Pharaul

The clues were these: electric lights humming in defiance of the stone; chimneys exhaling the steam of radiators, which meant heating machinery inside of every building; pipes jittering on the sides of buildings, free of ice and hissing as machines pushed hot water through them; on either side of the city, endless avalanches poured out of enormous ancient gates, their origins all but forgotten to history; at the front of the city, overlooking a great precipice, soldiers with blue tabards over gleaming silver armor hefted heavy shells into metal cannons. The cannons overlooked a great precipice over cloud cover. This city was so high in the mountains that it was above the clouds.

The armored men shouted to one another in the language of the southlands. The cannons fired. In the unseen distance beneath the clouds, eruptions thundered, and a great host of men shouted in menace. That would be the northland army, intent on sieging the most defensible place in the world.

-"Maniaque" Chapter 11: Pharaul

Built high upon the slopes of Medir in the Rhyqirja Mountains, the city-state of Pharaul has weathered the Thousand Year War as one of the most defensible places in Sof Sator. Though a magnet for full-scale assaults by the forces of the Nor Sator League, Pharaul has never been breached, thanks to its strategic position on a cliff-lined plateau beneath a great stony outcropping, and the eternal avalanches pouring out of ancient aquil ruins on either side of the city. In recent centuries, Pharaul has undergone a revolution of culture and infrastructure, turning away from magic and toward machinery and materialism. As the capital of the Rhyqir Valley Alliance, Pharaul benefits from close relationships with the Laines and with Vont, and is the primary beneficiary of the Alliance's membership in the Greater Sabine Trade Compact.

Economy

The people of Pharaul are hardy laborers and specialized craftspeople. In past millennia, a major crux of their economy was a state mercenary force often employed by the peoples of the Aegis Mountain and even the Starmire, though with the formation of the Rhyqir Valley Alliance in 120UC this became a formal state military organized for the Aegis War. Products of the forges and workshops of Pharaul have supported the infrastructure of surrounding peoples for centuries; the Laines had little use for heavy metal, but they sold Pharaul the bounty of the valley, which Pharaul purchased with money from selling metalwork to the peoples of the Aegis Mountains and to Vont.
Nowadays, while the disparate peoples of the Aegis Mountains and Rhyqir Valley have largely consolidated into the Laines, Vont, and Pharaul, the relationships between these cities are much closer. Pharaul and Vont are connected by ties of materialism as well as rail freight and great steam pipes. Vont shared the crafts of machinery and engineering with Pharaul, and Pharaul mastered miniaturization to create factories and autocarriages. Vont is full of heavy machinery and complicated engineering, most of which is manufactured in Pharaul. The Laines, uninterested in machinery or grand projects of infrastructure, grows fiscally wealthy by supplying Pharaul and Vont with natural goods that will not grow in their frozen climes. Most of this wealth is recycled into the war effort, funding Pharaul's armies and machines of war. As of 1088CR, Pharaul's economic reach has expanded greatly with its participation in the Greater Sabine Trade Compact, and some of its most specialized products can now be found as far away as Revan.

Government

Pharaul is governed by elected representatives from different walks of life. There are five primary Seats, each of whom may call meetings of the forum and present motions or propose amendments to government policies or laws. The Seats are chosen by popular election every five years, and a candidate is limited to serving a total of four terms. One of the Seats will also be elected to lead the forum; called the August Seat, they preside over sessions and wield additional power.

• Seat of the Warmaker (Military. To be eligible, the candidate must be one of the ten highest ranked military officers serving Pharaul. It is unusual for this seat to be contested. The military's leaders will usually select an individual, advance them to the necessary rank, and put them forward as the only candidate. Often this is the candidate's primary role in the miliary, though sometimes a decorated leader will hold this position while still fulfilling their command duties.)
• Seat of the Craftsman (Artisans. To be eligible, the candidate must be a teacher of a designated master craft, who has taught at least one hundred resident students, twenty of whom must be registered master craftsmen in their own right.)
• Seat of the Director (Business leaders. To be eligible, the candidate must be the non-military chief executive of one or more companies, with at least five hundred individuals employed, and the median pay of all employees must match or exceed the average pay of Pharaul's citizens.)
• Seat of the Servant (Civil leaders. To be eligible, the candidate must have ten years of unpaid service to a registered humanitarian organization, and must currently occupy a position of leadership or directorship, or serve on a board of leaders for such an organization. The candidate must not have, at any point in the past twenty years, had a monthly income that exceeded the average for Pharaul's citizens.)
• Seat of the Mediator (Spiritual leaders. To be eligible, the candidate must be the primary spiritual leader, or one of a board of leaders, for a registered religious organization with a membership exceeding five hundred regular congregants. This seat has sat empty for over one hundred and fifty years, as no citizen of Pharaul has been found eligible to fill the seat.)

Each Seat, once elected, will appoint a Left Hand and a Right Hand. When a motion is voted upon, the Seat gets three votes, the Left Hand to the Seat gets two votes, and the Right Hand to the Seat gets one vote. Usually, Hands vote in line with their Seat, so each Seat essentially gets six votes. Each Seat can submit a maximum of twenty motions annually, but the August Seat can call an unlimited number of sessions and present an unlimited number of motions. Motions pass with a majority vote, but the August Seat may veto motions that would otherwise pass with less than twenty votes. Finally, the August Seat may banish the Hands from the floor of the forum, but they cannot preempt their votes, and no motion is valid unless all votes are counted.
For most of Pharaul's recent history, the forum has been led by the August Seat of the Warmaker. The Seat of the Mediator has sat empty for a century and a half, often called the Empty Seat, and is held open as a traditional formality. It is assumed that the seat will never be occupied again, as all registered religious organizations are defunct and the forum is unlikely to formally recognize any new or foreign religious organizations. The current head of the government of Pharaul is Cassia Claston, August Seat of the Warmaker, who is nearing the end of her fourth term.

Contributions to the Thousand Year War

Pharaul has been a major participant in the Thousand Year War ever since the formation of the Rhyqir Valley Alliance, providing supplies, infrastructure, manpower, and conducting extensive land war campaigns that have reshaped the Starmire and threatened the strongholds of Cradsoun and Gray Watch. As the leader of the Rhyqir Valley Alliance, Pharaul is the crux of its campaigns and economy, coordinating intelligence provided by the Laines with the naval efforts of Vont, and helming their relationships with the foreign powers of the Greater Sabine Trade Compact. The slope of Meidr, beneath Pharaul, has seen many battles as Cradsoun's Infantry attempts to gain entry to the lofty city, but Pharaul has never been breached.

The icon of Pharaul still contains its religious influences: the spirits of Wind (the silhouette of the bird) and of Sunfire (the flames above it). This icon is most commonly seen pressed into machines and tools made in Pharaul's factories, where it serves as a guarantee from inspectors that the product is of a caliber only found in Pharaul.

Leader, Rhyqir Valley Alliance

Population: 350,000 residents, primarily anthrals

Languages: Satorian (primary), Jei-Satorian (historical), Ayqir, Rhyqir

Government: Representative Republic

Closest Allies:

• The Laines
• Vont
• Revan

Rivals:

• Cradsoun
• Gray Watch
• The Aldalneld Writhe
• Ossea

Type

Geopolitical, City-state

Related Professions

• Soothsayers of Wind and Sunfire