Kenahai
"One thousand times the enemies of God and Goodness will flood upon our holy city, and a thousand times they will break. This is the holy home of Ishkibal, the unbreachable sanctum of a thousand walls. It gives us strength, and we sacrifice to build it ever higher. As long as we hold true to our part of this compact, goodness will never fall to evil hands." - Her Emience, Seristra V
"This is my home. It is my body, which I left behind to guard you. My love for it brought goodness from the hearts of demons. May you love it in my stead." - Ishkibal
"Beware the city of Heretic's Throne, for the demon gods have cursed the land and given their warriors inhuman strength. No glory is to be won there. All bravery turns to foolishness upon its walls. Turn back" - Priest Keli of Nekiton to Lady Vizatha the Gloryhound in the novel Tragedy in Silver
Kenahai is the capital of the Holy State of Rukray, the holy city of Ishkibism, and a city personally blessed by Halcyon. When under attack by non-believers, those loyal to the city are blessed to have their strength and durability increased tenfold - allowing even the feeble to engage in legendary heroics. The faiths of Orthodox Desmianism and Halikvar both desperately want to conquer the city, but both have failed repeatedly.
The great walls of Kenahai rise over the misty forests and swamps of the riverlands. These white-stone walls circle one another, and massive citadels rise over them all. The fortifications reach out far from the city center, expanding the city into pockets of orbiting half-city. Walled fields and small forts link together in a great sprawl that crawls across the land in every direction possible, throwing together as many layers of defenses and settlement as possible.
This first, semi-rural layer of Kenahai is known as the Outercity. The districts of the outer city are all their own little farming towns. Each district has a small urban center around the main road to the Innercity and its own militia that helps maintain and protect the walls. During times of plague, these districts also serve as quarantine zones, as each is designed to be cut off from the rest if captured. The most fortified points of these fortified districts are the irrigation towers: towers that serve as the water control center, where irrigation water is brought in from other districts for farming. Needless to say, these irrigation towers tend to be near the main town and usually double as the local temple and militia headquarters.
The enormous whitestone walls known as the Arinen Walls mark the entrance to the Innercity. This is the bustling urban heart of Kenahai, full of merchants and pilgrims and artisans. The Innercity is also segmented by large walls, with the outermost layer being the largest and most accessible. This is where the river docks are located and where the great Pilgrim's Market can be found. It is a great hub of languages, with signs in a dozen tongues, with pilgrims and paladins from around the world bustling through. The second major layer is the Cathedral District, heart of the Ishkibite First Temple. This layer is half military and half priestly (though it also houses the local guild halls), and is full of barracks and holy shrines. Pilgrims wait in the city for weeks to be given access to this layer, as it houses some of the holiest sites in all of Ishkibism. The Sepulchre of the Sacred Blood, for example, is a massive tomb-shrine for the family of Ishkibal (and Ishkibal himself). The Shrine of the Holy Word is a museum-shrine to the first copies of the original Ishkibite holy texts. The Garden of Purity meanwhile is a much-whispered-about garden where silence is mandatory that supposedly houses the remains of Autumn, the first dryad convert, as well as parts of the Demon God Halcyon.
And the heart of the city are the citadels where the leadership of the church, city, and state reside and operate from. One of these citadels houses the Parliament of Rukray, one houses the Temple leadership, and one houses the Holy Family.
Demographics
Government
The top authority here is the Eminence, or supreme leader, of Ishkibism (currently Seristra V directly below them is the Heavenly Princess, descendant of Ishkibal (currently Tamangara III). But they are more focused on country-wide or religion-wide policy than the day-to-day of the city itself.
Much of the local government is managed by the Lord Guardian, an appointed position by the Eminence that is typically someone with both military rank and local administrative experience. Beneath the Lord Guardian are two representatives of the main governing forces of the city: the Guild Halls and the military. The current Lord Guardian is Lupra Soltaza, an openly corrupt member of the old guard that has managed to escape notice by keeping her head down and affirming her loyalty to the right people during the current civil war.
Defences
The city of Kenahai is ludicrously well-defended, to the point where other parts of Rukray consider it excessive and costly. The Outercity walls are not that impressive in size or durability, but are rather designed to make attacking across all of them a complete pain. They are community maintained and manned, but each can lock itself off from the rest to make an invader have to go through dozens of tiny sieges before even approaching the city. As these Outercity defenses can also allow artillery to fire on river vessels or allow for the launching of skirmishing vessels along the river, any kind of river-side attack will also suffer constant harassment and can be easily encircled. This also makes blockading Kenahai excruciating and unsustainable. The Outercity also serves an important purpose in feeding the city, making sieges
The Innercity's great outer walls, constructed many centuries ago by Her Eminence Arina II, have also lasted the tests of time as marvels of architecture. It would take a great host of artillery to pummel through them, and even great ladders to scale them. Once again, the city within has walls to segment in attackers and contain any breech. No army has ever tested this system, though.
These defenses are more testaments of faith than actual necessities thanks to the Blessing of Halcyon. The Architect Halcyon granted Kenahai a boon for Ishkibal's sake: to give the defenders of Kenahai tenfold power in battle. This allows its defenders to engage in superhuman feats of battle-prowess when faced with enemies of the city. This has given Kenahai a reputation as an un-conquerable city. Orthodox Desmian armies stopped trying to attack the city directly centuries ago - they seek to bankroll dissent and attack the supporting countryside instead to slowly undermine the city until it is possible to eventually starve out. And yet, there have been attempts, from a tiny Kivish fleet to Halikvar invaders.
Industry & Trade
Kenahai is a center of manufacturing and trade. It has a large agrarian sector to be true, with farms growing maize, rice, dates, citrus, pistachios, amaranth, and avocados. But much of its economy runs on smithing, carpentry, pottery, and peddling. Pilgrims bring trade goods from around the world, as do Selkie fleets.
Infrastructure
Kenahai's infrastructure has been very deliberated designed and rebuilt many times: its roads follow a nice grid pattern and it has a robust sewer system and irrigation system. The sewer system even has their own security team, a group of Prisms known as the Underguards that are given great autonomy and pay to keep the sewer system clean and defensible. This only really extends through the Innercity and the nearby Outercity - the rest of the irrigation/sewer system is more open and community-managed.
In order to water the city, a massive underground water filtration system is used to treat riverwater and wastewater. This system utilizes sand and shoal filters to slowly remove impurities from the water, to augment the rainwater reserves and well water already available.
Guilds and Factions
The guilds of Kenahai are a major force here, but so is the military: military quotas drive a lot of guild organization and production, and military contracts decide which guilds rise and fall politically.
Kenahai also hosts the Samvaran Healing Church, which produces healing potions in considerable amounts. Kenahai is the only city in Rukray with a Healing Church outpost, as the rest of the realm is deemed too dangerous.
The priesthood runs the courts here and makes the laws, but is so deeply interwoven with the military that its hard to separate the two.
Tourism
Ishkibite pilgrims from around the world visit Kenahai, to view the holiest sites, absolve themselves of sin, and defend the holy city to guarantee their ascent to Paradise after death. Many of these pilgrims are from the Kingdom of Asalay, the lands of Eastern Izekra, the fringe of Boram, Northwestern Desmia, Arvea, and Maradia. Some are not from official Ishkibite temples, though: Ishkibal is revered as a Lunar God in many religions, and many desperate people from around the world come to Kenahai in hopes of earning his favor and blessings.
Architecture
The sloping wood-and-tile roofs of Kenahai are perfect for the rainy season. Many of these are elaborate gable roofs, while others are very simple triangular roofs. Pyramids are a popular shape here associated with cats and fertility, so many temples and agricultural buildings have pyramid roofing. Cat-temples with pyramids are extremely common on top of other buildings, and often include what are basically cat apartments. Communities maintain these for free as long as the cats hunt all vermin and snakes in the area.
Courtyards are also common, especially in the building-dense neighborhoods of the inner city.
Geography
Kenahai sits along the Southern bank of the River Kelben in the wet subtropical riverlands of Northern Rukray. 17 miles to the South is the Kindala River, and the sea is around 7 miles to the East. The upper citadels of Kenahai are on a series of 3 hills around 300 miles above sea level; the Outercity is in the surrounding flatlands, mostly along the river.
Founding Date
-700 DE
Alternative Name(s)
Heretic's Throne
Type
Large city
Population
400,000
Inhabitant Demonym
Kenain
Location under
Owning Organization
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments