Introduction

Syran is a large city in central Ralios, famed for its extraordinary glass-ware and the resolutely philosophical bent of its citizens. It is situated in the Autocracy of Sentanos, a prosperous and fiercely independent state in north-eastern Safelster. Its people are proud of their history, but the state's power in the region is currently waning, largely as a result of the religious and military misadventures of its nominal ruler, Lady Erengazor, the Duchess of Tortun.

A separate overview of background material for Safelster and Ralios can be found elsewhere on this site.

Culture and Society

Situated on Lake Felster, at the mouth of the mighty Doskior river, Syran is a thriving commercial centre. Flat-bottomed boats bring goods down-river from Naskorion and the barbarian tribes of the East Wilds, and sometimes even from the troll stronghold of Halikiv. The finest produce of the city's own artisans rarely makes its way up the Doskior, however, and is mostly carried by galley to the other cities of Safelster.

Like much of the rest of Safelster, this a predominantly urban culture, and a significant portion of the population live in the two large cities of Syran and Tortun. Syran was the historical capital of Sentanos, but Tortun has been the effective capital since Erengazor's family came to power. Now, however, this domination is no longer assured, and the Duchess struggles to retain control over her own city, let alone the rest of Sentanos.

The ruling families of Syran are known as the Houses. These have long been the most powerful political and military entities in Sentanos, but their influence has been diluted by the many other organisations competing for the population's loyalty, such as the Guilds and Associations of the artisans and merchants, and the numerous Churches, Schools and Orders that make up the Ecumenical Communion of Syran.

In common with other Malkioni cultures, Safelstan society is hierarchical, and each individual is conscious of their place within the social order. In Rokari Seshnela and some of the other regions of Safelster, this hierarchy is highly visible and very inflexible, based entirely upon an individual's parentage and following the traditional four-caste system (Commoner, Soldier, Ruler, Wizard). In Syran it is somewhat looser, and tends to be more about social rank than birthright, which can permit at least some measure of mobility.

The importance of merchants, artisans and other wealthy professionals in Safelstan society is widely recognised but does not always receive official sanction. In Syran it is more or less explicitly acknowledged in the form of the Guildsman class, which enjoys certain privileges over the humble Commoner. The name given to this group also identifies its defining characteristic: membership in an officially recognised Guild or Association.

Soldiers in Syran are, in the main, no different to their peers throughout Safelster. They number amongst their ranks both city guards and mercenaries, as well as the military orders of the churches and the personal guard of the Houses. The Philosopher class is equivalent to the Wizard caste elsewhere, and includes the clergy and scholars, as well as full-time practitioners of the magical arts.

The Noble class corresponds broadly to the Ruler caste, although it is sometimes expanded to include bishops (Princes of the Church), military leaders (Princes of War) and wealthy merchants (Princes of Commerce). This class is the most heavily determined by genealogy, and membership is typically defined by an individual's blood-connection to one of the established noble Houses.

Physical Form

map District Map (full-size) map Relief Map (full-size)

This is an ancient city, founded here more than a thousand years ago during the First Age. Its defining external characteristics are a river-port on the east side, a lake-port on south-side and its high stone walls. These walls are a testament to the city's long and eventful history, having been extended, demolished, rebuilt and reinforced on numerous occasions. Gates are found on its north-eastern and western flanks, but many travellers and most goods enter via the ports. Towers at regular intervals along the walls house the guards who patrol them day and night, with additional towers at the gates and other weak points in the defensive perimeter.

Within the walls, a network of water-channels fed from the river and kept flowing by ancient magic, act as a rudimentary sewerage system. These, and a disorderly system of major thoroughfares, divide the city's labyrinthine complex of narrow streets and alleyways into a dozen districts. The two ports and the separate naval yard are also districts in their own right.

The city is divided into a number of self-governing districts, each with its own municipal council and Regiment of guards. Although these entities are empowered with at least nominally independent authority, in practice they are largely under the control of the Houses, Guilds or Syndicates and have little autonomous political or military power. Each district has its own unique character, however, and its own tangled web of alliances and allegiances. Most contain at least one public square (piazza), and a fortunate few also boast parks or gardens.

The district of Hightown looms over the rest of the city upon a hill; its sloping streets and tree-lined avenues are much favoured by the nobility. Rivergate, uncomfortably close for some of those highborn residents, is a less desirable place to live, with a shady reputation. Dockside is little better regarded, but the proximity of the Citadel at its western end tends to make some of its inhabitants more law-abiding. Neighbouring Savaran is home to the Felster Naval College, and popular with carousing sailors and soldiers.

Perched on the shores of the lake, the Citadel is more of a fortress than a district, housing the regimental headquarters and the Office of the Watch. The defences of the city are co-ordinated from here, and overseen by the High Commander and his five lieutenants, the Gate Commanders. It is also home to the military orders of St Paslac and Arkat the Great.

The Glassmakers district, with its constant threat of fires, is completely surrounded by water channels. Newmarket and Gavon resentfully share a grand piazza, and boast numerous churches between them; Newmarket is also home to the offices of the Associations and many prominent Guilds. The humbler Guilds tend to be found in Oldtown, whose crumbling streets are the oldest in the city.

The monastic orders of St Urdin and St Errolan both have establishments in Northside. The scholarly institutions of the Iconographers and the School of Tenebrous Wisdom are also situated in this peaceful district. The more numerous and high-spirited students of the Imperial College make a nuisance of themselves in neighbouring Eastgate. Eastgate and Westgate proudly present their clean-scrubbed faces to visitors, and have a many inns and taverns. Lantry is a dense maze of narrow streets and alleyways, and a dangerous place for the unwary visitor.

Portside is the only district outside the city walls, sandwiched between them and the river. It is a lively, bustling place full of carriers, boatmen and merchants. The Docks are very similar, although more prosperous merchants and their guards are more in evidence here. Both districts include a number of inns and taverns, where foreign sailors are firmly encouraged to remain while their vessels are in dock, rather than venturing into the city proper. The Yard is also off-limits to outsiders, and is almost exclusively the domain of the shipwrights, constantly ringing with the sound of their labour in daylight hours.

Each district has its own distinctive character, and its own architectural signature, but most are an amalgam of designs and styles that have developed organically over the centuries. Notable exceptions are Oldtown, which has remained largely unchanged since the founding of the city, and the ecclesiastical districts of Northside and Gavon, whose impressive streets and edifices are closely regulated by their municipal councils.

Government

At present, Syran is officially ruled by the Council of Houses, which filled the power vacuum left in the wake of Lady Erengazor's recent political misfortunes. In practice, the ability of the Council to govern relies upon a complex web of political and economic allegiances, and the cooperation of other important organisations in the city, notably the Ecumenical Council, the Municipal Councils, the Military Council and Council of Guilds.

This rather curious approach to government arises from the underlying social order, as described above. The mythical foundations of this social order were originally about division of responsibility, not authority, with the members of all castes counted as Citizens. In Syran, this ordering of society has a more plural character, quite different to the hierarchy that is common elsewhere in the West. This is most clearly reflected by the existence of representative bodies that correspond to each of the five classes, each of which have their own distinct areas of power and responsibility. The bodies are collectively known as the Councils.

The Council of Houses is made up of the senior representatives of each Syran's noble families, who elect a Principal to act as their head - most commonly in the capacity of chairperson. Many of the Houses are bitter rivals, however, so the Principal is more commonly a diplomat or compromise candidate than a strong leader. The Council usually meets in secret and is unequivocally acknowledged as the supreme authority in the city. It is only the executive arm of government, however, and even as Erengazor's power was exercised through its local authority, so the Council relies upon other authorities both to define the laws of the city and to regulate their respective spheres.

The Ecumenical Council is made up of the leading representatives of each of the churches in the Ecumenical Communion. It is charged with the moral well-being of the populace, and appoints the Ecclesiastical Court (also called the Consistory Court) to adjudicate in matters of law where an issue of personal morality is involved. The Court's authority is exerted with the aid of the apparitors, a small but dedicated ecclesiastical constabulary. The Court's main preoccupations are heresy and other conspicuous moral evils, as well as the conduct of its clergy. It rarely sees fit to assert its jurisdiction when one of the city's other legal authorities takes an interest.

Notable amongst these are the Municipal Councils (sometimes called District Assemblies), which are responsible for the much of the day-to-day running of the city's districts, including the ad hoc policing role of the City Watch. These petty authorities seem to have little autonomous political or military power and are commonly dominated by other interests, but this can be misleading. They have a surprisingly broad scope for imposing local regulations, levying charges and imposing fines, and are responsible (amongst other things) for the upkeep of their sections of the city walls and for recruiting and maintaining their own Regiment of Guards. In the affairs of the great and the good, they generally wield little influence, but in their own domain they reign supreme.

The High Commander and his five lieutenants, the Gate Commanders form the Military Council, which is responsible for the defence of the city from external threat; a seventh member, the Watch Commander is concerned with threats from within. Their power is not absolute, however, but is (at least nominally) granted by and exercised through a Regimental Captain in each district, who also answers to the local Municipal Council or District Assembly, which both appoints him and pays his wages. The Watch has a more unified command structure, but its members have similarly divided loyalties and frequently have more allegiance to their district and its Regiment than to their Commander.

The Guilds and their members also have a representative authority: the Convocation of Masters, which is better known as the Council of Guilds. The Guilds have come to play an important role in the city in recent years, largely by virtue of their economic importance and increasing wealth. Their Council regulates the production and sale of goods within the city and the surrounding countryside, and controls the flow of goods in and out via the two ports - as well as commerce with Naskorion and the East Wilds via the Doskior River.

Calendar and Time

A version of the familiar Theyalan Calendar is used in Syran, with five seasons of 56 days, each divided into eight seven-day weeks, plus the two weeks of Sacred Time. The seasons are commonly called Spring (Sea), Summer (Fire), Harvest (Earth), Winter (Dark) and Storm.

The calendar-day is divided into two periods ('day' and 'night') of sixteen 'hours' each, although activities are usually structured around the four-hour 'quarters' of these two periods, rather than individual hours. Only at two times of the year, the Spring and Harvest equinoxes, do these periods match the diurnal cycle of the sun, with sunrise occuring at the beginning of the day's first quarter and sunset at the beginning of night. At the summer solstice the sun sets towards the end of the night's first quarter and rises soon after the beginning of the third; at midwinter it sets early in the day's third quarter and rises towards the end of the first.

clockface

The use of clocks is fairly widespread in the West, especially in the cities. Sunrise, noon and sunset are still the most important indicators of time, but even in rural areas it is not uncommon for appointments to be arranged by clock-time. Simple water-clocks are the most familiar variety of timepiece, but large and complex mechanical clocks with a much higher degree of accuracy can be found in public places.

Notable public clocks in Syran include the great tower clock in Newmarket Piazza and a similar one in the Citadel, which both sound the quarters and the hours. There are a also number of other devices in various public and private locations. Clocks of this type also sub-divide the hour into sixty-four 'minutes', but this degree of accuracy is rarely used in daily life, and for most people telling time by the quarters is enough.

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Updated: 31 August 2005 XHTML CSS