Ghorratāndolirr
Ghorratāndolirr is an island of safety, of civilization and society, in the unforgiving brutality of the Ashen Wastes, a harbor of rest and opportunity in the dangerous waters of the Haunted Straits, and a center of prosperity and wealth linking the energetic trade of the Shimmering Sea to distant waters. What's more, as the sole inhabited location in the whole of the Ashen Wastes, save the mining operations on the salted earth, this city is where all the wealth of the Dominion of Ngavar is concentrated.
Ghorratāndolirr is perhaps the place in the world that most values the needs desires of the common man. Following the destruction of the their homeland, the Ashfolk—who, broadly speaking, had previously only wanted a degree of autonomy—grew to reject the idea of monarchy altogether, seeing the Summerlord's wrath as the ultimate, logical conclusion of a system that elevated few above many.
Demographics
The ethnic Ashfolk descendants of the survivors of the Sundering of Ngavar easily compose the majority population of the city. Those few Ngavari whose ancestors were not physiologically affected by the Sundering, either by luck or distance, have also coalesced on the City, but are dramatically dwarfed in number by the Ashfolk.
The largest minority are the Kurras, descendants of Nimean settlers in Ngavarr who survived the Sundering, who have, as a result of their being particularly isolated from other Nimean groups and emerging alongside the Ashfolk, developed into something distinct from their forebears much more quickly than other Nimean groups. There was a small influence from refugees of the Folly of the Summerlords, but the city's relative isolation limited their numbers.
Beyond that, the non-native population of the City are primarily merchants, or the descendants thereof, coming from the cultures of the Dokhar diaspora, Yarman, or Kantirini from across the sea to the south. There are the occasional settlers of other sorts, but they are very few in number, often too few to remain for more than a single generation before being subsumed into the broader Ashfolk population.
Government
The city is governed directly by the Dominion of Ngavar, with the city containing essentially the entire population. The Dominion's policies are decided, outside times of crisis, by popular vote, and as such are driven by the needs and desires of the city's people, and their political factions.
Defences
The walls of Ghorratāndolirr are an extensive and elaborate engineering feat, which serve to protect the city from dust storms, Ash Wraiths, marauders, and any army that might make it through the Ashen Wastes. The walls of the city are approximately seven meters in height, and two-and-a-half meters in width. This includes the walls which divide the city into several internal wards.
The city operates a large naval fleet, which it uses to project its power into international waters, and to combat the rare enemy ships or sea monsters that come too close to the city.
Industry & Trade
Trade is the great strength of Ghorratāndolirr. Its location on the coast where the Ashen Wastes meet the Haunted Strait results in the only safe harbor for miles around, funneling trade from the nearby Yarman Consortium, to the further-afield coastal cities of the Borghani clans, to distant realms like the Celestial Regency of Kantirin across the Shimmering Sea.
Additionally, the settlement of Nafiri Zal on the Salted Earth provides Ghorratāndolirr with considerable supplies of salt, which serves as the city's only natively-produced trade good.
Infrastructure
The city maintains an extensive series of dockyards and wharves, which are paid for primarily be taxes on ships carrying trade goods. These facilities are the only ones of their kind allowed to operate in the city, and the construction, repair, and business of individual ships is rigorously and thoroughly documented.
Assets
The city is located such that it can provide safe harbor from the monsters of the Haunted Straits, making it an important link in international trade. It also possesses vast stores of salt, of which it keeps very careful track, which it uses to exert considerable influence in international and intercontinental trade—especially relative to its size. The vast majority of other resources need to be imported.
There is also a substantial amount of stone available, acquired from the robust mines just outside the city walls, but this has little to no impact on trade.
Guilds and Factions
Three of the most prominent factions in the city, which have been integrated into its administrative body—the Dominion of Ngavar—are the Priesthood of the Sundered Green, the Order of the Sentinels of the Grove, and the Sundered Fleet. The Priesthood is the monastic order of priests and acolytes responsible for maintaining the Temple of the Sundered Green and the Spirits which dwell there, and for administering religious rites to the people of the city. The Sentinels are a cross between army and town guard, protecting the city from the monsters outside its walls and maintaining order in its streets, while also serving as the city's tax collectors. The Fleet's primary role is to protect the Dominion on the high seas, but in peace time they chiefly protect the trade routes that feed Ghorratāndolirr from pirates and monsters.
There are a number of groups native to the city with a considerable degree of influence, primarily trade guilds and political movements or parties. The most prominent of these are the Khalesine Salt Miner's Guild and the Mercantile League.
Additionally, there are a number of foreign groups with an interest in the city, primarily foriegn merchants and the agents of foreign trading partners, such as the Grand Consortium of the Yarman, and Coalition of the Myh Dokhar. There is also a local branch of the Hand of Shadow, the Temple of Ash, which acts in secret to destabilize and undermine the reigning government from the shadows.
History
After the Kingdom of Ngavar was Sundered, most of its people were dead, turned to ash by the wrath of the Summerlord Malor Lavanaar III, and risen from the landscape as Ash Wraiths. Some of the survivors decided to stay behind, eking out an existence in the unforgiving wasteland their home had become. Many of them died as well. Eventually, one settlement emerged predominant: Ghorratāndolirr, the semi-restored historic capital of the Ngavarrā people, and around one of the most holy places in Ngavarrā religion, the Temple of the Virulent Green.
The people who founded the city came to believe that the destruction of their homeland was the inevitable consequence of the old system, monarchy, which had placed the needs and desires of a small number of people above the needs of the majority, and structured their new government to redress these failures, making it so that it would be led by a figure chosen by the citizens in plebiscite, who bore the title of Champion. The principal figures of the Champion's government were the Knight-Captain of the Order of the Sentinels of the Grove and the High Priest of the Sundered Green, but there were a number of appointed positions, such as the Minder of Serpents, the Keeper of Scrolls, and the All-Herald.
The primary architects of that system are remembered as the Last of the Green, a group of priests, native-born bureaucrats from the Nimean occupation, and ideologues who had been radicalized by the Sundering and its aftermath. The most fondly remembered of the Last of the Green was Ngorog Gaalangaar (/ŋoːroːg gaːlaŋaːr/), the first Champion.
Gaalangaar's tenure oversaw the repair and initial expansion of the walls of Ghorratāndolirr, as well as the discovery that the lingering effects of the Sundering of Ngavar warded against the various monstrosities of the Haunted Straits. His successors oversaw the development of the navy in the form of the Sundered Fleet, the Admiral of which would become another prominent member of the government. Due to its advantageous position, Ghorratāndolirr would develop into a major port in international and intercontinental trade.
Architecture
Due to the nearly non-existent supply of timber available natively, and the Sundered Fleet driving up the price of imported lumber by purchasing a great deal of it to build new ships and repair old ones, the vast majority of buildings contain no or minimal wooden elements. This drove up the demand for alternatives, resulting in a robust stone mining industry around Ghorratāndolirr, and the invention of ashbrick, a type of sun-baked material composed primarily from ash and clay.
The majority of the construction in the city, from residences to workshops to storehouses, are built from ashbrick, and the remainder are built from stone. Nearly all roofs are arched, with the few exceptions featuring either domes, or a large number of pillars. There are very few multi-story buildings,
All of the buildings in the city are adorned in great whorls of paint of any color one could think of, save grey. The paint is at its faintest in the Crag, the occupants of which are often too poor to afford regular maintenance. In the Arsenal Ward, the constant exposure to the sea air, and even ocean spray, leaves the paint faded and pocked, even with regular maintenance. The alleyways and plazas of the Bazaar are known for having particularly chaotically designed adornments. In the Assembly Ward and the Lingering Gardens, plants that have been imported from abroad are placed to break up and compliment the paint. The Temple of the Sundered Green, and the grounds which surrounded it, are elaborately and complexly landscaped.
Geography
The city itself is built at the mount of a river which the Ngavari call the Grogh (/groːγ/), which has its source in the Kogmunuth Mountains, from which it flows through the Yarmani Riverlands, and then the Ashen Wastes, before reaching the sea. The dangers of the Ashen Waste make regular trade or communication unfeasible upriver.
The Arsenal Ward is at the mouth of the Grogh, which is sheltered by a deep lagoon. Further inland, the Bazaar flanks the river on either side, in actuality being divided into a number of plazas and avenues lined with shops and stalls, the greatest of which is the High Bazaar, nestled in a southerly bend north side of the river. The Wider Bazaar also contains the homes and workshops of most of the city's tradesfolk. The Old City is north and east of the High Bazaar, surrounded by the Old Walls, which were originally built before the Sundering. It contains the area known as the Lingering Gardens, where the wealthy live, as well as the grounds of the Temple and the Assembly, each of which contains a number of attendant buildings. The Crag is the sounthern-most of the city's wards, and houses the city's broader underclass. The Crag contains the Crag Proper, a high-density area built onto and into a large and particularly steep hill.
The city is surrounded on several sides by hills, several of which feature quarries for mining stone.
Natural Resources
Given the present state of Ngavar, the land surrounding Ngavorong is not particularly bountiful. The land is not particularly fertile, and Ngavar's mineral wealth is too far from the city to be safely mined on a regular basis. The only real exception to this is a stone quarry that has been cut out of a hill just outside the city's primary walls, which has been the source of most of the stone the city has been built from.
Additionally, caravans regularly bring in salt from Nafiri Zal on the Salted Earth, which are stored in Ngavorong's warehouses.
Alternative Name(s)
Dolirr
Type
City
Population
~25,000
Inhabitant Demonym
Ghorratāndolirra (formal), Dolirra (informal)
Location under
Included Locations
Owning Organization
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