Beirazko

Have you seen the waterway? An impressive feat of canal engineering, that must be said. But I think what outweighs that is the genuine awe that should be given to those who maintain a literal river in the middle of a sandy desert.
Sir Albrecht von Reyer about the waterway linking the city with the sea

Glass and glass everywhere... I understand it loud and clear that there is a stupendous amount of sand around and they use it to make glass, but I swear, they do not have to put glass-stained windows at each, accursed corner to constantly remind everyone of that fact.
Kaiser Werner I Vielendorf speaking about the glass decorations excessively present throughout the city while on a sightseeing tour

Industry & Trade

Glassworks

Since sand is available in excessive amounts, the trademark export of most Omanri cities is glass. This is no exception in the case of Beirazko as it boasts a sprawling complex of glassworks that manufacture many different types of glass and export them to places all over the world. What is also typical is for each city to have its characteristic and unique type, which in the case of Beirazko is a glass pane that is made from different coloured thinner ones, stacked onto one another. This one is especially popular among the more wealthy as an interior decoration.

Importance of the presence of the waterway

Since Beirazko has direct access to the sea thanks to the waterway, it is the main city of a monocentric agglomeration where all the smaller satellite cities send their exports to it for further processing and shipment. This also goes the other way around, with foreign imports that all first have to go through Beirazko on their way to the less accessible urbanized areas. It is due to this situation that Beirazko has become a major trading hub for all sort of goods, both domestic and from overseas.

Infrastructure

The waterway

The most crucial structure in the city is the main canal, referred to as a waterway, that links the city to the sea. It has two main purposes - supplying water and allowing ships to be used for the transportation of both goods and people straight out onto the sea. This speeds up travel considerably compared to how much time it would take if it was to be hauled through the desert (Airships of civilian or commercial use are not widely used within the Sultanate as Permanthelium is low in supply and a dirigible with another lifting gas would not be able to support bigger weights). It's due to it that the city has grown so considerably and that investors have expanded the glassworks there. It stretches over 30km long from the coast to the outer suburbs of the city, where it ends with a harbour divided into two separate sections for cruise ships and cargo ones. The maintenance of the waterway is mostly comprised of removing sand from the canal floor via special cleaning ships.
It can be said also that the idea of a waterway is something not strictly exclusive to this city as there are other great waterways and smaller canals that either link a city to the sea or a city to another city within the Sultanate.

Architecture

Use of glass

Glass in architecture within the Sultanate is connected with the position and prestige of the owner. The most wealthy can afford structures that have their entire exterior covered in specially reinforced glass, giving them a very modest and sleek look. Those with less wealth usually add glass embellishments and accents to the facade, most often statues. The poorest stick to just the windows and usually decorate the wooden shutters with self-made paintings.

Geography

The city is located in a valley between two gently-sloped dunes. A length of around 30km separates the city from the south-west coast of the continent.

View of one of the six city districts

Type

Large city

Population

Around 120 000 permanent inhabitants.

Owner
Sultanate of Omanri

The harbour here seems to always be full, with ships constantly waiting in a line on the waterway to be unloaded. Goods of all sort, whether it is food from the Central Continent, our iron or their own shipments of materials, flood the markets and shops of Beirazko like an unstoppable flood. An odd thing to say while in the middle of a desert. A part of a description concerning trade written in a letter of a Tsarist diplomat assigned to the city to the Tsarist court in Oktavgrad