Umban Thak

Southern Seat of the Empress and Cultural Heart of the Empire  

Overview:

  Umban Thak is less a city and more a sprawling mobile capital. Large tents, wooden palisades, leather domes, and temporary stilted buildings cover the river-split plains in a rotating sprawl. When one part is worn or defiled, the Empress orders relocation. This nomadic city moves across the open south like a breathing beast.  

Government & Politics:

  The Empress governs from a great elevated structure known as the Canopy of Horns, where tribal banners are hung like ancestral skins. Her court is both bureaucratic and volatile, houses bring disputes, proposals, or challenges directly to her. While she has final say in all matters, tradition permits formal public challenge via the Rite of Teeth and Law.
The Empress is guarded by the Va'gruth, an elite band of duel-tested orcs from every major house, sworn not to family but to the Karth’pa itself.  

Trade & Exports:

  Wool and leather from sheep and goats   Dried river fish and salt meats   Hornwork and bonecraft jewelry   Chanted scriptcloths, ceremonial and historical tapestries   Breeding stock of war-trained wolves and mountain goats  

Cultural Features & Landmarks:

  The Canopy of Horns: The Empress’ raised throne pavilion adorned with stacked Chi’Lu blades from fallen family heads.   The Bloodfall Trail: A seasonal dueling field beside the river. When blood spills on this trail, the river turns faintly red—a sign the gods are watching.   The Singing Bones: A forest glade turned bone-yard for the honored dead, where wind instruments made of bone play haunting in the winds.  

Religious/Cultural Practices:

  Bloodbinding ceremonies between houses happen outside, never indoors.   Elders are burned upon great rafts, set aflame by their descendants, unless they died dishonorably. Then they are left to the vultures.