Koroshesh
Koroshesh
Religion
Traditions
-15% Stability Cost Modifier
+10% Trade Efficiency
The Southern ExodusAfter the Incident of 335, the Gnomish Hierarchy and the Kingdom of Kheterata, now ruled by Menkaunswt, became staunch allies. This was accompanied by an intensification of the trade between the two ancient powers, and as a result of this gnomish merchants started to settle in in the prosperous trade city of Koroshesh. Initially the gnome population remained mostly separated from the locals, living in their own neighborhood and interacting with the human population only for matters of business. This changed after the kobolds destroyed the Hierarchy, causing thousands of refugees to flee to Kheterata, with the majority settling in Koroshesh. The Kheteratan people welcomed the gnomes with open arms, with many even offering their homes to temporarily house them. This helped build a strong bond between the two populations, and perhaps it is because of this that the gnomes integrated into Kheteratan society so quickly and with such great results. The current Delta Gnomes have little in common with their cousins in Cannor. They speak Kheteratan with a few gnomish loanwords and their cultural practices are extremely influenced by the Kheteratan ones. They even worship the Khet with great devotion, having mostly abandoned The Thought generations ago to embrace Elikhetism instead. One could even say they are more Kheteratan than gnomish!
-2 National Unrest
Sorrow’s End HarborThe lifeblood of Kheterata flows upwards along the Mother's Sorrow, from the heartlands of Sarhal, past the city of Kheterat, until it gushes outwards into the Divenhal Sea where it becomes one with the world. The city of Koroshesh sits upon the delta from which the Sorrow pours its blessed waters. It is the home of the great Sorrow's End Harbor, where countless vessels from across Halann have begun and ended their voyages since the days of antiquity. The city has been valued highly by the various states and empires in the region for its key strategic and commercial position. Its lasting importance however transcends that of emperors and conquerors. Dynasties rise and fall, but the Sorrow is eternal, and as such the riches to be made in the harbor and markets of Koroshesh are infinite.
+15% Global Trade Power
+10% Ship Tradepower Propagation
The Grand LibraryThe Grand Library of Koroshesh was built during Elikhet’s reign, in the first years of Kheterata, and it has been a shining beacon of knowledge and learning throughout the realm ever since then. It has seen multiple upgrades and it has survived a dozen fires, a few earthquakes and even the great flood of the Day of Ashen Skies. Standing towering above the city's harbor, it houses not only the library itself, but also all manner of artworks, countless lecture halls, a thriving apiary, and even a lively zoo for the furtherance of the field of zoology. The majority of the scholars it employs are human, although there is also plenty of gnomish representation, and after the establishment of Konolkhatep gnolls academics have also become common. During the 18th century the library was the scene of heated debates between supporters and detractors of cannorian cultural influence, Ravelianism and the spread of artificery. The latter would eventually achieve full control of the institution, expelling dissenting scholars and making their traditionalist and firmly Elikhetist school of thought hegemonic.
+1 Possible Advisors
-10% Idea Cost
The Making Of A ScribeAmong wealthy gnomish families in Koroshesh it is a common custom to send their second son to train as a scribe, which has resulted in a significant number of the scribes of Kheterata being gnomes. The only licensed scribes are the ones who have graduated from a state-approved scribe school. Children sent to these institutions live in the school residence and attend their classes from the age of 13 to their 21st birthday. During these years they learn to master the Kheteratan writing system, in addition to many other skills, such as accounting, technical drawing, history, philosophy, natural science, religion and memorization. The main objective is to create the perfect bureaucrat, and as such the level of demand is brutal, and most aren't able to stand it. Not all hope is lost for dropouts however, as businesses and least relevant parts of the administration are eager to hire them due to the level of skill that even one year of scribe school can implant in a student.
+15% Reform Progress Growth
The NisetataaGem cutting has been one of the main economic activities of the gnomish communities in Korashesh since the first merchant settlements were established, and there are no better gem cutters in Korashesh, or in all of Sarhal for that matter, than the Korashesh’s Lapidarist Guilds. They were initially founded by some of the wealthiest gnomish refugees, and they employed mainly gnomish workers. As time passed however human workers and even master artisans became increasingly common. The trademark of the guilds are the Nisetataa, gems faceted with 56 cuts, which greatly improve their capabilities as focusing catalysts for mages. To produce a gemstone of such obscene refinement is a painstakingly slow process that requires a lapidarist with a lifetime's experience. As such they are extremely valued and expensive magic items, sought after by mages of all of Halann, and wielded only by arcanists of extreme skill and, particularly, of massive wealth. Nisetataa means kingdom gem in Kheteratan, a name they owe precisely to their high price, as it is said that for the price of the highest quality ones you could afford to buy a small kingdom
+5% Production Efficiency
+10% Shock Damage
Herding the WatersThe Mother's Sorrow is the heart of Kheterata, and it brims with the vigor and the soul of its people, often gushing forth with a ferocity unmatched by any mundane river. The marshy floodplains that surround the river's delta feel this great love the fiercest, yet the people of Koroshesh have not only endured, but taken full advantage of this situation. Levees, waterways, canals and dams can be seen everywhere throughout the Delta, having been built through the ages for a variety of purposes. These range from draining portions of marsh to allow for urban development to redirecting water to drier places for irrigation or making navigable artificial canals. The people of Korashesh are masters when it comes to constructing waterworks, and in times of great prosperity even more ambitious projects have been proposed, aiming to claim further land from the sea to house agricultural and urban growth.
-10% Development Cost
Hieroglyphic ArtEven before the gnomish exodus Koroshesh was known for housing some of the greatest scribes and calligraphers of Kheterata, authentic masters at drawing the ancient hieroglyphic script of the kingdom. After the arrival of the gnomes, and with many of them choosing to become scribes, calligraphy was even more developed, and eventually it became a true art form. The artists beautifully and carefully create hieroglyphic characters into various formats, drawing them with ink in papyrus, engraving in wood, rock, ceramic or metal, or sewing them into linen fabrics. In the houses of the wealthiest of Kheterata some rooms have the walls, floors and ceilings completely covered in characters. The actual written content is usually just an excuse to show their wealth, as calligraphers charge enormous amounts for even the simplest of characters, due to how much time and skill their activity requires.
+1 Yearly Prestige
Ambition
+1 Merchants
History
TBD
Strategy
TBD