Cursrah

Cursrah was a city-state of the Calim Caliphates. It was also known as Calim's Cradle and the College. It received its latter name because of its original purpose of being the city at which the collected accomplishments of the great Calim were recorded.

Description
The city was built in concentric rings, with an outer wall. Within were a famous library and college.

The city contained its own lake, with a sealed lakehouse said to contain an enslaved marid, who pumped the water from the lake to wherever it was needed in the city.

The greatest architectural feature of Cursrah was perhaps the massive below-ground aqueduct that stretched through the countryside from the city to the River Agis.

Geography
Cursrah was located in a shallow valley, situated about ten miles south of the Agis. It was about as far east from the Sword Coast as the future site of Fort Tufenk in modern Tethyr. In its day, it was further east than the city-states of Oxonsis and Zubat and occupied territory between them.

Flora and Fauna
Cursrah was surrounded by a ring of fertile farmland just under ten miles thick that provided asparagus, barley, beans, cabbages, caraway seeds, celery, chick peas, lentils, rye, squash, strawberries, and winter melons for the populace. Outside the valley, hilly grasslands surrounded Cursrah, which were populated by such animals as antelopes, lions, and zebras. Among these hills, acacia, myrtle, and cedar trees were scattered. After the Era of Skyfire, these grasslands began being replaced by yellow sand and barren rock.

Weather
During the summer, the temperature in Cursrah's valley was almost unbearably hot; in the winter, near-constant drizzle made times dreary.

Society
While the normal folk kept regular daytime schedules, the royal family of Cursrah and their servants and advisors slept during the day and were active during the night.

Outside the city, a few herders and hunters maintained their livelihood.

Several extraplanar beings also inhabited Cursrah, including sylphs, who lived in its parks. Various mephits served specific functions for the populace; ice mephits cooled the food of upper-class citizens, while steam mephits were used to clear drains, for example.

Government
Cursrah was ruled by a bakkal, a priest-king, as were other nations of this era. If a bakkal had multiple wives, the first and most important was known as the sama. It was believed that Calim himself had appointed the royal family to rule, and they were said to have the blood of genies.

Clothing
Among women, simple, tubelike shifts were worn by commoners, by servants, or as nightlothes. Those of the upper class often decorated their eyes with kohl.

Religion
The people of Cursrah worshiped Calim, the moon, and their dead ancestors. The dead were buried in well-kept necropoleis. The members of the royal family were always mummified and kept deep below the Palace for if ever Great Calim should call upon them for aid.

The clerics and priests of Cursrah served as vizars and as the city-state's healers, but they were also considered "keepers of life and death." The vizars dressed in dull, brown robes and shaved their heads. Junior-level vizars were known as anatomists. Higher-ranking priests often had brands of arcane symbols on their skulls or tattoos. It was rumored that the highest-level vizars had their sexual organs removed to become androgynous.

Family
Among the commoners, people chose their own spouses, but those of royal birth had a duty to marry for the benefit of the city of Cursrah, and such marriages were carefully arranged.

Royal children were not nursed or raised by their own mothers. In fact, it was not uncommon for a child to have no physical contact with his or her mother after birth.

Trade
Scholars traveled from all over the civilized world at that time to visit Cursrah's great library, bringing with them wealth.

To the people of Cursrah, humans living north of the Marching Mountains at this time in history were thought to be cannibals, but it is not known if there was any validity to this claim.

History
The great noble djinni Calim founded Cursrah after the Great Arrival, choosing a formerly barren valley as its location. Slaves from many races, including minor genies and humans, worked to built the city to Calim's design.

The city existed for roughly 1,500 years.

Notable Locations

 * Palace of the Phoenix

Notable Inhabitants

 * Amenstar, princess of Cursrah
 * Tafir, a young djawal
 * Gheqet, one of Amenstar and Tafir's friends

Appearances

 * Star of Cursrah