Aram

Population:26,000

Area: 25.4 square km

Densely populated city built upon a naturally occurring steppe. The various levels of the city are built on flat, man made outcroppings with narrow roads connecting them. The buildings, structures, and wall around the periphery are composed of a white granite that has been mined from the rock in the interior of the steppe. This city acts as the seat of political power in Kulse. The residents of the city will claim that this is due to the fact that the Onyx Spire, where it is believed the Golden One resides, a deity above even the Pontiffs, is located at its zenith, but a more mundane explanation is that the shear wealth and commerce of the city has granted it this title.

The ruling class consists of rich merchant nobles who vote on the placement of representatives within the House of Consistencies. Whose general duties include placement of representatives within the House of the Masses, creating, maintaining, and terminating external trade deals, and collecting taxes from the populace. The House of the Masses’ primary duties include writing and ratifying new laws through a vote by property holding citizens, distributing collected taxes to necessary coffers, and conscripting a standing army.

The populace of Aram is primarily human with a few exceptions offering unique wares in local shops. There are sprawling slums on the flat ground at the base of the steppe outside the city walls. These slums are home to mostly Aramathi slaves that work in tunnels within the steppe, mining stone for trade and maintenance of roads, walls, and buildings. There is little in the form of an agricultural industry as the land surrounding the city is too rocky to sustain farming on a large scale. This causes the necessity for food to be shipped in externally and stone and ore to be shipped out through the use of an intricate system of caravans. The Caravanserai's Guild holds substantial power within this city's walls.

With such a rich and powerful ruling class Aram holds the majority of wealth within Kolse. With that fact, it is able to afford a powerful city guard, outside the influence of the Pell's Guard, that patrols and protects the populace. Laws, enacted by the House of the Masses, are enforced with strict adherence and discipline, and these officers determine guilt on site for petty crimes. Punishment for crimes of worthwhile severity are tried in a court of marshals that determines guilt and the matter of resolution for the guilty, most in the form of fines to be paid to the victim. Offenders unable to pay the fines legally obligated to them are sentenced to work in the mines until the profit from the stone and ore extracted by them is great enough to pay off the compounded capital of their fine.