The Sahar Ascendancy
The city-state built as a planar waystation and refuge for Outsider and Mortal alike
Structure
Sahariel the Unifier rules as the country's Goddess and Queen. Beneath her is the Saharan Council, made of 7 elected people that represent the various groups that dwell within the city. Ruling over her church and holding the same level of power as the council is the Saharan Church, which decides upon matters of religion and faith, but not of the city's law.
Beneath them are the Grand Broker, Grand Justicar, Grand Quartermaster, and the Grand Magos, which oversee and rule the city's Trade, Defense, Supplies, and Magic, respectively.
Public Agenda
The city's main agenda is to serve as a planar refuge and waystation for all outsiders who pass into the Material Plane, to give them all a place to rest, recuperate, and gather information and supplies before setting out on missions into the wider Material Plane.
Secondarily, it also serves as the home to the church of Sahariel, The Angel of Flowers, and also maintains its status as a free city open to all who seek refuge from the evils of the world, and who desire to serve the Goddess Sahariel or enter into her protection.
Assets
Though it is but one city, Sahar has a consider amount of wealth and manpower due to the incredible power of the outsiders who come to and from it on a regular basis. Its workers regularly mine into the nearby mountains that the city is built atop, excavating untold amounts of mineral wealth while it also has several extensive mountaintop fields it farms for food and freshwater.
It has no substantial standing army, but due to the nature of Sahariel, The Angel of Flowers being a true Goddess and the hundreds and even thousands of outsiders who make their home there, the city is almost impossible to find unless sought by those of pure intent and honest need...not to mention, it would be nearly impossible to conquer. After all, their goddess Sahariel is still a Goddess of War, despite her peaceful nature, and to assault her city would be tantamount to suicide.
History
Founded during the end of the Age of Barbarity after Sahariel's ascension to Godhood, The Ascendancy of Sahar was created with the intent of giving a home to all Mortals and Outsiders who wanted to escape their homes and live a life free of judgement or temptation under the protection of a Goddess...all who wished a chance at redemption or who wanted to live in peace were welcome in the newly founded Ascendancy, which was founded high in the mountains of the World Spine Mountain Range to deter any evildoers who would seek it out.
In time, the city went largerly unnoticed by any of the Material Plane save for the Mortals of various races who desperately wished to find safety from some threat, to live in peace, or who desired a guiding hand to lead them onto the correct path in their lives...it was not until the founding of The Eastern Imperium and the subsequent bequeathing of the World Spine Mountains to the newly formed vassal nation of the Imperium, The Matriarchy of Malhara, did Tamamo-No-Mae become aware of Sahar's existence.
Once she knew of it, she began and has not stopped trying to destroy it, kill Sahariel the Unifier, and get rid of what she sees as the one, sole threat to her rule in the east.
Demography and Population
The population of Sahar is incredibly diverse, with almost all living within its walls being either an Outsider or Mortal being. The Mortal Beings who travel to Sahar are often Ursini, Human, and Giants but can be from all walks of life while the Outsiders who dwell within Sahar can range wildly from Daemons, Demons, and Devils to Angels, Archons, Azatas, and even Proteans...no type of outsider is unwelcome in Sahar, and it is the only place in all the Planescape where these normally hostile outsiders exist in a tense, carefully maintained peace. These outsiders are of all kinds, and since they do not age they do not ever die of old age within the city's walls, though the Outsider population is often growing and shrinking constantly as they come and go on various tasks and missions. The Mortals here live long, full lives under the protection of Sahariel the Unifier, and the Birth rate is high while the Death rate is quite low.
Territories
Sahar is a single city perched somewhere atop the mountains of the southern World Spine Mountain Range, where it rules the small surrounding territory as its own. It holds little land and mostly focuses on hiding itself from the gaze of those who would seek to do it harm.
Military
The Ascendancy has little in the way of a true military to defend itself, as it has little need to. The various outsiders and mortals alike are sworn to defend the city should it be attacked as repayment for being allowed to visit there, and while there is a guard force and command structure to guide them in case a defense of the city is needed, the fact that Pit Fiends, Balors, Solars, and countless powerful outsiders live within Sahar's walls coupled with the overwhelming power of the Goddess of War Sahariel means that any attack on Sahar is doomed to quick and rapid failure unless it is backed by the Gods themselves.
Religion
The Sahar Ascendancy allows those who live there to worship any deity they believe in, but the main religion of the city is the worship of Sahariel, The Angel of Flowers. She is the city's patron Goddess, who rules it kindly and with grace...and while her own rule is that any other faith one might worship be kept to oneself and be kept non-intrusive into the lives of others, she promotes herself first and foremost as the only Goddess her citizens require.
Foreign Relations
Sahar prefers to keep itself hidden from the world and avoid matters of diplomacy, but it has a long-standing rivalry with The Eastern Imperium due to its location within the World Spine Mountains...a location the Imperium considers theirs. They are on especially bad terms with The Matriarchy of Malhara, the vassal nation of the Imperium which was granted the right to rule the entire mountain range by Tamamo-No-Mae. Malhara actively hunts Sahar out of a desire to crush and destroy it so that its rule over the Mountain Range might be truly complete, and the last true threat to the rule of their Goddess Tamamo-No-Mae, The Kitsune Queen is crushed and extinguished.
Agriculture & Industry
Sahar has an exhaustive mining operation built into the nearby mountains from which they extract countless rare and valuable ores and minerals and gemstones which are put to use in the forges, factories, and smithies around the city by the various citizens to create valuable works of art, and for other practical reasons. They have large mountaintop fields placed around the city's adjacent mountains where countless rare and exotic plants, fruits, vegetables, trees, and more are grown to both feed and serve as a source of income for the city.
Trade & Transport
The Ascendancy does not trade with any other nations or people on the Material Plane, as doing so would reveal their presence to the forces of The Matriarchy of Malhara and of Tamamo-No-Mae. Instead, they trade through planar gates to other extra-dimensional cities throughout the Planescape, such as cities in the Elemental Planes, in the Maelstrom, Hell, Abbadon, Heaven, and more. It is from this trade that they make their profit and gain new supplies and citizens from.
The city maintains many planar gates at all times to major cities on each plane, to better facilitate travel between planes for their outsider citizens who arrive only for a task they have on the Material Plane...however, these gates are said to be off-limits or restricted to the Mortal Residents of the city, out of concern for their safety. Additionally, there are said to be well-established, secret methods of traveling to the titanic city from anywhere within the Planescape, to those trusted by Sahariel and the Saharan Council.
Education
All citizens of Sahar, temporary or permanent, are given education in the laws and expectations foisted upon them while they dwell within its walls...such as how to treat other creatures, outsiders, and those they would normally attack on sight. For Mortals especially, they are all taught a profession if they did not have one already in an apprenticeship program which often places them with an experienced outsider who earns favor with the Ascendancy by teaching them a craft such as mining, alchemy, combat, or others. Likewise, Outsiders are often apprenticed to mortals to learn of their ways of life, to learn more about them, and of their culture to better foster a sense of unity.
Often, the citizens of the Ascendancy, Outsider and Mortal alike, are sent off on exchange programs to cities in other planes to learn more about the Planescape, about how to tolerate those they would normally slaughter on sight, and how to improve as an intelligent being...these exchanges often see Planetars sent off into Hell to mentor beneath a Pit Fiend in the ways of law, Balors sent off into Heaven to learn about redemption and goodness, and Mortals sent off to Abbadon to learn what awaits them after death if they sin.
Infrastructure
The Ascendancy is a highly sophisticated city, one as titanic and massive as a small country, and one that has many invaluable technologies that make its quality of life unparalleled across the Planescape and especially within the Material Plane. It has plumbing, sophisticated sewers, Aquaducts, well kept roads, bridges, good public security, towering walls made of the most durable material in all the Planes, and more.
Additionally, the city of Sahar, Capital of the Ascendancy, is said to be a city as big as a nation, with an ever expending layout that exists in its own seperate dimension where it can grow bigger or smaller to accommodate its growing or shrinking population...though it is anchored to the Material Plane, it is said to be nearly unending and large enough that it would take a mortal months to explore it entirely, and would take a week to walk from one end to another.
Unity and Coexistence
Founding Date
773 AF
Type
Geopolitical, City-state
Alternative Names
The Ascendancy, Sahar, The City of a Thousand Doors, The City of Outsiders, The Infinite City
Demonym
Saharan
Leader
Head of State
Government System
Democracy, Representative
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Barter system
Currency
There is no central currency in Sahar, as it relies on a barter system for its economy. Anything from Souls to Gold can be traded here, as well as vague things such as emotions, promises, and beliefs.
Major Exports
Sahar mostly exports mostly its mineral wealth and exotic foodstuffs to other cities across the Planescape, which it uses to barter for other more exotic planar goods, materials, and currency to keep its markets flowing and its city operational.
Major Imports
Sahar imports little other than exotic planar goods, materials, and currency.
Legislative Body
Ultimately, the creation of laws is left up to Sahariel the Unifier as the Queen and Goddess of the country, but in practice she usually lets the Saharan council make and write the laws and rules of the city unless she has a reason to do so herself.
Judicial Body
Ultimately, the interpretation of laws is left up to Sahariel the Unifier as the Queen and Goddess of the country, but in practice she usually lets the Saharan council do so unless she has a reason to do so herself.
Deities
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
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