Orda
Go to a cathedral and the glass inside of it most certainly came from the city of Orda which has been making glass in every capacity for a thousand quarternions.
As suppliers of glass, Orda has become a hotbed of activity making Canar a prime destination for trade. Spice mongers looking to purchase the finest wares to showcase their supply have a permanent dock in Orda, used for shipping, packaging, and distribution. The city proper is older than most other Canaril locations. The additions to the city have been around since written history. It was founded in south eastern Canar on a long stretch of beach.
It began as a simple fishing town, with an estuary full of green sand and brackish water. With dredging, the fishing improved. The first canals were dug during this period of the town's construction to allow for fish to swim into the city for easy trapping. These small canals would grow larger and serve an important part in the town's development into the largest exporter of glass in the known world. Upon finishing the canals, a strange ore was hauled to the surface. What appeared to be an ore revealed itself to be a smooth flat boulder, convex one side.
The Ordans had discovered half of an ancient device used by the Vrolua though they wouldn't understand its potential for a long time. Today it sits in the Observatory, a large building of metal and stone, with mounted glass placed into the ceiling. Visitors can watch the sky here and witness all sorts of celestial phenomena take place. The exotic panes of glass are replicas of the original found in the old fishing weir. They exhibit strange properties which extend their focal length. While assumed and rumored that the craftsmen of Orda created these panes of glass on their own, the technology that was uncovered many quarternions in the past took countless cycles to replicate. The replicas represent the pinnacle of Ordan craftsmanship.
The City of Orda is separated into ten boroughs: The Wharf, The Tower of Broken Glass and the Glory Hole, The Furnace, The Lehr, The Crucible, Pontil, Lamp, Canal, The Observatory, and the Demarch's Manor. Of these boroughs, the Wharf is the largest.
The Wharf houses three sub-districts. Spice is inhabited by all of the merchants, mongers, dock workers, and well-offs as well as the other miscellaneous peoples that benefit from the spice trade. It is the oldest district and remnants of the original city can be found here, including the fishing weir which sees ceremonial use every year when the fish make their run through the "brack". Full of tight alleys and large ships at port, Spice is full to the brim with a pleasant breed of citizen often looking to make a cunning deal, not shank a man in the dark. Sweet and exotic scents blend with the rise of dawn. The air is so thick with it, that the mongers often remark that they should charge just for improving the smell of the morning tide.
Import was the first expansion of the city. When it became necessary to handle goods coming into Orda, the city built its first functioning set of docks, dredging the estuary as much as possible to allow for larger ships. The residents of Import handle all of the goods and people entering the city. This sub-district is nearly as old as Spice. The guards from this side of the city are always a little disgruntled at their posting. It's well known that the spice mongers pad the pockets on the other side of the canal. The smell is not all that is sweet about Spice.
Export, this port was built last and took the longest to engineer as the flow of sand into and out of the estuary had to be controlled. Orda moves tons of glass each month and the docks can handle three times as many ships as the Import district.
These three districts are known as the Wharf District collectively and the residents benefit and struggle from that distinction accordingly.
The Tower of Broken Glass and the Gloryhole are the roughest district in Orda. The Tower is a site of cultural importance for the residents as people assemble there every year to elect their leader. It marks the exact spot that the first Ordan discovered the region's unique glass making potential. The community believes that their leader must be picked at random to reflect the event of the discovery of glass. The stone of the Demarch is placed within a glass bell which must be shattered before the new Demarch can takeover.
The Gloryhole, the most difficult area to live in Orda. The people employed here have hard lives shaping hot glass with their hands and a few leather pads. They mostly work in the Furnace but their homes are scattered throughout this district. A statue of the first Ordan stands here covered in graffiti.
The Furnace district exploits the young and the old and even the Demarch, for none are exempt from the glass tax, except the wealthiest spice mongers that can afford to live, "boat to boat." It's old. It's almost as old as the Spice district which at one time held the original location for the furnace. The Furnace employs lantern makers, bead makers, fine bottle and drinking glassblowers, all manner of jewelers, makes of glass bricks, and an entire host of individuals that stoke the fires, clean the flue, carry in fresh sand, mix in fresh quartz, and bring in water to cool the workers. The Furnace stays busy throughout the day and rarely shuts down, except for emergencies.
Lehr is a residential district of Orda. The glassworking foremen own homes here, though it's unknown if the formen ever set foot in them. They can usually be found at the job, the glassworks.
Crucible is the district where fine glass products are made. Entry to the district is prevented by guards at special gates that allow access to this portion of the city. Many secrets drift about the halls and homes of Crucible. Here everyone has a trade secret about the varying properties of glass. The tradesmen that live, work, and die here are heavily guards. The district is surrounded by the Glass Guard, a group of warriors outfitted with heavy glass spears and glass cudgels. Trespassing into Crucible can earn an individual a night in the Tower of Broken Glass.
Pontil, often referred to as "Punty" by the poorer families of Orda, is the richest district. Most of the nobility that live in Punty have taken up the Spice trade, though not as merchants, but as investors. Punty is an older part of the city and retains much of the estuary's original beauty as a cove of trees run through it.
Lamp: loved by the guards that live in Orda, this district houses most of them. The district has distinct oil lamps made from heat resistant glass. They've never been recreated since the glassworker who invented them died several hundred quarternions ago without passing on the recipe for their construction. Lamp district also provides a house for the Lamplighter's Guild, the hardworking guild responsible for the creation of oils that go into all Ordan oil lamps. The Lamplighter Guild had once owned much of the residential property in Lamp but have taken to renting out these facilities. Much of the Lamplighter Guild's membership lives abroad visiting Orda during the summer months to make deposits and exchange goods. The oil that they harvest comes from a source in Thrackel, a small border town not even large enough for cartographers to make note of.
Canal district is small and consists of the fewest families. The people of Canal are a cosmopolitan lot, having come from just about everywhere from Canaril, Rowem, Bheidan, and beyond. The weirs in Canal bring in fish from The Brack and they are sold in the same district, a right afforded to these families long ago by the Demarch. It's not the wealthiest side of town but it's also not the poorest. The Canal district has one Ordan lamp that glows over the weirs. It was the last made of its kind before the inventor of it died ages ago. The citizens of Canal are exempt from the glass tax as long as they provide the same weight in fish to the Demarch every two months. This becomes especially difficult to achieve when the fish do not run, and so often when the weirs are doing well, these fish are dried outside of homes. This would have given the Canal district the least desirable smell if not for the spice mongers willingness to cover it up with fresh incense. In the past they've complained about the Canal district being bad for their business as the smell of drying fish inevitably finds its way into crates of long pepper and dragonbark.
The Observatory in Orda is the head temple of the Reign of Dawn. Here the order holds observations of the sky in hopes to one day herald the return of the Athrune and Vrol. Built upon a towering stone edifice that climbs out of the surrounding black sand like a mighty hand, the Observatory is the first of its kind to house a special glass used for watching celestial phenomena.
The Demarch's Manor is also not a district but remains distinct from the other boroughs, structurally acting that way. Simply put the Demarch's Manor is not owned by the Demarch, but by the merchants which at times stay in the manor from time to time to make deals for trade. It's a public office and as such, the head resident of the Manor, the Demarch, holds a duty in keeping the grounds curated.
The size of the city covers approximately twelve square miles. Its main import are spices, which are then traded throughout the continents of Rowem and Canar. It exports spice as well, prepared for redistribution in Ordan glass vials which retain the freshness of spices for longer. It's main export is Ordan glass which comes in many forms but always carries the seal of the Demarch. The city's canal system carries in goods from as far away as Holst, Theran (which lacks a reasonable port), and Beesbane. Orda is famous for its glass market, its bank, known as the Ordan, and the Observatory.
The Ordan Dominion is a collection of independent cities that benefit from the system of trade and the protection that the wealthy city of Orda can provide them. It became important for Orda, a coastal city, to reach out to its neighbors so that it could secure the coast from any that would disrupt trade in the area.
Demographics
The bulk of the city's population are Osken, Olnic, And Alyric.
Government
The Ordan Government is a Demarchy. An individual is chosen at random during a festival held every year. This individual rules for 877 days, except during Ternion, in which the previous year's ruler is selected to rule. The election process has been called into question as individuals have been elected to the position of Demarch twice in a row.
During the election the people of Orda assemble at the Tower of Broken Glass and throw stones at the glass case within it. The individual that breaks the glass and places their stone on the pedestal is elected as Demarch.
The new year's broken glass is collected after the festival and added to a large pile of broken glass at the top of the tower. It is said that should a Demarch slide into misrule, they will be tossed onto the pile of glass.
Ordans have a glass tax they are required to pay every two months. The city and the Dominion depend on glass as their major export. By the time a child ends one senary cycle, they are placed in the Furnace District to learn the art of glasswork.
The Demarch's rule is absolute. The basic laws of human decency apply here. No stealing, no murder, etc. And the Demarch does their best to enforce the laws of the town. But, they are not the only power within the city. The Merchants which reside in Orda wield the most authority, and so, to displease an Ordan Merchant is to find oneself on the wrong side of rule.
Guilds and Factions
The Ordan Glass Guild & The Spice Mongers
Geography
Orda sits at the tip of the Glass Peninsula.
Natural Resources
A special sand that can be made into Ordan glass.
Alternative Name(s)
City of Glass
Type
City
Population
20,000
Related Ethnicities
Inhabitant Demonym
Ordans
Included Locations
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
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