Bynarr

At a Glance

The surprisingly clean streets are wide enough for the ox-carts and draft horse-drawn wagons that use them to pass each other with room to spare. Houses are rectangles of stout logs and wooden roofs. The people speak Fhokki in daily use, although folk who trade with foreigners on a regular basis speak Merchant's Tongue and some Kalamaran as well.

Temples

Udula, The Matriarch of Pelselond of the Church of the Night’s Beauty is the Faith's highest ranking member. The positions above her, those of Var of Veshemo and High Var, have been left empty since the clerics holding them were slain in art attack by the House of Knives. Apparently, the assassins planned well and spared no expense. They were deathly silent, invisible. and coated their weapons with deathblade poison.

Matriarch Udula has called a council of her peers to determine Their next course of action. The two greatest priorities at this meeting will be to select a new High Var and to exact retribution for this disaster.

The Temple of Armed Conflict has the backing of the Queen and the military. The tithes k collects allow it to build an extensive stone temple/fortress complex that houses the city's garrison. They also pay for high walls around the city and a small prison guarded by followers of the Temple.

Maps & Sages

Trained in reading and writing by the Church of the Night's Beauty, Eggamir Nightsword is a tall, handsome man and steadfast supporter of that faith. He regrets his absence during the recent fatal attack and has devoted most of his wealth and time to the consolidation effort. He has spread the word among the centaurs, dryads, and faeries of the Fyban Forest that he is willing to part with his fabled Banner of the Faithful (a magical flag that grants Strength bonuses to allies that wear its symbol) in return for the capture of anyone involved with the assassination.

Lokkur heads the military's spy network, known as the Arrows That See. She prefers to use thieves and assassins to find information about the country's enemies (mainly Dodera, but Lokkur knows that Dodera's inspiration comes from Kalamar) and relies on wizards and clerics to retrieve it and make use of it. She is cunning and her bag of tricks is bottomless.

Kaladi the Renegade was a Dade ran soldier who was captured in 388 EC. (532 1.R.). After Tharggy won a skirmish with the Doderas, he and the other prisoners of war were escorted to the border and released. Kaladi begged to be allowed to stay because he had fallen in love with the soldier who captured him! The suspicious soldiers returned him to the city, where the shy archer who was the object of his alleged affection admitted the truth. They were married the next day.

Underworld

Bynarr's thieves are quick, clever robbers who are well aware of the severe penalties the city imposes for violent crimes. Their preferred defense is a quick getaway and their preferred weapon is a rapier wit. The average constable takes bribes to overlook minor offenses as long as the victim is not too upset, but the queen and her officers do not approve of this policy.

The Famous Pekalese musician Hyler spends each winter in Bynarr, where he courts the wife of one of the most powerful nobles in the country, jerl Dornn. Jerl's wife Tiva enjoys the Bard's company but has no intentions of falling for his flattery. The three continue this charade in public, but Hyler privately brings information from around the world so the powerful couple. His intimate knowledge of Kalamaran nobility gives him access so information that Lokkur's spies could never reach.

Government

Except for the position of General, the supreme military commander, women hold the premier posts in the government. Queen Defyn prefers to deal with the more delicate foreign affairs personally, so she spends her time either abroad or receiving visitors. She leaves the important domestic problems to her younger sister, Gytha. Gytha is the second-highest ranking cleric of the Church of the Life's Fire and her presence gives that faith clout within the city. She uses her rank within the faith subtly in her negotiations with the merchants, nobles, and guildmasters with whom she has to deal on a daily basis.

Defences

The army of Tharggy, especially its most visible contingent here in the capital, is composed mostly of women. Over 1,400 infantry and 800 cavalry (chainmail and longsword for both) and 400 archers (leather armor, longbow, and dagger) protect the capital from invasion by Dodera.
Rothla the Red leads the infantry division in Bynarr. She proudly bears the Gold Star of Nakkary, the nation's highest military honor. She earned it when she led a squad against a tribe of trolls that attacked a halfling farming village in the Shynako Hills. The squad managed to divert the trolls from the village until the halflings could escape. She drove the trolls into a cornfield and reluctantly torched it, destroying them and the fields. Although her actions lost the crops, the rest of the year's harvest was rich and she worked alongside the Farmers to bring it in.

Industry & Trade

The upper Jenshyra River .area produces rich and plentiful minks. The mink fur trade was one of the main attractions the area held for the Kalamarans and one of the reasons Kabori urges Orilaras of Dodera to continue his attempts to retake it. During the early days of Kalamaran control, the native Fhokki and Dejy who lived here had no inkling of the great prices the furs they took so easily brought in the large cities of Kalamar and Svimohzia. Now, crafty merchants turn handsome profits from their trade partners in Paru'Bor and Skarrna.
The area also produces some of the finest wool in the Sovereign Lands. Between the abundant wool from the Shynako Hills and the largest dye-makers guild on Tellene in Bynarr, the city is famous for its cloth. The world Famous dye-maker's guild is strong enough to keep excises on the cloth low, so the price of the wool stays affordable and the quantities leaving remain high.

History

Queen Defyn has an outstanding reward of 10,000 gold pieces and a barony for anyone who can return to her the barbarian copy of the treaty signed between Emperor Kolokar of Kalamar and the Fhokki and Dejy chieftains at the famous meeting in the Shynako Hills in 74 I.R. The Kalamaran copy was lost centuries ago, during the Time of Great Anguish. But the barbarian copy of the famous "Treaty Between Sovereign Nations" mysteriously disappeared the summer of 385 F.C. (529 I.R.), only months before Dodera invaded the area.

Points of interest

Tharggy's Tomb is a national monument and all visitors to the capital stop by to see the hero after whom the country is named. The tomb is a large black rectangular edifice 12 feet by 8 Feet long with a 4 foot deep pit around it to keep casual visitors at bay. Pilgrims often throw coins into the pit and thousands of copper and silver coins partially fill the pit. From two to seven guards watch the monument at all times to make sure no thieves come to loot either the coins or the fabled magical items supposedly buried with Tharggy.

Alternative Name(s)

Capital of Tharggy

Type

Capital

Population

19,800. Most of the folk have mixed Fhokki and Dejy blood.

Location under

Tharggy

Characters in Location

• Queen Defyn

Related Plots

• Livre 0: Death is overrated