Drystan (Dris-tan)
"Winds be my voice, Sands be my hands, Clay and Metal be my bones, and Earth be my fury!"Afallon's environment can be broken down into three biomes: The Oases that're lush from the rivers and coastlines, the Lifesands that contain a lot of biodiversity even if a bit rougher, and the Deathsands where life of all kinds fight to survive. Most of the Desertfolk, the oldest recorded culture within Afallon, make constant voyages throughout the nation and all three biomes, learning how to best survive even in the harshest parts of the Deathsands. However, with the rise of civilization and the ruling class of "enlightened" Afallonians, these wandering tribes were cast out of the Oases and many of the best parts of the Lifesands as restrictive civilizations grew and grew. Eventually, an act of righteous fury gave birth to one of the earliest, and strongest, civilizations within the Deathsands, the walled city of Drystan. While it's developed over the years in many ways, the cities massive sloped walls not only keep the city safe from the harsh winds and cutting squalls of sand, but also collects that sand as well to be repurposed in various ways. Despite the social attitude and plight of the Desertfolk having changed over the years, the Deathsands are still a harsh environment, some might say even harsher than before. Yet in that arid and unforgiving stretch of land, Drystan stands as a safe harbor in the darkness for all those who wander.
Demographics
Most of the citizens of Drystan are Gemborne and Fiendborne, with Sun Elves and Humans following closely after. There is also a notable population of Earthkin within the city. Most of the citizens are adults, ranging from 30 and upwards, and most of them are part of the Desertfolk culture.
Government
City Seer of Drystan has never been a highly sought-after position, as the area is rife with troubles, environmental and otherwise, but it is a job that needs done regardless. But, given that this lack of interest results in many members of the infrastructure being quite hands off if not entirely uncommitted to their job, much of the community deals with things internally, having their own un-official leaders, protective workers, accountants, and more without needing to bother with the ineffective Seers.
Defences
Aside from the large, sloped walls that make up the environmental and military defenses of the city, Drystan also has a dedicated contingent of Mawrth Seers for inner-city peacekeeping and outer-city defense when the moment requires, plus many tactical stations within and near the city along with them being built into the walls.
Industry & Trade
Drystan's biggest appeal is being a simple place for wanderers to rest while making their way through the deserts. Therefore, their hospitality districts, navigators, merchants, and medical sectors are all well regarded due to their immediate benefit for those wanderers. The increase in "tourism" overall doesn't hurt the other industries either, especially the merchants and craftsmen who do their best to create a unique Drystan type flair for souvineers.
The art industry especially is a well-loved and blooming piece of the city, as intricate glassworkers and colored sand artists have ample resources to work their craft within the city, and various smiths and manufacturers have gotten a boost at the same time.
Infrastructure
The most key piece of infrastructure for the city are the massive walls surrounding the city, sloped and terraced to catch and disperse the often raging sandstorms. The terraced levels of the walls also include drainpipes for the sand that gets stuck within them, which gathers in specific chambers within the walls. This easily provides sand for various purposes such as glassblowing or dying. The city also has plumbing and limited irrigation where they can as well as magical systems powered by solar collection crystals situated along the length of the walls.
Districts
Drystan has seven full districts, being:
- Merchants District for general stores and goods shops
- Dawn Quarters as one of the residential districts
- Faiths Place as the district for many of the civic and religous places
- Midday Quarters as another residential district paired with Dusk Quarters
- Wanderers Rest for the hospitality district
- And lastly Night Quarters which breaks the trend by not being a residential district, but instead being the artisans and crafters district.
History
After Afallon developed more of its original infrastructure set in the Oases or Lifesands, the people of the desert had two choices, either join the civilizations there or be subjected to the harsh conditions of the Deathsands, made even harsher by the fact that these civilizations would steal away many of the other wandering desertfolk who could aid eachother. As years went by, the number of wandering desertfolk tribes dwindled down into near-zero, with the few that remained being shunned and subject to propoganda, for which sane person would wish to remain in the deathsands? Of course, no mind was given to the fact that those sands were their homes, as harsh as they could be, and their pilgrimages across various ruins was a task of great importance. But what did that matter to the oh-so-noble "Enlightened" who set up those civilizations in the oases?
Even after the Three Kingdoms Alliance, these points of contention still remained. By the -2500's EE, a few of the wandering desertfolk groups had begun to resort to theft in order to survive, as they were either outright banned or restricted from the oases, and the change in mortal interaction had changed the deserts usual ecosystem for the worse. On one fateful day, a particularly aggressive platoon of Mawrth Seers had been hunting down a small group of thieves who had taken off with a popular merchants shipment.
As that group ran from the guards endlessly, not even being able to stop and make use of their bounty, they eventually wandered deep into the southern death sands, far off their usual safe course. They would have been buried beneath it, if not found by the Ṣindīd tribe, one of the last full tribes remaining, and their young Rāʼid, Hayat. She was recounted as a strict and blunt young woman, but an empathetic one nonetheless, and brought the five thieves into their fold while they recovered.
While many questioned the decision, the Ṣindīd had constantly been shamed and attacked by the Mawrth Seers whenever they ventured too close to the lifesands, as they wanted to break the biggest of the few tribes that remained. They had already lost so many, including Hayat's parents, they had nothing to lose by helping the thieves. Upon waking up, the thieves felt an odd mix of shame, gratitude, and regret and decided to join the tribe and fully offer what they had taken to the rest of the tribe.
However, no good act goes unpunished, and the Mawrth Seers were being pushed to find the theives at all costs for the sake of the merchants ego. By the time they had caught up to the Ṣindīd tribe, they had gained enough troops and enough ire to launch a full-scale assult, especially once the stolen supplies had been dispersed amongst the whole tribe. As the fighting began, arrows rained down from the sand dunes, and swiftly moving assassins wreaked havoc in the midst of the tribe.
As the people panicked around her, Hayat did her best to keep them all calm and coordinate defensive actions, but the land had boxed them in and the Mawrth Seers knew it. Trying to atone for their actions, the five thieves offered themselves up to the knights to avoid more bloodshed. For their trouble, they were slowly killed one-by-one by archers. Once they had all fallen, however, the assult on the Ṣindīd tribe was ordered to continue until they were all wiped out. A cleansing of the "unenlightened" and a warning to others of their kind.
In a burst of rage Hayat, who was already a well-trained and practiced Druid, reached into the peak potential of her abilities, nearly becoming one with the land itself. She wracked the dunes with earthquakes, making their structure fall and the land crack beneath them. She flattened the land her people walked on so that it would not splinter and trap their feet. And most importantly, from the stone, clay, and metals beneath the ground, she melded together a massive domed wall, taller than any of the sand dunes, that would protect her people from the arrows.
It was a risky move, and one that knocked her out for a week afterwards, but the army had been routed, and this great feat of magic bought the tribe time to recoup their losses, and prepare their new defenses. Many of them left, continuing on their journey, planning what identities to take and how to best disguise, but many of them decided that they would stay behind and make these new walls their home. They would not bow the knee to the civlizations of Afallon, but they would refuse to be picked off and shunned by them either. Hayat, once she had recovered, agreed to stay behind for this very reason and make these defenses a proper home.
And so were the walls of Drystan first raised. They would be fortified and redesigned many times, and the defenses would grow into a proper city before long. During, and even past, Hayat's life, the city would remain a safe haven to any wanderer or traveller, distinct and in opposition to Afallonian society and customs, bordering on self-sovereignity. The relationships between them would be hostile, but very few wish to even venture far enough in the deathsands to reach the city.
As time went on, the animosity has long since been relatively smoothed. Around 642 EE reperations began to be made to the desertfolk as a whole, and the archaic laws that binded them were lifted, with those who tried to ennact them met with proper punishment. Due to this, the Rāʼid at the time decided that allegiance would be better than continued conflicts, and Drystan was integrated into the rest of Afallon, with the Rāʼid being given the title of City Seer, with the modern government infrastructure following suit.
In the modern day, many desertfolk feel that despite the changes, the "enlightened" class haven't actually learned the lessons of history, especially in the wake of the events leading to Edicts of Restriction. This is especially true in Drystan, as the population are rather distrustful of the Seer system and it's beauracracy, and have set up many community resources and offices on their own terms to circumvent them. Only time will tell if history will repeat itself, or if Drystan will remain a sanctuary in the sands for all.
Geography
The land that Drystan is on wasn't a habitable place at first, until the actions of the founder, a powerful druid, rendered it flat and stable, and built the first walls. The repeated use of druidic magic as well as inventions such as irrigation and advancements in horticulture have allowed for greater creation of farmland, but it's still a tough job.
The area around the city is littered with tall sand dunes, unstable cracked valleys of clay and dirt, and occasional ravines of old rivers and cracked fault lines. While there are two active rivers near the city, the closer one to the south-east and a further one to the north-west, they are past a trecherous stretch of ravines hidden by these steep sand dunes, making them hard to utilize properly.
Climate
Drystan is subject to many arid and dry seasons combined with hot winds. The nights stay much cooler, although in the winter it can veer towards the inhospitably frigid, although the dryness keeps it from getting snowy like Laputa to the northwest.
Natural Resources
Despite being mostly arid and inhospitable land, many craftsmen have made use of the sand blowing through the region, and if you know where to look and how to harvest it the land has an abundance of clays with a variety of qualities such as brittleness, water retention, malleability, etc. The ravines that open up in the region also give access to minerals and ore veins plus the occasional gemstone vein, but venturing through them takes some skill and effort.
Founding Date
-1922 EE
Founders
Alternative Name(s)
Southern Sanctuary
Type
Large city
Population
233,465
Inhabitant Demonym
Drysts
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
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