Jalebas
The capital of the Kingdom of Khadhalaya, Jalebas is one of the largest cities in Jaati. Within its walls may be found many temples and many marketplaces, with caravans from the north, south, and west passing through its gates.
Jalebas is built at the confluence of the Chetta River and its tributary the Gengba. Where they meet, the two rivers split into multiple streams before rejoining into the single Chetta past the city. As the city has grown, it has spread over the multiple islands formed by these streams, which has required 19 bridges to be built over the waters to connect the larger streets that run the length of more than one island. As this occurred over time, it is certainly unlikely that the pattern of bridges was conceived with any plan in mind. However, after the last one was constructed, a mapmaker discovered that it was possible to trace a path in the shapes of certain religious or lucky symbols by walking around the city and crossing the bridges in particular patterns. Since then, hundreds of pilgrims each week come to the city to “walk the symbols” in the hope of gaining favor from the gods, or to accrue luck, or to develop personal merit to advance on the coil in the next life.
This complicates the life of the city, because any obstruction on a street that is part of one of the “symbols” gives rise to angry complaints from the pilgrims. That in turn distresses the merchants who make good money selling food and remembrances to them. As a result, the administration has designated special patrols in different parts of the city to respond quickly in case a street becomes blocked. Repairs to the streets in the patterns must be done late at night (to avoid hampering the pilgrims) and most importantly, no more bridges can be built. When the city made plans to do just that about 30 years ago, people rioted in the streets because they claimed an additional bridge would ruin the patterns and bring ill luck for anyone who walked the streets. Since then, the city has continued to grow but residents must deal with any inconvenience in how far they must travel to cross the rivers.
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