Nagazaar
Nagazaar is a major city in the north-east of Upper Zagesi, home to around 45.000 people as of the year 32 SF. Founded during the first age of The Ashuurian State by Malikh Sharukh Atakuz the Builder, Nagazaar is one of the oldest settlements in the region. Nagazaar and its government through the ages, while not always successfully, have made a point of not involving themselves with the politics of The Ashuurian State too much, focusing much more heavily on its relations with the free city of Ordinnean and The Kingdom of Griselderyn upstream.
It holds dominion over the city itself, as well as the lands surrounding The Griselder River to its north for dozens of kilometers. Small parts of The Viridian Veil to its south-east and The Blooming Heights to its north-west also fall under Nagazaars jurisdiction.
Nowadays Nagazaar is a democratic representative republic. The people of the city eligible to vote (hominid men aged 25 and older) may cast their vote for their preferred representative of their district. Paradoxically, these representatives must not be eligible to vote, meaning that while they may not participate in the election process, members of other strains than The Hominid Strain, women, children and even animals may be elected as representatives, each of which has happened on more than one occasion.
Certain groups in the city, such as the clergy, the guilds and the guard also have their own representatives. The representatives of the city are elected every 8 years, barring exceptional circumstances. Finally the elected representatives elect amongst themselves the head of the city council, who serves as the head of state for their elected period. The current head of the city council is a short and stocky hominid man by the name of Godrick Brighthearth. Originally a hunter from Griselderyn that rose to prominence after becoming somewhat of a folk hero in the regionthrough slaying monsters, hunting bandits, that sort of stuff.
The city instead focuses inwards, the people uncertain of the system they want to build for themselves. Different political camps emerged, vying for power in order to create the power structures that benefit them the most. What first started with public debates spiraled more and more out of control, and after decades the city found itself at the cusp of its very own civil war.
Around the year 812 pSF however a before then unknown man by the name of Naram-Sin makes his debut on Nagazaar’s political stage. He manages to unite the previously split camps of Nagazaar, creating its modern political systems in the process.
The Next 300 years or so would be considered by many as Nagazaar’s Golden Age. While it did face its fair share of troubles, general political turmoil, attempts to infiltrate the government by other polities, Nagazaar flourished and accumulated great wealth as one of the region's most stable trading hubs. It was also around this time that Nagazaar focused more on maintaining positive relations with both its allies Griselderyn and Ordinnean upstream.
Around the time of The Great Southern Invasion between 510~490 pSF, Nagazaar finds itself at the height of its power, though this has not come without cost. Both House Arkazi and House Yulani, the two most prominent Houses of The Ashuurian State had gained great influence within the city, attempting to entangle it ever more into ashuurian matters. So when the opportunity presented itself to reset the balance of power many took it. Interest groups in Nagazaar began organizing the discontent people of other ashuurian great cities, while simultaneously equipping a therebefore unknown mercenary by the name of Rubakhal with the funds to beat back the invaders, though only after sufficient damage had been dealt to the reputation of the great Houses. The plan worked, and with the fall of Utarak around 501 pSF, The Great Revolt swept across the cities of Upper Zagesi like wildfire, while Rubakhal’s counter offensive against the invaders grew ever more successful.
By around 490 pSF, Nagazaar had freed itself from the influence of the great Houses and The Ashuurian State had repelled the greatest outside threat it had faced since its foundung.
While this plan was successful in reestablishing Nagazaars full autonomy, it would take the city a while to recover from war and revolt. Eventually however the city would once again begin to flourish, this time in tandem with many others in Upper Zagesi throughout The Ashuurian Golden Age, which would last until the end of the era in 302 pSF.
By some estimates over half of Nagazaars people, around 20.000 at the time, would fall victim to the reign of terror, a number that only didn’t climb higher as the free city of Ordinnean and The Embergrasp Dynasty came to the cities aid, likely fearing that the Malikh had plans to invade their lands once Nagazaar was fully subjugated.
The Reign of Terror only came to an end in the year of 247 pSF with the sudden death of Malikh Anatep the Terrible, and it would take Nagazaar the better part of 2 centuries to recover.
Nagazaar in the following decades was mostly concerned with rebuilding, so much so that they did not even protest when Malikh Ayatuur Arkazi claimed that the city was once again under ashuurian dominion. Though they ended up not even needing to resist, as a coalition of forces from other city states ended up forcing the Malikh to abdicate.
Nagazaar would require another 100 years or so to fully recover, and would spend the first half of The Fractured Dominion (218-86 pSF) in relative obscurity. Only towards the latter half would the city once again rise to a position of power, as trade routes to Griselderyn grew ever more important, allowing Nagazaar to once again establish itself as a major trade hub.
With the rise to power of Tanzimat the Sovereign in the year of 86 pSF, the people of Nagazaar at first feared that the city would once again come to be ruled and dictated by outside forces, though through expert diplomacy and more than a bit of bribery, the Malikh managed to win public support on the city, though still by a rather narrow margin. Though he would later attempt to force some reforms onto Nagazaar to bring it more in line of what he envisioned an ashuurian city should be, they did not stick, as the people of Nagazaar proved time and time again that they do not take kindly to outsiders trying to mess with their way of life.
With Tanzimats death, The Ashuurian State fell into its final civil war, The War of the Twin Princes (29-18 pSF). As Nagazaar at this point was just about done with any and all ashuurian matters, the representatives of the city decided which prince to support via coinflip, which resulted in them casting their vote for Elam Yulani. Nagazaar left the coming war at the first opportune moment, and while it did still suffer some casualties, most of those came through the increased presence of bandits and pirates in the region, which terrorized all of Upper Zagesi.
With the end of the war and the dissolution of The Ashuurian State in 18 pSF, Nagazaar was now finally, officially a free city and even better, relatively untouched by the more devastating consequences of The War of the Twin Princes, which had ravaged the rest of Upper Zagesi so heavily.
Nagazaar wasted no time, forging an economic alliance with Ordinnean in the year 17 pSF, and a defensive pact with The Embergrasp Dynasty just months later.
Between 5-8 SF, the city would take in thousands of non-hominid refugees from Uzdarezi.
Godrick Brighthearth would first be elected in 19 SF, and is currently serving his second term as the cities head of council.
Finally in 32 SF a hominid woman by the name of Arya appears in Nagazaar. She claims to be a direct descendant of Catriona, one of The Seven, the gods of The Ur-Ashaar. She quickly gathers a following within the city, but so far none know what, if anything she plans to do with them, or why she has appeared here and now of all places.
This is not to say that Nagazaar is entirely decoupled from the other great cities of Upper Zagesi, its society is still predominantly patriarchal, its people follow the same faith and similar traditions, they all just have a certain… northern twist to them:
Women for example may not have the right to vote within the city, but they are eligible to be elected. Making use of this loophole, some husbands and fathers have nominated their wives and daughters for political offices on many occasions, allowing them to wield power in the city regardless.
This behavior can be used to characterize the people of Nagazaar in general, they are very creative at finding ways to “circumvent the rules”, and malicious compliance could be considered a national sport for them. It is this jovial, laissez faire approach to rules that gives the people of Nagazaar their reputation as jokers, tricksters and people incapable of taking anything seriously.
Make no mistake however, Nagazaar’s people take the integrity of their city extremely seriously. Shunning outsiders that would seek to influence them, they are willing to fight and even die for their way of life, they just don’t have any patience for nonsensical rules.
The deities most worshiped in Nagazaar are Torgael and Catriona.
This also creates somewhat of a difficult situation for the city guard, which have to be aware of the different legal codes of every district they operate in. It is possible to buy certain drugs in open daylight in one district, only to have them confiscated and be charged a fine for possession of illegal substances in the district next to it. One can imagine that this sort of thing can also result in animosities and rivalries between different districts.
Territory:
Nagazaar is located in the north-east of Upper Zagesi at the mouth of The Griselder River, where it flows into The Gilded Sea. The City itself consists of many smaller settlements in close proximity, which eventually grew in size enough to join together to form a single entity.It holds dominion over the city itself, as well as the lands surrounding The Griselder River to its north for dozens of kilometers. Small parts of The Viridian Veil to its south-east and The Blooming Heights to its north-west also fall under Nagazaars jurisdiction.
Government:
While Nagazaar started out as part of the monarchic structure founded by House Atakuz, it soon shifted to a more representative system following the death of the final prince of House Atakuz, Malikh Abukanezzar Atakuz.Nowadays Nagazaar is a democratic representative republic. The people of the city eligible to vote (hominid men aged 25 and older) may cast their vote for their preferred representative of their district. Paradoxically, these representatives must not be eligible to vote, meaning that while they may not participate in the election process, members of other strains than The Hominid Strain, women, children and even animals may be elected as representatives, each of which has happened on more than one occasion.
Certain groups in the city, such as the clergy, the guilds and the guard also have their own representatives. The representatives of the city are elected every 8 years, barring exceptional circumstances. Finally the elected representatives elect amongst themselves the head of the city council, who serves as the head of state for their elected period. The current head of the city council is a short and stocky hominid man by the name of Godrick Brighthearth. Originally a hunter from Griselderyn that rose to prominence after becoming somewhat of a folk hero in the regionthrough slaying monsters, hunting bandits, that sort of stuff.
History:
Despite its best efforts, Nagazaar’s history is still tied quite heavily to that of The Ashuurian State. In an effort not to repeat everything, this section will only mention things which relate to the city of Nagazaar itself, for more details read the history section in the article of The Ashuurian State.The First Age: (??? to 800 pSF)
Following the founding of the first settlement during the reign of Malikh Sharukh Atakuz the Builder between 920~870 pSF, Nagazaar at first found itself under the control of House Atakuz. This only changed with the advent of The Interregnum War between 850~800 pSF. The people of Nagazaar almost unanimously elected not to involve themselves with the succession crisis of The Ashuurian State.The city instead focuses inwards, the people uncertain of the system they want to build for themselves. Different political camps emerged, vying for power in order to create the power structures that benefit them the most. What first started with public debates spiraled more and more out of control, and after decades the city found itself at the cusp of its very own civil war.
Around the year 812 pSF however a before then unknown man by the name of Naram-Sin makes his debut on Nagazaar’s political stage. He manages to unite the previously split camps of Nagazaar, creating its modern political systems in the process.
The Middle Age: (800 to 302 pSF)
With the end The Interregnum War around the year 800 pSF, The Ashuurian State finds itself in need of an impartial new ruler untainted by the war, and few others came to mind than Naram-Sin. He accepted the nomination and at the same time abdicated as the ruler of Nagazaar in the middle of his second term, wishing to preserve Nagazaars independence from ashuurian politics as much as possible. For his strides in rebuilding the war-torn nation, he would later be known as Malikh Naram-Sin the Unifier.The Next 300 years or so would be considered by many as Nagazaar’s Golden Age. While it did face its fair share of troubles, general political turmoil, attempts to infiltrate the government by other polities, Nagazaar flourished and accumulated great wealth as one of the region's most stable trading hubs. It was also around this time that Nagazaar focused more on maintaining positive relations with both its allies Griselderyn and Ordinnean upstream.
Around the time of The Great Southern Invasion between 510~490 pSF, Nagazaar finds itself at the height of its power, though this has not come without cost. Both House Arkazi and House Yulani, the two most prominent Houses of The Ashuurian State had gained great influence within the city, attempting to entangle it ever more into ashuurian matters. So when the opportunity presented itself to reset the balance of power many took it. Interest groups in Nagazaar began organizing the discontent people of other ashuurian great cities, while simultaneously equipping a therebefore unknown mercenary by the name of Rubakhal with the funds to beat back the invaders, though only after sufficient damage had been dealt to the reputation of the great Houses. The plan worked, and with the fall of Utarak around 501 pSF, The Great Revolt swept across the cities of Upper Zagesi like wildfire, while Rubakhal’s counter offensive against the invaders grew ever more successful.
By around 490 pSF, Nagazaar had freed itself from the influence of the great Houses and The Ashuurian State had repelled the greatest outside threat it had faced since its foundung.
While this plan was successful in reestablishing Nagazaars full autonomy, it would take the city a while to recover from war and revolt. Eventually however the city would once again begin to flourish, this time in tandem with many others in Upper Zagesi throughout The Ashuurian Golden Age, which would last until the end of the era in 302 pSF.
The Age of Strife: (302 pSF to 32 SF)
While The Ashuurian Golden Age would come to an end with the assassination of Malikh Gildas Yulani III., no city in Upper Zagesi would resist the coming Reign of Terror as harshly as Nagazaar. The city would find itself in a constant state of civil war, resisting the oppressive Malikh at every opportunity, something the people of the city would pay for dearly. Malikh Anatep the Terrible would make an example of Nagazaar, to show every city across The Ashuurian State what would await those who would rise up against him.By some estimates over half of Nagazaars people, around 20.000 at the time, would fall victim to the reign of terror, a number that only didn’t climb higher as the free city of Ordinnean and The Embergrasp Dynasty came to the cities aid, likely fearing that the Malikh had plans to invade their lands once Nagazaar was fully subjugated.
The Reign of Terror only came to an end in the year of 247 pSF with the sudden death of Malikh Anatep the Terrible, and it would take Nagazaar the better part of 2 centuries to recover.
Nagazaar in the following decades was mostly concerned with rebuilding, so much so that they did not even protest when Malikh Ayatuur Arkazi claimed that the city was once again under ashuurian dominion. Though they ended up not even needing to resist, as a coalition of forces from other city states ended up forcing the Malikh to abdicate.
Nagazaar would require another 100 years or so to fully recover, and would spend the first half of The Fractured Dominion (218-86 pSF) in relative obscurity. Only towards the latter half would the city once again rise to a position of power, as trade routes to Griselderyn grew ever more important, allowing Nagazaar to once again establish itself as a major trade hub.
With the rise to power of Tanzimat the Sovereign in the year of 86 pSF, the people of Nagazaar at first feared that the city would once again come to be ruled and dictated by outside forces, though through expert diplomacy and more than a bit of bribery, the Malikh managed to win public support on the city, though still by a rather narrow margin. Though he would later attempt to force some reforms onto Nagazaar to bring it more in line of what he envisioned an ashuurian city should be, they did not stick, as the people of Nagazaar proved time and time again that they do not take kindly to outsiders trying to mess with their way of life.
With Tanzimats death, The Ashuurian State fell into its final civil war, The War of the Twin Princes (29-18 pSF). As Nagazaar at this point was just about done with any and all ashuurian matters, the representatives of the city decided which prince to support via coinflip, which resulted in them casting their vote for Elam Yulani. Nagazaar left the coming war at the first opportune moment, and while it did still suffer some casualties, most of those came through the increased presence of bandits and pirates in the region, which terrorized all of Upper Zagesi.
With the end of the war and the dissolution of The Ashuurian State in 18 pSF, Nagazaar was now finally, officially a free city and even better, relatively untouched by the more devastating consequences of The War of the Twin Princes, which had ravaged the rest of Upper Zagesi so heavily.
Nagazaar wasted no time, forging an economic alliance with Ordinnean in the year 17 pSF, and a defensive pact with The Embergrasp Dynasty just months later.
Between 5-8 SF, the city would take in thousands of non-hominid refugees from Uzdarezi.
Godrick Brighthearth would first be elected in 19 SF, and is currently serving his second term as the cities head of council.
Finally in 32 SF a hominid woman by the name of Arya appears in Nagazaar. She claims to be a direct descendant of Catriona, one of The Seven, the gods of The Ur-Ashaar. She quickly gathers a following within the city, but so far none know what, if anything she plans to do with them, or why she has appeared here and now of all places.
Culture & Society:
As one of the earliest cities to be founded within The Ashuurian State, Nagazaar shares a lot of cultural DNA with said state, as such this article will focus on what sets the city apart from others. Nagazaar, ever since the decline of House Atakuz, has been characterized by its struggle for independence. The people of the city never quite saw themselves as part of The Ashuurian State, as opposed to those of most other cities in Upper Zagesi, preferring to associate more with their neighbors upstream.This is not to say that Nagazaar is entirely decoupled from the other great cities of Upper Zagesi, its society is still predominantly patriarchal, its people follow the same faith and similar traditions, they all just have a certain… northern twist to them:
Women for example may not have the right to vote within the city, but they are eligible to be elected. Making use of this loophole, some husbands and fathers have nominated their wives and daughters for political offices on many occasions, allowing them to wield power in the city regardless.
This behavior can be used to characterize the people of Nagazaar in general, they are very creative at finding ways to “circumvent the rules”, and malicious compliance could be considered a national sport for them. It is this jovial, laissez faire approach to rules that gives the people of Nagazaar their reputation as jokers, tricksters and people incapable of taking anything seriously.
Make no mistake however, Nagazaar’s people take the integrity of their city extremely seriously. Shunning outsiders that would seek to influence them, they are willing to fight and even die for their way of life, they just don’t have any patience for nonsensical rules.
The deities most worshiped in Nagazaar are Torgael and Catriona.
Laws & Institutions:
The Laws of Nagazaar for the most part line up with those of The Ashuurian State, slavery is illegal, people are free to worship how and whoever they please (within reason, no summoning creatures from The Otherworld please), and there is a place even for non-hominids in its society. Nagazaar is organized in a central governing body which manages things such as taxation, serious crime and the defense of the city in times of war. More minute matters, such as petty crime, infrastructure, maintenance and local law are managed differently from district to district. The eligible electors living in a certain district can propose and vote on laws within their district, and presuming those laws do not go against the core laws of Nagazaar, those laws then get put into action. This, in theory at least, allows people to create their ideal neighborhoods, where everything is just as they want it, but as a famous adage goes: “In Nagazaar, even an empty room has something to say”.This also creates somewhat of a difficult situation for the city guard, which have to be aware of the different legal codes of every district they operate in. It is possible to buy certain drugs in open daylight in one district, only to have them confiscated and be charged a fine for possession of illegal substances in the district next to it. One can imagine that this sort of thing can also result in animosities and rivalries between different districts.
Nagazaar
Geography:
Region: Northern Middle East - Upper ZagesiSociety:
Population: ~45.000Strains: Hominids 85%, Wildkin ~5%, Zoltai ~8%, Other ~2%
Religion: The Ur-Ashaar
Politics:
Government: democratic representative republicRuler: Councilhead Godrick Brighthearth
Influence: minor
Commerce:
Currency:50 copper grains = 1 silver glimmer
25 silver glimmers = 1 gold sovereign
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