City Guide: Mudinak

 

Mudinak is the largest and most influential city in Jumira, and after Shahaifor, Kovstepvi and Calighenna, is generally taken as the fourth most influential city on Tear. It is also generally considered to be the world's most diverse city, religiously, culturally and biologically. Mudinak's official language is Jumiran, though as one of the most important trade centers in the world, Comerta is spoken by almost everyone. Mudinak features the world's oldest sewer system; its first sections were built more than a thousand years ago. The sewers, storm drains, cisterns and aqueducts that manage clean and waste waters in the city are the most sophisticated in the world.

At 15 degrees south, Mudinak is close to the equator so it is usually hot and humid here. Located in a sheltered bay, winds can often whip around the point to the west, creating unpredictable weather patterns. Clouds pass by overhead and are trapped by mountains to the east, and while the city does not have a significant river, it is on the fertile side of the mountains. Rainfall is trapped in many rivers and lakes to the east and brought to support the city via an extensive series of aqueducts that come via all the major highways.

In terms of demographic diversity, sectile are massively overrepresented compared to the global average, representing more than 3% of the population. Humans, halflings, taurans, lizari and avians are all slightly overrepresented compared to the global average, while dwarves, elves and canis are slightly underrepresented. In Jumira more broadly, spriggan, ursan and merfolk are underrepresented, but in Mudinak specifically – due to the importance of the study of alchemy here – they are all significantly overrepresented (though largely confined to the areas surrounding the Koledya Mudinak and the Putangal Allotment).

From Mudinak, Vehira's equator rests almost on the horizon to the west, meaning sunset arrives 39 minutes early (at 5:21 pm) when Azane sets behind the planet.

In 1423, Mudinak has a population of approximately 171,700.


Mudinak Map


Mudinak Map

Credit: Mudinak base map generated using Medieval Fantasy City Generator by watabou.


Landmarks

Following is a list of the major landmarks and locations in Mudinak as indicated on the map.

1 - Hard Port

The southern docks of Mudinak serve a more industrial and military function – they are focused on ships bringing and receiving raw materials, and on service and maintenance, and less on the trade of exotic foods and spices, or luxury fabrics and dyes that flow through the Painted Docks.

2 - Cardamom Square

The primary spice market of Mudinak – also a bit of a trap where skilled barters will tongue-tie travelers, ruthlessly overcharging them. To the north of this square is the headquarters of the Saffron Exchange of Mudinak – one of the world's largest and most prestigious banks.

3 - The Painted Docks

The Painted docks are where ships trading in exotic goods enter and leave, as well as where the ships of the world's wealthy and powerful berth when they are visiting the city.

4 - Haberdashers' Town

This is the garment district, where fabrics and rugs are made and dyed. There are large, vibrantly coloured, open air dye baths everywhere here, but stench here is terrible due to the smell of many unusual plants, insects, shellfish and other ingredients used to make the dyes. The dyers have established themselves here because a characteristic early afternoon change in the winds sucks the stench out of the city proper, blowing it out over Sour Pickle and out of town.

5 - The Thieves' Gate

Many say this gate between Haberdasher's Town and Sour Pickle should never have been built, or should at least be bricked up. It is nevertheless a working gate, through which passes a lot of illicit material. Why – given this knowledge – the Town Guard does not secure the gate more thoroughly is anyone's guess.

6 - The Gate of Blades

This gate used to be called the Thieves' Gate, until an overzealous Overseer built additional fortifications and checkpoints and installed massive blades that could be released at the pull of a lever to chop anyone trying to rush the gate to pieces. That was a couple hundred years ago, and it's no longer clear if the eponymous blades are real, or just a story told to deter criminals.

7 - Silverway

This is a middle-class residential district, mostly for workers in Haberdasher's town

8 - The Farmer's Gate

This gate is named for the constant stream of carriages bringing in food from the northern central coast to supply the markets of Mudinak.

9 - Linen Hill

This is a large, diverse district, centered on a hill, that has housing and apartments for lower, middle and even some upper class Mudinaki families. Many say it is one of the nicest and most open-minded urban districts in the world.

10 - Koledya High Street

Koledya High Street separates the eclectic and diverse Linen Hill district from the affluent Tea Tree district. It runs from the Wizards' Gate down to the end of the Painted Docks, and offers an enormous range of shops, cafes and restaurants. Its western end is set up with shops hawking overpriced trinkets to travelers and pilgrims.

11 - The Wizards' Gate

The Wizards' Gate marks the start of the road to Sathirajan and represents the connection between Mudinak and the Koledja Gyaan. It is a marvelously maintained road, and it is among the safest and most patrolled roads in the world. The Gate itself features an illusory magical gallery presenting the busts and biographies of over a hundred important wizards who connect Mudinak to the Koledya Gyaan.

12 - Tea Tree

This is a beautiful but discrete district of stately homes, on a slight rise, shaded with trees, and dotted with ornate fountains. It is where the wealthiest families of Mudinak keep their modest townhomes. It is very secure and heavily patrolled and guarded at all times. The homes here are not as impressive as those in Pristine, speaking to the humility and subtlety of many of the wealthy and powerful families of the city.

13 - The Ivory Gate

This Gate, which opens on Jandhagosh Square, is decorated with thousands of ivory reliefs depicting the history of Mudinak and central Jumira. It is through this gate that ivory is brought from Ivory Road and the White Tusk Range to be worked and traded. The Ivory Gate opens into the town of Orange Grove and marks the beginning of The Elephantine, the major highway that leads to Ivory Road.

14 - Jandhagosh Square

This square features a platinum inlaid statue of Jamahal Jandhagosh to the north and an obsidian and bone statue of the great jungle dragon Molifaroxus Gravamaxim to the south. The dragon threatened to destroy the city in 616 if they did not meet his outrageous demands. Jamahal Jandhagosh - a knight and wizard – challenged the dragon to single combat to protect the city. Both died in the fight, but the city was spared, Jamahal Jandhagosh is said to have ascended to the Celestial Realms. He is considered the patron saint of the city, and it is common to hear people in the city and region seal vows with his name. Many streets and buildings are also named for him.

15 - Pristine

Pristine is a wealthy district of large homes and expensive hotels. It is a little bit gaudy, and most of the city's real nobility would not be caught dead here. It is the district that successful families from the middle classes aspire to rise up to live in, but it does not have the cachet of Tea Tree.

16 - Jade High Street

Jade High Street is one of the most prestigious streets in the world. It is filled with high end shops selling all kinds of exquisite goods. Wealthy families from all around the world travel – sometimes for months – to be seen shopping on Jade High Street. The street is also a cultural center, with many theaters, opera houses and art galleries. Jade High Street becomes the Jade Highway at the Jade Gate.

17 - The Jade Gate

The Jade Gate opens onto the Jade Highway, which connects Mudinak to Indigo and the Jade River Valley.

18 - The River Gate

The River Gate opens onto the River Road. Just outside the gate, the town of Tin Hill is on the west side of the road, and the town of Copper Hill is to the east. The River Road continues south to Ipuri and beyond, all the way to Windbreak at the end of the continent.

19 - The Elbow

The Elbow is the rough and tumble lower class district inhabited by the dock workers, tradespersons and sailors who work Hard Port. It is a cluttered, dangerous, ramshackle neighbourhood.

20 - River Road

The River Road starts at Cardamom Square in the center of Mudinak, then runs southeast, curving behind Hard Port, and separating the neighborhoods of The Elbow and Pristine; a strange boundary between one of Mudinak's wealthiest neighbourhoods and its poorest. The river road is well-patrolled during the day, but at night residents on the western edge of Pristine need private security to protect their property. The River Road connects Mudinak to Ipuri and continues thousands of kilometers along the coast through many small villages and towns that connect the Orchid Isles to the mainland, before finally arriving at Windbreak.

21 - Chakchaput Bazaar

Chakchaput Bazaar is Mudinak's delightful central market. There are over 200 permanent shops, and over 400 stalls and stands that change daily, monthly, seasonally. Here, you can purchase almost anything, but you better be good at bartering, because the sellers sure are and they will never give a fixed price. Being a seller here is a desirable career, and people with goods to sell will typically hire a seller to represent them – as they can make more money for their goods even after paying a shrewd negotiator a cut that might be as high as 30%.

22 - Koledya Mudinak

The magical college of Mudinak is one of the major branches of the collective of colleges within the Guild of Jumira, which is headquartered at the Koledya Gyaan in Sathirajan. The Koledya Mudinak is an extremely prestigious school and is considered the best school of Alchemy in the world.

23 - Sandalwood Park

This 75 acre urban park is a gorgeous natural landscape of ponds, fountains, trees and trails all open to the public. Lying nestled between the citadel of Mahaan Mahal and the grounds of the Koledya Mudinak, it is a place where important people meet to have private conversations in public.

24 - Mahaan Mahal

The Mahaan Mahal, or the Grand Castle, is the great hall of governance where the Council of Mudinak sits to do their business. Here also are the Courts of Mudinak, the main armoury, and the Chambers of Jumira, where Conclaves and Summits are frequently hosted. The Mahaan Mahal is a gorgeous and ornate building with huge silver domes held aloft by towering pillars and huge basins of water on the roof that keep the building cool, and which can also be allowed to flow like waterfalls over the windows to function as curtains, which is a breathtaking sight.

25 - Sour Pickle

The town of Sour Pickle sits just outside the city walls by the Thieves' Gate and The Gate of Blades. It is a poor district where workers and assistants to the urban middle class live. It is dangerous at night. It gets its name from the pungent sour stench that wafts over it, blown back from the dye baths of Haberdashers' Town.

26 - Amanguli's Mill

A small town outside the north wall of Mudinak, Amanguli's Mill is a stopover where farmers bringing wheat, rye, sorghum and other grains from the farmlands along the northern coast can stop and have their raw grain ground into flours based on daily news of local demand from the markets in the city.

27 - The Putangal Allotment

The Putangal Allotment is a huge garden of rare plants and botanicals that include the most valuable and exotic spices, herbs, and alchemical ingredients in the world. The Allotment was bequeathed to the city in 812 by Ayasara Putangal, a famous alchemist who established and expanded the study of alchemy at the Koledya Gyaan in Sathirajan after the founding of the Guild of Jumira.

28 – Readers' Rest

A small town outside the city walls on the road to Sathirajan, Readers' Rest is so named for the large number of simple hostels that line the main road, intended to serve the budget of the many students who frequent the road between Mudinak and Sathirajan.

29 - Orange Grove

Outside the Ivory Gate, the town of Orange Grove is home to many of the managers and forepersons who run the farms and orchards in the region, as well as to numerous traders who work the routes between Sathirajan, Ivory Road, Indigo and Mudinak. Of the several towns whose borders have crept to the walls of the city proper, Orange Grove is the most pleasant and affluent, though its residents still barely cling to a middle class lifestyle.

30 - The Elephantine

The Elephantine is a road more than 1000km long that connects Mudinak to Ivory Road. It is named in recognition of the ivory trade, which is largely conducted along its length. It is a well patrolled and heavily travelled road.

31 - The Jade Highway

At the south end of Jade High Street, through the Jade Gate, the Jade Highway marks the technical divide between the towns of Orange Grove and Copper Hill. The Jade Highway cuts south, running nearly 500 km toward Indigo, and the edge of the jungles of the Jade River Valley.

32 - Copper Hill

The town of Copper Hill lies outside the walls of Mudinak proper, sandwiched between the River Road that runs to Ipuri and the Jade Highway that runs to Indigo. Copper Hill is a tough town, home to field workers, general labourers, dockworkers, and miners.

33 - Tin Hill

Tin Hill lies outside the River Gate, to the south of Mudinak. Like its 'sister town' Copper Hill to the west, it is largely home to the lower class labourers and service workers who support the city and the industries immediately surrounding it.


Governance

Mudinak is governed in a fairly standard city-state model where the heads of Great Houses and some important organizations sit on a Council that govern the city and the surrounding region. The Great Houses of Mudinak and their most notable members are listed below.

House Gehasam – tauran

House Gehasam of Mudinak are a branch of the larger, global Gehasam family who first came to power in Goldport, in southeastern Ayodesh. Even after five centuries in Jumira, they still speak Odeshi amongst themselves and give their children in the Odeshi names. The Gehasam family oversee most shipping and transport in the region surrounding Mudinak. They own several private companies, and have stakes in major merchant companies including the Southwestern Jumira Bargee Company, and their connections have enabled them to secure several exclusive trade contracts that give them monopoly on the trade of certain goods between northern Jumira and southeastern Ayodesh. Despite their ruthlessness in business, they invest heavily in roads and bridges and other transport infrastructure, and are loved by the people for their apparent generosity. The largest and most powerful Jumiran branch of the family is Mudinak, but they also have seats on councils in several other large cities in Jumira including Ipuri, Sathirajan, Ivory Road, Ipuri and Jade River.

House Putangal – human

The Putangal family are custodians of the 500-acre Putangal Allotment, a huge garden of rare plants and botanicals that include the most valuable and exotic spices, herbs, and alchemical ingredients in the world. The Allotment was bequeathed to the city in 812 by Ayasara Putangal, a famous alchemist who established and expanded the study of alchemy at the Koledya Gyaan in Sathirajan after the founding of the Guild of Jumira. The Putangal family were among the original families that collaborated to form the Southwestern Jumira Bargee Company in the early 7th century.

House Nazdisarsara – spriggan

The Nazdisarsara lineage goes back about 700 years to when the first Babash Nazdisarsara came from Kashdush to study at the Koledya Gyaan in Sathirajan and retired in Mudinak. Subsequent offshoots of Babash Nazdisarsara - sometimes four or five at once - also studied at the Koledya, then returned to expand their power and influence in Mudinak. Babash III-IV is now retired and has taken root in the family estate in Tea Tree. The head of the family, Babash IV-I wields considerable influence with the Koledya and still teaches courses at the Koledya Mudinak, meanwhile, Babash V-I and V-II are attending school at the Koledya Gyaan in Sathirajan.

House Kapoor – canis

House Kapoor is the longest standing Great Family in Mudinak. They are 'old money', with highly diversified holdings. They are deeply involved in business, finance, the operation of unions, and the organization of labour, as well as (probably) organized crime. They came to power over a thousand years ago in Ubanamok, in southeastern Jumira, by managing the labour of sectiles in the region. It was sectile labour that assisted in the construction of the first sewers in Mudinak, and that brought the early heads of what would become House Kapoor here. Over the centuries, they have been involved in many unethical and shady deals, but in the early Imperial era, they actively opposed the formation of a Jumiran empire (which likely would have put them in power). They have long-standing, close relations with House Copancevic.

House Copancevic – dwarven

House Copancevic was not around 1100 years ago when the first sewers were constructed, but over 200 years ago, the ancestors of the current Copancevic family 'defected' from Eastmarch bringing their wealth and their talent for engineering to Mudinak where they founded the Copancevic Engineering Company and eventually took over management of the city's waterworks.

House Mugaram - tauran

House Mugaram rose to prominence and power in the regions surrounding Mudinak by working with the Grain Bank of Bulostioi to manage rationing during the droughts of 1313 to 1315. Their work with regional farmers and landholders, and their connections to the Copancevic family, made them extremely wealthy, and saw family members rise to Council positions in many cities in central Jumira. Eventually, in 1401, House Mugaram had so much regional wealth and power that the Mudinak Council was expanded and they were offered a seat.