Tarkhan (Dominaria Supplement)
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| [[Image:|200px|center]] | |
| Size | |
| Medium City | |
| Power Center | |
| Conventional/Hidden, Caliph Hava al-Gatil | |
| Alignment | |
| Lawful Neutral | |
| Adult Population | |
| 60,000 | |
| Gold Limit | |
| X gp | |
| Language & Diversity | |
| Caliphi, Mixed (75% Caliphi, 15% Bedou, 10% Other) | |
| Southern Caliphate |
|---|
| Caliphi Cities |
| Numadi Cities |
Return to the Southern Caliphate |
Tarkhan, the First Gate
Tarkhan, or Tarkhan-Re to honor the God Aman-Re, lies on the east bank of the River Djiner. The Djiner rarely flows at full strength, and only flows at full when spring flushes the headwaters of the Sayaj and rain further supplies the river. The Djiner, which means only Barrier in Caliphi, is the furthest extent of the mighty Sayaj River and marks the extent of the Caliph's true power. Many lands west of the river bend the knee to the Enlightened Throne, but the last true seat of Enlightened culture lies on Tarkhan's lonely bluff. Perched on its rise overlooking the sea, Tarkhan's walls are the first almost any western traveler sees of the longest lasting domain of men on Dominaria. So despite its isolation Tarkhan is a bustling trade city, and serves as the chief trading post between the Caliphate proper and the Caliph's two great gateways to the West: Rishdan and Tajar. Caliph Hava al-Gatil rules by the grace of Grand Caliph Nurah al-Din and is a permissive ruler, permitting anything which does not bring visible disgrace to the city.
The city's western gate is an immense affair, an edifice to cow any who would enter the Caliph's domain. With the Djiner dry the sight is perhaps the most imposing. A sunken, wide, dry wadi of settled silt and undulating sand lies before a viewer standing on the west bank of the river. A stone bridge 40 feet wide stands at their feet and runs roughly a quarter mile to the far side of the wadi. Then, like a mountainside: the monstrous west wall of the city. Tarkhan's west wall is 100 feet tall from the visible base, and the gate fortress is one quarter of its length. The wall itself is thick slabs of local stone, but the gatehouse is white marble from Cimmeria and was built 400 years ago. The scars of past battle are left unrepaired, they are insignificant against the wall's bulk. Four sitting statues, Golems from an ancient age, flank the gate. Their facades were once gilt and bejeweled, with crowns that men atop the walls could rub for luck, but two fell in ancient wars and the others are scarred by time and battle. The ruins of the two lie at the base of the wall still, their weathered countenances staring sternly at each new arrival.
Both Enlightened city dwellers and Bedou mingle in the streets with foriegners and even Southrons. Shemaghs, takiya, and turbans of civilized men mix with the shaven heads or bared hair of foriegners, and a dozen languages are bandied in the city's covered markets and the small port down at the river mouth. The people of Tarkhan are known for their sharp wit and skill with barter; street merchants may as well be pick pockets in this city. Caravans of every conceivable variety move through the city and goods from all of the near abroad can be found in Tarkhan. The city thrives on goods trade, livestock moving east and west, and durable goods for expeditions south in the sea or northwest into the Ghostlands. There is even a thriving slave trade in the 'Hidden Markets' of the Street of Wailing, but the activity in the markets nearby draw eyes and ears form those dens of sorrow.
The city is packed and bustling with peoples and color, but its most remarkable feature past the west wall is the city's highway. Through the center of the city, from gate to gate, lies a sunken road for caravans wishing to travel through Tarkhan to towns or posts farther on or the marshaling yards on the east side. Inside the massive eastern and western gates the road begins to sink gradually in the middle. Caravan traffic can travel down the gradual slope into the highway, after paying the toll, without stopping and travel straight to the far side of the city. The streets on either side of the highway continue at ground level and from there branch out into the city. Bridges cross the highway at every ground level intersection to allow city life to continue unimpeded, but the highway is a fixture of life in Tarkhan. In the center of the city, the highway opens into a wide market a quarter mile square. The Sunken Market is the center of common life in Tarkhan and many caravans pause for days here selling their goods under the open air or the more costly covered portions before moving on. The highway is cleared at the end of every other week for cleaning, and the detritus is moved through doors in the side of the sunken highway's walls into Tarkhan's sewer system.
Aside from the highway, the city is a near uniform expanse to the outside viewer, aside from then fortified Hill of Roses. When the sunkern highway was dug and the foundations of the great walls and buildings of Tarkhan were excavated in ages past, the earth was laid atop an ancient tell on the north side of the city against the wall. This tell became the most desirable land within the city and many powerful families soon put down roots and money intop the hill. Now, hundreds of years later, the hill is a veritable fortress of opulence. A 20 foot wall surrounds the hill and the broad Way of Palms runs straight and true from the Temple of the Sayaj to the Palace Complex of Caliph Hava al-Gatil at the hill's crest. Two roads split the hill into three tiers and further delineate the castes among the city's power structure. Two gorgeous marble colonnaded markets, the Master's Market and the Court of the Sun and Moon, grace the Hill of Roses and offer the wealth of the western and eastern world to any that gain entrance.
Government: Caliph Hava al-Gatil rules, with his Chief Vizier, Zarad, increasingly the face of the city. Zarad is known by his robes, made of finest Northern Tiger fur, and by the ancient Stone Golem which has served the Chief Vizier of Halwa since the time of Caliph Abbas Ishan in the Third Age. The important functions of the city are run by several powerful families either tied to the city, or to the House of al-Gatil. House Al-Shahrani manage travel through the city, writs, and licensing to travel further into the Caliphate. Despite Al-Shahrani's Neferiti heritage, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Shahrani (cousin to the late Sultan Basil Al-Moteri is a trusted and fair member of the city's power sturcture. House Al-Moteri handles the trade, tarrifs, excise dues, and imports for the Royal House, the Grand Caliph's interests, and what trade deals with official arms of Tarkhan. House Al-Moteri is an old House in Tarkhan, and is well connected by blood to House Al-Gatil and the Clerical Orders of Aman-Re. This was nmot enough to save Sultan Basil Al-Moteri, who's base racism and prejudice against thew Bedou got him killed by assassins in his own home. The House is currently choosing a new head. House Al-Nemari is the last major House of Tarkhan, and has been indebted to the Grand Caliph or his representatives for two centuries following a religious revolt. Malmuk Abdullah Al-Nemari Abd al Wahem is the head of the house and the commander of the city's military forces. He is an adept commander and is a veteran of wars against the Arcadians and the Paladonians as well as skirmishes with local tribes and Bedou. He has come closer than any before him to repaying the debt required by the Caliphate, and expects his son will see his House freed when he retires.
Guilds and Orders: The Temple of the Sayaj is the most powerful clerical order in Tarkhan-Re, even eclipsing the Temple of Aman-Re for which the city was founded. The Dinjer River, the western spur of the mighty Sayaj, is the cornerstone of life in the city and the surrounding lands, filling the city's immense aquifers and watering the plants and herds that keep this western bastion of Enlightened culture alive. The Cult of Dinjer runs this temple, and is very powerful and popular in the city. The Cult long ago assumed control of water in the city and manages the service and way systems underneath and throughout the city. Their religious as well as utilitarian influence should not be interrupted. The Temple fo the Sun and Moon, a Cult devoted to Aman-Re, is the next most powerful clerical order in the city and XXX
Military: 3,000 men-at-arms of the City Watch, 500 Malmuks of the Palace Guard, 1,000 mercenary cavalry in the forts that flank the city along the Suran Road, 200 Vizieric Elite Guard for the city's Viziers' Palace. Also, a tribe of approximately 200 Jann serve the Grand Vizier loyally and faithfully.
Judicial System:
City Relations:
Travel:
Return to The Southern Caliphate
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