A few notes on the Tarshite city of Dunstop: Dunstop has a population of about 5k people and covers about 50 hectares. It is built on a low (30 meter high) hill that is surrounded by flat agricultural land.
It has three distinctive walls around a central citadel. The most notable structures atop the citadel is the ruler’s palace (home of Fazzur Wideread and his Orindori clan) and the Seven Mothers temple. Around the citadel are other temples, civic buildings, and noble residences. There’s going to be a big Ernalda temple there, a temple to Hon-eel, Irrippi Ontor, etc. Then comes the Inner City, which is relatively prosperous residences, some shops and higher status crafting. Also some “foreign” temples or less prestigious temples. And the main market with its Trade Temple (Issaries and Etyries). Then around that is the Outer City, where the plebs live in little houses. And where the noisier and stinkier crafts take place. Around that is rich farmland of barley and maize.
The most important institution for stabilising the Lunar Provinces was the the Seven Mothers cult. It functioned in the Provinces like the Spanish Catholic missions did in North America. So you get a nice temple built, a bunch of priestesses assigned there, soldiers to protect it, and the local rulers are told to cooperate with them. Some of the locals embraced the Seven Mothers, others retreated into Earth worship.
Here are some other early sketches Matt used to generate the new map.
The Lunars tried to deal with Orlanth worship in a lot of ways in Tarsh. The big thing was the Seven Mothers – think like the Spanish missions. The Seven Mothers is THE key institution to stabilizing the Lunar Provinces. So you get a nice temple built, a bunch of priestesses assigned there, soldiers to protect it, and the local rulers are told to cooperate with them. Some of the locals embraced the Seven Mothers, others retreated into Earth worship.
Here’s the Cult breakdown of Lunar Tarsh:
Lunar Tarsh Cult D100 %
| Cult | D100 | % |
|---|---|---|
| Orlanth* | 01–10 | 15 |
| Ernalda | 11–35 | 25 |
| Maran Gor | 36–38 | 3 |
| Babeester Gor | 39 | 1 |
| Chalana Arroy | 40–41 | 2 |
| Eurmal | 42 | 1 |
| Issaries | 43–45 | 2 |
| Lhankor Mhy | 46–47 | 2 |
| Humakt | 48–50 | 3 |
| Seven Mothers | 51–75 | 25 |
| Hon-eel | 76–85 | 10 |
| Yelmalio | 86–90 | 5 |
| Other | 91–00 | 5 |
Dunstop was founded later than Bagnot. around 1350, by Danbal, another leader from Holay. It was absorbed into the Tarsh Kingdom during the reign of the Twins, and was long the second city of Tarsh. It refused to recognize Hon-eel as the regent of the kingdom, and became part of the Tarsh Exiles from 1490 to 1555 or so when it fell to Phargentes.
Dunstop was given to his companion Vostor Blacktooth, the head of the Lunar Tarshite Orindori clan. And has been ruled by that family since then. The current head of that family is Fazzur Wideread. The city is surrounded by fertile grasslands, now cultivated fields where barley, maize, and fruits are raised. The elevation is around 800 meters, so warm summers, cold winters.
Each Tarshite city has a very different vibe – unlike in Sartar (who built all the cities but Alda-Chur and Alone), the Tarshite cities developed separately.
- Bagnot – the old religious/political center of the Tarsh tribe, and home of the Twins Dynasty.
- Dunstop – agricultural center, tied in with the Earth Religion.
- Talfort – fortified border town. Goldedge – a Sun Dome temple.
- Slavewall – fortified border town and trading center
- Bjorni’s Landing – main river crossing and trading center
- Furthest – planned imperial city
This post originally appeared on Discord