Garn Bel Pallan

Garn Bel Pallan, famous as the easternmost city of the Taorminite empire, is a Thoulian city founded on the Tager River at the site of an ancient elven realm, Zmyrnaleia. The nomadic herding people, who migrated from Aranbar across  the deserts of Eyl-Thoul, have used Garn Bel Pallan as a holy site for many years, gathering each summer and winter solstice to renew their agreements in ancient religious rites of renewal. The Taorminites were in the process of building a standard grid-plan Taorminite city adjacent to the cult site, but the project was abandoned (along with the paved highway from Ephylla) due to the Breaking of the Pact.   The city trades the desert spices and incense from the trade routes across the deserts down the river. There are also profitable mines in the area, which were developed by the Taorminites and now worked by the Grithi, who send their trade ships up the river from Mabag Pachamel Grith every year after the summer floods. There are also numerous date-palm groves, which the Thoulians harvest in large quantities in autumn, dry and distribute according to their ancient practices.   The city is ruled by a council of clan mothers, who meet twice a year and make a careful distribution of the wealth from the city to the various nomadic groups. The city is heavily influenced by the Grithi, who have become the sole trading partners up the river. Some trade goes overland, down the half-completed Taorminite highway to Ephylla. The regular flooding of the Tager river allows some irrigation farming.   The population is mostly Thoulian nomads, who visit the city in enormous numbers twice a year, turning the whole area into an enormous camp. There are also numerous elven settlers, who have made some efforts to reclaim the ancient realm of Zmyrnaleia, and a number of Grithi traders or overseers visit the city, rarely staying for longer than necessary.   The climate of Garn Bel Pallan is warm and dry in summer, cold and dry in winter, with limited rains during spring, when wildflowers spring to life across the mostly barren hills. The Tager river floods regularly in summer with the snowmelt from the Bazaphde Mountains, and irrigates the farms worked by the permanent inhabitants of the city.