Bizantahir

Bizantahir is the fourth oldest City of Upper Zagesi . It was originally founded around the Stronghold of a Bandit Lord known as Garazekh by Askar the Founder the first documented head of House Arkazi, one of the Three Great Ashuurian Houses, after he bested the Bandit Lord in battle. The city, despite its long history often played second fiddle both politically and economically to its southern neighbor of Utarak, but this has changed in recent decades, as it now serves as the de-facto capital of Uzdarezi. Through its population boom in recent decades Bizantahir is currently home to ~70.000 people, most of which are of The Hominid Strain.

Territory:

Bizantahir is located in the northwest of Upper Zagesi in the middle of the Gazahir River, which originates in The Briarknolls to its North. Besides the city itself, Bizantahir also holds dominion over the surrounding lowlands along the Gazahir River, as well as parts of The Briarknolls to its north.

Government:

Throughout most of its history, Bizantahir was an aristocratic republic allied and subservient to Utarak, and by extension House Arkazi. While the city did have elections, usually around once every 10 years barring extreme circumstances, the only valid electors and candidates were wealthy landholders, ensuring power over the city stayed with the upper classes. While this process liberalized somewhat over time, usually in response to a revolt, in the grand scheme of things it has not changed all that much, until very recently that is.
Historically, Bizantahir was dominated by three families, House Arkazi, House Sasin and House Kuratal.
Around 8 years ago, in 24 SF, Hashem Arkazi II. , the then and current ruler of Uzdarezi declared himself as the Governor of Bizantahir, following the election of a candidate in opposition to Bizantahirs continuous Union with Utarak and House Arkazi.
While the times since then have certainly been tumultuous for the city, as this move has greatly angered Bizantahirs aristocracy and separatist forces, Hashem does have the support of the people, which view him as a force of stability and discipline for the realm. Though public sentiment is famously fickle.

History:

The History of Bizantahir is heavily tied to that of The Ashuurian State . In an effort not to repeat everything, this article will only focus on things that pertain to the city itself.

The First age: (??? ~ 800 pSF):

880~850 pSF: Bizantahir is founded during the early reign of Askar the Founder around the stronghold of his opponent, the Bandit Lord Garazekh. While the city was at first supposed to be directly under the control of House Arkazi, the soon ensuing Interregnum War of The Ashuurian State forced Askar to divert his attention away and delegate the rule of Bizantahir to one of his advisors, a man by the Name of Yarak-Sasin.

850~820 pSF: The Reign of Yarak-Sasin, later to be known as Yarak-Sasin the Architect, as he is the one largely responsible for shaping Bizantahirs government. He ruled Bizantahir for the first half of The Interregnum War. While he was certainly loyal to the cause of unifying The Ashuurian State under House Arkazi, he also sought to further his own influence, making use of his position to gain more and more autonomy from his liege. He eventually died in battle, but not before setting Bizantahir’s future form of government into stone and elevating his descendants to a position in which they would turn into one of the three dominant families ruling Bizantahir.

820~800 pSF: Having the support of most electors, Umar Sasin, the thirdborn son of Yarak-Sasin the Architect is elected for two terms, overseeing Bizantahir during the latter half of The Interregnum War. While he was considered a great general, which managed to limit the damage done to the city, his reign was otherwise uneventful. With the end of the war he resigned, living out the rest of his days on a remote estate in The Briarknolls.

The Middle Age (800~302 pSF):

800~501 pSF: The First Republic: Consisting of both the times of reconstruction following The Interregnum War, as well as The Lions Reign which followed it, The First Republic is viewed by many as Bizantahirs golden age. While its politics were mostly occupied with conflicts between different landholding families and maintaining positive relations with Utarak and House Arkazi, the city itself prospered from the prolonged period of peace.

501~490 pSF: Bizantahir was not hit nearly as heavily by The Great Southern Invasion as some other cities in Upper Zagesi. Still, with the fall of Utarak in 501 pSF, it had a choice to make, bow to their new overlords, or join the resistance of the up and coming general Rubakhal. While the high lords of the city at first were in favor of establishing friendly relations, they were not blind to the rising dissatisfaction of the people with how the city was run, content to be ruled from above in times of prosperity, but not in war. Thankfully House Arkazi had just been through a crisis, with many of its members killed with the fall of Utarak. The House Heads of House Sasin, Kuratal and Arkazi met, deciding that House Arkazi would become the Scapegoat for all things wrong in Bizantahir, being shunned in the city, though they would secretly help getting them reinstated in Utarak.

501~490 pSF: The Great Revolt: The rulers of Bizantahir manage to avoid the coming purge by pinning blame on House Arkazi.

490-246 pSF: The Second Republic: While the rulers of Bizantahir could avoid the coming purge of The Great Revolt, they still were forced to give many concessions, not only by their people, but also by Malikh Rubakhal the Great himself. This started a lengthy time of political turmoil, caused by a loss of control over Bizantahirs politics. While the ruling houses of Bizantahir made much use of corruption, they generally worked together for the betterment of the city, at least in their eyes. As they lost their absolute hold over the city however, new landholding families established themselves, making use of corrupt officials for their own ends, with little regard for the fate of the city. Bizantahir eventually fell into a state of “clan dynamics”, with almost every part of the city controlled by some powerful landowning family or another, making their own laws, levying their own taxes and warring for territory. Things only got worse with The Reign of Terror, as families tried to gain power by vying for the cruel Malikhs' favor, with disastrous consequences for the people.

The Age of Strife: (302 pSF to 32 SF)

247-246 pSF: The Red Streets: Sentiments had been turning against the ruling families of Bizantahir for a while, so when the chance presented itself to do something about them many took it. As The Three-Days Revolt swept across Upper Zagesi, so too did it reach Bizantahir, where the people rose up not just against Malikh Anatep the Terrible, but also against their ruling families. The uprising turned into a full-on civil war. Thousands were killed, though it also leveled the political playing field for a time.

247-218 pSF: From all this conflict one man emerged victorious, an until then insignificant landholder by the name of Menesayah, later to be known as Menesayah the Wise. He made use of his (for the most part) uncontested status for several consecutive terms in order to pass numerous laws and reforms to ensure that something like this would never happen again. The influence the electors of Bizantahir had over their people was heavily curtailed, and the requirements to become an elector were further loosened to allow for a greater amount of representation amongst the populace. When Ayatuur Arkazi ascended as the new Malikh of The Ashuurian State in the year of 219 pSF, Menesayah bowed to him under the condition that he would not involve himself in the politics of Bizantahir, a deal that the Malikh eagerly accepted. Ayatuurs reign would be cut short though, as he would be deposed just months later by an allegiance of three rebellious great cities. Menesayah would die of old age just months before the end of his final term, leaving Bizantahir to find its own path into The Fractured Dominion.

218-29 pSF: The Third Republic: is the time period known in other parts of Upper Zagesi as The Fractured Dominion. While the reforms of Menesayah the Wise limited the influence of the landholders, they still remained quite powerful, though their rivalries and disputes were no longer carried out in the open on the streets, but behind closed doors. Public life became more pleasant, safer and for the first time in the history of Bizantahir, even those without wealth and status could rise to power if they played their cards right, but this change was only skin deep. Below the surface old allegiances and rivalries reemerged, Bizantahir was still controlled by the same families that fought each other for hundreds of years, they were just more subtle about it now. At the same time Bizantahir experienced steady growth as the relatively peaceful city had become much more welcoming to outsiders during the reign of Menesayah the Wise.

86-29 pSF: Tanzimat the Sovereign took a rather direct approach to his involvement in Bizantahirs politics. Over the decades he aided House Arkazi to regain some control over the city, as they had not held any substantial power within Bizantahir since the end of The First Republic. While this was met with a lot of resistance from many landholders of Bizantahir, others supported this trend, as they thought it would bring stability to the city, and bring it closer to its ancestral allies.

29-18 pSF: The War of the Twin Princes: During the war, Bizantahir was at first torn on who to side with. While the families allied to House Arkazi supported the claim of Elam Yulani, their opposition saw their ideals more aligned with the second prince Aziz Yulani, with the first camp eventually winning out. Bizantahir, despite its lengthy involvement in the war however managed to avoid its harshest consequences, as the second camp of families hindered the cities war effort at every corner, limiting the cities involvement.

18 pSF to 32 SF: The Fourth Republic: The current era of Bizantahir. While the city had to rebuild like many others after The War of the Twin Princes, it was still mostly intact and had lost much less of it’s population than others. Due to this, House Arkazi chose Bizantahir as the new de-facto capital of their newly founded state Uzdarezi. Bizantahir experienced a great boom in population, as people from Utarak and the surrounding countryside fled to its walls, looking for safety and stability. Meanwhile, House Arkazi’s involvement in the city grew ever greater.

2-4 SF: Large swathes of Wildkin refugees flood into Upper Zagesi from The Shattered Sea, further destabilizing the region.

5 SF: Hashem Arkazi II., the ruler of Uzdarezi , declares all non-hominids as outlaws, leading to heavy persecution in his domain and an exodus of non-hominids in the following years.

24-32 SF: Hashem Arkazi II. makes himself the governor of Bizantahir, ignoring the results of the last election. While his supporters welcome this decision, his political adversaries react with anything from harsh criticism to open revolt, though the Malikh makes quick work of anything and anyone opposing his rule.

Culture & Society:

As one of the earliest cities to be founded within The Ashuurian State , Bizantahir shares a lot of cultural DNA with said state, as well as the newly founded nation of Uzdarezi. As such this article will focus on what sets the city apart from others.

Bizantahir and its society can be easily characterized by its distrust in authority. The city has a long history of those in high places abusing their power for their own ends, acting recklessly to the detriment of those they are supposed to represent and protect. The only people one can truly trust are one's own people, the family, the clan. No one else can be trusted to act in one's best interest, in short clan-culture, a legacy of the second and third republic eras.
These clan structures are reflected in politics and everyday life, as mighty landholding families not only have greater sway over the city's policies, but also more territory and more people under their sway. Some families control entire districts and with that all business that happens within them.
Most people in Bizantahir swear allegiance to one family or another, be it for protection, power or business, and as a result are part of the age-old feuds which consume these families.
To be clanless means to be without allegiance. It means to be free to interact and do business with anyone and everyone, but to stand alone in the face of danger. There are few which can afford to live like this, and even fewer that want to, but it is not unheard of.

Laws & Institutions:

The Laws and Institutions of Utarak for the most part line up with those of Uzdarezi, though individual clans make their own rules in their own territories.

Bizantahir

Geography:

Region: Northern Middle East - Upper Zagesi

Society:

Population: ~70.000
Strains: Hominids 95%, Other 5%
Religion: The Ur-Ashaar

Politics:

Government: aristocratic republic
Ruler: Malikh Hashem Arkazi II.
Influence: moderate

Commerce:

Currency:
50 copper grains = 1 silver glimmer
25 silver glimmers = 1 gold sovereign