Haalkitaine
Placed at the western hills of Grey Mountains, lies the city of Haalkitaine, the ancient capital of Rhakhaan. Nowadays it is smaller then Lethys, the second city of Rhakhaan, but it has kept it's place at the top by at times military power and Lethys reluctance to cut the ties with it's capital.
Haalkitaine is a grim place for many reasons, the weather being the largest of them. The sun seldom reaches over the peaks of the Grey Mountains, the weather is almost always cloudy with a never-ending rain pouring down at springs and autumn, and snowing through the winter. The summers are usually acceptable but short.
The city's architects have done little about the gloomy weather. Haalkitaine is built almost entirely of granite, taken from the mountains above them. The inner city is surrounded by high smooth walls and is strategically placed on a plateau overlooking the main road. Inside these walls are a claustrophobic cluster of high towers and buildings, testament of the competing nobles.
The city's old catacombs form an enormous labyrinth beneath the Grey Towers; It is said to be a place where many great treasures are buried - and an army of undead guardians are watching them.
In the cliffs above Haalkitaine lies the Royal Tombs, a gloomy place for the dead. Legend states that the charismatic Ajkara III fled there in 5.121 when the magician turned the Haalkitaine court against her. She took the Phoenix Pendant with her and was never seen again.
Haalkitaine and the rest of Rhakhaan is ruled by Emperor Jerrin Arej Malvion Faslurin VII, one of the most competent men in all of Jaiman. His majesty is only 25 years old but has already survived over a dozen assassination attempts.
Freely taken from Jaiman Sourcebook.
Buildings
The buildings of Haalkitaine is made of stone, something the city
has a unlimited supply of laying on the rim of the gray mountains, most
buildings are in a style that has been common there since the second
era, a very gothic style with narrow alleys and high buildings.
Most buildings in the city are 4-5 stories high and people live more
often then not several families in a single building. The buildings
are not as the large brick apartment complexes that are more common
in southern parts of the continent, but rather separate large houses,
with only a minimal distance between them.
Noble houses are usually even higher then the commoners houses, but
still built in the same crowded style. The city also has many high towers
build by nobles trying to compete with each other.
Since it is a city where it rains more days a year then not it is mostly
common with sloped roofs on the buildings, flat roofs are not as practical
with some much rain coming down on them.
The streets are paved with cobblestone and narrow, often sloped too,
all have a small gutter on each side that most of the year are kept
pretty clean by the constant rains that flushes everything into the
sewers.
The Sewers
The city can boast with one of the most effecting sewer systems on Jaiman, it is a enormous complex of tunnels, most just the size for a man to crawl and they all lead out to ***** river. This is a great system for the people that lives in Haalkitaine, but not so great for those that lives downriver… fortunately it is not the only river that runs through this area, with the gray mountains towering to the east there are a lot of small and large rivers coming down from there with fresh mountain water.
This page is a part of
by Jonas 'Drac' Cedher.