Klaractazum (Kla-ract-a-zoom)

Klaractazum is split by the Old Pale Empire Road into the ancient northern districts which abut the mountain sides and once stood at the edge of a retreating glacier behind the old city walls, and the newer southern zones where the population expanded after the arrival of the road, many centuries later. The image below shows the original route of the Old Pale Empire Road, which is now the major avenue through the heart of the city. A bypass was built in 1324 BPC to speed up east and west traffic that did not wish to tarry in the city.     In the far northern half of the city, the Royal Oasis and Royal Palace can be found under the cliffs to the west. Rust Hill is a sprawling suburb populated by the more prosperous citizens, whilst the district called the Stax to the east is a crowded jumble of poorer housing and slums.   Shadow Square, shown below has been the location of a weekly market on Velday for many thousands of years.     Market Street (shown in the image at the head of the article) runs between the Lake Gate in the original city walls and Shadow Square. It is an important retail site lined with shops of various kinds and eating and drinking establishments.   Cut right up against the narrow ridge of crumbling cliffs that mark the northern limit of the city, is Glim's Wall, a thin temple facade, dedicated to one of the very old gods they worshipped even before the Sundering, even before the New Kingdoms and, so it is said, even before the Painted People built the first cities. Ceremonies that involve the ritual wearing of a blindfold and the drinking of hot perfumed goat's milk, take place here in the evenings, whenever Lumina is full.     At the East Gate, a relatively narrow road winds out through a rocky canyon which has served the city well as a natural defensive geographic feature. Eventually, it connects with a stretch of the Old Pale Empire Road outside the city limits, just before the "new" bypass rejoins the original route.     In the south of the city, Alabobowm Street runs through the Theatre District, a zone that was largely built under the direction of King Leonix Rinjaliba.     Here can also be found the Houses of the Hungry, created as a memorial to the dead after the Age of the Great Famine and a centre for spiritual contemplation and charitable work.

At the end of a quiet lane which runs south from Bell Street there is a square known as the Houses of the Hungry.     The buildings that surround the square are memorials to the dead and the lost when the city suffered profoundly during the Age of the Long Famine in the 19th century APC. Built in 1935 APC, the Houses of the Hungry have been a focus for spiritual contemplation and prayer ever since, but more than that they are also the home of the Covenant of Nourished Souls, a charitable welfare institution that has been providing food to the poor and needy in subsequent centuries.

Klaractazum is an ancient city on the continent of Myruthea, which dates back to the times when the ice sheets that followed the Sundering were still in the process of melting. The city was founded beneath one of those retreating white walls, where meltwater fed a cold blue lake, and the first stones in the oldest quarters are thought to have been laid down as long ago as 6978 BPC.     As the ice began to retreat, the lake slowly dried up and within three hundred years, the climate began to change to the one we know today, where water shortages and drought are a constant worry and limit the growth of the city. At this time, a great old tree below the cliffs died. When its roots were excavated, a mysteriously pulsing green emerald was found buried where deep spring water suddenly gushed forth to make what is now the Royal Oasis.     This gemstone, known as the Oasis Root was cut and polished and taken to the palace where, despite an unfortunate interruption when it was removed by Prince Rygarde during the Limit Protectorate in the 6th millennium APC, it can again be found even today.   Queen Suryta Maldoff conducted the first ever meeting of the Twelve Wise Ones here in 5342 BPC, an organisation she was instrumental in helping to create.   In the age that followed, the city prospered, growing more rapidly than its rivals until it became the most important centre for trade and commerce in the north. It played a significant role in the Myruthean Unification Wars and although it was famously besieged and humbled by the armies of Zalgurim in 4575 BPC it went on to recover and become one of the founding cities of the Old Pale Empire within only a little more than thirty years, in 4542 BPC.   Much later during the Age of the Long Famine, in the 19th century APC, the city was particularly badly affected, suffering some of the worst effects on Myruthea. Many were forced to flee, heading east towards the Lake Oxylium region, where the lake itself almost dried out, or west over the mountains. Some few were able to escape to the oasis of Arginbury but there was a significant degree of starvation and the population at the end of this age had fallen to less than a quarter of the numbers who had lived there under the Puzzle Lords Directorate. The Houses of the Hungry were built as a memorial to this long drawn out catastrophe in 1935 APC and the city did not really recover anything like its former strength until well into the age of the Moderators' Council in the second half of the third millenium APC.   During the Time of Terrors, the city was one half of a brief alliance with Zalgurim with the two rulers, who were cousins, known as the Wardens of the Central Plains. When this collapsed after the miltary defeat that accompanied the Silent Thunder, Talkon Ward, who had governed the city, was executed as a war criminal.   A century later, the infamous mage Bontater the Fat ruled the city at the end of the 35th century and was responsible for the atrocity called Emile's White Hunger. His tyranical rule was finally overthrown by an army from the Punished Plains led by Kinrip Wulgg.   The ice sheets have long since gone and the Old Pale Empire is ancient history, but Klaractazum endures even in modern times. It may no longer be politically important but it is still one of the oldest continuously inhabitated locations in the modern world.  

The climate of Klaractazum is cold in winter but can be hot in summer. It tends to be dry all year around, however, since it is located far from the oceans and in the rain shadow of the Eroveth Mountains. The major west to east water courses out of the moutains flow to the north, converging on the Upper Motrille River or south on the North Eroveth Stream, leaving the area round the Klaractazum Hills, somewhat desicated and this has always been something of a problem restricting the growth of the city. Nevertheless there is sufficient water in undergound aquifers and in the springs and watercourses of the hills to support the population, provided that they are careful with water management. The constant need to conserve water supplies is an integral part of city culture.   It is not necessary to travel very far to the east to encounter the more benign and wetter climatic conditions around Lake Oxylium.