Khiertuom

This city is an important trading center where the Lapis and Opal Rivers join to form the Stygian River. Boats go down the Stygian to the city of Nampata in Khemit and even farther north, as well as upriver on the Opal and Lapis. This benefit of Khiertuom’s location, however, is offset by the flooding that occurs during the summer rainy season. Many of the buildings in the city are built on raised foundations to keep from being inundated every year, and most storage areas are up under the roof instead of at ground level to keep everything dry.
Khiertuom also receives caravans traveling south, either from the north through Khemit’s Nubiar Oversight or ones from the northwest that may have crossed the Stygian at Nampata. In either case, these caravans nearly always want to stop in the great city of Khiertuom, so the city has ferries that operate across the rivers during all daylight hours. Some enterprising boatmen also take people across in the dark, but they charge a much higher fee for their cooperation in doing so.

Settlement

Khiertuom, City of

Ruler

Prince Kernabes

Government

administrator reporting directly to the kandake

Population

53,027 (49,092 Merowen, 3,110 Khemitite, 450 Lagish, 375 other human ethnicity)

Type

City

Owning Organization

Kingdom of Meroë