Kish, the old capitol

The Temple of Kish has the land assessed and divided into parcels. The temenos, the park district around the Temple, holds the courts and administrative buildings, most especially the bills of ownership for each parcel in a city. The Temple maintains all property records, and those families who bought land directly from the Temple are recorded, the Elders of a city. Technically, every landowner in a city is a member of the clan that originally purchased the land from the temple, and these direct buyers form the Elders, a council of local interests. Familial relation goes with the land unless the landowner then officially buys the property from the temple a second time, forming the legal bill of sale and coincidentally joining the Elders. These property owners, those who purchased directly from the Temple, are all equal with an equal voice in governance regardless of the amount of property owned, be it a single residence or a vast swath of land. The Elders, single representatives of each landowning clan, form the body that decides the public works of each city and arranges funding. The Elders can set tax rates, assign the city’s public offices, and even arrange for work projects. They are fiscally responsible for overages, unless they contracted heading projects for bearing the expenses. The anniversary of a city’s founding is observed with the Akitu, the week long Renewal Ceremony where all is created new-the General Assembly meets then and ratifies or overturns the decisions of the elders and appoints the officers of the city. The General Assembly is supreme, and only it may overturn it’s decisions. It must declare war, for example, and ratify treaties for them to be valid, though the Elders may initiate a treaty well before the Akitu. Everyone with permanent residence in the city has a vote in the General Assembly, even females. It should be noted that Assembly votes are the only exception to the law restricting women that a father or husband may nullify a contract within ninety days of being signed. Of the offices of a city, the first is the lugal (lit. “big man”), commander of a city’s military. In Kish, this is head of the Order of Etana, who is elected for life by the Order. The Temple is headed by a Hierophant who conducts worship, which is a lifelong post once elected, unlike the Secretary, the Temple Administrator who is elected annually. These two individuals will be Powers in any city, if not actually running it. The Secretary conducts all the Temple’s business and controls the resources generated by the Temple. He is required to maintain the religious ceremonies of the Temple though the Hierophant conducts such services. The edubba is the academy of any city, trainers for the professional class and middle management. The School Father is supreme in the edubba and is elected by the Brothers, the faculty. The lugal appoints Royal Judges, who try criminal cases, and they are either confirmed or denied by a vote of the Elders. Powerful lugallim need not worry about the vote. Civil cases are Temple matters, and their judges are under the Secretary, who does not need the Elders’ approval but accepts that Elders may sit if they desire, pending his sanction. In each city, only the Temple records are official documents (admissible in court, even the court of another city), recording the Law and contracts for the massive Temple court system. Laws are announced at the end of the Akitu Festival and appointments confirmed, land is allotted and settled, and the fresh start to the New Year begins, along with the terms of office, ratified by the ensi, who implements the designs of the Elders. He is a city administrator who does the bidding of the Elders. Some have used this post to rule, but that is true of every office in Kingir’s cities.

The Order of Etana is the army of Kish, and best known for the giant eagles it raises as steeds. The Order are expert archers, and it's ground units are platoons of ox-drawn carts holding three individuals, a spearman/javelin throwing commander, a driver, and a shieldman archer. Hand to hand weapons are sword and mace.

Kish grows it's own food and the Order produces it's armor and weaponry. It trains many craftsman but must trade for raw materials. Kish produced items fetch high prices for quality but other cities in Kingir are hesitant to appear to be giving aid to enemies of Endingir and markets beyond Kingir laborious to reach.

The Temple maintains a string of watermills along the Burunan which charge 10% of all grain ground. Roads are dirt and sewage nonexistent, so the Order of Etana organizes work crews of petty criminals to clean and heat their jails by burning the refuse gathered. Repairs of the city walls is arranged by the Order, but the irrigation systems of the farms, orchards, and fisheries is solely the owner's concern.

Kish has high stone walls but buildings are one story mud brick with entrances in the roof. Ladders allow access and are drawn up to seal a house, though most buildings have an internal stairway.

Kish rests above the Burunon River on a plain terraced by retaining walls. It's docks are only navigable in flood season but ships can always be anchored for loading and unloading.

Kish's outlying territory is farmland, orchards, and artificial stocked fisheries. Fields of pitch are harvested for fuel, and show no signs of growing scarse yet.