| |
| Fariniah | |
|---|---|
| Latitude | 14°52'S |
| Longitude | 35°12'E |
| Founded | 947 |
| Ruler | Sultan Bwan Heiwa |
| Population | 265,200 |
| Religions | Karaslaa |
| Languages | Fah |
| Exports | pearls, trade, sea crafts (shells, buried treasure, bright dyes) |
Inhabitants of Fariniah | |
Fariniah is a large city located on the north shore of the Radoh Sea, commanding vast pearl beds just off the coast. It is the capital of the Sultante of Fahdal in the Kaspari Empire, and the center of culture for the Fah ethnic group. Fariniah commands a large fleet of vessels, including sailboats, ironclads, and submarines, which work to extract pearls from the seabed.
The pearl harvest that distinguishes Fariniah lasts only five months each year. By decree of the Sultan, Bwan Heiwa, in accordance with the nomadic sea peoples who live in the Radoh Sea, the season begins as soon as the monsoons subside. During the next five months, pearl divers work daily to bring the pearls to the surface, often in dangerous conditions. While the risks are great and the rewards for the divers are few, it is through their lung-power and blood that the great city survives.
Fariniah is a large, rather unattractive city that depends on pearls for trade. The city's great wealth has attracted many invading armies in the past, and thus Fariniah's large population is densely packed behind the city's stone and iron wall. A small minority of wealthy nobles, merchants, and townsmen live comfortably off the wealth of the pearl trade. The majority of Fariniah is reduced to poverty and indebted heavily to the merchants who control the trade. When the pearl season has ended, Fariniah has the greatest number of beggars of any city in the Kaspari Empire.
Rumors and Lore[]
Life in Fariniah revolves around the pearl banks, and that life has recently been threatened by some monstrous creature. The nature of the monster is not yet certain. What is certain, however, is that during the past three years 10 boats and four times as many divers have been destroyed or lost to the sea. For some time, Fariniah's pearl merchants assumed that rival pearling fleets from Almoq were responsible. Fariniah was on the brink of declaring war against that southern city when one survivor, missing his legs, washed up on the beach and told his tale. The man soon died, but not before he had described his attacker: a ghostly shark-creature, huge and savage, with tentacles around its gaping maw. This creature moved with intelligence and purpose, said the dying man, picking off divers and then hunting down the boat itself. The number of captains willing to go out to sea declined for a short time, but "bravery" returned after the Sultan offered a large reward to the captain who destroys the beast. The reward, of course, has yet to be claimed.
Within the city walls, another danger threatens the established lords. A new bandit-leader has appeared among the poor, known only as Zawdgohla, "The Darkness." Rumors of this bandit are conflicting. No one is sure whether The Darkness is a man or a woman, a human or a genie. Some say The Darkness is a secret society, and not a single individual. Whatever the truth, the bandit leaves no track other than his or her victims: money-lenders with broken hands and torn throats; cruel captains found on the shore like flotsam, their lungs filled with the sea; and city guards who have been stripped of their armor and weapons and dumped unceremoniously into the Jairdoh River. The chief vizier, Amah Nohbar, has yet to discover the identity of The Darkness. That failure creates another, more troubling possibility: The Darkness, perhaps, is in possession of a powerful technological or thaumaturgial artifact.