Overview
Qarezh is the capital of Ereshval, a coastal desert city in eastern Valrindor. In 2107-2108 AX, it is the seat of Sultan Tharezh, the Ereshval staging point for expeditions into the Plains of Eternity, and the city where Kallion, John, Drashir, Vashir, Isandriel, and Thalion all converge before the Thalion-Abraxas War reaches Ereshval and the plains. After its destruction and rebuilding, Qarezh remains Ereshval's capital.
Cityscape
Qarezh stands where desert, river greenery, and ocean meet. Routes into the city pass dunes, palms, jungle, scattered settlements, river branches, and sandships before reaching its coastal walls. The sea beside Qarezh is volatile enough that earth mages maintain a large protective wall or bastion, lowering sections when ships need to pass.
The city is built from smooth brown and light-brown stone, with domes, rounded buildings, bronze accents, reflective surfaces, and crystal-powered lights. The Sultan's palace dominates the skyline: a massive cylindrical and domed structure at the base of a tower or spire crowned by a brilliant crystal or jewel. The palace grounds include a smaller river, palms, fountains, bronze-inlaid doors, crystal-lit halls, and murals of Ereshval's history.
Qarezh's ports serve fishermen, shipyards, workers, market stalls, and essence-core stores. Citizens wear light white robes or hoods against the desert sun. Palace workers, officials, and honored magecorps members wear bronze formal robes, often with black embroidery. The city also has a developed water culture: palace visitors are invited to taste the cold clean water, and local mages use sand, coal, minerals, ice, water magic, and sea-water separation to provide water in the desert.
Government and Defenses
In 2107 AX, Qarezh is ruled by Sultan Tharezh alongside viziers, palace attendants, guards, local mages, and Ereshval's frontier forces. Tharezh can authorize expeditions, order evacuations, assign mages, negotiate with outside armies, and commit Ereshval ships and personnel.
Qarezh's defenses include the ocean wall, palace guards, stationed mages, and Ereshval's northern-frontier forces. When Thalion's army operates from the city, his soldiers wear local robes, his earth mages bury skyships beneath the sand outside Qarezh, and his scouts watch the region for Raphael and Eremion. In exchange for permission to remain, Thalion's forces contribute to city labor, and Benedict proposes improvements to underground systems, production lines, security, and water distribution. Thalion urges Tharezh to evacuate the city as a precaution, reducing the population before the Thalion-Abraxas War reaches Qarezh. Some residents stay to defend their home.
History
Qarezh exists before Varnhallow and long before Tharezh rules the city. When Eira reaches it before Varnhallow exists, Qarezh is a small coastal settlement. The people there have limited water and earth magic, live among makeshift rock structures and tents, and speak a reduced dialect of Malverine.
By 2107 AX, Qarezh is a developed capital. During their displacement in time, Kaelion and Jin reach the city, live there for months under the names Kallion and John, stay with Drashir and Vashir, and prepare ships for a journey into the Plains of Eternity. Kaelion wins Tharezh's approval for an official expedition after agreeing to train Ereshval's temporal mages.
Isandriel's expedition later reaches Qarezh from the sea. Vashir meets the group at the ocean wall and grants them passage under Kallion's approved expedition. Ereshval contributes ships and personnel to the mission, and the fleet departs through the protective wall. Qarezh's palace crystal and smaller city crystals light the skyline behind them.
During the Thalion-Abraxas War, Thalion brings his forces to Qarezh and negotiates with Tharezh. The city becomes a hidden staging ground. Thalion's fleet waits there to intercept the guardian forces before they can reach Isandriel. When Raphael and Eremion move toward Qarezh by way of the ocean, Thalion's fleet launches north from the city.
Qarezh is destroyed during Thalion's confrontation with Abraxas. Abraxas's void rays hurl Thalion toward the city wall and into the heart of Qarezh; the impact ruins the city, and the follow-up detonations vaporize it almost instantly. The surrounding land is devastated by tsunamis, molten glass, lava, sand waves, and tornadoes of sand.
Afterward, survivors gather at Rimvold, and Drashir and Vashir accept responsibility for rebuilding their homeland. Benedict offers reconstruction aid on condition that the truth of Qarezh's destruction remain secret, and Ereshval's people begin rebuilding Qarezh with aid from Nahm and Haverloch. After the rebuilding, Qarezh is again an active capital with markets, guards, essence-core shops, smooth brown domes, and the Sultan's palace. Two bronze statues outside the palace honor Vashir and Drashir as twin sultans and founders of Ereshval who rebuilt the capital after the cataclysm reshaped the land.
Secrets and Mysteries
Qarezh's public rebuilding story hides the Abraxas duel that destroyed the city; rebuilt Ereshval honors Vashir and Drashir as its founders.