Baribur

Baribur is the current capital city of the Kirdan Empire, and one of the largest cities in Orithea. It is built on the island of XXXXXXX, which lies in the Vauxa river a short distance upstream from its confluence with the mighty Rhanna (although in fact, by now, Baribur has grown large enough that it has quarters on either bank of the river as well, across both channels from the island itself). It stands on the former site of Reyidan, which was the royal city of the pre-Kirdan Uremite kingdom of Dhesh. Reyidan was depopulated during Torkai’s conquests of the Uremites and the ruins of the city lay unoccupied except by vagrants and nomadic outlaws for nearly a hundred years. However, Kathakai the Way-Changer, the sixth Tash-Teshivan, recognized the strategic value of the site and in 1001 CV ordered the construction of a new capital there as part of his wide-ranging reforms to consolidate power within the Kirdan Empire.

Much of XXXXXXX Isle itself is covered by the Tash-Teshivan’s palace complex, the grand seraglio, the imperial stables, the precincts and riding-ground of the [Imperial elite cavalry squadron], and other such appurtenances of the imperial household. Kathakai imagined Baribur as a magnificent city in the mold of other great imperial centers, not like previous Kirdan capitals (which were all essentially overgrown versions of a Suagir warlord’s seasonal camp). Nevertheless he could not resist a palace of many pavilions and pleasure domes spread out among gardens, pools, hunting grounds, and riding fields, rather than the monumental edifices that characterize capitals like Amran or Sarcedon. Most of the remainder of the island is occupied by the households of high-ranking officials and elite families of the Kirdan aristocracy, especially those that enjoy close relations or marriage links with the Tash-Teshivan. The newer quarters of the city, which have grown up on the banks of the Vauxa beyond XXXXX Isle, are much denser and more crowded, reminiscent of a typical bustling large city, and populated mostly by tradesmen, merchants, and common people of Uremite birth.

Baribur as a whole has no walls or substantial fortifications; like their Suagir forebears, the Kirdans have never depended much on stone defenses for their protection. However the split channel of the Vauxa does provide [the island] with a sort of very large natural moat, and the island itself is surrounded by a relatively low wall running along the riverbank with towers and turrets at intervals. The wall's utility as a serious military defense against siege is doubtful; it is more effective at preventing trespassers who cross the river channel from easily entering the palace grounds. Each channel of the Vauxa is crossed by a single permanent bridge, both graceful arched stone spans that were designed by dwarven architects that Kathakai recruited from XXXXXX at great expense. Besides these two spans, [the island] is connected to the surrounding outer city at several points by unique floating bridges which, in times of need, can be cut free of their moorings so that they are carried downstream by the Vauxa’s current; [the island] would thus become accessible only via the two stone bridges.

Baribur, being situated on the great Plain of Urem, enjoys warm, pleasant summers but usually has cold and snowy winters. Thus the whole imperial court often leaves Baribur in mid-autumn and decamps to the more southerly coastal city of Gemata for the winter, returning to Baribur in springtime. For this reason, although Baribur alone is the formal and official capital of the empire, it is sometimes referred to as the "summer capital" and Gemata as the "winter capital."