[Meme] things that didn't make it into stories

[edenfalling]

I am home and bored and "Secrets" is being frustrating, so... meme time!

Via askerian: Comment with a story I've written, and I will tell you one thing I knew, learned, or wondered about while writing the story that didn't make it onto the page.

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4. Cities of the north

[edenfalling]

The capitol of the Doran Empire is Dora in Norineth Valley, with its port city of Ultar on the western shore of the small Kesric Sea. Other major cities in Simia are all more or less beholden to the Empire. On the Erranian Sea, in the west, Kos of the many islands lies at the mouth of the Erisokos River; Isenik lies on the southern coast of the Erranian Sea; and Rai on the northern coast. North of the Erranian Sea, on the Doran peninsula, Amarida sits at the mouth of the Temor River, on the Western Sea. Hentath guards of the Gate of Dendor, the channel between the North Sea and the northern Kesric Sea. Corsinn, a former rival of Dora, lies on the east shore of the Kesric Sea.

Inland, Toren lies at the first fall line on the Erisokos, near the Bannerry Hills; its sister city, Peruthy, sits further into the hills at the junction of the Island Road and the River Road. Sarill sprawls at the northwestern edge of Lake Nacoma, where the Sister joins the Great Mother River. Illeilee is the city at the heart of the riverlands (the watershed of the Sister) that straddles trade routes in the rich farm country. Minrocheh is a port at the western edge of the Mother's delta. And Ochre Varos, a thriving trade city, lies south of Lake Nacoma on the Mother, at the nexus of four trade routes: the Gold Road south to the mountain kingdoms, the Ivory Road southeast to Tuvia, the Silk Road northeast to Qatham'bal, and the Great Trunk Road northwest to Dora, where all roads find their way at last.

Many of the great cities either are or have been capitols of Imperial provinces, except for Kos, which is itself a province. There are no great cities on the southern border of the Empire, since trade with the mountain kingdoms is too sporadic to support them, and there are no great rivers in the southern highlands.

The lands of the Jenjani are divided into five great regions, each of which contains several nations or city-states. Nalus, the northern coastal region, is dominated by the cities of Ninousha, which lies on Qotamir Maqef just east of the Mother's delta, and is a great rival of Minrocheh; and Hethgaj Aboural, at the mouth of the short, wide, mud-choked Vequt River, which flows northwest from the Hajouqati mountains to the Gulf of Shoujoura.

Tuvia, the rugged southeastern highlands, is split into the inland lake country and the narrow coastal plain. The twin cities of the lake country -- Reqouro on the shores of Ifratoum Qaniq and Burati on Qinjad Qaniq -- are the gateway for trade between the Doran Empire and the lands across the Broken Sea. They pay tithes to the Horse Lords of Jana, the central plains region, so their trade is not disrupted too frequently. Ehalom Ulad, nestled in the hills at the joining of the Dehabi and Ulad Serif rivers, and Ganjef Aboural at the mouth of the Dehabi, complete the trade route.

Qatham'bal, or Calaea, the land of silk and salt between the Hajouqati Mountains and the Broken Sea, is mostly desert, sheltered from rain by the high mountains. Rourin'qef, the city of salt, lies on an oasis in that desert, and forms an important stop on the Silk Road, which leads from Ochre Varos to Shajento on the Broken Sea, where people cultivate mulberry trees in walled gardens and grow coffee in the narrow valleys where the northwest winds bring warm water down from the seas above Nalus to ameliorate the harsh desert winds from the west and south. Silk is also produced in Tuvia, but Tuvia's climate is better for farming and so its people are less dependent on trade crops.

Qismena, the city that is not, the abode of magicians, lies hidden deep in Accia, in the heart of the Hajouqati-uq north of the Silk Road. It is spoken of only in whispers, for in Qismena strange things walk the earth under the light of the moon.