Jezki

Jezki Suzon is the capital city of the Natum'wean Confederacy. Jezki is also a large trading hub with a system of canals running throughout the city. The city is one of the five largest Wean cities in the Blue Pearl Sea.
==Foundation and History==
Jezki originally grew from a number of hamlets and meeting spots to the south of Jeelu Nu, which today still is counted as an independent settlement, but in truth is built into Jezki. Nowadays, Jeelu Nu lies right at the northern entry point of Jezki, and Jeelu Nu ends where the city wall begins.
The Hot Springs was a small rocky source of warm water, around 500 metres south of Jeelu Nu, with occasional geysers, renowned for its healing capabilities. When the Natum'wean confederacy arose originally, it was designated the seat of the elder council, which preceded the modern elder council. Eventually, a set of buildings were erected around the Hot Springs, and then some houses and meeting spots were placed, and slowly and entirely unplanned over the many centuries, a city grew and established itself, even though Jezki Suzon as an administrative entity emerged first very late.
Jezki immediately became the economic and cultural hub of Natum'wean society, and is turning into a dynamic centre of commerce, culture and politics. The city is however fraught with crime and political violence. It has seen numerous political regimes establish themselves and then collapse.
==Population==
Jezki has no policy of census, but it is estimated that around 15.000 people are living in Jezki. The population has comparatively few urban labourers, and comparably many independent artisans. It should also be noted that many urban labourers often change employment, and also have their own small extra incomes. Thus, the distinction between "labourer" and "artisan" tend to be the wealth of the family rather than the employment.
==Infrastructure==
Jezki mostly consist of huts, constructed from a "skeleton" of twigs, with a foundation of stones. Then, a mixture of cow manure and red mud is applied and sun-dried. The roofs of poorer homes is constructed out of dried hay, while the wealthier homes have roofs made of mud blocks. Huts can be built and demolished with the hands, and also expanded. The huts belonging to the wealthier families often contain two floors, have a wall attached around the hut with a small garden, and have the walls extensively decorated with artistic patterns. The city has no streets, but there is a system of finding places by naming them, and by placing poles which indicate where you are in relationship to the landmarks. Some parts of the city are sparsely populated, while other parts are teeming and cluttered, with thousands of people living right wall to wall with one another. These huts tend to be raised near the important trading hubs.
Jezki is surrounded by a wall made of stone and mud, with poles stuck in. The wall however does not surround all of Jezki, as the sprawl is expanding outside of the wall.
The only planned feature of Jezki apart from the wall and the public buildings is the canal system. Most canals are ditches, but there is two canals that are traversable by small boats manoeuvred by one oar. The canal system is working to dispatch waste from the city, but is often clogged and has to be cleaned manually.
==Economy==
During the first year of Hoshi's weutiship, most of central Jezki burnt down, and Jeelu Nu was also damaged. As Jezki is buried in vegetation and grass, the fire spread rapidly, and around 4.000 people died in the fires. Hoshi established a new main road, which basically was an area cleared from settlement. Then he raised the Great Temple at the centre of the city, which was a building that literally could be seen from any point of Jezki (the only other building with that capability is the Weuti residency).
The economy of Jezki is largely built on informal relationships. The powerful merchants, often living near the weuti residency, are building their political bases on relationship with large numbers of clients in the slums. The duty of preventing crime is formally the task of the Narazki, but the anarchic state of Jezki leaves the actual authority in a more fleeting state, and there are gangs who operate in the grey blur between politics, crime and crime prevention.
Social advancement is easy in Jezki, and is reliant on gaining many friends and become popular as a "trickster" (a popular term in Natum'wean slang, indicating a person who knows how to elbow his or her way forward).
==Culture==
Jezkians are chatty, sociable and tolerant to strangers. They love jokes, parties, political debates, revolutions and projects. They are quick to flare up to anger, but the anger also dissipates quickly. Jezkians are very relaxed, and do not consider punctuality a virtue. Rather, they prefer "things to be done when they are done". However, Jezkians tend to work best with their creativity, and dislike formal rules and regulations. They also have a certain pride for Jezki, but a part of that pride is that "every decent scumbag in the world should feel welcome in the heart of our city."
There are numerous religions practised within the walls of Jezki. There are over 300 ancestral shrines and shrines to various nature spirits raised in Jezki. Religion do not tend to be a source of conflict, and the people of Jezki are more curious about religion than alerted about the topic.
Jezki is a city tolerant to sexual minorities, and one particular trading family have even become patrons of the small transvestite community of Jezki.
==Politics==
Jezki is a stronghold for populist and untraditional sentiments, and a constant boiling pot for political careers and projects. Politics tend to crystallise and form more around individual leaders than actual political programmes, the leaders often being businessmen from Jezki. Electoral campaigns tend to be colourful, filled with dancing and cheering crowds, organised parties, but also what in other cultures would be considered seditional speech. Often, politicians fighting for the same position accuse one another of treason, witch-craft, planning to kill the poors, et cetera, and for an outsider, it would seem like Jezki is always on the brink of exploding in a bloody revolution. But the local population is considering politics as an art, and are proud of their "dirty popular rule".
==Famous Buildings ==
===The Citadel===
===The Hall of the Weuti===
===The Great Temple ===
===The Hot Springs Temple===
Category:Cities