqa is an even more defensible harbor than Cothon's famous cothon. A series of canal-locks connect it to the Sea of Dirac at large, some of the largest locks ever built. The northern section of the lake is the military harbor, which is essentially a cothon like the more famous version--its "banks" are the slips and sheds for the galleys and triremes of the state's fleet. A causeway from the city partially bisects the lake, leading to the island-fortress in the lake-center (the Boarxhe). The southern side of the lake is maintained as a forest-preserve for the hunting of various fishes, game, and fowl. This is allowed only to the nobility and citizenry, of course. The commercial harbor of Ittiyqa is open to the sea like normal, though protected by extensive breakwaters.

the Boarxhe
The island-fortress in the center of Lake Ishkul and the seat of the Souffet of Ittiyqa, it is called literally "the harbor-fort". The fortress was built long before Gadeed's foundations were laid; it dominated the area of modern Ittiyqa in the service of Old Tsurr, and actually overlooked the major harbor at the time. It is connected to its city by a long causeway that can be thrown down in case of a siege, and can meanwhile be supplied by the waters of the lake below, as well as the fish that swim within. It has the honor of never having fallen to an enemy siege (though its gates have been opened before by treachery).

Baldashmun
A large town on the island to the north and east of Ittiyqa; their harbors face each other. Baldashmun's commercial harbor has come to rival Ittiyqa's own, as the location for "overflow traffic", but also as a place famed for the sweet waters of its springs, which many a shipmaster stops over in Baldashmun just for the pleasure of refilling their own ship's stores. Baldashmun is a bustling place, known for its fast-haggling merchants, rough-and-tumble taverns, and extensive fish markets. Denizens not legally allowed to live in Ittiyqa but hoping to do so dwell here while the pursue their legal cases; and many others who are perfectly happy to live in the faster-and-looser society of Baldashmun remain there, rather than move to the bigger city. A large commune of Shen Sakkra have a holding in Baldashmun, legally established similarly to the Kantors of the Hanse.

Type

City