Mawtin-Altaghyir, Ruskovich
Demographics
The people themselves are full of life and culturally hold creativity and innovation as the most valuable of virtues or talents. Their definition of these attributes is based on these things:
Does it improve the lives of others?
Does it bring joy or healing?
Is it inspired by chaos, rebirth, or new life?
Does it inspire greater change?
These tenants are the foundation of the local religious practices as well as the cultural practices.
Industry & Trade
The city itself has a large population of artisans and crafters; exporting goods like wine, tiles, and fine linens into the Ruskovich economy. Some of the more prominent goods produced are the vibrant dyes that can be made from rare flowers that grow around the oasis and on Maqead Alaliha’s summit and employing camel poop in the dying process.
Assets
The city’s food is mostly made up of by public gardens and orchards, tended in a permaculture style. Other sources are herds of sheep and goats, also maintained and owned by the people of the city.
History
Manzil Almukhtar used to be the Holy City of a long fallen kingdom, Shehk’khaliim, which fell to Ruskovich’s conquering forces in 1532, before the Iron Curtain fell. The country touched the south eastern edge of Ruskovich and stretched further south and further east. Much of the country’s riches came from the Trail of Spice, an east-west highway that connected many countries, and the merchanting business that came with it. When the Iron Curtain came down, it split Shehk’khaliim in two, thus ending the mercantile business between the east and the west. Now this is accomplished by sea and by air.
Until recently, the population of this city, and the many towns surrounding it, was completely comprised of Changelings. This is not something known among other races or even their current ruling government of Ruskovich. Traditionally the indigenous inhabitants keep the history and legends of Manzil Almukhtar a secret and take on the visage of humans with dark curly hair, almond shaped eyes, curved noses and olive complexion, which is based on their true face other than coloration. The influx of non-changeling inhabitants has mostly occurred in the last 50-150 years.
Points of interest
Holidays/Rituals
Mesawn’tahaal: The Festival of Water. Celebrated at the height of summer with dancing in the shallows of the oasis on the edge of the city, a community feast of lamb and fruits and (often) when weddings are performed. Components & Tools:In the days leading up, people decorate their skin with a clay based temporary tattoo similar to henna, paint their nails and braid their hair in elaborate designs. Sacred flowers and mosses are gathered from the cliffside and peak of Makan Albaraka and made into crowns and garlands. Staves are made from the branches of the trees in the olive groves, often carved with the visages of animals and decorated with bright pigments, shells and stones on leather cords. No shoes are worn for the duration of the festival.
Architecture
The city is made up of dusty white sandstone buildings constructed in intersecting cube shapes. While there are walking routes outside, much of the city is most frequently traversed by using ingeniously designed stone hallways and thoroughfares that maintain a cool breeze running through them. The interior of buildings are decorated with brightly painted designs or unique murals made with shards of glass, stone, and pottery.
Geography
A medium-sized urban expanse placed in a fiery colored desert basin landscape between a very deep oasis at the foot of a lone stoney outcrop, known as Maqead Alaliha or Makan Albaraka, and a major thoroughfare running from the west to the east, known as the Trail of Spice. A local legend unknown to outsiders tells that the city is the place where the gods Kelesta and Gorath bestowed shakl alruwh– or “soul shape”-- upon the fey who did them great service and there is a temple to each carved deep into the face of Maqead Alaliha.
Type
Large town
Owning Organization