Jhadarah
The largest settlement on Quy Island, Jhadarah is the domain of the Y’lshon family, wealthy merchants who have lived here for millennia. Shipbuilding and fishing facilities nearby drive the city’s economy, while the Y’lshon’s merchant fleet is based out of the city’s sheltered bay. The city’s ancient seaward walls stand weathered and overgrown with vines and shrub trees and retain a few traces of their original carvings and battlements.
The city’s most prominent feature is the oldest continuously operating temple to the god Jatan in the Xha’en Hegemony. Located on the heights above the weathered buildings of Jhadarah’s noble quarter, the temple is staffed by a group of six ancient priests and a number of younger monks who carry out the place’s day-to-day running. Its true age isn’t certain, but it is known to have been old when the city of Xha’ahan was founded more than 4,000 years ago. The common belief is that High Priest Arku is immortal, for he has held the post for as long as anyone alive today can remember. Arku is a wizened, ancient creature, almost blind and capable of communicating only in a faint whisper, but it is said that he can see the past and future with perfect clarity and will impart wisdom to those he considers worthy. He refuses to reveal future events however, for he claims that the gods themselves might be overthrown if anyone were to know what he knows. Exactly what this means no one knows, but a steady stream of pilgrims comes from all across the Hegemony to visit the temple. Few are deemed worthy to even enter the temple, let alone commune with the Ancient One, but those who do are said to return changed forever, with a light of true wisdom burning in their eyes.
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