Harbourhead
The Gurakani Ohrta ended their sweep westwards on the shores of the Opal Coast, and upon sacking what was then the port town of Mizrah four generations ago, renamed the city Harbourhead. Now a center of trade for the central Coral Sea, Harbourhead is the de-facto capitol of the province, and has become wealthy indeed on trade, far more than the ruling Gurakani Khanate ever was when they razed a path across the countryside a century and a half ago.
Demographics
The primary inhabitants of Harbourhead are the Gurakani, who have ruled since their conquest of what remained of the city during the Kommenian restoration, and the native Ismay, who founded the city duing the fourth era. The ruling clans have since managed most of the running of the city, taking taxes from the harbor and trading favors in the court of the Baig Khan. The clans who held less political favor when the city was taken have fared less well, and have for the past few decades grumbled rather loudly about returning to the way Gurakani are 'supposed' to live, each man knowing the feeling of his horse beneath him, of the wind in his hair, taking sacrifices for the gods from the lowlanders in raids, so that young men can earn wealth and glory before his khan. This rather idealistic view of a more noble nomadic past, has made some ground among young lowborn Gurakani. The Ismay, for their part, are trying to hold onto the memory of Mizrah, before the Ohrta came. While the older generations are resentful, younger generations are less so, having almost completely lost the institutional memory of the Gurakani conquest. The Ismay, after all, have benefitted greatly from the Pax. The Gurakani have no cultural tradition of sailing, being an nomadic tribe originating several hundred miles inland. The Ismay, on the other hand, have been sailing since, according to their reckoning, the second era. As Consortium and Imperial trade have made the city wealthy since then, it has been on Ismay ships that the city has sent the Tax, and Ismay sailors that have risen far in eyes of Consortium merchants. Harbourhead is a fairly cosmopolitan place, and it's streets team with a dozen peoples. The Kasbalika Patriari family has a strong presence in Harbourhead, and have effectively installed themselves as the real power behind the Khanate, with Iskandar III widely, and perhaps inaccurately, thought of as their pawn.
The major nonhuman groups in the city include the Hamzan Loxodon, who joined the Ohrta early on. They are considered by the Gurakani to be clan, and their Khan, Mir Muhmet, has advised the last three Khan Baigs in matters of war and state since the days of conquest. Intermarriage between the Gurakani and the Loxodon for political reasons is not uncommon, but considered eccentric and unusual as a love marriage. The Rzip are a small family of Drow that landed on the Opal coast shortly after the instability in Arkglenn following the second Godswar, and by some sort of geographic anomaly as a result of the spacial aftereffects of the titanic forces unleashed in 0 4E, ended up almost on the other side of the world. They quickly ingratiated themselves as talented wizards, and have since carved out a niche for themselves as weatherworkers in the city, even managing to muscle out the imperial Fellowship of the Thundering Cloud. Lastly, a large contingent of the Bloodfin tribe of Locathoa have emigrated to the city following the imperial conquest, and now live in the harbor, enforcing their usual militant pollution standards, and keeping their bullhead tuna herds grazing in the bottom of the harbor.
Government
Harbourhead is ruled by Khan Beig, or a grand king, a hereditary title which descends by agnatic primogeniture through the Tamer clan. The Gurakani have long practiced tanistry, in which a second male is elected by all men of the clan to serve as a second-in-command, and default regent in the event of the Khan Beig's untimely death. The current tanist is Tamur Barlos ah-Khan, a well-respected, charismatic young man almost wholly without ambition, with an air of wistful nostalgia for glories of the Ohrta. This, in the eyes of many of the lower clans, makes him nearly perfect as a ruler, if only the Khan Beig were to die. The trouble is that Barlos is a rather inept administrator, and, while a capable horseman and warrior, an abysmal tactician. He is, to his credit, aware of this, and desperately hopes never to have to take the throne as regent, despite the honor his post brings to his ancestors. The Khan Beig holds court frequently, and adjudicates all decisions brought before him for a few hours every day, no matter how low the birth of the petitioner. He is assisted in ruling by a council of advisors, both appointed, and the current Khan of each of the six major clans. His current appointees include his Sinescaloi, Dafid ban Sauk Ab Sicaria, a soft spoken Sassacaid, and Mizhan Alexios Kasbalikos">, whose counsel the Khan Beig takes regularly.
Alexios is a Patriari, entrusted with his family's businesses in Harbourhead. His appointment to Mizhan, or formal head of the Ohrta, has been met with some amount of rancor among the nobility, who resent the Gurakani military being commanded by a Praesi, no matter how impressive his preformance was in his family's Legio. Alexios, for his part, keeps a cool head, and slowly works to expand the power of his house in the province, often maneuvering politically against the sakellarius.
Harbourhead is also the administrative capitol of Oplio province. The Oplio Thematon is based out of a large, functional building in the imperial style in the city center, inside the jaws of the palace district. The Sakellarius, Aarsil Broken-leg, is a Marsuul of a relatively inglorious tribe, who advanced through the ranks of the Thematon by administrative genius. They have been entrusted this province by the Sakellarius Princeps himself, and they intend to ensure the province functions with neither corruption nor waste. This puts them rather directly at odds with Alexios, and the two of them have gradually grown to be bitter, exacting rivals. Aarsil never attends the Khan's court unless they have business there, but have proven themselves apt at sabotaging Alexios with paperwork and well-timed and extremely thorough audits. That Aarsil and Alexios' Sinescaloi have been conducting a discrete afair for some years has remained politely unspoken between the two figures, but is relatively known, although not spoken of in the court.
Geography
Harbourhead is located on an excellent pseudonatural harbor. The city is built on and around the vast, beached skeleton of an incredibly long leviathan, whose body, stretching well over the waterline and into the depths, forms a natural storm barrier with its colossal, petrified spine. The spine stretches up onto the mainland, seeming to curl around the city and ending in a massive skull, into which the Khan's palace is built. Part of the city is built into the hollow of its ribcage, where the bone still stands, but the city has long outgrown the serpent, and a second set of walls and, beyond that, defensive tower-houses extend out into the hilly lowlands that surround the city.
Natural Resources
Harbourhead has long mined and exported the spinal fluid of the leviathan, which has regenerative properties, as well as the tendons, which seem to be both resistant to rot and oddly repellent to any animals, but are as flexible as silk and as strong as steel. Even the bone, on occasion, has been quarried for use in construction, but the strength of the creature's bones make it unfeasible to use for any large-scale undertakings. The Kasbalika patriari have established themselves at the premier owners of the spinal fluid mines, followed by the ruling Khanate.
In addition, the surround countryside makes for good grazing for the yaks that the Gurakani brought along with them, and the local locathoah guard local waters as grazing grounds for their bullhead tuna, which are farmed both for their meat and roe, but also their leather and ivory. Further out, the water is rich with fish, which oftentimes grow to unusual or unheard of proportions. The Rzip theorize this may because the sea life has partaken of the flesh of the Harbourhead leviathan, which may have had some effect on the fish later on. Magical testing, however, has pronounced it safe.
Founding Date
Variously 78 4E or 283 3E
Type
Large city
Population
160,782
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
Comments