Khiraspid Ideas

Traditions
+15% Reinforce Speed
+20% Trade Steering

An Eye for QualityEvery porcelain city has a different specialty. Some pursue economical methods of production, others explore colourations as vivid as any Raheni dyes. In Khiraspid, the focus is singular: quality. Even as porcelain became more common in Cannor, following the rush of Cannor-Halessi trade in the 19th century and the opening of the Jashar Canal, Khiraspid porcelain remained on a tier of its own. The richest Lencori wine-lords, the haughtiest imperial magisters, the most exacting gnomish artificers — all would seek out wares marked with the city's signature identifier: a circle at the center of a horizontal oval.
+1 Yearly Prestige

The Watching WallsThe kilns of Khiraspid never sleep, softly illuminating the city even at night. But for the few who wander the city in those dark hours, they are not the only lights one sees. There are repeated rumours of eyes in the dark, glowing watchers disappearing when you try to bring them into focus. There are no reports of who might bear them or where they come from, but most citizens have seen them once or twice, and almost all swear by their existence. Nonetheless, they disappear when dawn comes and the city's porcelain decorations — each marked with the stamp of Khiraspid workshops — are illuminated by sunlight once more.
+20% Foreign Spy Detection

Centralize the GuildsKhiraspid has long been content to be first among the many Porcelain Cities, confident that our wares make our prominence clear. But with the Harimraj collapsing, and encroaching conquerors from all directions, we cannot risk that the porcelain secret might someday be seized by force. And few of the other cities are as careful about this as we are. We must bring them all under our protection, to instruct them in our ways of security and stability — and we must do so immediately.
-15% Province War Score Cost

Lengthy VacationsKhiraspid employs many ministers to ensure that every piece of its bureaucracy has a watchful eye and guiding hand at its helm. But for most departments, there is a steady churn of such, as ministers are known to go on vacation and never return. Do they seek out porcelain cities with less-stringent laws? Do they retire to a small palace along the Dhenbasana? Is something else happening entirely? Only the masters of the Porcelain Guild know for sure.
-0.1 Yearly Corruption

River TollsAll the wealth of Rahen and Haless flows through its many great rivers. And where it flows through Khiraspid, the city is not above taking its cut by means of the two river tolls that apply when goods enter and exit by the waterways. Even the legendary scholar-boats of the Kharunyana, where the age's wisest philosophers debate as they lazily cruise down the great river, are not exempted from paying a fee. Though irritating to foreigners, they have little choice in the matter, and this lucrative practice fills Khiraspid's coffers.
+10% Domestic Trade Power

The White GateDuring the old days of the Rahenraj, millennia ago, many of the major forts of Dhujat grew into cities in their own right. Especially after the conflicts between the Rahenraj and the kingdoms east of it, around 600 BA, Khiraspid was fortified to the point of having some of the thickest and tallest walls. Within it, the porcelain workers felt safe to revel in their riches. But everything changed when Harimar attacked.\n\nThough the walls were insurmountable, the gates were not. The harimari troops quickly breached the city's mighty gates, and quickly overran its defences. But Harimar was a benevolent conqueror, and he saw the value of a kind example in bringing the rest of the Porcelain Cities under his paw. Instead of sacking the city, he allowed its rulers to proclaim him sovereign. Then, before he left, he ensured the shattered gates would be rebuilt out of pure porcelain, a shining white beacon so that all would remember how quickly he had seized the city — and his mercy afterward.\n\nThe days of the old Harimraj are long gone now, but the White Gate still stands, the symbol of Khiraspid and harder than any wood or stone. And though hobgoblins threaten from the north, zealots threaten from the east, Khiraspid's White Gate will stand strong, nigh-insurmountable, against them.
+15% Fort Defence

From Around TownSome live in ornate palaces, funded by porcelain wealth. Some make their lives in small houses, passed down from generation to generation. Still others reside in dense, dark, slums. But all are mandated to serve in the city guard from the ages eighteen to twenty. Not a single individual, no matter their fitness or position, is allowed to shun this duty, and it ensures that Khiraspid never goes without a well-manned guard.\n\nThe other Porcelain Cities often looked down on this practice, which meant an apprentice porcelain-worker would share a spear with a street urchin, especially when mercenary forces and Bhuvauri slave soldiers were well-trained, plentiful, and cheap. But it would pay off in 1699 AA, when following the execution of an elven diplomat accused of porcelain espionage, Lorent paid the Bhuvauri a vast sum and promised them exclusive Cannorian trade rights to turn on their would-be masters and sack the city of Keyattordha. That city was left ravaged, and the slave soldiers also looted a few others as they abandoned the Porcelain Guilds' contracts in full. After the "Typhoon of Broken Vases", as the event became known, Khiraspid alone stood untouched.
+15% National Manpower Modifier

Ambition
-10% Advisor Cost