Prismat

By Robothedino

Prismat is a Southern city within the Delzahn Khanate. It is an important regional center for academics and firedust production.

Geography and Demographics

Lying approximately 300 miles southwest of the capital, Prismat is the nearest significant Khanate colony to Paragon's territory. It's modern population of approximately 10,000 vastly exceeds its original inhabitation, as the central district which bears the marks of FirstAge construction houses only a fraction of that. The surrounding landscape is inhospitable to farming, consisting mostly of arid scrub and the gulches and arroyos of now-dead riverbeds. Capitol of the small but valuable Telket Province of the Delzahn Khanate, it is surrounded by a scattering of small towns and hamlets which eke a living out of its harsh soil. The Inland Sea is several hundred miles distant, and Prismat benefits little from its moderating influence on climate. In the months of Wood and Fire, Prismat is blasted by the merciless sun, until Resplendent Air brings the yearly monsoons, and with them deadly flash floods. A few score miles to the south, past the flatlands and plains, lies the broken maze of buttes and mesas known as the Trafiq- a place avoided by most, as it is home to bandits and wicked spirits. Prismat and Telket Province are home to a dozen or so separate tribes, but only a handful are of note.

The Delzahn

Prismat lies outside the traditional range of the Delzahn, and it was not until after the conquest of Chiaroscuro that they came here. Today, the Delzahn of Prismat come to fulfill governance appointments made by the Tri-Khan. All represented clans possess some landholdings outside the city, mostly used for the grazing of their steeds and the livestock of their tenants, and they live in a state of relative luxury. Their major responsibility is maintaining law and order, ensuring that the Tri-Khan receives his due, and keeping the ever-present threats of the Trafiq and Paragon at bay. The population is about evenly divided between urban Delzahn from Chiaroscuro, who tend to make their homes within Prismat proper, and nomads who keep their estates on the Telket. Delzahn are olive-skinned with coarse black hair and long mustaches. The men keep their faces hidden behind their veils, as elsewhere in the Khanate, but here they also incorporate elements of Kahakunani dress, particularly their high-collared mantles. Likewise, the women adorn themselves with necklaces and belts laden with gold and tortoiseshell jewelry. The Delzahn represent about eight percent of the population.

The Kahakunani

Indigenous to the coast of the Inland Sea to the north, the Kahakunani were pushed into Telket by the desperate pirate bands that plagued the coastline following the Great Contagion. Their relative proximity to the sea granted them greater trade opportunities and exposure to foreign technologies than their inland neighbors, and so when they fled the shoreline for the scrublands, they wasted no time in subjugating the native populations. Now that they, in turn, have been made to bow before the Delzahn Horde, they make up the educated middle and upper class of Telket. The most renowned artisans and scholars of Prismat have issued from Kahakunani stock. Kahakunani are distinguished by their tall frames and straight black hair. They comprise about thirty-two percent of the population.

The Arjapani

The largest tribal group indigenous to the Telket, and the most populous ethnic group in the region, the Arjapani are said to have lived in the wastes surround Prismat since the infancy of the Shogunate. Their tribal lore speaks of a time when Prismat was a lush garden paradise, but still they traverse its forbidding landscapes more easily than any other. Semi-nomadic herders and hunters, they comprise the bulk of the peasantry in this region, laboring in its mines and foundries as well as tending their flocks and seeking out firedust deposits in the desert. Arjapani guides are essential to anyone seeking to survive in the unforgiving Telket badlands. Arjapani are recognizable by their kinky, dark-copper hair, and compact, wiry builds, but most noticeably by the deep burgundy irises of their eyes. About forty percent of the population is Arjapani.

The Djala

These diminutive, much-abused people enjoy a relatively high status in the Telket. During the Shogunate, they were the playthings and pleasure-slaves of their Kahakunan masters. When the Delzahn Horde came to conquer the Telket, many Djala volunteered their services as spies, assassins, and scouts. Consequently, most Djala families in the region are attached to Delzahn orkhans as retainers. In some respects, their position is little improved by their new masters, as they are still little more than property. The authority inherent in serving the local Delzahn lord as a herald, courier, or deputy, however, grants the Djala of Prismat a greater status than they enjoy elsewhere. The Djala are no less odd-looking in Prismat than anywhere else, with child-like builds accented by their black-on-white panda spots. The Djala make up about fifteen percent of the population.

The City

Prismat itself lies north of center of the Telket. The city is built around the central edifice of the ancient Jami'ah- a First Age center of scholarship, and the primary reason for Prismat's continued existence. Nearby is the casbah, Prismat's seat of government, a four-story walled compound that is dwarfed in both size and beauty by the Jami'ah. Equidistant to both structures is the wide open-air Great Bazaar where Prismat's many artisans hawk their wares, and merchants from points east and north bring the all-important imported foodstuffs. Surrounding these three important pillars of the city are the few remaining Shogunate edifices, which are home to the Delzahn magistrates and the most esteemed scholars and artisans. From this central district, six main roads arc out to the outskirts, describing a city plan that would make even a novice civil engineer shake his head in disgust. These six roads each begin in a clockwise spiral turn, but after several hundred yards reverse the direction of their spin. The length of the next arc increases geometrically, as do the two that follow. Seen from above, the street plan resembles a mandala.

The Shogunate-era buildings surrounding the central whorl of the street plan were designed to accomodate its eccentricities, and most are shaped something like crescents, with the outer curve facing the street and the inner curve usually harboring a garden. Built of fine marble and of austere, elegant design, they stand in sharp contrast to the surrounding compounds and service buildings that have grown up around them. Built with efficiency of cost in mind from roughly-hewn stone, they give the so-called Jami'ah District a cluttered, hodgepodge look. An endless maze of alleys makes travel along a straight line effectively impossible, and many Djala earn a few extra dinars guiding the uninitiated through its convolutions. Watchtowers are distributed throughout the district, and contingents of guardsmen patrol the streets. Apart from the two dragons of troops garrisoned in the casbah, and the students residing in the Jamia’ah’s dormitories, only a few score people actually make their homes in the Jami'ah District, but multitudes more can be found there at any given moment.

Each arc of the six major roads contains another district, decreasing in wealth and density by distance from the center. The second ring, the so-called Scribe's District, comprises the residences and businesses of the upper and middle class, mostly Kahakunani bureaucrats, scholars, merchants, and artisans. A few Arjapan firedust-harvesters who made good also make their homes here, and several of the larger buildings are opulent townhouses rented to visiting merchants and scholars. The northeastern segment is primarily residential, the southwestern primarily commercial. The buildings here are all of Second Age construction, mostly of stone and partially sunken to ward off the desert heat. Bas-reliefs adorn the walls of the more lavish homes, but further out toward the rim of the district one is more likely to find graffiti left by disgruntled laborers. As in the inner district, there are watchtowers and regular patrols to ward off criminals. The total population of this district is about 1,800.

The next arc, called the Harper's District, comprises the homes of the working class of Prismat. Clerks, cooks, and cobblers are the sort of person who walks the streets of this district. Homes are of simple adobe, and densely packed. Workshops, kilns, and smithies add their distinctive scents to the many small scattered bazaars and kebab stands. Street performers play zithers and juggle knives, lucky firedust-gatherers swagger with purses full of silver, and wise women tell fortunes for anyone with a few dinars. At night, gangs of unemployed Djala race across rooftops and occasionally clash in battle. For the most part, though, the people of this district live uncomplicated, comfortable lives. The guard towers of the inner districts are not present here, so neighborhood watch associations and the occasional protection racket keep the peace. Approximately 4,700 people occupy this district.

The outermost district is populated by those firedust-gatherers who choose not to brave the further reaches of the Telket, mine workers, goatherds and small-time farmers whose lands lie directly at Prismat's feet, and the laborers who work in the many warehouses of the Hewer’s District. The Hewer's District is sparsely populated, being primarily an industrial sector full of warehouses, stunted vegetable gardens, and weed-filled lots. Shabby wooden shacks dispense beer and rotgut to the miners, causing violent flare-ups to periodically break the listlessness of the neighborhood. Occasionally, these disruptions spill out into the Harper's District, and the city guard is called upon to shed blood. A little over a thousand people inhabit the Hewer's District.

As the Districts are concentric circles, they make for poor descriptors of location. When a Prismati wants to tell someone where he is from, he usually refers to his neighborhood. Neighborhoods are designated by the district and the name of the major street that has it’s concave side facing the neighborhood. The section of the Harper’s District that lies inside the curve of the Scrivener’s Road, for instance, is called Harper-on-Scrivener. Ethnic groups usually modify these names to be more informal and comfortable to their tongues- an Arjapan might call that same district “Arp-ran-skif”, while a Kahakunan might render it as Harapur’an’Suk.

[#SurroundingEnvirons]Surrounding Environs

Outside the Prismat city walls are scattered the estates of the various Delzahn warrior-nobles and the small villages that spring up around them, as well as the isolated, temporary camps of the untamed Arjapani. The Telket terrain is not like the deep Southern deserts, where the dunes loom tall, nor like the dry savannahs of Harborhead. It is 90,000 square miles of rocky, broken expanse, where every living and unliving thing seems to have been created with the sole purpose of injury in mind. Every plant bristles with thorns. Every insect bears a vicious sting or bite. The earth itself offers up jagged chunks of flint to tear the feet of the traveler.

A continuing source of interest to savants is the network of dry riverbeds that lace the Telket. Some of them are quite large, and there are a few open expanses that the College of Delvers believe to be ancient lakebeds. Some take these as evidence that the Telket was not always the barren wasteland it is today, although few give much credence to the Arjapani tales of a time when it was a veritable paradise.

Lying at the foot of the great Southern mountain range, the elevation of the Telket ranges from two-hundred odd feet at it’s northern edge, to just shy of a thousand at the southern. As one travels south, the terrain becomes increasingly broken, marred by deep gullies and small buttes. Watering holes become increasingly rare. The landscape is most strikingly defined by the great, red plinths that can be found standing every few miles or so, sometimes as large as 200 feet high. The shade they provide, along with their statuesque appearance, makes them important landmarks, and many bear ancient petroglyphs- remnants of the ancestors. This is the most untamed portion of the Telket, where the last of the free Arjapani still roam.

Further north are the more civilized portions, where the Delzahn gentry graze their steeds. The masterful irrigation techniques of the Delvers College, and the weather-twisting geomancy of the College of Dowsers provides enough fresh water to support stubbly pastures. Unfortunately, this means less water to go around elsewhere. The northern Telket sees most of its population centered around Delzahn estates, although there are still the same settlements of Kahakunani sodbusters and roving camps of nomadic Arjapani.

These descriptions of the Telket hold true through most of the year, but with the coming of the monsoons in Resplendent Air, everything changes. For a solid month, the Telket is battered by a torrential downpour, turning the dry red dust to a soupy morass. The mudfish come alive, emerging from their long sleep to mate. Travel ceases, and people across the Telket celebrate in the downpour. The monsoons also have the effect of washing away a great deal of the firedust in the region, which gradually replenishes itself in the following months. A slight increase in crime rates is noted every year after the monsoons, as firedust harvesters who were unsuccessful that year are sometimes forced into thievery to survive.

Common wildlife seen in the Telket includes:

• Wild tsotseks, cousins of the domesticated lizards common in Prismat
• Jackrabbits
• Eagles and vultures
• Jackals
• Burrowing wasps, as well as a vast variety of other insects, spiders, scorpions and the like
• Several kinds of venomous snakes
• Migratory ungulates, such as ibex
• Lasherbush, a shrub with long, lightweight branches laced with huge thorns. Sudden gusts of wind can cause the bush to suddenly “lash” its branches to the side, scourging unwary travelers
• Prickly pear
• A wide variety of wildflowers, typically only in bloom following the monsoon season

After Prismat, the next-largest settlement in the Telket is a bare two-hundred souls or so- the closest population center of any note is Chiaroscuro, 300 miles away.

The Trafiq

Lying a mere eighty miles to the south of Prismat, the Trafiq has been an icon of fear and danger in the Telket since time immemorial. It rises a thousand feet up above its surroundings, a fortress-like complex of sheer stone walls. No natural geological process could account for the way the massive walls of rock rise up from the ground, while still leaving a maze-like system of crevasses between them. Explorers who venture into the Trafiq are rarely heard from again, and those accounts that do come back to civilization rarely corroborate one another.

In the past, curious savants have taken advantage of mechanical or magical flight to inspect the Trafiq from above. All agree on one thing- the great prominences form a ring, rather than a solid mass, encircling… something. This is where the agreement ends- some explorers have seen a vast cauldron of flame, others a cerulean lake, some great mounds of gold. No two observers can agree on just what is at the heart of the Trafiq.

Those who have entered the Trafiq on foot and lived to speak of it agree on a few things. Strange creatures inhabit its depths. Many speak of honeycomb structures in the rock from which emerge large, bejeweled wasps. When crushed, these abominations bleed liquid fire. Several tales have emerged of a strange, masked, clown-like figure that sometimes appears to lost wanderers. He is happy to lead them out of the Trafiq, but those who accept his help are said to suffer terrible losses soon afterward.

The Jami’ah

The true center of Prismat is the Jami’ah. This massive edifice is said to be of High First Age origin, and has certainly stood for as long as history records. It appears something like a vast wheel lying on its side- six rectangular wings, the “spokes”, radiate from a central “axle”, enclosed by thirty foot-high walls of jade-laced marble. Where they meet in the center, they conjoin into a single twisting rectangular prism, a great spiraling tower that rises up over 900 feet into the sky to end in a massive teardrop-shaped latticework. Each wing contains five stories and has a footprint of about 50,000 square feet. The entire structure is based on an open armature, which shows no signs of joining- the entire framework is as if hollowed out from a single piece of metal, lending credence to the building’s High First Age origin.

The thousands of triangular “windows” created by this framework show no signs of ever having been filled, but today they are fitted with glass panes. The creation of these “windowpanes” was the first great achievement of the Jami’ah, as they seem to be essential to the geomancy of the structure. Through study of the Jami’ah’s design, scholars were able to determine that part of its original purpose was to channel and focus sunlight. How this was achieved in the First Age is unknown, but after generations of study and experimentation, Prismati scholars were able to create glass panes with the necessary specifications to approximate the original design.

Light is focused through the panes, and funneled through a labyrinth of mirrors down the length of the spire, flooding the great central hall with scintillating sunlight. The teardrop-shaped structure at the spire’s apex is home to four elementals of fire. Bound by an unknown power since time immemorial, they lend their light and power to the Jami’ah when called upon to do so by the head scholars. This luminous energy is harnessed by the entire building and transformed to make possible many of the mechanical wonders for which it is famous. These include the massive bellows and forges of the Artificer’s College, the Essence scalpels used by the Chirurgeon’s College, and more.

The Colleges are the six major divisions within the academic body of the Jami’ah. Each is housed in a separate wing, and have a fairly high degree of autonomy. They also give their names to each of the six major roads in Prismat. They are:

• the Delver’s College, school of prospecting, mining, and masonry,
• the Chirurgeon’s College, where physicians and healers are trained,
• the Artificer’s College, a hodgepodge of crafts and engineering, most famously glassworking and enchantment,
• the Jurist’s College, which teaches jurisprudence, legal theory, and rhetoric,
• the Dowser’s College, where scholars study geomancy and the movements of Essence,
• the Scrivener’s College, devoted to scribes, archivists, and historians.

The central base of the Jami’ah houses the Aspirant’s College, in which all students spend one year devoted to general studies: calligraphy, history, logic, mathematics, and the like. No street is named for this College.

Each College is staffed by a score or so instructors and functionaries, under the authority of a single mujtahid, or learned one. Mujtahids are responsible for appointing instructors, disbursing research grants and overseeing admissions to their individual Colleges. They are appointed by their outgoing predecessor, with the approval of the Marja al-Taqlid, or simply Marja- the highest single authority in the Jami’ah. The Marja, in turn, is elected by unanimous vote of the mujtahids from one among their number. If the body of mujtahids cannot reach a consensus, the Pasha typically steps in and exercises his plenipotentiary power, although this rarely happens. The Marja is powerful for several reasons, not the least of which being the substantial tithe paid to him by each mujtahid. He also has veto power over any mujtahid appointment, and must sign off on the operating budget of each College. If a mujtahid dies without naming his successor, that choice goes to the Marja. Additionally, since all students at the Jami’ah must first be admitted to the Aspirant’s College before they may advance into the more specialized ones, the Marja effectively controls enrollment.

The Marja is unique in one other important respect. The Jami’ah, in addition to being a wonder of engineering, is a Manse of considerable power. As part of a tradition that dates back to the very beginnings of the Jami’ah, each Marja receives a biomagical implant that allows him to access the power of the Jami’ah’s hearthstone. What this power might be, exactly, is unknown- each Marja takes an oath of secrecy upon his ascension, and the truth is not revealed even to the mujtahids. Not that this stops them from forming theories…

Though the enrollment lists vary year to year, there are typically between six- and eight-dozen students in each College, except for the Aspirant’s, which typically has twice or so times that number. Admission is highly prized. There are a few ways to gain admission to the Jami’ah as a student.

Anybody who can afford to pay the institution’s exorbitant tuition costs can become a student quite easily. The Jami’ah is a business as much as anything else, and the revenue it brings to the city is indispensable. However, buying a seat in its lecture halls entitles the student to no further luxuries- if they are unable to live up to the rigorous curriculum, they are summarily dismissed, as more than one Dynast has come to learn. A few have made trouble over it, but not even a scion of the Dragons wants to draw negative attention from the Pasha of Prismat, and by extension the Tri-Khan. About a quarter of the student body is admitted in this fashion.

Most often, however, students are sponsored. The Pasha has an entire department of his bureaucracy dedicated to scouting out promising students, and pays for their tuition. In return, they are expected to perform a term of service for the government following the completion of their studies. The Pasha often loans out these indentured scholars to political allies, particularly those from the Scrivener’s College (as tutors and loremasters), Jurist’s College (as arbiters and advisors) and Surgeon’s College (as court physicians). Terms of service are typically equal to the length of study, after which time the former student has the experience and contacts to continue his career unaided. Typically, though, bonds of loyalty will make of them close allies to their sponsor.

The mujtahid also sponsor students. Seeking to gain renown for their College and their own reputation, they maintain networks of informants among primary school teachers. Most neighborhoods in the Scribe’s District, and many in the Harper’s, maintain primary schools, as does the local Immaculate temple. Instructors at these institutions gain favor with the mujtahid by referring them these students, and after a personal evaluation, they may choose to take on the costs of their tuition. These kind of students are not beholden to their benefactors in the same manner that the Pasha’s are, but are bound by tradition to give their utmost loyalty, respect, and reverence to their sponsoring mujtahid. Prismati works of scholarship have a distinctive style including a lavish praise of the author’s sponsor, and mujtahid measure prestige among themselves on the basis of the success of each other’s protégés.

The Marja ultimately has the last word on who may study at the Jami’ah, however, as all potential students must be initially trained at the Aspirant’s College. This power has historically been used to maintain the balance between the other Colleges, ensuring that the overall quality of education at the Jami’ah does not suffer due to the domination of a single College. The Pasha, likewise, may indirectly disbar anyone he chooses from studying by the use of trumped-up criminal charges. Even if no other punishment is meted out, the unfortunate victim of the Pasha’s attentions is marked as a political enemy, and will only be admitted if relations between Pasha and Marja are openly hostile.

The College of Delvers

The College of Delvers is devoted to the manipulation and acquisiton of mineral resources, in all its forms. In the Telket, this typically means firedust harvesting. Wind currents and Essence lines draw a great deal of firedust to the Telket, but gathering it is much more complicated than simply scooping it up out of the sand, even without considering the deadly climate and the predations of bandits. Although there is an informal apprentice system among the unschooled Arjapan harvesters, outsiders who want to learn how to prospect must do so in the Delver’s College. There they also learn techniques of mining, masonry, gemcutting, and irrigation. The Delver’s College is perhaps the most mercantile of them all, and certainly the wealthiest. This means that the Marja’s tithe is heavily dependent on the Delver’s profits, and they have traditionally held a disproportionate level of influence in the Jami’ah. The other Colleges tend to see them as crude and mercenary, but in the end, money talks.

The College of Scriveners

The College of Scriveners, by contrast, is the most scholarly of the Colleges. Students here are trained in archival practice- calligraphy, how to organize large collections of lore, the preservation of perishable texts, systems of accounting and tabulation, and so forth. They are typically fluent in several languages, not for the purpose of diplomacy but for translation of documents. In the course of their studies, most students here also become savants in obscure areas of history, philosophy, and the arcane. Many scriveners go on to become successful tutors to the children of the nobility in Prismat, Chiaroscuro, and beyond. Though they are the least wealthy of the Colleges, they wield an important political weapon- control of the Jami’ah’s library. When the other Colleges fail to pay them the proper respect, they often find that the texts they need to conduct their research are “on long-term reserve” to unnamed parties. The Scrivener’s are a clannish bunch, and stick together against all external threats, although their internal rivalries are equally renowned.

The College of Chirurgeons

The College of Chirurgeons is famous for producing some of Creation’s most skilled and knowledgeable herbalists, but less so than for the life-saving miracles afforded by their skill in surgery. This is due in no small part to the medical facilities of the Jami’ah itself. Some of the most famous wonders made possible by its geomantic structure are the Essence scalpels- tools which draw on the coherent light focused by the Jami’ah’s mirror system to produce focused cutting beams. This makes it possible to create incisions which are instantly cauterized, allowing the physicians of the Chirurgeon’s College to perform procedures that are impossible anywhere else in the world. Graduates of the College go on to prestigious appointments across Creation, but many choose to remain in Prismat. Because of their skill, many Prismati soldiers survive battle-wounds that would have otherwise been fatal, and this means the small Prismati army contains many more seasoned veterans than comparable forces. The Pasha knows this, affording the College many favors among military circles. The Chirurgeons have a bad reputation among the other Colleges, although most rank-and-file students have no idea why. Their influence in the Pasha’s military is countered by the enmity of their fellow scholars.

The College of Jurists

The College of Jurists trains students in the principles of law, economy, and governance, as well as rhetoric, classic literature, and philosophy. Apart from the Scriveners, they are the most learned of the Colleges in historical matters, as they strive to apply the lessons of the past to the present. Jurists typically go on to careers in bureaucracies throughout the Khanate and beyond. Quite a few become successful in the Guild or other mercantile organizations. And of course, many remain within the Jami’ah as administrators. Contrary to what one might expect, the Jurists are far from consummate influence-peddlers. They are valued for their well-known honor and impartiality as much as their erudition, and any Jurist who is perceived to be corrupt is quickly blacklisted by the College. Rumors swirl around assassinations being carried out against wayward Jurists, although this itself would be contrary to their traditions.

The College of Artificers

The College of Artificers are probably the single most famous of the Colleges. They train their students in all manner of engineering and fabrication, everything from automated looms to self-cooling armor. Students receive a healthy training in the arcane, and not all, but many, learn the thaumaturgical art of enchantment. Apart from these wonders, the College is widely regarded as being home to some of the finest glass-blowers in Creation. The same technomagical marvels that make the Essence scalpels possible afford the Artificers the use of super-high heat forges, and precision tools to mold and polish glass. They use this skill not only to create household goods of stunning beauty, but the most precisely calibrated lenses in Creation. Demand for such things is not terribly great, but the Artificer’s knowledge of optics is essential for the maintenance of the Jami’ah’s mirror system. Together with the College of Dowsers, they ensure that the Manse’s power is properly channeled at all times. Outsiders sometimes wonder if these Colleges might not use this power to blackmail the Marja, but any local knows this is madness. The Artificers depend on the good working order of the Jami’ah more so than anyone, and a flaw in its systems could very well turn the entire edifice to rubble. Those Artificers who are responsible for Jami’ah maintenance take their duty deadly seriously, and are afforded a great deal of respect by all.

The College of Dowsers

The College of Dowsers is in many respects the Artificers’ “sister-school”. Where the Artificers study the properties of materials, occult or otherwise, the Dowsers investigate the more ephemeral qualities of space, form, and relationship as they affect Essence. Dowsers tend to follow the most diverse paths after graduation out of all the Colleges. Some become retainers or wandering occultists-for-hire, ending droughts and warding away plagues. More than a few simply retreat into solitude, living the simple life of hermit-scholars. Some, though not many, even join the Immaculate Order, where their arcane prowess affords them many opportunities to gain rank. Most, however, fall into one of two camps. Apart from their previously mentioned partnership with the Artificers in maintaining the Jami’ah, some co-operate with the Delver’s College in the harvesting of firedust, which tends to collect along dragon lines stemming from the Pole of Fire. The tension created by these two opposing alliances makes the Dowser’s College the most politically volatile of the Colleges. Violence against Jami’ah maintenance staff is not tolerated by anyone within the Jami’ah, but mercantile Dowsers have been known to use their connections to disgrace their counterparts. This rivalry is the cause of a long-standing inferiority in the political power of the College within the Jami’ah.

Culture

Prismat is less of a melting pot than a lumpy stew. Ethnic rivalries run deep, and the tribal groups of the Telket have maintained their cultural distinctness for millennia. That said, there are a few generalizations that can be made about all Prismati.

Hospitality is considered a virtue throughout Prismati society. For the indigenous Arjapani, this originated as a measure to ensure the survival of the whole in the unforgiving Telket badlands. For the Kahakunani, it arose as a conspicuous show of generosity and power. All the same, a traveler in need of a bed can find no better place to look for it than within the walls of Prismat, and the poorest firedust prospector will still split his meal with a wanderer. Correspondingly, refusing an offer of hospitality, or declining a gift, is a major affront. Foreigners are often baffled as a would-be host goes from effusively generous to openly hostile in the blink of an eye. The comic dramas of the region are full of intrigues made possible by characters delayed by constant offers of “one more cup of tea”.

Both the Arjapani and Kahakunani cultures also have long-standing traditions of storytelling. Arjapani oral tradition has maintained its integrity despite centuries of subjugation, mostly focused on the exploits of a handful of mythical ancestor-figures. The ancestors were apparently a rather randy bunch, and many of these tales, called sayombes, run to the bawdy end of the spectrum.

The Kahakunani style, called Su’e-ten, tends to be more dramatic, with complex storylines revolving around doomed romances and questions of honor. Usually recited in verse form, accompanied by finger-cymbals and a zither player, it is an ongoing source of friction between the Arjapani and Kahakunani that the former find the ballads to be absurdly boring and long-winded, and frequently subject them to ridicule. Indeed, satirical send-ups of Kahakunani classics has become an Arjapani genre all of its own.

The Djala not lucky enough to be in the employ of, or be owned by, a Delzahn or Kahakunan, and not reckless enough to take up a life of crime, often take up juggling and acrobatics as a profession. Given their race’s natural affinity for such professions, Prismat is well-renowned for its street performers. Djala buskers compete viciously for the best locations, and often serve as points of reference to navigate the city’s winding streets.

The other major recreational pursuits that cut across ethnic lines in Prismat are tea-drinking and smoking. Prismat is rife with cafes serving the potent local tea and tobacco, where patrons sit outdoors under awnings, often for hours at a time.

No description of Prismat would be complete without mentioning the tsotseks. Semi-bipedal lizards, about the size of turkeys, they are distinguished by their bright colors and diverse patterns, and the colorful sprays of feathers that tip their long tails. The Arjapani domesticated them centuries ago, and since then, they have become fixtures of life in the Telket, combining the roles of cat, dog, and chicken. They hunt vermin, lay nutritious eggs, and are just smart enough to make passable companion animals. Even their guano is of value, as it is one of the main ingredients in the production of the lime that is used to construct adobe structures. Every Arjapani household has at least one, often more, and even the Kahakunani like to keep them, breeding them as show animals. The Delzahn tend to look on them as disgusting vermin, but know better than to treat them as such. Sixty years ago, a Delzahn noble, weary of the guano adorning his veranda, slew his neighbor’s tsotsek stock. The resulting feud culminated in massive riots that very nearly saw the city fall into the hands of Paragon. Visitors to Prismat are encouraged to come in Descending Fire, when the city closes off its streets for the great Tsotsek Races. Just watch where you step- it gets messy.

Arjapani Culture

The Arjapani have managed to retain their cultural values despite centuries of subjugation in large part by being a tight-knit bunch. Though they are divided into six clans, each represented by an ancestral hero, these clans are far from antagonistic. The Arjapani practice matrilineal exogamy- in other words, it is forbidden to marry within the clan, with the husband being taken into the wife’s clan. Gender roles within the tribe are highly equitable, with the women traditionally practicing honored crafts such as weaving, pottery, and brewing, while the men hunt and gather firedust.

Firedust holds an interesting position in Arjapani culture. They’ve been exploiting the resource for as long as they have lived in the Telket, but unlike other cultures, they never use it for military purposes. On the open badlands of the Telket, a single errant flame can catch a firedust deposit and unleash a cataclysmic blaze. The Arjapani instead learned to mix firedust with other components to produce a variety of useful goods, including flameless, incandescent torches, colored beacons, and firecrackers. Arjapani festivals are renowned for the pyrotechnic displays that inevitable accompany them.

Prestige among the Arjapani is gained through skill in one’s profession and in the telling of sayombes. The greatest sayombesos have the status of elders within their clan, and make decisions affecting the clan through consensus. The elders do not concern themselves with conflicts between individuals, however. Feuds between Arjapani are typically settled through word-duels.

Word-duels occur more-or-less spontaneously. One man might suspect another of cuckolding him, and the next time they pass each other in the street, he confronts him with a traditional dueling stance. Calling him out for his offense, a crowd inevitably begins to throng around the pair and begins to stamp their feet in a set rhythm. The two duelists then begin to trade insults. Typical topics on which to mock an opponent include his skill at hunting, his sexual prowess, and his skill at sayombe. Crowd members will whoop and cheer throughout as contestants score “hits” on each other, and when the duel is finished, audience approval will determine the winner. Losing a word-duel does not impose any obligation to make restitution to the winner, but a loser will be subtly ostracized by his community until he does so. Once the debt has been paid, the winner will invite the loser to his home for an elaborate meal, signifying the end of the feud.

It’s an informal system, but one that has worked remarkably well for them throughout the centuries. Unfortunately, the arrival of the Delzahn and the ensuing urbanization has weakened some of these traditional bonds. Increased demand for firedust has led some Arjapani to incredible wealth, and with that wealth, power to defy the edicts of their elders. Violent conflict between Arjapani, while still unusual, occurs far more often now than ever before.

The six ancestral heroes of the Arjapani who lend their names to the clans are:

• Aiyijai, the woman whose beauty seduced the sun and gave birth to the moon,
• Zazo’e, the lewd trickster whose “adventures” produced many of the beasts and plants of the Telket,
• Keyame, a wise-woman who raised the Trafiq to imprison the devils and demons of the Telket,
• Dambo’o, the great-hearted, whose ashes are the source of all firedust,
• Cho’umedu, who created the sacred rhythms,
• Abu’jade, a mysterious figure who, legend has it, buried a great secret beneath the Telket sands.

Kahakunani Culture

If there is a single idea that defines the Kahakunani way of life, it is “pride”. According to their own histories, they once ruled a prosperous nation on the coast of the Inland Sea, and the studies of foreign savants seem to support the theory. After being driven from their homeland by swarms of pirates and raiders following the collapse of the Shogunate, they came to the Telket, and what they found disgusted them. A barren wasteland, populated only by ignorant savages, awaited their civilizing influence. Some wonder why the Kahakunani did not move on to greener pastures, but they claim that they were stricken by a Heaven-sent duty to tame this forsaken land. And tame it they did.

The bulk of the Telket was in the hands of the Kahakunani within two years of their arrival. It took decades or centuries for them to secure the rest, but they did, and they irrigated the land as best they could and put the Arjapani to work.

More than that, though, they began to study the Jami’ah. At this point, it was merely a ruin. The native “savages” avoided the place, believing it to be haunted, and wouldn’t have known what to do with it if they had wanted to. The early Kahakunani scholars didn’t know what to do with it either, but they weren’t about to just ignore it. They spent the next several centuries studying it, patiently and lovingly, and as they studied the capital of their small nation sprung up around them. They built what roads they could, and established laws and courts and the arts. And finally, in Realm Year 467, the Jami’ah was reactivated. By 492, what had been a lonely backwater had become a nascent hub of scholarship in the region.

Before the 5th century had drawn to a close, Prismat was in the hands of the Delzahn Horde. As the Kahakunani were, in turn, forced to submit to the rule of the Tri-Kahn, it put a chip on the race’s collective shoulder that hasn’t been knocked off yet. They tend to consider themselves the only “civilized” people in the Telket, although they keep that sentiment quiet when Delzahn nobles are around. They place a strong emphasis on the societal order over the individual- rule under the Delzahn is actually more lenient than it was under the Kahakunani, another reason for the traditional antagonism between themselves and the Arjapani. Public service is well-respected among this people, and they are disproportionately represented in the military, city guard, and bureaucracy of the city. Deeply courteous, they seek to maintain face at all times, and when one’s dignity is insulted it will often spark a feud that may last for generations.

The most important influence the Kahakunani have had on their Delzahn masters is in fashion. Kahakunani dress typically features a sarong dyed in vibrant blue, violet, or green, and printed with bold, striking patterns. Outdoors, they include a short mantle with a high, stiff collar that reaches up over the head and forward, shading the wearer. The male heads of households also carry ornate carved staffs, in which are engraved symbols of their lineage. Women also wear sarongs, but replace the outdoor mantles with large fans or parasols, and always go adorned in wreaths of gold and tortoiseshell medallions. All this glamour comes at great expense, and Kahakunani spend much of their income on their dyes and jewelry. It is a credit to the Kahakunani that their invaders have adopted so much of their style as well as their knowledge.

Most importantly, however, the Kahakunani provide the backbone of the Jami’ah. Something on the order of three-fifths of the student body is of Kahakunani stock, and every Marja has been one. The Delzahn rulers are careful not to push their subjects too far, because with the Kahakunani gone, the secrets of the Jami’ah would be lost.

Djala Culture

The Djala of the Telket have been slaves and servants ever since they came to the region, whether they traveled in the baggage trains or palanquins of their Kahakunani masters. Their lives under the rule of the Pasha are by no means luxurious, but still much improved. About one in ten Djala are legally slaves, and a little over half live as retainers to wealthy Kahakunani and Delzahn, which amounts to the same thing. Of the remainder, about half are unemployed.

Most Djala attached to Kahakunani masters serve as domestics and courtesans. Both are considered demeaning work to the culture at large, and this is essentially the lowest rung in Prismat society. The Delzahn employ some Djala in this fashion also, but more so as couriers, heralds, and pages. Even though the pay is little better, if there is any at all, there is much more prestige attached to such posts. Djala in the official service of Delzahn nobles enjoy privileges of immunity and free passage, if not their freedom, and often the same family will serve a Delzahn line, generation after generation.

“Free market” Djala often make their living as entertainers. Others become craftsmen, guides for visiting foreigners, and the most successful open cafes and gambling parlors. Just as many fall between the cracks of Prismati society. Their traditional position at the bottom of the social ladder, coupled with their natural talent for stealth, evasion, and acrobatics leads many to form gangs. Djala gangs have been a fixture of the city’s small but active underworld for decades. For the most part, they restrain themselves to petty theft, vandalism, and protection rackets, but every few years a Kahakunan is found in an alley, stabbed dozens of times… at waist level. Only a handful of Djala have ever attended the Jami’ah, due to a lack of financial resources and the prejudices of the ruling classes.

One thing almost all Djala have in common is a love of gambling. The most popular game is a variety of dice called Rachi’s Wager, but they have picked up games from across Creation. This is, in part, why the Kahakunani consider them “degenerates”, but that doesn’t stop them from discreetly patronizing Djala gambling houses.

Delzahn Culture

Despite being the unchallenged rulers of the Telket, the Delzahn are in many ways the least connected to it. The Delzahn population tends to be somewhat transient, coming and going as appointments and land grants are made and rescinded by the Tri-Khan. Several families of Delzahn, however, have been present for many generations, and this core of Prismati Delzahn sustains the unique variety of Delzahn culture native to the region.

Here, as elsewhere, Delzahn men place great value on skill at riding and combat, and women are esteemed for beauty, grace, and obedience. Prismati Delzahn, however, accord a great deal more respect to scholarship than their relatives in Chiaroscuro or on the plains. It is the Jami’ah, after all, that makes Prismat valuable in the first place.

Prismati Delzahn also tend to be a little less quick to violence than their relatives elsewhere. They have absorbed a fair amount of the Kahakunani respect for due process, and the Arjapani traditions of settling disputes through ridicule and ostracism. Duels are still common enough, but are rarely to the death, thanks in part to the facilities of the Chirurgeon’s College. As mentioned earlier, the Delzahn have been heavily influenced by Kahakunani taste in dress, with many Delzahn men wearing the stiff-collared mantles and bearing the traditional staffs (carved with Delzahn patterns) of the Kahakunani. Women, likewise, have adopted the practice of adorning themselves with strands of gold and tortoiseshell. Djala dice games are a common entertainment among young Delzahn men, and Su’e-ten tragedies are well-read among women. When a Delzahn makes a cutting jibe at a rival, he often unknowingly makes reference to the oral tradition of the Arjapani.

For their part, the Delzahn have made some impression on the native cultures. Official holidays are Delzahn holidays, and Delzahn sky-worship has been syncretized within local religions. They brought with them the tea and tobacco now so popular among the middle and lower classes. As a whole, though, Delzahn culture is merely a thin skin over the heart of the Telket.

With regard to the rotating cast of nobles sent to and from Prismat by the Tri-Khan, there is about an even split between urban and nomadic Delzahn. Nobles are slightly overrepresented in Prismat relative to their overall populations.

Religion

The spiritual life of Prismat is no less diverse than the cultures that live there. Despite centuries of intermixture, Prismat’s peoples still maintain their own rites and beliefs. A few traits are common to most strains of worship, though.

Everyone in the Telket knows that the Trafiq is taboo. To the Arjapani, it is a prison for wicked entities, raised by the ancestor Keyame. To the Kahakunani, it is a cursed land forever tainted by the blasphemous magic of a long-dead Arjapani sorcerer. To the Delzahn, it is simply an unknowable threat held too close to the throat of their protectorate. All recognize the existence of a small god whose job is to keep what’s in, in, and what’s out, out. It’s tradition to say a quick prayer to this god- who is known by as many as a dozen different names- before beginning any journey in the Telket, or another major undertaking.

The goddess of the Telket itself is a slightly less mysterious figure named Selewa. Known alternately as the Cracked and Bleeding Maiden, she appears much as a her name suggests- an elegant young woman with hair of flowing blue flame, beautifully proportioned but marred by skin that is a festering network of lacerations. She is served by a pair of hag-faced vultures. Selewa demands propitiation from anyone who ventures into the deep Telket, favoring offerings of fruits and exotic bird feathers. Given the scarcity of these items in her domain, she will typically accept more mundane offerings.

Peyo-Tatari, the god of Prismat itself, is a strangely forgettable figure. He appears infrequently, in the form of a small boy in oversized saffron robes. Demonstrations of his power in the past have been disappointing- for the spiritual representative of a thriving community of thousands, he’s a bit underwhelming. Though he is honored with a shrine in the casbah, he receives little worship from the populace at large.

The single most powerful spirit to call the Telket home is that of the Jami’ah itself. Saya’amal-Who-Bears-Sunlight-In-His-Talons is a distant figure, but when he chooses to make his presence known, the result is always impressive. He appears as a massive golden eagle, liquid gold eternally dripping from his claws. When he opens his great beak to speak, his tongue is revealed as a pair of wise-eyed serpents, who add a distinct sibilant undertone to his own piercing notes. He has appeared to defend the Jami’ah from invaders a number of times, although notably not against the Delzahn invasion. Students in the Jami’ah who are struggling with a difficult block in their research sometimes experience a moment of clarifying enlightenment that they attribute to Saya’amal. Other times, Artificers who are exploring the incomprehensible depths of the Jami’ah’s workings are struck by a deep sense of trepidation. Those who choose not to heed the warning are typically found dead- sometimes scorched and twisted by energies they didn’t understand, sometimes with their skulls crushed by a fiery beak. Saya’amal is honored daily by all students and mujtahid, as well as by common folk who hope for their children to one day attend the Jami’ah.

In addition to these local gods, Prismat honors the sky-gods of Delzahn worship. A circular, walled, open-air compound in Scribe-on-Artificer, known simply as the Place of Offering, serves as the main place of worship for devotees of these gods. There, Delzahn priests keep a large coal-pit stoked. Supplicants ascend a ramp that leads over the center of the pit, where they cast down whatever offering they bring and are bathed in its smoke as it ascends to the heavens. Worship in the Delzahn style has become fairly well-observed among the populace at large, supplementing rather than replacing the native customs.

Arjapani express their spirituality first and foremost through sayombe. Invoking the sacred rhythms passed down through the generations, they honor the deeds of the clan ancestors and the gods who watch over them. Deities of wordcraft are supplicated at the beginning of every sayombe, as well as the Keeper of the Trafiq, that no evil spirits be let free to make the sayombeso trip on his tongue. Selewa, Goddess of the Telket, receives an offering before any hunter or prospector ventures into her country, but these are simple affairs compared to the sayombe- a tsotsek egg or two left out for the jackals, a few brief words, nothing more.

Kahakunani religion is considerably more ornate, and centers around the sea from whence they originated. There is probably no other society in the world that places so much emphasis on the ocean without even knowing what it looks like. The wealthier Kahakunani usually attempt to see the ocean once before they die, but many go through their whole life without ever getting a single whiff of its breeze.

This forced separation from their spiritual patron gives saltwater a great spiritual power for the Kahakunani. Children are baptized with bowls of saltwater, and the bodies of the dead are washed in saltwater before being cremated. This accounts for another reason the Arjapani are convinced their former masters are lunatics- who in their right mind would ruin precious freshwater by mixing salt in? To the Kahakunani, it is a link to their mythical past, and the pride of their people.

The Immaculate Order does indeed have a presence in Prismat. As a colony of the Delzahn Khanate, itself a tributary of the Realm, it would be considered amiss if the Order was not represented. A small but fairly well-funded temple can be found in the Scribe’s District, and monks are often sponsored to attend the Jami’ah.

In terms of bringing converts to the faith, though, the monks have met with little success. Heretical worship, as evidenced by the previous material, abounds. Attendance at Immaculate services is mostly limited to a few score desperate peasants, resigned to the misery of their lives and hoping to make a better showing in the next.

The temple’s abbot, an enlightened mortal known to practice at least one supernatural martial art style, is known to have ties to the College of Dowsers. He even moonlights as a guest instructor, although he claims his devotions keep him too busy to accept a permanent position.

Military

Prismat fields a standing army of two dragons, with an additional two provided by the Tri-Khan. At any given time, one dragon of each are garrisoned in Prismat, and the other two are in the field performing maneuvers. The purpose of this is to encourage some degree of camaraderie between local troops and the military representatives of Chiaroscuro.

Prismati troops go to battle lightly armored, to stave off the worst effects of the scorching heat. The superb training of their combat medics ensures that casualties stay relatively low. Delzahn warriors fill the ranks of the cavalry, Kahakunani the bulk of the infantry, and Arjapani and the occasional Djala the skirmishers and scouts. Forces place a high premium on mobility and flexibility, with well-developed systems of battlefield communication.

This small force could never stand alone against the legions of Paragon’s Perfect- rather, it is the Telket itself that is Prismat’s best defense. Any march from Paragon to Prismat entails traveling hundreds of miles through some of the most inhospitable conditions in Creation. The scorching heat that blasts the Telket most of the year is exhausting to march in, and necessitates bringing along a lot of water. Foraging is poor in the Telket, and there are virtually no settlements large enough to be worth looting. This makes invading Prismat a logistical nightmare. Fielding an army in the monsoon season is nothing less than suicidal. Even if these obstacles are overcome, long before any invading army reaches Prismat they will have been spotted by border scouts and word will be on its way to Chiaroscuro. The Tri-Khan is willing to send as many troops as is necessary to defend this jewel in his crown.

This is not to say that Prismat is safe, by any means, not from the Perfect nor the other threats around it. The city has almost fallen to Paragon several times, most famously in the confusion surrounding the Tsotsek Riots sixty years ago. Paragonian spies relayed news of the chaos to their superiors, who used sorcery to quickly transport a small commando team within the city walls. Before the riots had ended, the Pasha and his family had been taken hostage. Their captors demanded that Delzahn forces withdraw from the area, essentially ceding the Telket to Paragon. The Pasha at the time was a close younger brother of the Tri-Khan, and he might have acceded to their demands had the captive Pasha not made a suicidal escape attempt. He and his family were killed, as were the commandos soon thereafter. The occasion is still remembered with a yearly festival. Political disruptions aside, Prismat has one major military weakness: its supply chain. The arid Telket soil does not produce enough crops to support its urban population, and the city spends a great deal of its revenue on importing foodstuffs. The caravans that bring it must travel great distances of fairly dangerous terrain to bring it, and any force that could cut them off entirely could force the surrender of the city. The Tri-Khan keeps a close watch of the trade routes, but even he can’t keep them safe all the time, and there are occasional food panics in Prismat when a large shipment fails to reach its destination.

Law and Government

As previously mentioned, Prismat is governed by the Delzahn Pasha, a direct appointee of the Tri-Khan. The Pasha’s comprehensive, but efficient bureaucracy owes much of its high performance to the Kahakunani scribes, census-takers, and mid-level managers who staff it. They keep taxes reasonable, trade conditions favorable, and the courts equitable.

The autocratic rule of the Pasha did not so much replace the previous government, though, so much as graft itself on to it. The Parliament of Advocates created under Kahakunani rule still exists, albeit in reduced form.

The Parliament’s body is composed of payed “advocates”. Theoretically, anybody who can afford it can hire an advocate, and indeed some wealthy merchants do. But for the most part, advocates are employed by neighborhood associations. Advocates are trained legalists, usually graduates of the College of Jurists, who meet weekly in the Great Bazaar to discuss matters affecting the city and province. Bureaucratic “arms races”, in which competing interests hire enormous numbers of advocates, are mitigated by the fact that the advocates’ rates are set by the Pasha’s Department of Civic Affairs. The rate is based upon the number of advocates already employed, which tends to keep the number hovering around sixty or so- more in times of plenty, less in times of hardship. The Parliament has no power whatsoever on paper, but through a combination of tradition and good political horse-sense on the Pasha’s part, they tend to wield a fair amount of informal political power. They are able to present petitions to the Pasha, help neighborhoods get licenses and contest fines, negotiate employment contracts, and help build consensus between otherwise competing factions. For the Pasha’s benefit, they serve as an effective barometer of public sentiment and not infrequently as a free think-tank. Each Pasha has treated the Parliament differently- some involving them in every decision, others ignoring them completely- but everyone knows that when people start resigning advocates, it means more than poverty. It means the people are tired of talking, and one step away from taking arms.

The somewhat unorthodox pricing system for advocates has created an interesting side-effect within the Prismati economy. Because it is essentially a free market system, with artificially inflated scarcity, some wealthy individuals can afford to treat advocates themselves as commodities. Advocate brokers buy up advocates when the economy is suffering and under authoritarian Pashas, and sell them back off when competition for voice in Parliament is once again vigorous. It’s the kind of long-term investment game only the elites are able to play, but often quite profitable. One Prismati luminary, a former Arjapani firedust-harvester, made a fortune during the draconian reign of Tabiz al-Salaaqa, who executed the entire Parliament for a minor offense. The Arjapan, Prospector Yarud, quickly exhausted his life savings to buy the contracts of every advocate he could afford, with the promise he wouldn’t ask them do any advocating. Within a month of al-Salaaqa being recalled by the Tri-Khan, Yarud had moved from a hovel in Hewer-on-Chirurgeon to a Shogunate-era townhouse.

The Pasha’s approach to the Prismati economy is fairly laissez-faire, with the exception of the firedust trade. The government maintains a monopoly on the sale and purchase of firedust, as it is too plentiful and too dangerous to be feely traded. Firedust harvesters, such as those employed by the Delver’s College, pay high licensing fees to do their work. The vigorous Arjapani black market in the stuff is tacitly tolerated only as long as it restricts itself to the household market and cottage industries in firecrackers and the like. Those who attempt to move the quantities of firedust necessary for military applications are made an example of, pilloried for a week in the Great Bazaar before being publicly beheaded.

As a rule, most crimes in Prismat are not punished so harshly. Capital crimes are mostly limited to illegal firedust trade, banditry, murder, and direct assault on the person of the Pasha, the Marja, or their staff.

Persons accused of a crime in Prismat are taken into custody by city guardsmen and held in the casbah’s donjon until they appear before a judge. In the meantime, he is allowed to receive visitors and obtain legal counsel. When he is called to appear in court, an advocate representing his neighborhood or association will represent him- if he’s not lucky enough to have an advocate, he must either pay for legal representation out of pocket, or defend himself. The court keeps its own stable of legalists to act as prosecution or defense, who are typically quite skilled at their trade. Either side may call witnesses, present evidence, and deliver arguments to the judge. When both sides have had time to make their cases, the judge determines guilt or innocence, and sentences if necessary. If he feels that either side is dragging their heels to extend the trial, he may summarily deliver a verdict.

As in most matters in Prismat, the Pasha retains the privilege of overruling any judge, or even bypassing the judicial system entirely, but rarely invokes this right. The diligence and dedication of the Kahakunani jurists keeps Prismat’s legal system running smoothly and efficiently. Most of the time, it’s even fair.

Many Delzahn nobles are surprised and frustrated at the restrictions placed on them by the Prismati legal system. While the right to duel over offenses is retained, duels must be done under the supervision of an official witness- otherwise, they are simply considered murder. And while Delzahn nobles have much greater resources available to them in navigating the courts, they are far from beyond its reach. The Pasha will typically grant his far-flung cousin amnesty before any severe punishment is meted out, but it is not unheard of for a noble to end his life on the chopping block in the Great Bazaar.

Slavery is legal in Prismat, within certain conditions. Any slaves brought to Prismat by foreigners retain their legal status, regardless of how they were acquired. Non-citizens captured in war may also be kept as slaves. Most often, one becomes a slave by committing a serious crime against another citizen that is not a capital offense- in such cases, it is common to make the criminal a slave of those he wronged. Slaves retain the right to buy their freedom at a steep, but fixed, cost, and slavery is not hereditary- all men are born free in Prismat.