Lomar
CITY DESCRIPTION Lomar is a well-fortified city that stands a short distance inland from the Kalayan Sea on the banks of the Yissu River. The riverfront serves as the city’s port, since the open waters of the Kalayan are only eight miles to the west. High walls surround a semi-circular city laid out like half of a gigantic wagon wheel, the main streets forming the “spokes” that meet in the great Triumph Square.
The Imperator’s Palace (more a fortress than a palace, really) stands on a hill just to the east, overlooking both the square and the river.
The Blue Pelican: A large inn and taproom located in Lomar’s river district, the Blue Pelican is named for a local variety of fishing bird with striking blue plumage. Many foreigners arriving in Lomar by sea take rooms here. It’s not cheap, but it is clean and safe, which is more than can be said of similar establishments in many other cities. he proprietor is an old Lomari man named Bahdurbo, who is a servant of the Magh family and runs the Blue Pelican for his masters.
Tower of Zosheer: he central citadel of Lomar contains a great golden bell in a high tower, visible from just about everywhere in the city. By tradition, the bell is struck to announce that Lomar is going to war and to celebrate reports of victory by Lomar’s armies. A famous prophecy predicts that Lomar will fall within the year if the bell should ever be lost or broken, so guards stand watch by Zosheer’s Bell around the clock.
Triumph Square: Eleven great avenues lead from Lomar’s gates to Triumph Square, the central plaza of the city. his vast stone square is a good ive hundred yards wide, and its perimeter is lined with scores of monuments to great Lomari champions, generals, and imperators. City law prohibits the establishment of any permanent place of business in the square, but many vendors set up tents or carts every day, making Triumph Square a busy marketplace from sunup to sundown.
Wohdwa Palace: Two miles outside the city walls lie the ruins of a great estate. The Wohdwas were high-ranking nobles who won glory in many of Lomar’s old wars, but the family declined under some mysterious curse. The last of the Wohdwas was a warrior-princess named Yilar, who led a legion in the war against Hurhun to great success, but felt that she was denied the honors her victory merited. She plotted against the ruling imperator with a mysterious warlock named Rashmi, but the plot was discovered. Yilar was put to death, Rashmi vanished, and Wohdwa Palace was abandoned. The place is now said to be haunted, perhaps by things the warlock summoned long ago.
Demographics
Most people in Lomar are (naturally) Lomari. In fact, citizenship is denied to anyone who is not of the Lomari race, although a few people of other races are permanent residents and hold important positions in commerce or industry.
Most non-Lomari are slaves, although Lomar’s laws protect slaves against many abuses and even allow them to own property and work in their chosen trades.
Government
Authority: Imperator Deondro Shurh is the reigning monarch, the third ruler of the Shurh line. He wields near-absolute power; unlike many Thulean cities, Lomar possesses a strong monarchy.
Defences
Soldier of Lomar in Scale cuirass
Soldier of Lomar: CR 1
Lomari Myrmidon & Legionary: CR 2
Lomari Veteran: CR 3
Lomari Battle Champion: CR 9
Industry & Trade
Trade: Lomar produces cotton, rice, jewelry, woodwork of all kinds, and bronze arms and armor of exceptional quality. The city imports gold, ivory, wine, and silk.
Lomar is an important center of commerce, a gateway through which the tribes and settlers of the southern Kalayan highlands are linked to the great trade routes of the Inner Sea. Lomari merchants compete with traders from Quodeth, Ikath, and Droum for control of the valuable gold and ivory trades in the central Kalayan, and the city’s artisans produce exceptional woodwork and metalwork. Perhaps most importantly, Lomar is a city of laws. Most other cities in Thule are hopelessly corrupt and inefficient, but Lomari pride themselves on their honorable dealings and upright ways.
Guilds and Factions
Lorjeen the Lion is the most famous warrior in the city. Lomar’s warriors do not fight in the city’s arena, but instead compete in frequent games and mock battles and fight many duels. Lorjeen, a giant of a man over 7 feet tall, has never been defeated.
High Warpriest Mordju is the high priest of Nergal at the Hall of a Thousand Victories. Cruel and ambitious, Mordju is one of the principal agitators seeking to push the imperator into a new war.
Ghoro Gai is the city’s foremost merchant. Short and fat, he was never much of a warrior, but he commands a merchant fleet of a dozen galleys and is more widely traveled than most of his countrymen.
Lomari look to war as a means to win accolades and riches, but it’s been nearly twenty years since an imperator has ordered the striking of Zosheer’s Bell. The city’s nobles (and quite a few of its free warriors) are spoiling for a ight. Pressure is growing for Imperator Deondro to lead the city’s legions in a bold new campaign.
The Silver Gauntlets of Lomar and The Pride of Nergal are famous military orders of the city.
History
THE CITY OF INVADERS The story of Lomar begins thirty years after the sea took Atlantis. In 1939 AR, a wandering tribe of seafarers descended from the survivors of Lemuria attacked the old Atlantean haven of Katagia. The defenses of Katagia proved too strong for the Lemurians to overcome, but rather than return to the sea with the rest of the fleet, a charismatic warlord named Zosheer Loh decided to lead a large band inland to found a kingdom of his own in Thule’s wilderness. For years the band migrated through Dhar Mesh, Phoor, and the southern coastlands of the Kalayan Sea before settling down in a fertile river valley at the west end of the Ghan Peninsula. here they founded a city in 1980 AR, and named it in honor of Zosheer Loh, who had died only a year before their wanderings ended. In the 223 years since its founding, Lomar has grown into a major power. A little more than a century ago, Lomar fought a bitter war against the city of Hurhun and laid it in ruins. Fifty years ago, Lomar’s legions landed before Droum’s walls and defeated the armies of that city, imposing a ruinous tribute as the price of peace. Within the last twenty years, Lomari centurions have led the city’s legions to less conclusive battles against Ikath, Marg, and Quodeth, and it is only a matter of time before the Imperator orders Zosheer’s Bell sounded once again to call the legions to war.
Tourism
Home to a proud and warlike people, the city-state of Lomar dominates the southern coast of the Kalayan Sea. Lomar’s warriors guard rich fields and rice paddies stretching for more than fifty miles across the western end of the Ghan peninsula, and its sleek dromonds patrol the waters for three days’ sail in all directions. Within the city walls, noble commanders practice their martial skills constantly, reigning over an elite class of free warriors who in turn control a large but docile population of slaves and servants. Monuments tower over each of the public squares in the city, commemorating more than two hundred years of military supremacy. While the celebration of military triumph and the martial virtues lies at the center of Lomar’s public life, the city is more than a simple armed camp.
Founding Date
1980 AR
Type
Large city
Population
24000+
Inhabitant Demonym
Lomari
Owner/Ruler
Comments