Most of the population of Galimpoza dwells in its two great river valleys:
i) the less important, that of the Glun; its people are mostly close to those of Lesser Tixryn in size and stature, as it was well-nigh depopulated in the Conquest; its chief city is Torak, where the road to Zimbelaine crosses the Glun.
ii) the valley of the Anura. It is densely populated, all the way from its source where is the buried T'sai Lho city of K'TariLho, north to the great ironworking town of Nishi Marak, to Anurais, and then Cambyses itself, capital of the Episiarchy. Silyaxath is the chief town of the northern part of the valley. Those who dwell along the Anura tend to darker of skin and taller of stature. The Hurukan cults are rare in Galimpoza, but the heretical enthusiasts of Maxa and Veala, and strict monotheists, are common.
Galimpoza has a stronger sense of “nationhood” than most other Episiarchies, where baronial ties are strongest; the folk who dwell in Galimpoza are more ready to identify themselves as Gallimpozans, and not as subjects or one Barony or another.
The Episiarch of Galimpoza lives in an impressive palace in Cambyses, with extensive gardens, libraries, and workshops attached. He is a very competent and perceptive man, a native of Ag-Darxes who is conscientious about his duties of reporting to ther Emperor and is greatly esteemed by the Gallimpozans for his readiness to bring down the Imperial wrath on fractious barons and his disinterested application of his information-gathering powers. His only known vices are women, men, Half-Erlen, and a certain variety of hallucinogenic wood fungus imported from Comana.
The standard of the Episiarchy is a rampant red megalicus surmounting a bundle of staves, on a field of gold.
Brief History:
In the early days after the Great Cataclysm, the land that would be Gallimpoza was politically disunited; pagan Lomen and Quelian humen dwelt in the higher lands between the rivers (Fashur), while the centralised Quelian Kingdom of Torak, where t’sai lho were few and apolitical, ruled over the Glun valley. The Anuran valley was loosely governed from distant Ekkemala from 450-200 BL, after which it became the Kingdom of Ar-Anuru and rapidly grew to displace Torak as the chief power of the region; by 100 BL Ar-Anuru had 200 000 inhabitants and the Anuran valley was more densely settled and prosperous than it is today. In the meantime, Torak had been cut off from the sea by the rise of the Lomen state of Falan in Lesser Tixryn (c. 200 BL); this state had a great deal of influence in Fashun as well until its adoption of Magianism (140 BL). The two kingdoms of Ar-Anuru and Torak were united under a single religious leader, the Elder of K’tarilho, after 100 BL, and reached the apogee of their culture achievement and material prosperity over the next century. On the fall of Falan (40 BL) Torak regained its position in Lesser Tixryn, which it dominated until the coming of the Prophet Sullan; it was increasingly tempted into military adventurism and empire-building in Zimbelaine, Fashun and Lesser Tixryn, and relations soured between it and the more stolid, passive Anurans after 100 AL; walls were built between the two, and a number of wars fought.
Today there is little trace of any of these peoples; the establishment of Gallimpoza was one of the most bloodthirsty chapters of Tixryni history, a melancholy record of sacks and massacres by the crusdaer of the Established Rite.
Koronan and Glunmark were taken by the Theocracy of Omfala in 304, and for many years the present border between Lesser Tixryn and Gallimpoza separated Torak and Omfala; war between the two was continuous, but the relative strength of Omfala was steadily increasing. In 365 Piroaz was established as a permanent base above the Glunfall, and increasingly active campaigns in which the Omfalan’s slaughtered everyone above the age of reason culminated with the fall of Torak in 414. The Kingdom of Torak had ceased to exists five years earlier, joining with Anuru and other Quelian lands to the E in the Ephate of Uruku. Over the next forty-five years Gallimpoza was trampled by crusades and counter-attacks until all the Anuran valley was laid waste (Destruction of Ar Anuru, 458) and Fashun depopulated. Numerous folk of Lesser Tixryn were settled in military colonies across the new land of Gallimpoza, named after Emperor Gallimpoz the First (r.429-457); predominantly male veterans in the early days, they married surviving local women and began the genesis of the New Tixryni people. The frontier was peaceful between 459 and 501, and Gallimpoza was adsorbed into the Empire, with massive immigration from the poorer districts Lesser Tixryn. K’tariLho, which submitted to the Empire in 466, was spared the indignities visited upon the lesser (and now mostly vanished) T’sai lho delvings of Gallimpoza.
Anurais and rebuilt Torak were the first important centres of Gallimpoza, a land which took many years to recover from the devastation of its conquest; by 600 it has become the prosperous mercantile region it is today, the workshop and iron-mine of the growing Empire.
Back to Map of GalimpozaOnama
The first barony along the high road from Lesser Tixryn, Onama extends over an area of 80´80 km and is largely forested with dry subtropical woodland, being a centre for woodcutting and turpentine manufacture. The cleared areas are largely grazed by cattle, and in a few areas around Onam (3900, 77km W of Cambyses, 70 km E of the border) exotic uhugi are raised for their pelts. The barony has a rural population of 35 000, almost all human with about 800 Kalamen lumberjacks. An unknown number of Lomen dwell deep in the forest. The woodsfolk are irascible, feud among themselves incessantly, and detest and fear strangers; they are much like the stereotype of Lesser Tixryni backwoods folk. Onam is a busy industrial town, built mostly of wood with a few fine public buildings - notably the public baths and the ornate temple of Maxa, fitted inside and out with zarjassi wood. There are many small iron mines around Onam, and plenty of wood for smelting the ore. The largest workings are at Ni Gronak (400), 15km W on the main road, a smelly hamlet of unkempt kitaban itinerants and innkeepers with watered down ale. There are fine inns at Onam, and because the road W is plagued by thieves, several fortified inns between it and the border.
There are small villages, the remnants of pre-conquest towns, at Adqai (300) 40 km SSW of Onam and at Yurom (500) 50 km W of it. Adqai is a centre for the cult of Maxa, while a post of the Imperial Legions has been emplaced at Yurom to guard the high road. Before the conquest, Onam was inhabited by a mixed Lomen and Quelian population, and had many little towns and villages; but these were incorrigible heathens, and were almost entirely slaughtered, leaving the land a howling wilderness for a generation.
The baron of Onama dwells in a monstrous castle of wood; she is only fifteen and most decisions on the running of the barony are made by her aged and fiendish uncle. Thieves are dealt with ruthlessly unless they agree to cut the baronial treasury in, and travellers are routinely hassled for protection money by baronial soldiers. Great tracts of forest belong to the baron and are cut by teams of slaves, and trespassers are shot and left to die in the wood. The standard of the barony is two crossed axes, in black, on a field of gold-green.
Back to Map of GalimpozaArdilku
Ardliku is a barony based on the lands between the Anash and the Glun, reaching south into the Valki Range that comes out of the Husturin Highlands and E along the Glun for about 30km. The capital is Piroaz(3200), where the Glun and Anash swirl together in a frenzied maelstrom of rapids. Wooden bridges cross both rivers at Piroaz, notable for its statue of the Emperor Herku, its astronomical observatory, and the baroque palace of its Archimandrite. Ardilku has a rural human population of 65 000, mostly dwelling along the rivers, with 6500 Kalamen in marshlands along the Glun and 8500 Dorrenfolk living in xenophobic villages in the southern forests and mountains. These last bring jet, exotic nuts, and pelts of mountain beasts to the little town of Gumuz (600, 30 km SSW of Piroaz) as tax; an annual fair is held there much like the fairs at Anashik across the border in Lesser Tixryn.
There are many industries based on the forest; gathering of mushrooms, nuts, honey, snakes, hides, and raw amber; cutting timber, and making turpentine and pitch. All woods are protected by baronial edict (and in the south, by gangs of Dorrenfolk with battle axes), and there is little grazing.
The Archimandrite of Ardilku is vain, but is both learned and wise, and has managed to placate the strong Curamite element in the local clergy without offending the forces of Orthodoxy. He is a strong supporter of popular cults of Ivro, including a few that strain the bounds of good sense and religious propriety.
The Baron is a not unusually ruthless man with a great reputation for courage and personal honesty; he is not yet forty and enjoys hunting, but only of brigands. The standard of Ardilku is a white hand spread wide against a background of dark green.
Back to Map of GalimpozaKrevu
Krevu is the barony responsible for the next 90km of the Glun, a narrow belt of cultivated land chiefly known for its giant green onions, which are brewed into heady sauces. Wooded hills rise up picturesquely on either side of the Glun, which flows quickly and treacherously here as along most of its course. Before the conquest, Krevath(2600, 65 km SE of Piroaz), the current Baronial seat, was the chief Quelian city on the Upper Glun, famous for its learning and poetry. Much stonework from those times survives, including its main temple, which incorporates parts of a former T’sai lho changehouse. Ni Krevu, on the south bank of the river across from Krevath, is an abandoned T’sai Lho delving; the last of Krevath’s defenders leapt down its central lightwell to avoid capture by the crusaders of the Empire. Krevath has a rural human population of 47 000, with 2700 Dorrenfolk in the Valki Range, 10500 Kalamen (mostly serfs), and 2000 settled Lomen; these last are descendants of the Lomen who once dwelt among the Quelians of that land, who converted to the established rite, and live mostly in two villages about 20 km NW of Krevath on the south side of the Glun. As in Ardilku, there is little herding in Krevu, and the woods are exploited for nuts, turpentine, pitch and timber. The other significant towns of Krevu are Venshiru (1800, 35km SE of Krevu) “Town of the Gilded Locust”, where the Archimandrite of Krevu is based, and Rash Armaz (1400, 25 km NW of Krevath) known for its fine carvings in jet and its pitch works, largest in the Empire. It also has an office of the Magical Academy larger than any other outside the capital of an Episiarchy.
The baron of Krevu divides his time between Krevath and Xar Herku, 25 km SE of the town, a splendid fortress built to immemorialise the famous Emperor of that name; it has been lavishly decorated within with scenes from Herku’s many victories. Indeed, the baronial line is traced back to one of his personal aides. Baron Andril is a decent enough man, though bossed around by his daughters, and frequently at sea in complex discussions. The fourth child of his parents, he never expected to be Baron, and has a background as an officer in the Imperial legions, serving in Zimbelaine and Kitaba. The standard of Krevu is divided into four quarters, red, black, orange, and silver. On the grand banners, each of these is marked with a denizen; a green t’sai lho on the red, a white argandarr on the black, a blue kalamen on the orange and a black human/loman on the silver.
Back to Map of GalimpozaAkish
Akish is a heavily settled land on the border of Zimbelaine and Gallimpoza, incorporating a further 80 km of the course of the Glun. It has a rural population of 65 000 humen and 82 000 kalamen, and is devoted chiefly to the raising of staple foods for the cities of the Anuran Valley. Torak(41 000), 30km NE of the Zimbelani border, is a major centre of labour intensive industries - carpetmaking, woodcarving, weaving, painting wooden boxes with licentious scenes. It has 24 000 Kalamen inhabitants, largely in riverside slums, and 1400 T'sai Lho. Though an important town since Quelian times, all traces of its past have been effaced; it was laid out on a rectilinear plan around a fortress established by the conquerors - since torn down and replaced by a garden and public baths. It has grown greatly and flourished since the conquest of Zimbelaine, due to its handy location for trade and taking advantage of cheap Kalamen labour. Though unbeautiful, Torak is greatly beloved by those who dwell there. Locals claim that their ale is finer, their kalamen are better behaved, their merchants are shrewder, and their prostitutes better value for money than anywhere else in Tixryn. Other important towns of the Barony are Ximik (2000), a raucous border town famed for drinking and debauchery, Rinlim (1700, 40 km ESE) and T'Zoch (3300), a T'sai Lho tunneling in the sides of the Iron Range 35km E of Torak. T'Zoch is in the hands of a sinister T'sai Lho cartel that smuggles weapons into Zimbelaine, drugs into New Tixryn, and slave girls from Colaba to the cities, and extends a murky grip over the whole of the Barony. About 600 Humen and Kalamen live in T'Zoch, mostly criminal scum.
The Archimandrite of Akish has a fine palace of white stone that doubles as a training college for priests and is rather larger than the residence of the Barons, built in the modern unassuming-with-lots-of-concealed-traps style on the edge of town. The previous Baron was assassinated by a disgruntled servant; the current Baron has yet to marry, causing some consternation, and is unfortunately at loggerheads with the Archimandrite over her unwise profession of certain heterodox formulae. A local mage, Xardanil Ylurine, has become the confidant of the Baron and is widely reuted to be the real powerbroker in Akish.
The standard of Akish is a red beetle on a field of green, with a small black sun at its head.
Back to Map of GalimpozaNarglun
The uppermost reaches of the Glun and the high mountains surrounding them (the Iron Range and the fringe of the mountains of Halartu) constitute the Barony of Narglun. It is a curious area in that there has been little mixing between the Tixryni and Quelian races; a Tixryni colony of about 7000 souls remains essentially untouched, there are 9000 "Quelians" who live among the Kalamen (16000) and speak their language further up the valley, while 4000 rural inhabitants of mixed-blood who live lower down the valley are shunned by both communities. There are 5000 Dorrenfolk in the mountains, and about 2500 T'sai Lho in small communities along the Iron Range. Jasmine and harcanthus flowers are grown for flavouring and perfumes, and there are iron mines in the mountains, as one would expect. Narglarath (2600), 60 km E of Torak, sits between the Tixryni and Kalquekli districts and is a minor smelting centre run mostly by New Tixryni. Before the conquest, there were few human inhabitants in this region, which was given over moslty to Dorrenfolk herders. The ancestors of the Kalquekli fled before the conquerors to hide in remote fastnesses, making a separate peace some decades later in which they were legally designated Kalamen. At about the same time, a group of religious enthusiasts from the upper Hezkad valley settled at their back, establishing temples and communal dwelling places at Cer Alulom, 6 km W of Narglarath. Ecstatic worship of Ivro is common among their descendants, while the Kalquekli and the Kalamen they dwell among have only ever been imperfectly converted. There is a high incidence of magical talent in Narglun.
The Barons of Narglun are of the Tixryni colonial stock, and have a simple dwelling in Narglarath. Traditionally, they have a Dorrenfolk and a T’sai Lho advisor who dwell in an adjoining building. The current holder of the post is an atheist, spends much of her time in Torak, and has a (probably undeserved) reputation for wayward hedonism. The debilitating disease that has struck her is widely seen as the wrath of Loum, but magical investigation is underway to find the sorceror believed responsible.
The standard of Narglun is white, marked with the “holiness” rune in red.
Back to Map of GalimpozaMarak
Along the upper part of the Anura lies Marak, a large and populous barony dependent largely on mining. The northern boundary is on the Anura 25km N of Nishi Marak, while to the south Marak incorporates a large part of the Iron Range. The barony has extensive swathes of cultivated land, devoted to grains, stewmelons, medicinal herbs such as ranclewort, and in the southern valleys harcanthus and jasmine. There is also a great deal of herding of woolbeasts, There are 72 000 rural human inhabitants in Marak, as well as 3000 T'sai Lho, 1000 Dorrenfolk, with 30 000 Kalamen. The largest human settlement is the great ironworking town of Nishi Marak (13 000), surrounded by mighty delvings, 90 km ENE of Torak, but the capital is Xar Marak (Maraku, 3500), a fortified town 35km further E on the far bank of the Anuran, also a centre for fine ironworking. There are further iron mines at Hovlum (3400), a largely Tsai Lho labyrinth of smoky passages 30km SSW of Nishi Marak. Marak was the scene of many battles during the establishment of Galimpoza, and was settled by dividing it up into estates for veterans and giving each a certain number of prisoners of war as slaves; the numerous fortresses, now mostly abandoned, that dot Marak, are a legacy of this prolonged pacification. The only remains of Quelian architecture and culture are at the little town of Arnim (900), 15km N of Nishi Marak on the Anuran, where there are numbers of unused but undestroyed temples in a Hurukan style and a still-living tradition of Quelian dance. A small pyramid not far from the town reputedly is the burial place of an Argandarr warrior-priestess from the most ancient times.
Marak has two Archimandrites, one styled Archimandrite of Marak and one of Arnim. There is probably no other place in Galimpoza with quite the same concentration of heretics as Marak, and confrontations between bands of fanatics (of Maxa, Veala, orthodoxy, or monotheism) are not uncommon in the countryside, where each hamlet tends to profess a different faith.
The Baron is an old woman with no skills or virtues to speak of. Her two sons are both clever politicians, with all the scruples that implies, and spend much of their time outmaneuvering each other. The iron works of Nishi Marak are privately owned by three different associations of merchants, the members of which dwell mostly in Anurais or Cambyses; these have wisely remained neutral thus far.
The standard of Marak is a white guard tower on a field of red.
Back to Map of Galimpoza KTariLho K'TariLho (37 000), a chartered city of the Empire 40 km SSE of Xar Marak, is a fine old t’sai lho delving dug into the walls of Mount Ulsien (Winecloud); many of its windows look down hundred of metres, and the sheer walls of the mountain have been carved into fantastic bas-reliefs and faerie turrets by long lost artisans. The city held out for a siege of nine years, surviving on the produce of a vast network of caverns beneath it, and eventually negotiated a good peace with the Empire; a largish temple of Loum was established within it and garishly decorated (about 500 humen dwell in the temple precinct), an Imperial garrison took over the Tower of the Fourth Elder at the summit of the city, and the K’Tari Lho went about their business. Today they are among the most tixrynophilic of the t’sai lho, a busy race of craftsmen and merchants who can often be seen travelling about New Tixryn, vending their wares in towns and villages. Metalworking and the manufacture of perfumes are the chief enterprises of K’tari lho, and giant silkworms and black fungi are raised in the deep caverns.
The standard of K’tari Lho shows the ideographs for each of the Four Elders of local tradition, in alternating black and blue on a field of gold.
Back to Map of GalimpozaKota
The small barony of Kota lies between Anurais and Torak, centred on the town of Kota (3000) roughly 55km from each. It has a rural population of 30 000, dispersed across the barony, but is chiefly famed for uhugi herding and skinworking; there is little woodland in the barony, but great swathes of degraded pasture dotted with ruinous fortifications. There are few permanent watercourses in Kota, which has particularly porous, erodable soil, and Kota town is dependent on underground water supplies. Before the conquest Kota was sparse woodland populated by mixed Lomen-Quelians; it was settled after their extermination mostly by folk of Koronan, and still has many links with that region. Leather armour of Kota is exceptionally famed, and the town has a tidy, martial aspect, having changed little since its foundation. The main contribution of modern times is the unfortunately large tannery on the edge of town, worked by Kalamen laborers. Skein Zaal (400, 15 km NW) and Kornanais (600, 20 km S) were established at the same time, but have not flourished.
The baron of Kota is a pious man who spends the minimum necessary time on affairs of state, and the rest meditating in his private chapel or conducting discussions on theological matters. Fortunately there is little to do besides keeping brigands in check, which the baron’s guard can do well enough by themselves, and expelling travelling heretics; Kota is prevailingly orthodox, except for a few villages of extremists near the border with Marak. There is an Archimandrite of Kota, but he is normally resident in Anurais to participate the better in the disputations there.
The standard of Kota shows one deep purple triangle and one pine green triangel pointing upward, on a field of gold.
Back to Map of GalimpozaGreat Anuran
The Barony of Great Anuran has 136 000 rural inhabitants, 39 000 of them Kalamen, along a 90km reach of the Anuran river, stretching east through mixed woodland, pasture, and fields all the way to the Hurukan border. Anurais (41 000) is the capital, a thriving manufacturing city famed for its gardens of ever-burning-flames, its clockwork horses of jade, its streets lined with flowering trees, and its bitter divisions between archaic Quelophiles and rabid Tixrynites. Once larger and more prosperous than Cambyses, Anurais has been overtaken while mired in political and religious violence. The main mercantile activites of the city are weaving and dying of fine cloths, and working in wood and metal - all manner of toys, tools, and decorative items are made in Anurais and transported throughout the empire. Most famous of all are its workers in precious and semi-precious stones; it houses Tixryn’s largest and finest market for these and fine objects made from them. The population of Anurais includes 6000 Kalamen, and 800 Great Tixryni; there are a further 3000 Kalamen in Velila Hove (6500), an independent city and Faqueli bastion across the Anuran. Anurais is divided politically into a dominant Tixryni and supressed “Galimpozan” faction, and religiously between orthodox, monotheist heretics, and Hurukan neo-pagans, more Faqueli than true Hurukans. A number of smaller manufacturing towns line the Anuran: Viladik (2000), 20 km downstream of Anurais on the W side of the Anuran, famed for its breweries; Litulitais (5200), 10 km upstream on the E, where zubbas (religious hats) are made for most of the empire’s priests; Ditanam (3500), 15 km upstream on the W, famed for its colony of T’sai Lho clockmakers; and Yuram (3000), 35 km upstream on the E, known for its perfumers. Owing to the vagaries of the river and the conquerors, few of these towns have any remaining Quelian structures; Anurais itself was founded by the Empire by resettling survivors from a number of now destroyed towns on the eastern side of the Anuran. Ximplok (2800), 50km E of Anurais, is a monastic centre with establishments from all the recognised orders sitting it a beautiful vale surrounded by limestone hills; it was planted superabundantly with flowering trees and aromatic bushes about two-hundred years ago, and has the aspect of one great garden.
There are three Archimandrites resident in Great Anuran; the Archimandrite of Anurais, responsible for the western bank of the river, the Archimandrite of Litulitais, responsible for the eastern bank, and the Archimandrite of Ximplok. The country folk, especially on the western bank, are of questionable orthodoxy, with strong extremist cults of Veala and Maxa.
The Baron of Great Anuran is a passionate and fair-minded woman who enjoys one of the finest baronial lifestyles in all Tixryn; over the years, various guilds have presented the Barons with mansions in Anurais (3), Velila Hove, Viladik, Ditanam and Yuram, while the traditional estate at Xar Vadram, 15 km SSW of Anurais, covers nearly 100 km2 studded with chapels, libraries, stables, and pools for racing boats. A network of informal agreements limits Baronial power, but her touch is still belieived to cure sickness by most of the peasantry. She rarely enters Anurais except at the twice-yearly assizes, having to walk a delciat eline between the cities feuding political factions and accoridngly despised by both.
The standard of Great Anuran is red, with a frog displayed in silver.
Back to Map of GalimpozaMur
Mur is a small barony numbering 13 500 rural inhabitants in exploitable woodland near the town of Murlune (2100), 32km SW of Cambyses. There is some turpentine and resin manufacture, sawmills, and uhugi farms at the village of Fethlune, 7 km NW, but most of the barony lives by raising wool beasts; the wool is sent to Anurais or Cambyses for processing. The town of Murlune dates to pre-conquest times, and its inhabitants are markedly darker than their neighbours, though no Lomen inhabitants remain. They are scrupulously orthodox, but still follow a custom of “nominative gender”; in speaking to each other privately, they use the pronouns that would apply if they were Lomen. Mur has an Archimandrite who has adaopted many secular responsibilities, since for the last hundred years, since the failure of the baronial line, Mur has shared a Baron with Termaon in Darxes. The Baron’s representatives are not picked from the cream of his relatives/advisors, and spend most of their time in Cambyses rather than in the rather spartan town of Murlune.
The standard of Mur is a green tree growing above a green eye; the field is either silver or gold, depending on the gender of the reigning baron. In recent centuries a version of the standard of Termaon, showing a great green bird clutching the sun in its claws, has been often used.
Back to Map of Galimpoza Lesser Anuran
Lesser Anuran includes the cultivated land on either side of the Anuran between Greater Anuran and Cambyses, about 30 km. It has 36 000 human and 14 000 kalamen inhabitants in rural areas and is occupied with intensive herding, growing of medicinal herbs, and a great deal of brewing and flour milling, chiefly to feed Cambyses. The important towns of Lesser Anuran are Girod Hril (2700), 20 km S of Cambyses on the W bank, divided between breweries and great summer houses on the water for Cambysean merchants; Korath (1600), 15 km S of Cambyses on the E bank, an old Quelian fortress town with an extensive temple of Khud decorated in T’sai Lho bones, and Xar Nishri (2300), 30 km S of Cambyses on the W bank , centre of a small strongly Lesser Tixryni area that scorns the surrounding New Tixryni. The Baron of Lesser Anuran is normally resident in Cambyses; he is a cup companion of the Episiarch of Galimpoz, a notorious braggart, and an astonishing archer, with an unsurpassed collection of t’sai lho artifacts and a very extensive family numbering at last count 15 children by various wives and concubines. There is an Archimandrite of Korath, traditionally appointed to the post when ailing and near death.
The standard of Lesser Anuran is divided into two halves, each with a red frog displayed, one on white and one on gold.
Back to Map of Galimpoza Cambyses
With a population of 102 000, the Chartered City of Cambyses is the 7th largest city of the Empire; it has tripled in size in the last seventy years, displacing Anurais as the main manufacturing centre of Galimpoza. In most parts Cambyses resembles nothing more than the sprawling eastern suburbs of Ag-Darxes, built at about the same time, though the standard of construction is higher and the streets wider. Divided by numerous canals, Cambyses has 14000 Kalamen inhabitants; most of the 2000 Great Tixryni live in the newer inland suburbs of parks and gardens adjoining the Episiarchal palace, while the small Faqueli and Curamite heretic populations live in the older districts of High Cambyses and Thul Dakhla, which were largely spared in the conquest of the city; Thul Dakhla still has a small colony of Dorrenfolk (200?) of uncertain age, and has more recently been overrun by T’sai lho artisans (4000), mostly from the Upper Blil delvings and K’TariLho. The flame trees in the gardens of Cambyses are not so spectacular as those of Anurais, and much work still remains to be done at the Gardens of Sorcery being constructed under the auspices of the priests of Maxa, most beloved iarap of the Cambyseans. There is a fine 24’ steel statue of an Argandarr warrior in Thul Dakhla, supposedly made with an admixture of starmetal, which has become an unofficial emblem of the city; from time to time there have been suggestions to move it from its current location at the end of squalid alley to a place of honour, but all attempts to do so have been foiled by ill-luck. It is on the edges of Cambyses that the city becomes dreadful; tanneries, dying works, fat-rendering plants, kilns and smelters and candle-making factories; there is quite a poisonous reek above the city, and it increases daily. The riverfront is lined with very many wharves and warehouses for the transshipment of goods, much weaving and tailoring is done in small establishments, and there is a great trade in clockwork devices, still mostly in the hands of the T’sai lho. The Lord Mayor of Cambyses is elected for life from among the guildsmen of the city and holds the casting vote on a council of seven; the current holder of the post is notoriously ineffectual. The council includes the Episiarch (normally represented by an aide), nominated relations of the Barons of Lesser Anuran and Black Anuran, and four members elected by the various guilds. In addtion, a chair is always kept ready for the Headman of the Dorrenfolk of Cambyses, though he has never occupied it in recorded history. There is an Archimandrite of Cambyses, who is both pious and politically capable, who uses his knowledge of the Episiarch’s sins to leverage the strong position of orthodoxy in the city.
The standard of the Chartered City of Cambyses is black, with a bundle of eight sticks depicted in the middle in gold.
Back to Map of Galimpoza Black Anuran
Black Anuran stretches along 60 km of the Anuran north of Cambyses, incorporating the cultivated land on both banks. There are 89 000 rural inhabitants, 9500 of them Kalamen. The baronial seat is Kesanuran (4000), 30km N of Cambyses where the road to Zathim crosses the Anuran on a great multipartite timber bridge built by Emperor Budimpoz II; the spiry castles at either end of the bridge are Xar Budimpoz (West) and Xar Lissune (East, his consort). Other towns of note are Annimath (3600), 10 km N of Cambyses on the main road, which is a great mess of Kalaman-worked potteries, and Xar Nuram (2200), 10 km N of Kesanuran on the E bank, a claustrophobic fortress town of short-sighted weavers and the former baronial seat. Fragments of the ruins of Ar-Anuru, the great Quelian city of brick that is said to have had 200 000 inhabitants, are continually turned up by plows in the Kesanuran region.
Black Anuran is known for its stewmelon and for the great numbers of drinking houses on either side of the Imperial Customs House on the bridge; the local ale is prized (so it is said) for its ability to taste the same whether it is going up or down. The Baron of Black Anuran is a particularly beautiful woman with an unfortunate limp as the result of a riding accident. She is decent enough and clever enough to make a good show of running the barony, but is mired in a web of complex illicit business dealings with a group of Quelian T’sai lho who seek to establish economic mastery over Kesanuran.
The standard of Black Anuran shows a black frog displayed on a field of white purfled with many black-fishhooks.
Back to Map of Galimpoza Feshala
Feshala is a barony of mixed pasture, herb gardens, and scattered woodland with fine scenic rolling hills is located strategically along the main road between Zathim and Cambyses. The chief town is Eimon (7000), 65km from Cambyses and 85km from Zathim by road. It is known for its marble quarries and for the many tiny lakes that dot the hills around it, mostly given over to raising eels and pondweed for kalamen-feed; in addition, there is a thriving “idol works” making temple statues en-masses that has recently drawn the ire of the growing local montheist company, and an imperial workshop where most of the crossbows needed by the Imperial Legions are produced. There are only 26 000 rural inhabitants in Feshala; the other town of importance is Fesh Ambath (2400), 20 km SSW of Eimon, a quiet town with a distinctly Lesser Tixryni guardedness sitting beneath the ruins of a Quelian fortress. Archimandrites sit at both Eimon and Fesh Ambath.
The Baron of Feshala is entirely uninteresting.
The standard of Feshala shows two white eels on a field of dark green.
Back to Map of Galimpoza Silaya
The Barony of Silaya occupies the lands between Black Anuran and Imarxes on the eastern side of the Anuran. It was the last place in Gallipoza to be added to the Empire, having sought the protection of the Imarxan kingdoms to the north and converted to the Lhomish rite then prevalent there; perhaps 30% of the population still follow that creed. Waxtree, stewmelon, tea fungus and xorta-pod tree are the main crops grown along the river, while to the east rolling pastureland gives way to sparse subtropical woodland - the forest of Shillom, largest in eastern Gallimpoza; it supports a large population of anchorites. Silyaxath (14 500), 50 km N of Kesanuran, is a handsomely built town of gaily painted brick. It is an important centre for the production of paints and ceramics. There are 98 000 rural inhabitants in Silaya, including 5000 Faqueli and 18 000 Kalamen; these latter are clustered chiefly around the northern xorta-oil pressing centre of Juramses (3000, ¼ Faqueli and ¼ Kalamen), 50 km N of Silyaxath. The baron of Silaya is tolerant of heterodox opinions, and there is a sizeable community (1000) of iconoclastic monotheists in Silyaxath, with another 1000 in small rural settlements nearby. The irascible Archimandrite of Silaya has a fine green palace in Silayaxath, balancing the blue palace of the Baron, an amiable and inquisitive woman. The emblem of Silaya combine the unblinking eye and sun rune of the Order of the Watchers, commonly depicted in gold on a sky blue field.
Back to Map of Galimpoza Great Vaklana
A wide swathe of woodland and pasture on the western bank of the Anuran is the barony of Great Vaklana; in the NW, it borders the Vebbish Hills and is covered with straggly forest with a sparse Lomen population, while along the river, it is a heavily tilled country supporting the Empire’s largest stands of waxtrees; it borders Imarxes on the north, and Onama and Black Anuran to the south. Great Vaklana has 88 000 rural inhabitants, 4600 of them Kalamen, and was less depopulated than most of Gallimpoza in the crusades, retaining Quelian-era village sites and names. Its first Tixryni colonists were drawn chiefly from prisons - including a large contingent of Drensneikan priates-giving it an unsavoury reputation that has endured to this day; Drensneikan is even reputedly spoken in one or two of the more remote villages. The baronial seat is at Xar Vashti (2800), a lead and silver mining town in an area of poor soil; it was selected for the spectacular defensive prospects of its namesake fortress, perched on an isolated knife-like hill. 45 km ENE is Quarath (2000), a metal-casting centre founded by Imarxans from Siphais where the Rite of Lhom is openly followed. Xar Vaklan (3600), 55 km E of Xar Vashti, is a rapidly growing industrial suburb of Silyaxath across the Anuran where much of the nastier work connected with kiln-firing and making of toxic glazes is carried out by 2000 Kalamen.
The Baron of Great Vaklana is one of the more unpleasant pieces of work in Gallimpoza, a soulmate and good friend of the reprehensible Baron of Onama. He mocks at religion and etiquette, openly solicits high-born women in the streets, and has hounded most of the Loum-fearing nobility of Great Vaklana out of the Barony. His chief opponent is his cousin Ranxaradh, who keeps challenging him to duels and losing - the reigning baron Ruzadril does not take her seriously.
The Archimandrite of Quarath is also a counterbalancing force, but only locally; the Archimandrical seat of Great Vaklana itself, based at Great Vashti, is empty (the previous occupant was expelled from the priesthood for gross indecency and the Baron - with the support of the Episiarch - refuses to have another one appointed until his debts are paid).
The standard of Great Vaklana is a blue-black swamp vispen, wings outspread, grasping a red gem in its claws, against a gold field.
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