pilgrim tent
home to the hopeless
The pilgrim tent is a ubiquitous sight on the outskirts of Chaodyatan Sho. Though the city's "New Town" is made up of all manner of buildings and populated by all manner of folk, it's most outer edge is made up entirely of tents. Hundreds of tents.
The sacred city attracts pilgrims, merchants, nobles, scholars and folk of all kinds from across the five nations. Most journey to the city, visit the great temple of Xien vi'Tyaana, buy some overpriced trinkets or an even more overpriced edition of the Kahaan ke'Maya, and return home.
Not all do however. Not all can. Not all want to.
Chaodyatan Sho is a sanctuary city. The whole of ya'Xeishi is a free state that at least theoretically exists outside the domain of the High Houses and their national laws and restrictions. All are free to visit the great temple and no one can be arrested or taken away against their will without the permission of the ud'Saava Dhaashen. Hundreds, even thousands, flock to Chaodyatan Sho not on pilgrimage, but to escape judgement or persecution in their home nation. This means the population of the city is always growing, and an ever growing population needs places to live. The solution was the creation and distribution of the pilgrim tents.
Purpose / Function
The pilgrim's tent is a simple canvas construct designed to provide basic shelter for one or two people who would otherwise be sleeping in the open air outside the sacred city.
History
A century ago, there were so many homeless peasants, criminals, madmen, and pilgims simply sleeping on the ground across the edges of New Town, that a visiting House Kadhen general compared it to a vast battlefield after the army's had retreated and only the fallen remained. Disease, crime, and missery were rife. And more and more of the Holy Guard needed to permenantly posted on the outskirts simply to ensure new pilgrims and travelers could reach the city safely.
Finally, the sitting ud'Saava Dhaashen of the time decreed that the city's Duzir provide a tent, bed roll, and eating irons for every itinerent who wanted them. The Duzir then was from House Yeh, and after fulfilling the ud'Saava Dhaashen's demand, as he was obligated to do, he returned home to Hanchuu where he was summarily executed for costing the House such an astonishing amount.
From that forward, the small white tents became an iconic part of the experience of visiting Chaodyatan Sho. As time passed and the more established inner layers of New Town expanded and improved, so to were many tents replaced with new permeant or semi-permanent buildings. Yet so too did the tents expand as every Duzir since has bee similarly obligated by the ud'Saava Dhaashen to provide tents for the seemingly infinite supply of refugees and homeless peasants. There are tents nearer the inner city that have been patched, kept up, and even extended out for a hundred years. Some have seen three or even four generations born, lived, and die under their canvas rooves.
And still the numbers grow.
In the modern world, most of those living in the out slums were never pilgrims in the first place, and yet the name "pilgrim's tent" has stuck. Perhaps simply out of sympathy for their pathetic true inhabitants.
"I was born in New Town. I've never known anywhere else. I have no house, no class, no guild, and no vi'tyaana. The ud'Baahanxi house me, the Holy Guard protect me, the haya bhaan feed me, and I awake every day in the shadow of the glorious golden tower of Niryusha. I am truly free and truly blessed."
- Gobi Wan, peasant of Chaodyatan Sho (828 AS)
Founding Date
718AS
Alternative Names
peasant's tent
Type
Shelter
Parent Location
Ruling/Owning Rank
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