The World of Xoth

[tibbius]

[tibbius]

Belthaar This city, located west of the Ophrat river, is one of the smallest city-states of Susrah, with a population of only 12,000 people, yet its foundations are ancient and rest on a maze of catacombs, and its gloomy, serpentine streets wind their way between mighty monuments and hoary towers. There are temples and ziggurats dedicated to Belet-Lil, Baal-Khardah, Yadar, and a multitude of others.

In the foreign district and the pleasure district, the buildings are flat roofed constructions of mud brick, only one or two stories tall and painted ominously red, crowded close to dirt alleys barely wide enough for three people to pass each other. The trade and craft districts also are crowded among cobbled streets just wide enough for a cart to pass, and are built of mud brick, usually three stories tall with pointed roofs over apartments above shops. The warehouses, separated by dirt streets wide enough for wagons to turn around, are long low unpainted wooden buildings prone to fire. The noble and residential districts are built of stone and stucco, with homes and mansions separated by gardens (small vegetable plots in the residential district, larger orchards in the noble district) and wide walkways paved with cut stone.

The petty king Simashattar III currently rules in Belthaar. His army of pikemen and charioteers are involved in a three-way war with its bigger neighbours, Zhaol and Ghezath. Despite his small army, Simashattar has avoided defeat by capturing a princeling of Ghezath and holding him hostage.

01_belthaar_city_map.jpg (37.07 KiB) Viewed 2031 times

• Notable locations:
• Temple of Belet-Lil is in the pleasure district
• Temple of Yadar is on the Square of the Green Peacock
• The Red Tower stands in the middle of the Trade District; nobody will or can say when or for whom it was built.