Banias
"Across the Mountains, south of the Southern Desert, lies the fertile and rich Parana Valley. This valley is home to very fast horses, perhaps the finests in the world. There are also many sanctuaries in the region, but perhaps one of the most famous is that located in the city of Banias. According to legend the Godess of the Earth was born here and many people and mighty kings come here to the cave where she lived before travelling to the Kallian Plains, where, on the spot where the city of the Blatians is located, was married to the father of the Gods, blessed be his name. " Paruz of Sakuramish, Seris sage and traveller, ca. 601 AP.
(...) Then we arrive to Banias, birthplace of the Goddess and we rested there before we visit the temple. It was made entirely of marble , the finest you could imagine, only comparable to the temples in Blati. Inside it its found a little cave, which was lavishly adorned with statues of the Gods and satyrs. The spot were the Goddess was born and raised was covered with purple courtines with golden incrustations on them bearing her name in both the elvish and oronai language. East of the temple lies the other one dedicated to King Boros, the famous Oronai king and inside of it was an statue of him made of gold depicting him on full armor with a shield in one hand and spear on the other and a beautiful helmet with a red crest on his head. It is said that this very same statue was similar to that of his father, king Magas on the city of Magaspolis in Oronia. We offered our respects to the great King and went to the great square on the middle of the city, where the great market is located. There I talked with the natives who were very curious about our presence there, since Blati is very far away and not many Blatians visit the city. They wanted to know about our Empire and specially the news and events that happened recently in our homeland.About its people, most of the common folk are either humans or half elves and there is no difference between them in customs or language, only in the form of their ears and the cunning of their tonges (...) Description of Banias made by Marcellinus, Blatian traveller and ambassador to the Kingdom of Brire, around 827 AP.
Banias, the holy city, birthplace of the godess Tyr and one of the most important cities of the Parana Valley. Built over a previous elven settlement by king Boros the Conqueror in 568 AP when he settled more than 2.500 veteran soldiers , the city grew quickly and in the space of two centuries it grew up to 98.000 inhabitants!.
Thousands of pilgrims came to the city seeking to see the birthplace of the Goddess, the cave inside the Great temple, adorned with candals and stattuetes and jewels donated by a wide variety of people, from humble peasants to mighty kings and emperors. Home to one of the most famous and brave adventurer's guild in the whole continent of Teria. Surely is a place you should visit if you have the opportunity, people on this place is very friendly and welcoming, excellent hosts may i say!.
Banias is a beautiful example of what the Elvish-Oronai kingdoms are; the fusion of the elven and human worlds and races, an stonishing testimony of great king Boros's legacy on these lands!!.
map of the city of Banias
Demographics
Banias is a very diverse city, the main species and ethnicities that populate it are the oronai humans, the native elves and the half elves. The upper class is formed mainly of the oronai nobility, descended of the wealthiest of the colonists families and the elven nobility that settled in the city, in the case of the half elves only those belonging to the union of the previous groups can become part of this elite. The rest, middle and low classes are formed by newcomers (mainly oronai from the neigbouring regions or from mainland Oronia, atracted by the wealth of the region) and half-elves that are not part of the elite. You can find also commoners belonging to the elvish race working on the cities, but most of them live in the surroundings of the city rather that inside it.
Government
The city follows the typical structure of an Oronai city. Its ruled by a council of 150 of the wealthiest citizens belonging to the nobility, the artisans, the merchants and the middle class. From this Council, 2 men are elected as town mayors that act also as representatives of the King in the city. Then, other members of the City Assembly are elected for different offices such as:
- Supervisor of the Markets: As the name suggests, this man is the responsable for the prizes on the markets, for organizing the local fairs and for keeping the security on these areas.
- Secretary of the public treasure: Responsable for collecting the taxes in the city and its surroundings and keeping the record of the money avaliable in the City's Treasury.
- Lawmaker: Its main duty is making laws and supress or modify the previous laws. In case of laws of maximum importance for the citizens of Banias he has the power to set a referendum among the citizens.
- Supervisor of the fields: His boss is the Secretary of the public treasure, its main duty is to keep a record of the food that is produced in the surrounding villages and fields that belong to the city and also to collect the amount of food needed for the Public Granaries.
- Supervisors of the Public festivals: Formed by 8 men, its duty is to organize the religious calendar alongside the High Priest and the main festivals of the city (its processions, its theatre festivals, horse races, athletic competitions etc...).
- High Priest: The Chief priest of the cult of the Goddess Tyr and also responsable of the Royal Cult in the city. He presides the Sacrest religious festivals and is also responsable of the caring and protection of the Sacre Tree. He usually has an adjuntant called the Chief Sorcerer, usually named between the elves or half-elves, responsable of regulating the use of magic inside the city.
- Secretary of Public Health: Chosen every 2 years, he is responsable for the water supply to the city and the building and maintenance of the streets and the sewers.
There is another city office that is not chosen among the members of the local assembly but by the King of Brire himself, that is the Commander of the Militia, that is also at the same time the leader of the local adventurers guild, the
Banias's adventurers guild .
Defences
At the beginning, the colony had also a simple palisade, but after the barbarian's attack, the kings of Brire alongside the local authorities decided to build an imposing stone wall. It is said that the walls are as talled as 12 men one on top of the other. They are whitewashed with lime to prevent plants to grow between the stones thus weakening the structure. Some pieces of artillery are also located in the main towers, specially those situated in the main doors of the city walls. The walls enclose the entire city and even go around mount Paramis.
The Acropolis in the Lily hill is home to more than 3.000 soldiers of the local garrison and can be used as a refuge to the citizens of Banias in case the walls are taken by the enemy, as last line of protection. Every male citizen in age of bearing arms is expected to form part of the local citizen militia fighting either as phalangites, hoplites or archers. The local adventurer's guild can act also as a militia and its expected that in case of attack the adventurers and sorcerers of the guild should fight alongside the citizens of the city in defense of this holy settlement.
Industry & Trade
The city is not only a centre of pilgrimage but it also famous for his silver jewels and objects. Elves are famous for being excellent craftsmen and gold and silver are their favourite materials. The priests also trade with holy water that comes from the holy spring which is thought to be blessed by the goddess Tyr herself and have curative and magical properties. Also being located in the Parana Valley also mean that locals breed excellent horses who are also known across Teria and beyond, an many noblemen and knights from distant lands come to the settlement to buy horses. Pottery specially high quality pottery (very demmanded in the capital) is produced in Banias in great quantities and its quality is controled by the local Potters guide. The Olive Oil industry, brought by the Oronai, is also very profitable.
Infrastructure
The city has many public buildings, some built by the local authorities and others by generous donations by the Kings of Brire and even foreign monarchs.
Banias has two theatres, one call the Small Theatre who was the first to be built on stone over a previous one made of wood and it can hold up to 1500 viewers. The other one, called the Royal Theatre, was built by King Zoisos III in 701 AP and can hold around 10.000 viewers, (it is considered one of the largest of the Oronai world).
Founded as a military colony, Banias is home to one of the largest gymnasiums in the known world in which veteran soldiers, colonists, members of the adventurers's guild train their bodies and master their skills in combat. It is lavishly decorated with frescoes depicting wrestling scenes, mythological themes such as the War of Durstulon and other athletic competitions.
Other famous building of the city is its Academy of Magic, situated in the east of the city, in which young wizards are trained in the fine arts of curative magic, enchanting objects and some forms of offensive and defensive magic. It host not only the classrooms and an area for practising "safely" but also rooms for the students. Every year, a hundred of the most talented young wizards around the province are selected to go study on this little but prestigious academy. Inside it there is also a little but beautiful chapel dedicated to The Holy Couple, the father of all the Gods and god of wisdom, Abon Shabai and his wife and patron of the city, Tyr goddess of the Earth, fertility and medicine among other things.
The countryside is full of both watermills and windmills (depending on how far they are located from the river)
Guilds and Factions
The descendants of the first colonists and the elvish nobility are the most powerful group inside the city, and they have the most amount of influence in the local Assembly. Although many of its members are also part of this aristocracy, the priests not always agree with the decisions taken by the elites of the city which provoke discontent among the different classes of the city. Sometimes they act even as a bridge between the aristocracy and the common people representatives in the assembly. Some very powerful and influencing High Priest of the city could even put the masses against the aristocracy and start a revolt that could lead to new elections for the assembly, so in order to keep the city peaceful the elites must keep the local priesthood on their side too.
The middle class usually stands for new laws that could improve the life of the commoners and they act as a check for the nobility party inside the local assembly.
On the other hand the merchants tend to be the neutral party inside the assembly, most of them came from the middle class and so, they understand the problems of the common citizens as well as the representatives of the middle class, but some of them have forgot their roots and sided with the nobles, even marrying with them in order to became nobles themselves.
History
The elven town:
Before the arrival of the Oronai and the refounding of the settlement into a oronai colony, there was a very small elven town near the Holy Spring and the Holy Cave of the Goddess Tyr, called Banyas in elvish. Little is known about Banyas during its pre-oronai time. We know that it was a pilgrimage center since millenia ago, that the cult to the goddess Tyr was already very well stablished in the town. It was populated mainly by priests and merchants and some noble families while the rest of the elven population appears to have live in the nearby forest (where some of them still lives today). Some inscriptions written in elvish in the Cave of the Goddess probably dated from this era.
The Oronai colony:
With the arrival of king Boros and the Oronai at the end of the 6th century AP and the incorporation of Banias into the Kingdom of Steplia the old elven settlement was refounded as an Oronai military colony settled by veterans of Boros's campaigns in the region. The city was rebuilt following Oronai city designs and the temples were embelished. The city quickly attracted more and more people, the elven nobility migrated almost completely to the city, so did many elvish commoners and even more oronai colonists arrive in the decades to come. Many of this colonists marry elven women thus producing half elf offspring. Today half elves constituted around 45% of the city's inhabitants. The city also became a great centre of pilgrimage and the sanctuary of the Goddess Tyr and its priesthood became very rich and powerfull. With the death of King Boros and the secession of the Southern territories of the Kingdom of Steplia that formed the Kingdoms of Brire and Stormitia, Banias became one of the most important cities in the new kingdom of Brire. The settlement also suffered the wrath of the Barbarians that tried to sack the temple of the Goddess and take the holy Mirror of the Goddes Tyr, one of its sacrest relics and a powerful magical object, but they were repelled by 90 colonists, including former veteran now turned adventurer
Crysanthos, the veteran warriorand his friends alongside the rest of Banias's adventurers guild who defended the town until the royal army arrived.
Once recovered from the attack the city prospered due to the patronage of the kings, who made generous donations to the city and to the Treasury of the Temples. Today is one of the most important cities in the Parana Valley and in the entire kingdom of Brire for its religious significance and for its wealth in resources and agriculture. Not in vain, some Oronai colonist and foreigners describe it as a "little paradise".
Tourism
The main attraction on the city are the Holy Cave of the Goddess Tyr and its many temples alongside the Sacred Spring. Literally hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit the city every year for being cured by the priests of the goddess and the holy water who comes from the Sacred Spring. They tend to buy little figures of the goddess as tottems and amulets.
There are also many inns in the city that provide beds and food for the pilgrims and tourists in general.
There is also the festival of the Goddess Tyr where athletic competitions, charriot races and theatrical plays are held during all the week that the festival lasts. Sacrifices are done in the sacred grove in the Temple recinct and a blessing of all the devotees with water from the holy spring.
The other great festival of the city is the festival of Boria in honor of Boros the Conqueror, the great king and "founder" of the city of Banias as we know it. Processions are held across the city in which the golden statue of the king is taken from its temple and paraded through the city and then put out of the walls and the ritual of foundation of the city is reenacted and the decree of foundation by Boros is read again, then chants and hyms to the god-King are sung and then the statue returns in procession to the Temple.
In some occasions even the Royal family of Brire may attend the festivals in this case the city is full of cortisans, soldiers, and noblemen from all over the kingdom.
There is also a little school of magic in the town that attracts many young people with magical powers.
Architecture
Most of the city buildings follow the traditional oronai architecture and the most important of them, like the temples, The public markets, the city walls, the houses of the rich, the Town hall building, the local theatre and the gimnasium are build in stone while the houses of the most "humble" citizens are made of either wood or bricks and painted in either blue, red or white colours. The roofs of most of the buildings tend to be covered with roof tiles following the principles of oronai architecture.
Geography
The city its located on a plain at the base a mountain chain. To the east of the city lies the Furan River who provides fresh water to the city. To the south and west lies the Furan Forests, ancestral home to the native elvish tribes. The sanctuary of the goddess Tyr is located at the botton of mount Paramis and west of the temple recinct lies the so called Lily Hill, which is home today to the Acropolis of the city, built 40 years ago, a fortified place where the local garrison resides.
Natural Resources
The city is very rich regarding to natural resources, there are silver and gold mines west of the Furan forest and grain is also abundant due to the richness of the soil thanks to the Furan river that provides 2 plentiful harvests a year. Clay is also common near the river area, and its of a very fine quality that makes the pottery of Banias certainly unique. There are also great fields east of the city across the river and to the south where the famous Parana horses are bred.
Founding Date
(unknown) refounded as a oronai colony in 568 AP
Alternative Name(s)
Banyas
Type
Large town
Population
98.000
Related Ethnicities
Inhabitant Demonym
Banians
Included Locations
Related Tradition (Primary)
Related Traditions
Characters in Location
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