Founded in the Allerian Plains, at the very apex of the great oceanic Horn of Thrapsalon, the budding port of Taj’Khinjaha is the first settlement of the Sorcerer Kings to be founded on the continent of Alektria – signaling their arrival after centuries of absence since the events of the Fall. Serving the Court of Fire and ruling in its name, the city’s founder and current governor – Jahan the Shimmering Vizier – originally purchased the deeds to the lands his city was built upon through the City State of Helias, acquiring such a valuable asset through the infamous counting house of House Mydas. The paid for land possessed an ample underground freshwater spring, along with considerable mineral wealth contained within the nearby hills. Though purchased with vast quantities of gold and seen as legitimate by those City States still adhering to the rules of their Scholaes, Jahan’s land was nonetheless claimed by another major power, the warlike City State of Tauria. Regardless, fate would see the Vizier arrive to the Allerian Plains with the help of Theogoni – successor to the deceased City States captain Rysalektos – bringing with him a privateer fleet capable of forging a new foothold on Alektria’s shores. Though successful, Taj’Khinjaha’s founding would mark the beginning of hostilities between the Sorcerer Kings and Tauria, sparking the discontent that would lead to the continued diplomatic decline between the two great powers.
The reason behind Tauria’s claim over Taj’Khinjaha’s location is bound to trade, as the area acted as a key transport route for the streams of profitable trade that spilled in from the lands of the Hundred Kingdoms and made their way into the City States Peninsula and Tauria herself. Though ladened with luxury goods and a plethora of precious materials, such trade routes carry a far more critical resource within their winding caravans – grain. As it currently stands, whoever controls Taj’Khinjaha – along with its attached territories in the greater Allerian Plains and the mercantile traffic that passes through them – controls the flow of trade across the broader region, elevating the seemingly unimportant settlement and its master to all new heights of importance and prestige. However, Tauria has never been known for its reserved nature, and the followers of the bull-god Minos declared war upon the Vizier not too long after his arrival, leading to various minor battles and clashes that chipped away at both powers.
From the great river Pnigmon to the Allerian Plains themselves, skirmishes became all too common as the clash for control over Taj’Khinjaha began to creep up in intensity. Momentary peace was achieved with Tauria when Jahan bargained for an end to the hostilities, offering for trade to resume towards the City State without any additional taxation from the great Vizier. Additionally, Jahan promised to finance the construction of infrastructure that would support all trade routes making their way towards Tauria, promising to build roads and bridges that would make the City States Peninsula more accessible to those arriving from the Allerian Plains. However, such peace proved to be unsustainable, as the denizens of Tauria found themselves without their much-needed trade routes, as almost none of the great caravans arrived before the gates of their city. Lured in by profit and the promise of more coin, most of the traders arriving from the north would elect not to travel beyond Taj’Khinjaha, for the city was wealthy and would pay more for their goods and services than Tauria ever could. Such sour trade prospects have created an ever-expanding tension between the sorcerous city and Tauria, with hostilities and brief stretches of tenuous peace having now become commonplace, overshadowed by the prospect of all-out war that looms on the horizon.
Despite its tumultuous beginnings, the city of Taj’Khinjaha is a true wonder to behold, being still a relatively new settlement but expanding at a tremendous rate. Its great port is always filled with a plethora of moored ships, some arriving from truly distant and exotic lands. Vessels belonging to the Nords, Sorcerer Kings, City States, Hundred Kingdoms, and cultures from seas unknown can be found in Taj’Khinjaha’s populous port, all seeking to partake in the flow of wealth that runs through the city like a cascading river. Even those of the elder races have made their way to the Vizier’s domain, with Dweghom exiles and Spire Merchant Princes finding a suitable purchase within the cultural melting pot that has been infused with the city’s beating heart. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, the city has acted as the vessel for a tentative diplomatic alliance between the courts of Fire and Air, with the latter sending over military aid to support Taj’Khinjaha and its governor Jahan – including Skypiercer Yindak, a renowned and thunderous warrior of considerable skill.
The city’s streets and boundaries expand with each passing day, stretched out by the frames of forming buildings and the billowing outlines of tent complexes, all meant to accommodate the settlement’s ever-increasing population. Such construction is greatly hastened through the use of labor-driven elementals, with earth and water elementals – imported as laborers from their perspective courts – working alongside those of fire and air to support the city’s need for growth. Fire elementals feed the city’s furnaces and illuminate its winding streets; earth elementals part soil and rock alike to make room for further infrastructure; water elementals feed Taj’Khinjaha’s waterworks, providing the city with clean and drinkable water; and air elementals blow and howl constantly, taming the dust-clouds that rise from arriving caravans and soothing the city with a near-constant breeze. Those elementals that displease the settlement’s ruler, mostly those of the earth and water variety, are condemned to maintain and labor within Taj’Khinjaha’s advanced sewer system, forced to linger within mounds of human filth as punishment.
At the center of Taj’Khinjaha sits the Vizier’s grand palace, crowned by a sky-reaching tower that has yet to see completion and surrounded by scaffolding and shuffling laborers, the palace – much like the rest of the city – is unfinished. Most strikingly, swirling above Jahan’s intimidating abode, a giant magical pyre burns without end, fueled by numerous flame-bound elementals and draping the buildings below with an otherworldly, orange glow. Though the city has yet to reach its final form – ever-growing in its nascent state – its mark on the world has nonetheless been significant. Gripped by the machinations of a mysterious and ambitious master, blessed with great wealth, and contested by powerful rivals, the future of Taj’Khinjaha remains uncertain still…