Ratha
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| Province: Qi'Reshalia |
| Currency: Lirum |
| Population: 150,000 |
| Established: 2127 BL |
| Alternate Names: Ratha is derived from the S'Kra Mur word for "Thankful" |
| Dominant Race/Guild: S'Kra Mur, with Gor'Tog, Human, Olvi, and Dwarf |
| Governing Individual: The Council of Advisors |
| Guild Halls: Warrior Mage, Cleric, Paladin, Bard, Barbarian, Trader |
| Warnings: |
Overview
Largest city in Qi. Located on the south end of Reshalia, the largest island in Qi. Divided into four tiers.
Government, History, and Background
Government Type
The Council of Advisors rules the city, a committee of the nine patriarchs of the Great Houses of Ratha. It is a complex division of labor that leaves the families jockeying for position and dominance against one another.
House Zsikiel runs the justice of Reshalia.
House Tierskel controls the docks, shipyards, and dry docks of Ratha.
House Lisska'Vran owns a major portion of the warehouses in the city.
House Moglin owns a major shipping fleet.
House Dne controls a large portion of the lucrative cloth trade.
House Redthorne owns the largest fleet of merchant vessels in the Five Provinces.
House Odalva also owns a shipping fleet and is said to be an integral part of the black market.
House Nadamian is a branch of an influential Hibarnhvidar family. They supply metal, ores, and gems to Ratha from the mainland.
House Pantel owns much of the prime agricultural land on Reshalia, purchasing it during the downfall of the Empire. They grow high quality grain, selling it directly to the other families.
Prominent People
History
Although there are some indications that there was an older settlement there, it was decreed by King Sarkhhl Smo'neh that a grand city be built on the site, beginning the modern incarnation of Ratha as the capital of the new kingdom of Reshalia. It was under Sarkhhl's direction that the city gained its general shape spread over four tiers of cliffs that overlooked a sizable deep water bay. The narrow approach that allowed access to the city from the rest of the island was protected by a thick wall with two gates. A large percentage of the initial inhabitants for the city came from the recently splintered Scorpion Clan, following the grief-stricken Norayaz.
The line of Rathan kings, sometimes remembered as "the Blood of Sarkhhl", ruled over the city for the next two thousand years. Most of the day to day activity was taken care of by a bureaucratic administration overseen by six ministers who reported directly to the king. Even though it existed from the beginning of the kingdom, it is popularly remembered as the Shasudan Bureaucracy, after the king who rebuilt the system into an efficient machine. A later king, Qahhro, is also remembered in association with it for his new "Qahhro's Rule of Avoidance" that greatly limited the power of the administrators.
Ratha became the center of S'Kra Mur culture, reaching its peak between 1350 and 1023 BL, exploding onto the scene with new painting, theater, alchemy, metalworking, shipbuilding, and the first literature of the reptilian people. Beautiful temples were constructed on the third tier, as well as a respected university known as the Disilogen (later destroyed by an earthquake during Imperial times).
The power of the king and his administration was greatly diminished during the time of the Seven Star Empire, but most Emperors never made any great effort at truly integrating Qi closely into the Empire. The line of succession continued, even if the king technically served at the sufferance of the Emperor in Throne City. It was in these years that Ratha saw its first great influx of populations (including Olvi, Human, and Dwarf) other than S'Kra and Gor'Tog and the rise of the Great Houses.
After the end of the Empire, the Great Houses had a great deal of influence on politics and trade in Ratha, but they didn't take primary control until the death of King Arhekesaar in 173 BL. The once great Shasudan Bureaucracy already in tatters fell into ruin and the Great Houses ran things in their place. Although there have been movements that called for the restoration of the throne, they have all been suppressed and the families downplay the history of the Rathan Kings and Sshoi-Sson Palace that once ruled all of Qi has been left to rot.