Ormached

Demographics

While the vast majority of inhabitants in Ormached reflect the general demographics of Zalmais as a whole - predominantly human, descended from pastoral farmers and diverse in the concerns of economical status, there are a few ethnic minorities, like the fearsome Yagight tribe of Umbarosque which made itself known in Ormached when they made the surrounding countryside up north subject to their campaigns of raping and pillaging several hundred years ago, bringing along with them settlers and conquerors. There was so much intermingling that their influence is indistinguishable, and their culture has blended very well with the rest. Though there are none who identify as Yagight, and even less whose heritage manifests in their appearance, a whopping 40% of Ormached's population has their blood in their veins. The rest is homogenous Zal.
With the exception of the Elgryth bird-people, who inhabit their own neighbourhoods - of which there are seven. They are scouts, lookouts, couriers, window-cleaners, town-criers, hunters, constables and guardsmen, who inhabit towers with many balconies. The reason behind their segregation is because most of them have yet to abandon their unfortunate practice of public defecation - they are allowed to live wherever they like initially, but the very moment they shit where they shouldn't their habitation is confined to the nests in their tower-abodes.

Defences

The only exception by which an Elgryth may live outside a designated neighbourhood - other than having never publicly defecated before - is by enlisting in the civic militia, where they will learn how to fire a blunderbuss and empty noxious chemicals and boiling tar on the heads of invaders. They work alongside humans, of which there are three hundred infantrymen defending Ormached, and twenty calvarymen led by the brave Sir Svodamoriss. The city is also protected by cannons and a small regiment of werebears recruited from the surrounding country.

Industry & Trade

Ormached is famed for its numerous breweries, which processes grapes which arrive from vineyards upriver. Dozens of companies based in Ormached scramble for dominance over rural estates and brewing facilities. However, the city is much more well known as the centre of all beast-trade in Zalmais and even Ardion, for it is here that the primary purveyors of exotic plants and animals from all over Iorhassan and beyond are located. Their menageries are enormous, magnificent, even greater than any other place in perhaps the whole world, and every year a market selling organisms of all kinds - from the most insignificant Drolathuyan wavespore to the most gargantuan Gnarlophagi is held in the city square. There are no laws restricting this.

Infrastructure

The Trennbil, through telepathic contact with Ormached’s bird-whisperers, have forged a pact with the city – they shall eat the garbage which the city produces, and the city will leave the lake alone. Industrial waste from the foundries and factories of the city’s southwestern outskirts are dumped in a lake of sulfuric acid which lies at the floor of a valley two hours’ boat ride from the city proper. When the river promenade is lined with wide-eyed citizens from all walks of life, staring at a riverboat with a deck predominated by a massive cage, it is sure that one of the noblemen of Ormached have expected a new beast for their collections – that expectation will soon be fulfilled.

Architecture

There are massive rows of tight-packed canal houses built from green brick with red-tiled roofs overlooked by truncated spires of fluted jade and turquoise, clad in spikes of glass to ward off birds, more specifically the tiny Trennbil of Vormithekh.
Amid the mazy streets and accessed through subtle entrances where walls intersect in illusory manners and secluded airship quays attached to robust towers, there are a dozen botanical gardens and menageries for which Ormached is famed, three of which are open for the public to observe. The other nine are the private property of Zalmais’s aristocracy, oft rented out to herbalists and naturalists who do not want to encumber themselves by travelling to said specimen’s homeland, should they wish to scrutinize and study a plant or creature. Architecturally, the city is homogenous.
With the exception of the private parks and bestiaries, which are constructed in a hackneyed facsimile of the architecture of the far countries from which the beasts and vegetation originate. Within them one may observe beings poached from distant lands, like the Gimnite Zimbhorp, the Vulergo Phibgoss, the Drusyendi Sumkine and the Atrejigese Xanluth – Concerning these animals, special precautions must be taken for their containment. The Zimbhorp must be surrounded by dream-scrambling runic obelisks tirelessly whittled from Skorthrux ivory, the Phibgoss must be immersed in temperate seawater, the Sumkine must be bound by a net of barbed wire overhead, and the Xanluth ought to be boxed in amberglass of a completely consistent density throughout.

Geography

In Zalmais there is Ormached which stands where the mouth of the leaping river Frahwid regurgitates meltwater into the the placid waters of Vormithekh.

Type

City

Population

75000

Inhabitant Demonym

Ormacheaux