Myraan

The vast majority of people living in Myraan are genasi. Travellers and merchants are welcome, but the location of the city means that it often doesnt see many of these types of people. The genasi population of Myraan changes with each season. In the spring the vast majority are earth genasi as spring is their native season. In summer it is fire genasi, in fall it is air genasi and in winter it is water genasi. Each of the genasi people travel to Myraan for the start of their season and spend the whole season within the city until it comes to an end, at which point they return to their tribal lands nearby to make way for the next season of genasi people.    While the vast majority of the population of Myraan is dictated by the changing seasons, there is always a small mix of genasi population from all of the different tribes who choose to remain within the city. These tend to fall into two categories: the elderly who can't travel back to their native lands, or merchants who are allowed to visit Myraan outside of their native season to trade with the current genasi population. Myraan relies on it's off-season genasi merchants to maintain its economy, and while the elderly chafe under the governance of a different tribe to their own, they contribute their wisdom to the people of the city in whatever way they can; as teachers, priests, or even, on rare occasion, as advisors.

Governance of Myraan changes with the seasons. The genasi tribe who are native to the current season travel to Myraan to arrive at the season's beginning. They then take up residence within the city until their season is over, at which point governance is handed over to the next tribe of genasi to arrive. Each tribe is lead by an Elder but this title is not given simply to the oldest member of the genasi tribe. The title of Elder is bestowed upon the member of that tribe who has been chosen by one of the great elemental primes; the nature gods of spring, summer, fall and winter who the genasi tribes revere. A new Elder is chosen upon the death of the last during a unique ritual in which the tribe's priests perform the Rite of the Season. Each genasi tribe's Rite of the Season differs slightly in execution but the result is always similar. The new Elder is marked by their nature god and they take up the mantle of leadership until their death.  

Genasi Gods & Seasons

 

Genasi Tribe	Nature God	Native Season
Earth	Gaia	Spring
Fire	Hyperion	Summer
Air	Zephr	Fall
Water	Oncaea	Winter

Myraan's greatest defence is the 15ft high, 5ft thick star shaped outer wall of slatestone that surrounds it. The wall is designed to repel the two greatest threats to the city; giants and large predatory dinosaurs. The ramparts of the wall have spiked stone protrusions sticking out from it which help repel large attackers. Over the years, the genasi have upgraded their outer wall with vents that allow defenders to pour pitch or boiling water on attacking creatures.

Trade within Myraan differs slightly than that of other cities. Each tribe of genasi bring their own unique type of resource which is then transformed into good in one of the intermediate districts. The fire genasi bring precious gemstones that they harvest from within the volcano on their home island of Flamvell. The earth genasi bring a vast variety of metals that they mine from their hilly homeland of Gondelle. The air genasi bring artworks that they create up on the peak of the mountain they call home: Aerelle. The water genasi bring exotic herbs and spices that they are able to grow within their fertile region on the bank of the Hydra Head River, Floelle. The items found within the Bazaar of Bounty change based on the season as the various populations of genasi bring different materials to create with.      

Imports

• Precious Gemstones (Spring)
• A variety of common metals (Summer)
• Various forms of artwork including woven clothing, pottery, and paintings (Fall)
• Rare herbs and exotic spices (Winter)

Exports

• Worked metal items such as tool, weapons, armour
• Fine jewellery
• Potions, oils and ointments 

The Grand Ziggurat - The Grand Ziggurat is a district in and of itself. The bottom floor is a large open temple with shrines and statues to each of the gods from the nature pantheon, and also the residences of the clerics who work within the temple, maintaining the shrines and helping the people of Myraan. The middle floors arewhere the elders of the genasi tribes take up residence and rule from during their time in the city. There are four separate chambers within the Ziggurat so that each seasonal genasi elder has their own personal set of rooms when they take up governance of Myraan during their season. The contents of the top floor of the Ziggurat are a mystery to all but the elders of each genasi tribe, although the most popular theory is that the top floor of the Ziggurat is a vault of treasures.   Epochi Arena - The Epochi Arena is located on the eastern side of the Ziggurat and is shaped like a long ellipse. It features tiers of seating that overlook a sand covered race track where dinosaurs are ridden in competitions.   Festival Square - The Festival Square is the large courtyard on the southern side of the Ziggurat. Festival Square is used by each of the tribes of genasi to celebrate their native seasons. In the middle of each season the tribes of genasi throw a huge festival in the square where all of the city's inhabitants come to pay homage to their patron nature god in the morning, feast in the afternoon and then revel in the evening.   The Bazaar of Bounty - The Bazaar of Bounty is a large collection of market stalls that stretch around the northern and western side of the Grand Ziggurat. There are a vast array of items both commonplace and exotic that are traded in the Bazaar of Bounty, it is said that you can find anything your heart desires there if you look hard - or are lucky - enough.   Fotia District - The residence of the fire genasi   Aeras District - The residence of the air genasi   Erdue District - The residence of the earth genasi   Wassil District - The residence of the water genasi   Sootforge Way - The industrial district located between the Erdue and the Fotia districts. This district is where the various craftsmen can be found.   The Passions - The entertainment district located between the Aeras and the Fotia districts. This district is packed full of places to engage in debauchery.   Bountifield Walk - The artisanal district located between the Erdue and the Wassil districts. This district is where delicious baked goods and street food vendors can be found. The fields outside the city which grow the food and house the livestock are also considered to be part of this district.   Brushflow Locale - The artistry district located between the Aeras and the Wassil districts. This district is where fantastic works of art are created by skilled artists.

Not a lot has been recorded in the bardic lore about Myraan. The city is undoubtedly ancient and scholars believe that the city may even have been founded Pre Cataclysm, however this fact is currently under dispute and therefore has not been confirmed.   Up until around the 1380's, the city of four elements was a thought to be nothing more than a legend that merchants told to each other when discussing their wildest dreams. It was believed that those who discovered the city would gain access to unfathomable wealth. Things changed when the first merchants from Eastern Midasfjall made their way to the growing city of Kaldoran and expanded their enterprise onto the plains of Southern Midasfjall, it was only a matter of time after this that Myraan was discovered. At first the genasi elders refused entry to foreign merchants, hoping to keep their sacred city pure, however the promise of new technologies and riches coming from Kaldoran was too much for the genasi to ignore, so in 1395 Myraans gate opened to travelling merchants for the first time.   Since then, Myraan has remained open to foreign merchants who wish to visit and trade, however the genasi Elders still do not allow those who are not one of the four genasi people to take up residence in Myraan. This ruling is strictly enforced, although in recent years there have been a growing number of younger genasi who have voiced their wishes to open Myraan up completely to those of the known world who wish to live there.

Inns & Taverns

• TBD

Merchants & Artisans

• TBD

The houses in the residential district of Myaan are made out of slatestone however, the houses themselves have no seams where blocks of slate have been stacked, nor do they bear any signs of an adhesive mixture being used to seal the blocks together. Instead each house is one solid unit of rock with rooms carved from within, like a huge boulder that had been hollowed out. A standard residential house features three or four rooms with the basic amenities (sleeping, cooking, leisure, religion etc), as well as a larder for storing food. Larger structures like artisan workshops and artist studios in the intermediate districts have rooms fit for purpose, but even these larger and more elaborate rooms have been created using the same process, as were the Grand Ziggurat and the Epochi Arena.   The Process   It is believed that the ancient genasi who built the city combined their innate natural magics to create living spaces and the technique is still used to this day. Water genasi saturate the ground with water which softens the clay beneath, making it easier to work with. The earth genasi then bring forth a large chunk of slatestone, which is hollowed out later, and pack the soft clay beneath the structure to provide a foundation. The water genasi then instantly drain the water and harden the clay, setting the house where it stands. The earth genasi carve rooms out of the slatestone chunk, transforming it into a liveable space, then cover the outer walls in a layer of clay. Air genasi carve patterns into the outer layer of clay providing decoration for the house. The patterns vary from house to house but every house in Myraan bears a primordial rune for one of the four elemental primes. At this point the house is almost complete. The final step is for the outer layer of clay to be glazed by a fire genasi, hardening it and giving it a beautiful glassy sheen. Before the glazing is done, genasi like to colour their houses in colours that match their native season, so each district of Myraan is a vibrant collection of seasonal themed colour.

Myraan is built on a vast flat stretch of land on the plains of Southern Midasfjall. The closest natural feature to Myraan is the most southern tributary of the Hydra Head River which both the air and water genasi use to travel towards Myraan during the changing of their native season.

Myraan has access to vast swathes of vast plains land which the genasi farmers use to grow crops for the city. The crop fields are maintained by water genasi farmers who stay in the city for the majority of the year, using their innate elemental magics to ensure that the crops don't suffer from droughts in the summer. Aside from the farmland, Myraan has very little natural resources that it harnesses, instead the city relies on the imports from each of the genasi tribes and visiting merchnats from other cities to maintain its economy.