[b]Accepted[/b] -Faction name: Farai -Faction Type: City-State -Flag/Banner: Red date frond on a background of white silk NATIONAL -Capital: Farai -Government Type: Autocracy -Currency: Farai does not mint its own coins. Coins from all across Azoth circulate through the bazaars of Farai. Official exchange rates of recognized currencies are determined by the minders of King Nerej. -Population: Highly variable. Nomads, herders, merchants, and caravans drive the economy of Farai, but typically only inhabit the city for a moon or so before leaving again. Consistent trade generates enough income that Farai hosts a permanent population of craftsmen, settled merchants, and commoners. On average, however, the population is generally 40,000 souls. -Unique Trait #1: The Font: Farai was built around a narrow crag that reaches deep into the world. At the bottom of this pit is a well of fresh water that provides life to the city's inhabitants and its thriving economy. -Unique Trait #2: (Created by me) -Unique Flaw #1: Barbarians: In the wasteland beyond Farai, the unsettled people of the desert could endanger to Farai's vital trade. They don't mean to sack the city - they just want their cut of the income. However, their pacifism is not cheap. -Unique Flaw #2 (Created by me) GEOGRAPHICAL -World-Realm Map: -Major Cities: While some small towns in the surrounding wastes pay King Nerej a protection tax, Farai is the only city of any importance in its dominion. -Major Castles: The House of Chakul: When the Marajun sand people usurped Farai from its previous masters some four hundred years ago, their warlord - Chakul - was underwhelmed by the keep his predecessors left behind. He tore down their rude stone edifice and constructed a castle built in the likeness of the great foreign cities. At the time of his passing, Chakul's home was a castle of smooth, orange plaster the sprawled across the hill overlooking Farai. In the intervening centuries, his sons have expanded his home into a labyrinthine citadel towering above Farai. Beyond the rooftop parapets, pleasure gardens of twining plants and potted palms provide King Nerej and his courtiers a luxurious vantage over the teeming bazaars below. -Buildings of Interest: Pomegranate Bazaar: While it would not be inaccurate to call Farai as a whole a bazaar, much of its trade occurs in a stone-paved plaza built around the life-giving Font. During the day and well into the night, traders of all varieties and walks of life hawk their wares to the throngs of shoppers looking to spend their hard-earned gold. The plaza earns its name from an ancient pomegranate tree that shades the Font from the intense desert sun and serves as the bazaar's focal point. Coliseum of King Jakand: Arenas are relatively common in Azoth's larger settlements, and Farai is no exception. While it is neither the largest, most reknowned, nor most architecturally-advanced coliseum, the arena on the outer fringe of the Farai is plenty grand to attract visitors - and, more importantly, trade revenue - from far and wide. Equestrian sports are hosted regularly, for King Jakand was an avid horse-racer. However, the arena in Farai infrequently hosts bloodsports, which never fail to fill the two thousand-person coliseum to capacity. Eager spectators permitted to watch from the walls or rooftops when there is no room left in the coliseum. -Geographic Features of Interest: The Font: Underneath the pomegranate tree's leafy canopy, a stone dais opens into a jagged chasm that descends into perfect blackness. It might be easy for a careless passerby to fall through to their doom were it not for the guards posted around the well keeping constant vigil over the Font. Only water-fetchers recognized by the guard are permitted to lower their water-pots beyond the pomegranate's gnarled roots into the cool blackness. RACIAL -Majority Race: There is no clear majority race, as Farai is a highly-cosmopolitan city and plays host to races from all across the world. Racial unrest is relatively subdued in Farai, as King Nerej welcomes just about anyone willing to spend their money at Farai. The population's makeup is therefore quite diverse in terms of culture and ethnicity. There are a handful of exceptions to the policy of openness: Ghul are strictly unwelcome in Farai due to their reputation as troublemakers. NATIONAL DRAMATIS PERSONAE -Head of State/Monarch: King Nerej -Ruling Dynasty: Dynasty of Chakul -Chieftan of the Guard: Rhuk, son of Panar, son of Ushkuk before him -Persons of interest: * Raiza - the eldest of King Nerej's two legitimate children. She is twelve years old, and is fast approaching marriageable age. She appreciates the finer things in life - which she finds in abundance as Princess of Farai. * Ismal - The ten-year old son of King Nerej and heir to Farai. He detests the courtier's life that Raiza seems to enjoy, but instead lives for adventure and excitement. He has a knack for getting into trouble. * Kali - The eleven-year old daughter of the King's ferrier. She is a commoner's child, but she and Prince Ismal get along famously. Rhuk has given his guards strict orders to keep a careful watch when the two are together. (More characters will be added as plots develop) CULTURAL -History: Farai has been inhabited for a very long time. The oasis around which Farai is built has made the location very choice land for settlement, for the Western Erg stretches all around for hundreds of leagues. Scholars estimate that the Font was likely discovered about 1,500 years ago, when caravans began using the Teeth to guide their way out of the trackless desert to fledgling cities and trade hubs. The settlement became a trade center itself before very long, as 1,100 year-old coins dating back to the Akarrid Empire have been unearthed up during building projects. Farai's modern history, however, begins 400 years ago, when the native Marajun tribe under the leadership of Chakul besieged the settlement and conquered it from a house of foreign rulers. Under the leadership of Chakul and his sons, Farai transitioned from a caravan waystation to a trade destination in its own right. King Chakul and King Jakand were notably shrewd rulers, and King Nerej seems poised to continue the legacy of capable leaders. RELIGION, MAGIC and ARCHEO-TECH -State Religion: King Nerej does not appear to have any religious preference and does not enforce any religion upon the people of Farai. All faiths are welcome so long as their rites "manifest no evil magics or imperil free men or their property". -Archeo-Tech: A hundred years ago, a waterboy drew a heavy vase of water from the depths of the Font. Its weight was too much for child to heft out of the waters below, and so the container sank to the very depths of the well. It took a guard to help the boy retrieve the laden. When the guard retrieved the container, a shimmer of blue light at the bottom of the container drew his eye. Half-buried in sand scooped from the bottom of the Font was a fist-sized cube of Godsteel - the fabled blue-gray metal found in abundance in the ancient ruins. On each of its six faces was a window of black glass looking into an empty void. And from within that darkness, flashes of blue light manifested for a brief moment before disappearing into the blackness. The artifact was brought before then-King Jakand, who consulted with his courtiers and advisers to know the secrets of this curious relic. He invited foreign scholars from thousands of miles away to study the device. Archaeologians from across Azoth were fascinated by the relic, but could not agree as to what it was or divine its purpose. Disappointed by their inconclusive studies, Jakand and his descendants came to regard the relic from the Font as little more than an ancient curiosity. MILITARY -Total Military Size: 2,500 professional guards keep order in the city and stave off the numerous external threats. But to conduct operations beyond Farai's walls, the King must rely upon the sandpeople and mercenaries.