Suwirsha (Soo-wersh-uh)
The City of the Sun
"Beware All Who Enter Here, You walk into the body of a Goddess. No truths can hide from her light. All who hope to hide their words or deeds, turn back now." - The gate inscription of Suwirsha, carved on every entrance
Suwirsha is the city of light, the sacred capital of Ayshanism and the Empire of Shirpatra. It is a bustling metropolis, a massive city that many across Northern Samvara flock to live in. It is currently at its maximum capacity, with new potential residents invited to live in Shirpatra's towns and cities - the Goddess Aysha who rules this city refuses to allow more people to live here than can be sustained in a humane way. Some visitors insist on trying to move here anyways regardless by living out of traveler's inns or setting up shacks at the corners of the city, and these unregistered citizens are a constant headache for the bureaucracy.
Suwirsha is the physical body of the Goddess Aysha - her voice can emanate from any part of it, and she can turn her look or listen through any part of the city's architecture. The Goddess usually makes her presence known if she is paying particular attention to one building or another, though she has been known to keep quiet when spying on criminal operations. Aysha cannot move the city per say, but she can ignite or extinguish lights, and direct light in particular directions. Aysha spends most of her time focused on her original body - a massive ornate lighthouse in the Northeastern corner of the city, near the Brightport.
As for the actual layout of Suwirsha, the city is a carefully designed grid. Each block of the city is zoned for different uses (such as residential purposes, workshops, or free commerce), with regular parks and public fountains regularly interspersed. Much of the city is painted or plastered white, and the city can outright shine during the summertime, pushing many people into the public parks and state-subsidized community gardens.
The flow of the city is unlike any other - people have radically different sleep cycles here, and 24/7 vendors have cropped up to accommodate the perpetual cycle of work and play. This is made possible by the famous city lights: lampposts akin to small lighthouse totems line the streets, which are effectively tiny lighthouses of Aysha that magically illuminate the pedestrian roads during the night. Similarly, public community centers light up at night near the parks, each with their own larger light of Aysha that is used to both allow for public recreation and to feed solars that have yet to receive Aysha's blessings. Several of these community centers have opened up public libraries in recent years; others have opened up dance halls, that use Aysha's light for a bedazzled dance floor. Even beyond this free public lighting, continual magical flames are unusually common here - it is not unusual for an established family to have one, or for a wealthy family to have many, to make night-time living clean and easy. No smoke, no costly fuel, no hassle.
Between the glamorous churches, the sacred shrines, the magical night life, and the beautiful city, it is no wonder that many people (Ayshan or no) seek out Suwirsha as a place to visit or live.Demographics
Government
The head of government here is none other than the Goddess Aysha herself, Goddess of the Sun and spirit of the city itself. Beneath Aysha is the bureaucracy, which runs like clockwork under the watchful eye of the Goddess and her divine-blooded children - the Sarajas. One of the Sarajas, Latija Saraja, is particularly involved in Suwirshan administration. This isn't a full-time occupation of Latija's, but they tend to swoop in at the first sign of trouble to nip problems with hints of potential seriousness in the bud.
There are two formal leaders of Suwirsha's bureaucracy: the High Priest of the Ayshan Church of Suwirsha, and the High Ephor of Suwirsha. The High Priest is a solar by the name of Fortune from the Of-Founder's clan; an eccentric and sometimes contrarian priest who is brilliant with numbers and theology alike. They tend to leave an impression - they are known as "the Jester of the church" for their insistence on using humor and mockery in unexpectedly serious situations.
The High Ephor, meanwhile, is an older solar by the name of Tavala who is known as a stern and dedicated bureaucrat known for their dignity and decorum - the polar opposite of Fortune in appearance and demeanor. Tavala is an aggressively Ayshan person who has somehow maintained an idealistic worldview despite being a city bureaucrat for centuries. They run their departments well, having found urban planning and management as a truly fulfilling purpose, and they seem immensely proud of their job to the point of arrogance. Tavala's greatest weak point is crimefighting - they keep down street crime by keeping a clean city with little scarcity, but their trusting nature and logistical focus makes them very bad at finding financial crime outside of their direct chain of command. And the white collar crime has done its best to reach done to the streets, something that the old solar has not been entirely prepared for.
Defences
Suwirsha is a city with gorgeous gates, but no outer walls. Instead, there are blockhouses at gates between districts that could be fortifications, and which contain access to underground bunkers in case of major fires or threats. Bandits could certainly be dissuaded by these blockhouses, which are fortified and contain city guards; invaders probably would not be.
Suwirsha's more serious defenses are pointed towards the sea: ocean-facing fortifications dot the coastline, typically in the form of larger versions of the blockhouses, and walls lock off the docks from the inner city to make amphibious assaults slightly tougher. The walls and blockhouses are relatively small - the walls have never been used to fight off invaders, but are instead used to contain foreign sailors and shipments for dock inspections. The blockhouses along the coast mainly serve to act as barracks and supply centers for the Liberators - the Shirpatran navy and anti-piracy force. There is one real military installation amidst all this - Milen's Demise, a large fortress that is the central point of the district known as Otter's Grave. Milen's Demise hosts a large military presence and is actually up-to-date in its defensive architecture and technology.
Industry & Trade
Suwirsha is a bustling city of trade and low-level manufacturing. From fishing to weaving to smelting to inkmaking, one can find virtually any craft in the city of light. In terms of low-level wage work, the sugar plant that turns sugar beets into processed sugar in the Southwestern corner of the city is a profitable (if somewhat dangerous) work for newcomers. There are also diamond mines in the hills to the South, though these have largely run out of gems and mostly mine prism-food and quarry stone. Safer jobs also include textiles washing, which tends to be done by merchant companies in large established washes rather than the usual by-family free-for-all that many cities have. For more established residents, the weaver's guild is always looking for new hands, and the butcher's guild and leatherworker guild are rising in prominence and positions as of late. While large workshops do exist (such as the washing-houses and the sugar plant), most guild work is done in small workshops.
The Three Market's District, inland of the main port, is the major center of commerce. While small residential markets are scattered through the city, bulk commerce is directed towards one of the three main markets: the Small's Market (for peddlers, individuals seeking to sell goods or services, or small-time workshops), the Brilliant Bazaar (for foreign merchants and goods), and the Imperial Square (for major merchants from around Shirpatra and the greater Ayshan world). While not every seller or buyer follows the rules for who sells where, the city has been able to softly encourage a system that more-or-less self organizes.
Infrastructure
Suwirsha's infrastructure is top-notch. The roads are pristine and include both mount-only prepared wood-and-dirt trading roads and pedestrian cobblestone roads. The roads and buildings here are insulated from a fair amount of decay by being part of Aysha, keeping everything supernaturally functional over the centuries. The fact that the people are fairly healthy and have the free time to get involved locally certainly helps give the place a sense of healthy chaos rather than the usual urban pollution.
Helping keep everything healthy is the water and sewer system, which combines technologies perfected by the Kima Cities with other methods from around the world. Water flows through a series of underground aqueducts into a series of cisterns, which keep the water pure through sand filtration and regular cleaning. Deep wells also connect Aysha to the aquifer below the city, though these deeper groundwaters are used with care. Wastewater is also kept underground in a combined sewer system, where sand filters and magical purification is used to try and recycle as much water safely as possible. Rather than open sewer systems, copper piping is used to move clean and polluted water around the city - virtually all houses in Suwirsha have indoor toilets and water access. In case of pipe issues, public fountains also provide freshwater for drinking or item washing. Some houses even have indoor baths, though most people use public bathhouses instead.
How does Suwirsha's infrastructure work so well despite the city being so large? The answer is Aysha, mostly - the Goddess is acutely aware of breaks and problems, and specially designed and improved this city to be the best it could be. It also requires the bureaucracy working like clockwork - Suwirsha may be Aysha, but it is built and maintained by everyone in it.
Guilds and Factions
The Ayshan Church: The Church of Ayshanism is a massive political and social force in Suwirsha.
The Solar Clans: The solar clans, based out of the Fisherway, are a force for traditional order in Suwirsha. They provide healing and magical services, and care for many of the wayward solars who crawl into Suwirsha looking for a place to stay. Many consider them synonymous with the church, but this is mistaken - the clans are far more fickle and ritualistic, and are easily slighted.
The Sugar Barons: The sugar barons are the big merchants of the present order, the big new money whose influence winds up everywhere. Their loans fund local businesses, their gold keeps the guilds enthralled. They also have a lucrative friendship with the Healing church, who they help produce healing potions. Thanks to this friendship, the baron's reach is vast and their private forces include the heavily-regulated Dhampires of Suwirsha.
The Khilaian Outpost: If the Sugar Barons are local money, the selkies are the foreign money. Foreign merchants who want a peace of the pie and don't want to work with the sugar barons (who tend to get rather finnicky about foreign coin, given that it has been known to get people arrested) go to the khilaian outpost on the nearby island of Sechara to make their deals.
The Meat-Wizard Alliance: Suwirsha took an influx of Stildanian and Desmian refugees in the 1600s and early 1700s, including a number of Kobolds. These Kobolds got very into two businesses: meat packing and wizardry. These connections to the butcher's guild and wizarding academy have offered the descendants of these refugees a path to local political power, and the two institutions have been close over the centuries.
Tourism
Suwirsha loves the tourist money, hates the tourists. Pilgrims, sightseers, and wanderers alike find their way to Suwirsha to see the cathedrals, glimpse the lighthouse of Aysha, see the magic lights, and maybe go to some parties. Some seek wisdom, some seek healing, others seek a fun time, all pack into the portside taverns and hostels. When these establishments hit capacity, new makeshift ones spring up across the edges of town, harboring illegal tourists that can be sometimes of a menace.
While every Suwirshan, regardless of community, complains about tourists and pilgrims, the city continues to support them nonetheless. Healing is often given; trinkets are sold; local eateries and entertainers turn a profit.
Architecture
Suwirsha's buildings are famous for their use of white marble and red sandstone, with the outside of most normal buildings plastered white. Domes are a common feature, including domed pavilions (similar to real life chhatris) in parks or on rooftops. Entrances typically have large overhanging eaves or large rectangular vaults, and doors often have wooden screens (sometimes with bug netting) attached in front. Horseshoe arches are extremely common as well. Small spires or carved poles that imitate Aysha's lighthouse are common religious icons found along the edges of rooftops (both as signs of devotion, and as spiritual icons to guide the residents safely home from journeys).
Monumental buildings tend to go big with the domes and spires (the newer ones being more focused on gold-leafed domes), and tend to mix the white plaster with a great deal of other colors. Radiating gardens are a common way of demonstrating monumental power - the great palaces and cathedrals of Suwirsha draw their visitors slowly upwards, where the surrounding gardens below are curated to invoke radiating sunlight.
Geography
Suwirsha occupies the Northern flatlands at the end of the Enjel peninsula. The city spans 10 miles of coastline and extends about 2 miles in - it is a sprawling city that has expanded outwards more than upwards. A little over half a mile off the coast of the city is Sechara Isle - a 2.5 by 1 mile across island with two small towns at either end. Sechara Isle is home to the Khilaian selkie outpost, and is something of a haven for sailors and merchants seeking a little more breathing room than the Three Market district would allow.
To the East of Suwirsha is the Sarshama Bay - a pleasant and calm little bay with turquoise waters and famous beaches, beloved by the aristocracy of Shirpatra. Two small towns sit along the Bay: Sulun Town, which is essentially an outpost for large-scale sugar production and Alchemy run by cooperation between the Healing Church and the Sugar barons; and Noktinar, an ancient town that was once the center of political power in the region, that is one of the Old Towns of the empire bound by its own ancient laws. Noktinar has become a hub for princes across Shirpatra to vacation, and hosts major sporting events annually for boat racing, horse racing, and archery.
To the North of the city are a series of 5 islands, the largest and most prosperous of which is Naria. Naria is also an Old Town, whose specialty cheeses are known to sell at ludicrous prices (possibly off of prestige more than anything else). To the far Northeast, the town of Tokanda is a growing settlement divided between an Old Town and an Imperial Town. Surplus population set on moving to Suwrisha is often shifted there first before being distributed to the other Shirpatran settlements.
As for the actual city, a run down of the districts would be:
- The Brightport - the great docks where newcomers are directed; a bit wilder than the rest of the city
- The Three Markets District - the center of commerce and nightlife, the downtown of Suwirsha
- The Church District - center of the clergy, government, and bureaucracy, a place for pilgrims; impossible to dock along, as a sharp reef off the coast makes sailing dangerous
- Oldtown - the first designated residential district, known for being less of a grid and much more eclectic; the rent-controlled apartments here are a hub for artists
- The Old Cowtown - originally a satellite town for cattle ranchers to graze, trade, and butcher; now a full part of the city very much entangled with the butcher's guild and animal products. Home to the Kobold community that was brought from Stildane in the early 1700s ME
- Bayward Point - originally another satellite community closer to Noktinar, Bayward Point became a place for ritzier Shirpatrans to open city estates in in the 1300s. It has inherited that elite reputation, though parts have become middle class. Hosts the wizarding academy now.
- The Fisherway - a series of small docks connected to residential districts. Similar to Oldtown in layout. Has its own culture that one might call 'traditionalist Suwirshan' that is very into rituals. Also has a very large solar population, with each of the major clans operating a temple-estate.
- The Inner Quarter - a place of great apartments and workshops carefully designed for optimized city living. Taller buildings can be found here and everything is very grid-locked.
- The Diamond District - hilly terrain verging on mountainous, littered with old mines. Some mines continue, but many sewer and city cleaning workers live here as well now.
- Straightport - brightport's younger, less prestigious sibling. Very selkie-oriented.
- The Outer Quarter - The Inner Quarter's more sprawling cousin. Known for its large "secular Pratasam" and "secular Halikvar" communities, who operate a large farm in the center of it.
- Shiretown - a densely agricultural area of the city, home to produce markets and in-city fields. Is it in the city or out? Despite everyone saying it is in, Aysha isn't even connected to it all, so jury's out
- Otter's Grave - a military port, full of smiths and barracks and shipwrights. Also has the Grave of the Emperor - a temple-monument to Milen, who supposedly died on these shores.
Natural Resources
The Diamond ridge, the hills along the Southern portion of the city, were once rich with gemstones. These have largely run out, though bits of precious metal and gems do occasionally come out of the prism-food mines there.
Founding Date
200 ME
Alternative Name(s)
The City of the Sun,
Type
Metropolis
Population
400,000
Inhabitant Demonym
Suwirshan
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
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