Tespajet

Name

Tespajet (TESS-pah-jet)

Demonym

Tespajeti

Colors

White, paired with any high-saturation colors

Common Knowledge

Across the continent and a little south, near the coast and surrounded by the Kindred Desert, Tespajet is a city secluded. There are only two viable ways to reach it. The easier way is by boat, harboring at the small port town Aurumbit (are-RUM-bit) and taking the short Gilded Path to the city proper. The more difficult way is the Dust Road, which is little more than a constellation of oases that lead to the city, which straddles its own lake like a crescent moon. Despite these difficulties, Tespajet is a city much traveled to: it is most famous for its production of crystal glass and lightfast textiles, but is also known for its sea salt and its various mines, though they do not produce the volume and variety of minerals that the ones in Diamort do. 

Many see Tespajet as a near-mythic city, secluded and glittering with gold, color, and crystal glass, which is said to catch the sun and throw spots of color across roads and buildings alike. Though the sea route to Tespajet is established and highly trafficked, it is not a particularly easy city to reach by the common folk. It is home to the Library of Inarat-En-Tel (often just called the Library, or the Tespajet Library), the oldest standing library on the continent. Most buildings are primarily white or a very pale color, with accents in many saturated shades of one or two colors. Tespajet has long since developed alchemical solutions for lightfastness, so any true Tespajeti garment is prized for its resistance to sun bleaching and will remain vivid for many years even in the harshest conditions.

A Local’s Knowledge

While Tespajet is known as a desert city, it does enjoy some small foresting near the coastline and on certain spots of the great Tespajet Lake. The misconception comes from the fact that Tespajet claims a sizable portion of the true desert that surrounds it as under its purview, though any local or knowledgeable outsider will know this is primarily to lay claim to the mineral deposits that dot the otherwise unforgiving landscape. Beyond the city center and its populated outskirts, the city does not provide active protection for a majority of its claimed lands like the other cities do, making everything between the city and its mines and claimed oases functionally part of the Between.

Notable Locations

The Kindred Desert – ostensibly a part of Tespajet but is often more Between than it is city, and the inhabitants there have many customs that separate themselves from those that live in the city center.

The Assembly House – where Tespajet’s government resides, slightly north of the center of Tespajet proper.

The Library of Inarat-En-Tel – a sprawling complex on the southern edges of the city center, with much of it continuing many stories underground. It not only houses some of Insul’s most ancient texts, but is also home to some of the continent’s greatest researchers, both magical and mundane. Its true size and contents are unknown, having been a repository for all types of information since beyond current memory; there are many dusty corners that house barely-contained dangers and hazardous research.

Government

In modern times, the city is ruled by the Assembly of Pages and is completely separate from the Library. The Assembly consists of a number of High Librarians, headed by the High Librarian of Crystal. While these leaders are no longer literal librarians, at one time they were, when the Library of Inarat-En-Tel was the Temple of Inarat-En-Tel, and the governing body of the city. The Assembly is often further divided into the Division of Sun and the Division of Stone. In simple terms the Division of Sun consists of those that preside over things like peacekeeping, maintenance of the mines, protection against the Unwritten, farming, the building and maintenance of roads and buildings. The Division of Stone are the lawmakers, the diplomats, the ones who design civic projects and programs. As one can imagine, often the Division of Stone see those of the Sun often as boorish and uneducated, while the Division of Sun see those of the Stone as self-important and lacking any on-the-ground experience.

Upholding the law, peacekeeping and Unwritten defense on a day-to-day basis is the responsibility of the Sun Watch.

While the Assembly is completely secular, the leading forces of the Library are also the leaders of the Cult of Inarat-En-Tel, Vaki of deep knowledge. While there are rituals throughout the year that are more structured and ceremonial, most worship of Inarat-En-Tel revolves around the gathering and cataloging of information.

The leadership of the Library has the High Priest at the top. They are the leader of all religious functions of the Library. Technically under them, but considered equal in all but name, is the Library Director, who takes care of the secular portions of running the Library. Below them are the various Library Managers, who are of the Book or the Dagger depending on what aspect of library maintenance they are a part of. Below them are the average Librarian.

In the Library, there are the followers of the Book and followers of the Dagger. Followers of the Book are often the average librarian. They run the day-to-day maintenance of the Library, are the ones who do and assist in research, and are trained in general combat and magic as a precaution. The followers of the Dagger are a part of the Library’s self-governance. They make sure the librarians obey the laws of the Library, like only doing approved studies/research, not taking books/information/artifacts out of the Library without approval, ect. Additionally, they are called in to take care of dangers that are above an average librarian’s skillset. 

Notable people

The current High Librarian of Crystal

The current High Priest

The current Library Director

Common Costuming

Tespajet and the Kindred Desert that surrounds it are places of color, though for the most common way this is translated to clothing is to have bright, deeply toned overgarments and then off-white or much paler clothes underneath. While those who seek attention will wear many colors at once (be they lovers of fashion, or any sort of entertainer), most will stick to no more than two at any given time, instead having various shades of the chosen color. 

Clothes are often light, loose and flowing, with a popular accessory being a gauzy scarf with glass or gold beading, useful for protecting the face against sun and sand while walking through the city.

• Bright colors, especially rainbow or jewel hues
• Flowing, layered garments, often bound by belts or other garments
• Generally 1 or 2 main colors over a white base
• Individual layers are usually made of a single color, but the outermost layer may have accents of other colors. For desertfolk, the colors you wear shows what part of the desert you know the best. This is not the case for cityfolk.
• Gold as an accent color
• Head coverings: usually light and gauzy for the cityfolk, and more substantial for the desert-folk