Jawari

Jawari is the fourth-largest city in the nation of Tsuji on the world of Jhembaz. It is best known for its religious practices; while Tsuji as a whole is more religious than most countries of Jhembaz and worships a panoply of gods bewildering to outsiders, Jawari has a tradition of worshiping ancient gods unknown elsewhere in the country and strange even to Tsujians. The main god of Jawari is Great Warayana, who is depicted as some kind of creature vaguely resembling a cross between a toad and a tardigrade, with three long tentacles on its face. The gold statue of Warayana that forms the entrance of the Hall of Rest—through the mouth of which visitors must pass to enter the building—is one of the city's most famous landmarks. The other local deities of Jawari are equally odd and inhuman. The residents of Jawari claim that their city and its gods predate the nation of Tsuji itself—and while the historical record isn't absolutely clear about this, it may very well be the case. There are many strange rumors as to what goes on inside the temples of the gods of Jawari that dot the city, but no one is permitted to attend the ceremonies there who has not agreed to honor their gods, and spent at least six months as a faithful worshipper to prove their sincerity. There is, however, no requirement that the gods of Jawari be worshipped exclusively, and it is possible—and not uncommon—for them to be worshipped in addition to the more traditional gods of Tsuji.

Its strange gods notwithstanding, Jawari is subject to the national councils of Tsuji like any other city, and it trades and treats with other communities as normal. Its most unusual export is metals, both in raw form and as finely worked jewelry and mechanisms. Metal is rare on the tree-covered world of Jhembaz, and so for the purposes that metal would be used on other worlds its inhabitants usually have found ways to substitute other materials. Still, metal does have its uses, and its scarcity on the world makes it all the more valuable. No metal naturally occurs near Jawari, but some Jawari mages have developed a talent for bringing metal from other planes of existence. It is not a wholly safe procedure, since sometimes other things are accidentally brought with the metal, and sometimes those other things are dangerous. But the profit the metal brings the city makes it worth it. Some outsiders have wondered whether the metal is summoned from the same planes that are the homes of Jawari's strange gods, but the metalbringers insist that this is not the case, and that there is no connection between their practices and the city's religious tradition.

Jawari is also known for its theatrical tradition; several highly stylized forms of theater developed here, and while they have since been copied elsewhere many maintain that they are still best practiced in their city of origin. Popular forms of exotic theater here are wi tian, in which each character is performed by (at least) two actors, operating what essentially amounts to a giant puppet; raga zoa, in which all actors and stagehands carry buckets of colored liquids that are tossed up in the air or between them to symbolize emotions or certain events; and hahari, in which everything on stage, not just characters but scenery and props as well, are played by live actors—often but not necessarily to intentionally comic effect. At least some of these theatrical forms apparently began as ceremonies involved in the worship of the Jawari gods, but they have since become popular forms of entertainment used to play out secular stories. Some Jawarian troupes travel all over Jhembaz performing their arts (as, unfortunately, do some less authentic troupes falsely claiming to be Jawarian).

Aside from metal and metal goods and theatrical performances, Jawari's most notable exports include eggfruit, clocks, textiles, salt, and a couple local varieties of coffee. The city also gets a fair amount of income from tourism, with people coming from afar to see their strange temples and statues, though not all its residents are enthused about that, some of them worrying that making the gods into tourist attractions dishonors them—and perhaps may invite their wrath.

Like other cities of Tsuji, Jawari is led by a hierarchy of councils, each of which has its own particular topical domain. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the religious council is more powerful here than in most cities. Formally, here as elsewhere, the divine council—the council concerned with religious affairs—is subsidiary to the Legatory Council, under the rationale that the main concern of religion is communication with gods and mediating the relationship between gods and mortals. In Jawari, however, the local gods are considered such an important aspect of the city that the divine council wields influence comparable to if not greater than the legatory council itself, and on par with other top-level councils. Two of the most power people of the city, Woan Nara and Hanani Jahuri, are members of the divine council. Even if they're not council members, religious figures in Jawari are often very influential; the high priest of Great Warayana, Hogona Hearu, is at the same level of power and influence as Nara and Jahuri.

Aside from the temples to the city's various local gods, notable sites of interest in Jawari include the Library of Jawari, one of the largest libraries in Tsuji with many rare and ancient volumes in its collection; the Hall of Rest, a place not explicitly dedicated to any gods but set out for the practice of many old rituals that are supposed to help participants center themselves and grow spiritually; the Flowing Gardens, a spectacular arrangement of terraced pools, waterfalls, fountains, and foliage; the Thousand Doors, where mages have established permanent portals to a number of (purportedly harmless) other planes and that serves as sort of a museum; and the Palace of Devotion, where people who have taken vows to honor their gods and better their own souls serve visitors in various ways as part of their covenants.