Amarisar

The approximate extent of Amari settlement in 0 B.F.B.

Amarisar, called by her people the Land of the Sun-Princes, or more commonly the Thousand Cities, was a civilization based around the valley of the river Azh, known by the earlier people of Zhoongen as the Jajazh. The exact point at which Amarisar formed as a polity is indeterminate, but it was certainly coalesced by the fall of Borizu. Throughout its existence, the Thousand Cities had a population of at least several million inhabitants, and were famed for their hardy infrastructure and notable historically for their comparably large urban populace for the time period. The constituent city-states, known as polises, often had petty wars with each other, but despite this fractious warfare, Amari cities stand as some of the most impressive monuments from antiquity in terms of engineering, infrastructure, and architecture. Most citizens of Amarisar, it should be noted, would have identified with their individual polises, or one of the majpolises that rose and fell over the course of Amari history.

## History

*See also: History of Amarisar*

Amarisar is largely held by historians to have arisen from the scattered folk of Zhoongen, the precursor collection of city states that inhabited the region prior to the rise of the polises. Ethnically and culturally the two states hold much in common, but the nearly two hundred year long Interregnum between their periods mandates that the two be considered as separate civilizations, as very few artifacts or institutions survived from the Late Zho to the rise of the first Tolsars. The first Amari people were drawn from the Svathi nomads and hunter-gatherers that wandered the nearby fertile river valleys of the Azh, eventually building small trade settlements around old canals and ruined cities, which gradually grew into larger towns. As rice cultivation and the growing of cereal crops spread from the Twin Rivers region, and back from scattered exiles, the size of cities began to increase along the Azh and her tributaries, marking a return to sedentary civilization that hadn't been seen since the fall of the Old Zho.

## Government

The government of the Amari was neither centralized nor unified- an evolution of the old states before them, they clung tightly to their city identities, and even within those identities to kin and clan. Nominally a Highprince (Rajarch) ruled all from wherever he placed his seat of rule, but rarely did he wield much except nominal power over any save his own Majpolis. Government, as it existed, spread from the bottom up; craftsmen and landed males (citizens) cast lots determined by the Ardents of the Praternum Aviatus in quantities to elect a Firstman, who generally judged and looks after a small town or a subdivision of a sufficiently large city- the exact duties of such officials appear to have varied broadly from location to location. In turn these Firstmen elected by weighted ballot the Citylord (Tolsar) of a given polis, who had authority over all lands held by the polis for the duration of his rule, which was for life unless the Firstmen voted him out of his office or he was deposed, though instances of force being used against elected officials seem to have been seldom. Records of the time period speak of their being around a thousand Citylords, though such figures were doubtless exaggerated, as the estimated population of the Amarisar could not have supported hardly more than a thousand villages, let alone true cities by modern standards. Above the polises were the Majpolises, great cities of wealth and influence that extended protection and the rule of law over smaller vassal cities, who were nominally ruled by Tolsars as well, but whose rulers were generally accorded the title of Brightprince (Luminarch) as representative of their greater authority and power. In times of war or desperation in a city, the Tolsar of such a city occasionally selected a Warmaster (Sundir) from the ranks of the Kholmat to defend the polis in detail, but such appointments were temporary in nature as a rule of thumb, and ended after the crisis has passed- such an arrangement was analogous to the modern day concept of a dictator. The powers of the Sundir in such times were absolute, and only revocable by a conclave of the Firstmen of a polis by a unanimous voice vote. Finally, above the Luminarchs, was the Rajarch, who was elected only rarely when the men of the Majpolises could agree that a threat to the Azhi was existential, and required more strength than a single state could summon. His rule was similar to that of the Sundir, but often in the past there were difficulties with convincing such a powerful leader to lay down the reins of rule once more; as such, there were only two recorded Rajarchs prior to the beginning of temple-script writing in 200 B.F.B.

Few symbols were common to the people of Amarisar. However, Kholmat warriors were known to carve an oval in a jagged circle into their flesh, representing the chosen within the circles of the world. Another symbol used frequently was the readied anchor, a reference to a birthmark the god-man Amerus supposedly bore as the single defect on his physical form.

## Demographics

Nearly five million individuals lived in the Thousand Cities or their peripheries, of which about a half million at any time were estimated to have been citizens, or as the Amari would term them, the Voiced. Citizenship was given on the basis of paying the levy of one's lord, or owning land- as such, only the heads of households and males were often counted as citizens for voting purposes. Foreigners were not unknown, and nearly a hundred thousand slaves of various types existed within the Polises in the year 220 B.F.B. according to the Annals of Uttar recovered from the White Temple of Pargan. Most were probably debt-slaves, condemned by their rulers to labor to pay off their crimes or taken as captives in raids to the east; capital punishment was all but unknown in Azh lands, and monetary fines served as the punishment for untoward acts. If a man could not pay the fine assess under the Laws of Ahriman, he had to go into labor to pay the rest of his debt. There were, however, a very few hereditary slaves; a slave's offspring were generally considered to be free, but slave with attained blood via high treason or desecration of one of the religious sites of the Aviatus would pass on their sentence to their children until paid. Speaking broadly, the Amari were highly dualistic on the matter of male-female roles, with inheritance being through male children, but women were valued highly, and more likely to be involved in the Mysteries and managing political alliances than men. Writing, especially in the early days, was accorded as unmasculine- men were workers, fighters, and artisans, while women were accorded the role of merchants, bankers, scribes, and mothers. The Amari as a folk tend to be expansionist in terms of land use, for inheritance only passes through the first son of a family, leaving any further sons without patrimonies to call their own unless they go out past the edges of civilized lands and take them. This custom historically meshed well with the Oathband tradition, as second sons would be well trained militarily then pushed to go out and conquer the frontier.

## Military

*See also: Military history of Amarisar*

Most polises had little in the way of a standing military, save the Kholmat, the Bloodsworn. Given up by their parents at a young age if they felt led by the Powers- or occasionally to fulfill an oath to one's ancestors- the Bloodsworn were raised to be soldiers, and said to gain glory in eternity through battle for their kin. Generally armed with the best a Tolsar could procure, these warriors were some of the first true professionals, knowing little save battle and tactics, equipped in burnished bronze and furnished with heavy spears as was their wont to fight in the phalanx. To their ranks were added military units called Oathbands in time of need; a tradition across the Thousand Cities, the Oathbands were composed of the second sons of every family, and it was a point of pride to equip one's progeny as best as was possible, for they were the heirs if the first son perished. In total numbers such bands could theoretically rise to one in ten of the Amari, but such a state of affairs never occurred in known history- the Oathbands were only called up in time of war, and it is likely that it was rare for even one in a hundred of the scattered and generally non-warlike Polises to be campaigning at one time.

It is also notable that the Amari city-states inherited their tradition of elephantry from the old Zho. By the time the Priest-Kings fell, war elephants were an established force in most armies of the near region and Svath itself, and the Majpolises often fielded forces of hundred of powerful trained beasts.

## Economy

The people of Azh were artisans and traders- much worth was derived from such things, and unemployment was likely very uncommon, given most Amari were still rural farmers. Their complex infrastructure and well-built cities made them an attractive reserve of wealth in the surrounding lands, and trade from inner Svath to the lands of the west enriched many polises. Economic competition was the primary form of competition in the Thousand Cities, and they were particularly known for the quality of their tempered bronzework and exquisite pottery, as well as some of the first known iron and windforged steel artifacts produced in east of the Two Rivers. Food shortages were likely rare, as much of the Azh River was controlled by vast levy walls and floodgates, but massive monsoons were recorded to have occasionally caused flooding. Grain storage and granaries were attested to as early as 280 B.F.B. and seem to have formed a large impetus towards urbanization and political centralization, as well as encouraging the creation of currency. In terms of infrastructure, Amari roads, canals, and cities are very well built, using the knowledge of their heritage from the Old Zho period. The maintenance of roads and irrigation canals was the primary purpose for which governments existed, and seems to have been done using a labor tithe of third sons about twice a generation. Curiously, compared to most of the world, Amari cities were rarely walled- only two known exampled of walled cities have been found- and as such looked quite sprawling to outsiders. Taris in his Letters from the Orient notes that the Azhi folk were strangely boisterous and loud in their cities, but their roads were straight and neighborhoods organized despite the seeming chaos. In contrast, each family dwelling more resembled a small fortress-compound than a simple house, and those who could afford it built in sturdy shaped stone from the north, while the rest made do with large fired bricks. This seemed to have been a largely cultural state of affairs instead of some sort of government policy, but as a consequence made it very hard historically for invasions to be successful; armies frequently cut their way through a few dozen dwellings, but each dwelling was essentially its own fortified tower, and the overlapping fields of fire from skilled bowmen laid low many who thought the unwalled cities would be easy prey. It also historically made Amari cities very hard to siege, for attackers had to ring the uncharacteristically large cities in their entirety to prevent food from coming into the polises, and few armies of the period had the numbers for such an endeavor. The people of Azh are also relatively unique in the world for their sewers, which were centrally constructed and unknown to those without the heritage of Zhoogen. The Thousand Cities traded extensively with inner Svath, mainly for raw goods and spices; timber, copper, and even tin from far to the east. They had a significant trade surplus though, as selling finished goods and manufactured products back to the teeming interior and also further on west made many polises that sit on trade routes wealthy. Burial tombs from the period often include large amounts of expensive lapis lazuli or gold grave goods, which bespeak a largely wealthy yet obviously stratified society. Azh steel was also highly valued, derived from iron purified in the monsoon winds along the coast. It was one of the main trade exports to Aruh and the west. Most trade in Amarisar was still barter in this period, but forged steel coins and iron coins are attested to have begun circulation around 200 B.F.B as measures of grain value stored in central silos constructed by some enterprising lords.

## Geography

Amarisar was centered on the River Azh's valley, surrounded by the High Iral Plateau to the west, and the rolling fertile planes of Northern Svath to the east.

## Religion

The Amari folk were almost exclusively followers of the Rite of the Praternum, and by parallel believers in the dualistic religion of the Powers Above and Below. This belief survived many migrations and cultural shifts, largely on account of its syncretistic nature and the kinship ties of the religion, ancestor-worshiping religions being demonstrably more difficult to win converts from. An evolution of the old Zho ideas of the afterlife, even strong religions such as those from the nearby Twin Rivers region found the Rite very resilient even in the face of direct attempts at proselytizing efforts. The Amari people were generally content not to spread their beliefs, but the large amount of trade routes and cultural dominance of the Azh Vale in the immediate region of the subcontinent won many followers even outside of traditional Amari groups, especially amongst Svathi tribes of the eastern interior.