Zallur
Zallur is the most northerly of the baronies along the Im. It is a strip of fertile land about 40x80km, lying chiefly between the Malash and the Im. It has a rural population of 55 000, including 20 000 Asjhadis (whose language is suppressed) and 5000 Kalamen. These latter live chiefly along the Malash. The capital of the barony, Suvlur (6000), a faerie city of white spires and towers lit by countless lamps at night, sits on a hill on the Im looking north towards Husyfra. Oil poppies, waxtrees, dark Imarxan pipeweed, and hairless water rats are raised along the Im, while the eastern parts by the Malash produce the finest silk in the Empire. This is woven into wondrous garments in Suvlur by an arrogant and self-important group of craftsfolk who provide robes for the Imperial court; beautiful wax candles and perfumed illuminatory oils are also produced, as are liniments of scented fat. Despite all these sybaritic pursuits, the nobles and workers of Suvlur are skilled in war, and the towns fortifications have never been breached - Zalluris settled the present-day barony of Akkaim, to the east, and most of its land is still owned by families with roots around Suvlur.
In western parts, where the settled lands give way to forest, there is a great deal of herding, chiefly of cattle; the forests themselves, with all their riches, belong to the barony of Nishana. 70 km W of Suvlur, in land properly belonging to Nishana, is the vast forest estate of a reclusive mage. It is largely occupied with bizarre stone ruins, in which Erkvaard are rumoured to wander at will.
The baron of Zallur comes from a very ancient family, and she rules with justice and mercy. Outside the barony, and in the company of foreigners, she is gracious, generous, and a fine example of Tixrynish nobility; to her own subjects, she is distant and aloof as required of a trueblood descendant of the Imarxan Godkings, only communicating through a blind kalamen interpreter. The herald of Zallur is a white worm on a field of lead grey spangled with tiny jade beetles.
Back to Map of Imarxes Nishana
Nishana occupies a 40km stretch of the Im valley and lands stretching west of it to the Vemmish Hills and east to the Malash. It has a rural population of 85 000, 20% Asjhadi and 10% Kalamen. Niphanais (20 000), 50km NNE of Ammonais, is the capital, and there are important settlements at Nishperai (4000) on the Malash and the dwarvish silver mines around Valgund (1000), 75km WNW of Niphanais. The Archimandrite of Niphanais is famed for his holiness and draws many pilgrims who wish to touch him; he is responsible for Nishana and Zallur in religious matters.
Oil poppies, waxtrees, fine grain fit for nobles, and tarry pipeweed are grown in the fields of Nishana; raw amber, nuts, and mushrooms are gathered in the balmy woodlands, and there is a wide belt of denuded cow pasture between the cultivated lands and the forest. Niphanais is a spacious city of white stone and white brick, filled with parks and gardens, the site of the Empire's greatest collection of rare beasts and plants from throughout the world. Two steep sided hills rise in the midst of the city, which is girt round by great walls; one is topped by the temple of Cerus, a building like half an egg with wondrous mosaics, tapestries, and the largest free standing dome in the empire; it is airy, thickly encrusted with silver from the old mines at Valgund, and filled with music at all hours. The other hill is topped with an observatory; in the valley between these two hills is the main market square, bordered by the slave markets and the seven story baronial residence.
Nishperai is a market town and centre of silk production 60km ESE of Niphanais; its population includes 1500 Asjhadis and 500 kalamen; subject to flooding, much of it is wooden and built on piles above the level of the ground; public buildings are made of white brick in imitation of Niphanais, but the ground floors are generally disused. In earlier days, the baron of Nishana attempted to build a bridge across the Malash here to Usyat, spending the lives of his slaves like water; the bridge was never completed, and reaches halfway across the river, a hazard to navigation and a tourist attraction. Valgund is much diminished from its former glory; the old dwarven hollow of Valgund proper, 5km N of the mines, is now derelict, with only 300 Thudun and 700 asjhadi slaves remaining in a scruffy town of timber by the workings. All the streams in that area are still poisoned from the ancient workings.
The current baron of Nishana is an elderly man without royal blood, whose line was installed from one of the great trading families of Niphanais after a bread rebellion. He is just in his dealings, is distrusted by the old nobility and resepcted by the working classes, but is cruel to slaves and animals. His personal guard are all kalamen, and his palace is guarded by huge vicious dogs from the swamps of Zimbelaine. The standard of Nishana is a white tree on a golden field.
Back to Map of ImarxesAmmona
Ammona is the largest Barony along the Im; it occupies a 50km stretch of the Im, nearly 100km along the Malash as far as the mouth of the Siper, and the wide stretch of land between. It has a rural population of 95 000, including 30 000 Asjhadis in the east and 10 000 Kalamen. The capital of Ammonais (71 000) was the ancient capital of the Imarxan Godkings. The only other important town is Melasais (2500), an 80% Imarxan silkworking centre across a bridge from Ashadpur.
There is little woodland in Ammona, and only relatively small areas of pasture where dairy cattle are herded. The bulk of the barony is cultivated land, endless fields of vegetables, oil poppies, pipeweed, and corpsemelon, with water rats, fish, and silk raising common in the fields near the Malash.
Ammonais is an ugly city compared to Niphanais or Suvlur, sprawling in grey brick over many low hills by the river; there are few open spaces in the packed city centre, where the palaces of the Baron and Archimandrite jostle warehouses, libraries, and smoking clubs, surrounded by a number of concentric city walls in various stages of repair. The one large space remaining is the one time site of the royal palace of Imarxes, preserved as a monument until bizarrely consumed in occult fire and burnt to the ground 50 years ago. It has been replanted as a botanical garden, full of exotic trees, with a few old towers that survived the conflagration standing decrepitly amid them. Unlike the other main cities along the Im, it has a large non-Imarxan population, perhaps 10 000 Asjhadis, twice as many Kalamen in slums along the river, and 5000 Tixryni speaking immigrants from Darxes or Husyfra. Ammonais is famous for its herbalists, who occupy several blocks near the city centre, its hospitals (there are five on the outskirts of town, one for kalamen and one for lunatics), and the prohibitions against magic use within the city walls. The Archimandrite of Ammona dwells outside the largest and most presitigious hospital, the Healing Halls of Ivro, run by the order of the Women in the Fields. He is a powerful figure in the hierarchy and his patronage is eagerly sought by priests from throughout Tixryn; although courteous, charismatic, and pious, he ahs no compunction about crushing anyone who gets in his way.
The baron, a middle-aged man in poor health, is of the blood of the Godkings and so is easily kept out of the day to day business of running the barony; a council of the privy chamber run by powerful merchants makes most decisions. The city guard are efficient and polite, and the roads are safe throughout the barony - travellers should keep an eye out for the roadside headstones indicating where highwaymen were buried alive. The standard of Ammona is all of pale yellow, sometimes hung with round bells of silver.
Back to Map of ImarxesPahama
Pahama occupies a further 50 km of the Im valley with a very homogeneous rural population of 60 000 Imarxans. Kesim (10 000), is the only town of importance. It is the seat of the Archimandrite of Kesim, responsible for Pirana and Pahama. There is a great deal of timbercutting in the woods W of the Im, much herding of cattle for milk and slaughter (Ammona has great Kalamen markets where even the bones and hooves are sold), and in the valley of the Im pipeweed, corpsemelon, onions, and bitter bilenuts are grown; the last three are stewed together with beef in a spicy concoction peculiar to Pahama that reputably gives its inhabitants the worst breath in the empire.
Kesim, a stout city of mighty grey walls that double as bridges across the Im, lies only 48km by road from Darxes, and has about 1000 inhabitants of Darxan extraction. It is famed for its central plaza of polished stone, the closely packed streets of four or five story houses hung with multicoloured lanterns, and its humanocentrism. Belief in humen as the greatest species, and Imlanders as the highest form of them, is endemic along the Im, but reaches its highest expression in Kesim, the city from which non-humans are actually banned - inns outside the walls cater to dwarvish and kalamen travellers.
The baron of Pahama is a surly and unpleasant woman who caries the blood of the GodKings but scorns the normal protocols and goes out among her subjects, who are fiercely loyal to her. In the past she has called for volunteers to be put to death at random as a sign of loyalty - and got them. She led a party of 700 Pahamans during the Zimbelani insurrection, returning highly decorated after 500 died in lifting the siege of Vraguur and of fever. The standard of Pahama shows 144 white scorpions on a field of midnight blue.
The Archimandrite of Kesim dwells in a curious and ancient squat stone tower surrounded by a walled garden; he ahs recently gone mad, but the fact has been concealed by his retainers.
Back to Map of ImarxesPirana
Pirana extends along the last 70 or so km of the Im, but the main settlement is scattered amid woodlands and pasture eastward to the river Siper. Piranais (8 000) is the capital and oldest Imarxan settlement in the barony; it lies 35 km SE of the Im. Vakla (2 000) 80km SSW, on the upper course of the Siper, is a centre for the mining of semi-precious stones in the Nine Bird Hills. There are 70 000 rural inhabitants, mostly Imarxan, with a few dusky sorts from new Tixryn and a scattering of Kalamen (2 000); agriculture is mostly on a subsistence basis, with some corpsemelon and bitter bilenut grown for export in the valley of the Im.
Piranais is built mostly of wood painted with lime, but has a great central citadel of white stone the size of a hill, said to have three thousand rooms. It is a spacious city with parks and groves within the walls and large near empty quarters set aside for Thudun, Lomen, and kalamen. The largest industries are brewing, gemcutting, and the making of arrows for the Imperial armies. Its water comes from five great wells within the citadel, each 20' wide and 100' deep, from which pipes flow to the rest of the town.
The citadel is a wondrous place, filled with the latest exotic toys and weapons from the workshops of New Tixryn; glass T'sai Lho, life size, that walk and talk; guns that fire clouds of metal wasps; bells shaped like snakes that wriggle up walls. The baron is a thoughtful middle-aged man who drinks too much and has two wives. The Archimandrite is in a similar position.
Much of Pirana is pastureland, on which cattle are raised; water rats and brew-weed are grown along the Siper, the latter mostly by Kalamen. Vakla is a small but tidy town of wood and stone built on several little hills, surrounded by sawmills, workshops for making tstame men out of cowshorn, gem-polishing watermills, and a great number of taverns. It has a reputation as a place where one can get rich quickly, and has a highly transient population of about 1000, chiefly young men from Hallinu, who come, prospect for semi-precious stones, drink too much, get shot at by Lomen, run out of money, and go home. Ni Golhak (43km NW of Vakla), a desolate mining region formerly famed for its emeralds, has about 1500 inhabitants with the same high turnover rate. However, 200 of them are Thudun who jealously guard the single remaining emerald mine.
The standard of Pirana is a jade cockatrice holding golden arrows in his claws and scowling off to the left, againt a black background with the six planets ranged in two rows above and below the cockatrice.
Back to Map of ImarxesTransiperian Imarxes
This barony occupies the wide mark between the Siper and the Anura. An originally sparse population of Quelians was conquered by the Imarxans of Pirana, and the land extensively settled. There are 30 000 living along the Siper, where brew-weed is the main cash crop and both cattle and water rats are extensively raised. Siphais (4 200), briefly the capital of an independent Imarxan kingdom along the Siper, is the main town of this part; it lies 55km SE of Piranais and is surrounded by ruined fortifications. Most of the present town is built of wood, intricately carved, though there are some old buildings of stone, notably the palaces and stockmarkets on the N side of the town. A large and beautiful bridge spans the fast-flowing Siper at Siphais; there are many suicides there. The town is also the seat of the Archimandrite of Siphais, responsible for Transpiperia and a considerable influence in political matters.
Across a belt of forest and pasture lies the river Anura; About 80 000 live along it and along the Malash. Perhaps 20 000 are clearly Imarxan, 15 000 are the Faqueli, who identify themselves with the long lost Quelians and speak an invented tongue in imitation of Quelian among themselves, there are 11 000 Kalamen, 12 000 Asjhadis - and the rest are Tixryni speaking humans, similar to the dark-hued people of New Tixryn, with few traditions or memories. The capital of the barony lies here, on the Anura, at Estilses (4 000, 55km S of Siphais). This town is low-lying, cut with many canals, with houses of brick spread out along the river. Only the baronial palace, high on an artificial hill surrounded by 200 year old waxtrees, is immune from flooding. There are many kalamen (800) and Faqueli (1000) in Estilses, but the town is shunned by Imarxans. Of interest to the tourist is a small temple of Veala made entirely of beaten bronze.
The baron of Transiperian Imarxes is not of the blood of the GodKings and is a cruel man eager to extirpate heresy. Under his rule, "monasteries" have been established in the forest of Klesh about 60km W of Estilses, where as many as 1000 heretics at a time are brought to the truth through hard physical labour and night after night of forced meditation. These are not all Transiperians, many being priests or extreme fanatics transported to Klesh from other parts of Imarxes. The baron is keenly abetted by the Archimandrite. The standard of Transiperian Imarxes is composed of five diagonal bands, grey, silver, green, silver, and grey, with a stylised golden sun in the middle of the green band.
Back to Map of ImarxesAkkaim
Akkaim has a rural population of 15 000 kalamen and 100 000 humans, almost all Asjhadis, on densely settled fields sloping towards the Malash and the Blil. Most fields are owned by Imarxans, who maintain sumptuous country estates, but there are no more than 5 000 settled in the countryside.
They grow waxtrees, genseric, pipeweed, and oil poppies for export, and raise fat eels in fishponds. There are two towns of importance; Zaqtab (5 000), a largely Asjhadi town inland south of the Blil, and Eshaon (7 000), originally an Asjhadi market town at the junction of the two rivers; now it is 60% Imarxan, and laid out in a radial pattern - it is a major centre for silk production and the capital of the barony. Eshaon has a cool and airy covered marketplace of vast proportions, high walls of white brick pierced with thousands of arrow slits, many gardens and fountains bristling with statuary, and slave markets and dungeons beneath the river that fill with water distressingly regularly. Like Suvlur, Eshaon is decorated with many lamps of different colours, and its streets are hung with countless silk tapestries and flags. The town is the seat of an Archimandrite, responsible for Akkaim and Usyat, who lives in a villa a few kms S. 15km SE of Eshaon is the Mootstone, a strange black monument set up by the former Ephate of Asjhad before it was torn apart by civil unrest and devoured piecemeal by Tixryn and Kitaba; offerings of flowers and small animals are still found left at the four remaining pillars of the ancient structure; most was pulled down by the religious authorities, who established a large monastery nearby and post guards on the Mootstone.
Akkaim's Asjhadi inhabitants are quite strong devotees of the Lhomish Rite, and festivals are held quite openly in Zaqtab; This town nestles picturesquely in a little valley, a huddle of stone houses roofed with glazed tiles and surrounded by a wide moat full of eels. It is a very crowded town, the 5 000 people living on a mere 46 acres of land distinguished by no public buildings of fame or importance. It has an Imarxan population of about 100, with rather more living on country estates nearby.
The baron of Akkaim is of the blood of the Godkings, a close relation to the Baron of Zullur, and adheres rigidly to custom; he is now near death, the affairs of the Barony squabbled over by a large number of legitimate and illegitimate children whose private armies even now clash in the streets of Eshaon. In his time, though, he was quite depraved, and tales of his wild banquets and orgies are still told in hushed whispers. The kalamen especially detest him. The standard of Akkaim shows three red beetles on a field of green.
Back to Map of ImarxesUsyat
The barony of Usyat was conquered and settled by Niphanans as Akkaim was by the folk of Zallur, but on a grander scale. There are 65 000 Asjhadis in the land, and 40 000 Imarxans, most of whom are independent farmers with small holdings. In addition there are 5 000 Kalamen. The Kitaban language is suppressed, and the town of Nishperai in neighbouring Nishana is the main market centre of the barony. Xar Usaik (1000), where the baron dwells, is a mere fortress hamlet erected on the ruins of an Asjhadi town.
There is some silk grown in Usyat, a great deal of pisciculture of various kinds, great groves of fruiting trees, waxtree, and bitter bilenut; stewmelon is the staple food of the populace. There is a large temple of Veala, decorated with Nishanan silver, that sits alone in a field 10km W of Xar Usaik; many traces remain nearby of what was to be the "Eastern Capital" of Imarxes, planned to be a city as large as Ammonais. The priests who attend the temple have all taken vows of eternal silence, and neither the government nor the local villagers will say anything about why the project was abandoned in such haste, after canals were dug, kilometres of road laid out, and housing for 2000 labourers, the temple, and the foundations of the Godking's palace completed.
The baron of Usyat lives in a fortress of white brick that dominates the little village of Xar Usaik; he is a young fellow, rather frivolous in his ways and keen to speak to foreigners, but generous to his subjects. The barony is in considerable financial straits from his habit of giving gifts to anyone who seems deserving.
The standard of Usyat is a black tree on a field of gold.
Back to Map of ImarxesWhite Ashad
The White Ashad is the barony settled by Imarxans from Ammona; The White Asjhad, in Asjhadi usage, would also include Akkaim, Usyat, and East Pahama. The western parts within 60 km of the Im are densely settled, with 20 000 Imarxans and 70 000 Asjhadis; there are about 38 000 Asjhadis, 14 000 Kalamen, and 6000 Quelians living along the Blil, with only a very few Imarxan plantations. The lands between are devoted mainly to herding, with some minor settlements of agriculturalists and foresters.
The main city of the west is Ashadpur (32 000), actually a chartered city of the Empire although the baron has her residence there. There are 12 000 Imarxans and 1000 Kalamen in the city, the former peace capital of the Ephate. It has been described as "a ruined city that is still inhabited", a description that rings true in most of the Asjhadi districts, where streets are still blocked by rubble from the conquest and rude huts huddle in the ruins of temples, ziggurats, and palaces. The Archimandrite of Ashadpur has a sprawling palace of white stone and governs the priesthood throughout White Ashad, Shadarakh, and West Pahama. Jheblil (7000), 150 km E of Ashadpur but only 35km S of Vluqbaal, is a mixed city of canals and dungheaps on the Blil - Asjhadis, Quelians, Tixrynis, Kitabans, and great numbers of Kalamen all mixed together. It is a thriving marketplace and legal centre, being so close to the junction of three great Episiarchies.
45km WSW of Jheblil, on the edge of the Great Forest of Asjhad, sits one of the most interesting historical sites in all of Tixryn; the great castle of Jhamar Jhamar, built in the last days of the Ephate by Hcectus, one of the main contenders for the throne. It is an unbelievable mass of sheer stone, arrow slits, and bronze roofed inner buildings standing atop an artificial hill ringed by triple moats. All the eastern parts of Ashad were depopulated to build it; anywhere from 20 to 50 thousand slaves are claimed to have died in its construction. The most advanced weapons systems and traps were constructed by Quelian engineers to render it impregnable, and within it is a warren of secret passages and chambers. Construction of outer defences was still underway when Hcectus was murdered by one of his lieutenants, and the gates thrown open to the Kitaban armies. Awed by the fortress, the Kitabans left it intact, and today it and its surrounding estate is a training camp for the imperial guards.
The baron is a traditional descendant of the Imarxan god-kings, famous for the many bards and other entertainers she keeps at her eight story mansion in Ashadpur. She is unmarried and has no heir. Her standard is a white hand on a black field, with a triangle and eye scribed on the palm.
Back to Map of ImarxesWest Pahama
West Pahama is a small barony, about 60x30 km, with the short end touching the Malash. It was given to Pahama after the conquest of Asjhad and settled and exploited mainly by Pahamans. There is a rural population of 25 000 Imarxans , 30 000 Asjhadis, and 5 000 Kalamen, mostly on small freeholdings. The chief town is Kishi Melas (6000), a tixryni speaking town about 25km S of Ashadpur.
Like most of White Ashad, stewmelon, waxtree, and bitter bilenut dominate the agricultural lands; there are also many fruiting trees and eelponds that give the barony a pleasantly rural appearance. There is relatively less tension between the Imarxans and Asjhadis than elsewhere in the episiarchy, with the majority of the land held as small plots by yeoman farmers of either race.
Kishi Melas is a fine, open city of white brick built on a number of hills above the Malash; its gardens and baths are patronised by the well-to-do from Ashadpur. It is famous for the miraculous cow icon at the temple of Ivro and its excellent pickled eels.
Two brothers are joint demibarons of West Pahama; one has a palace at Kishi Melas and is an incorrigible rake, while the solid economic manager and keen huntsman lives in a large country house about 20km E of the town. The standard of the barony is a rather bilious yellow, with a single white scorpion on a blue disk in the centre.
Back to Map of ImarxesShadarakh
The last barony of Imarxes is Shadarakh, formerly part of a wide marchland between Asjhad and the Quelian Kingdoms. It is still largely forested, with about 70 000 rural inhabitants chiefly along the Malash. These are only 50% Asjhadi, and Kitaban is rarely spoken. About 20% of the population are Imarxan, with the remainder largely of the mixed stock of New Tixryn; there are 2000 kalamen, largely labourers on the plantations or in the forests. The capital and chief market town is Bifmala (4 000), on the Malash 80km S of Ashadpur.
Sour lumfruit is a major crop, as is grain, and there is a great deal of herding of cattle, but the barony is most known for the variety of hardwoods harvested in its extensive Erkvaard infested woodlands. The semisoft chesses of Shadarakh are highly prized.
Bifmala is a small and cramped town, largely raised high on wooden pilings above the wide and muddy Malash. Stone pillars and other ruins protrude from the water in dry seasons, making navigation hazardous; these are the remains of earlier incarnations of the town. Many flowers are grown in and around the town for processing into candies and it is customarily hung with lanterns in the Imarxan fashion. A sumptuous fairy-tale palace of white stone is currently under construction - the work is plagued with mishaps and horrifying accidents, and the workmen mutter darkly about curses cast by old witch women. The baron, a young and rather vain woman with high ideals about the place of an Imarxan baron, currently lives in a rather worm-eaten wooden sprawl on the waterfront. The baroness, a member of the Imperial Guard, is frequently abroad. She maintains the largest stable of Irstwhyell outside of Colaba and is believed to dabble in prohibited Colaban religious practices. Her heir is a very strange young boy with a speech impediment; many townsfolk unkindly whisper that he was fathered by a demon.
About 100 km WSW of Bifmala, hacked out of the depths of the forest, are the home of two of the Empire's smaller ethnic groups - Muustagonar, a small timber hamlet of 300 Damarcan Minotaurs, and a few kms away Zersaad, a hill riddled with caves and inhabited by 800 ruhurdh.
These are all that remain of an ill-fated Minotaur plan to conquer the world hatched by Mad Duke Urkollokh about 200 years ago; after subduing a small tribe of Ruhurdh and in turn being nearly annihilated by Lomen in Drensneik, Urkollokh's surviving followers sailed off to subdue Tixryn. They had the bad luck to land near the Imperial magic academy at Makanos, were effortlessly defeated, and transported off to prison settlements in the unpacified wilds. They still speak their own languages among themselves and follow their own religions.
The standard of Shadarakh is white as the driven snow, with a red crab ringed by five five-pointed red stars in the centre.
Back to Map of Imarxes
