Barun-Mitân

Early Khazarkar settlements in eastern Sahânzar suffered from the annual Ice Cap Melt. As a result, Barun-Mitân was built on the Uradûnê Plateau. The city is spread across the edge of the plateau and into the mountains behind it. The highlands of Uradûnê provide the city with raw materials like ore and timber, and fresh water. The plains of Sahânzar, "the breadbasket of the Khazarkar Empire", are the source for crops and food. Barun-Mitân is a wealthy city with a trade surplus. The city does not grow in population as much as the other Khazarkar cities because of its semi-remote location.

Barun-Mitân has many universities, monasteries, science and cultural centers. It has the distinction of having the highest number of intellectuals and educational institutions of any city on Bal-Kriav. The most notable learning center is the Neetch Institute.

The city's cultural includes museums, music halls, open squares for painting and other open areas for sculptors. The fashions change quickly in the city, with men's top-knots in vogue one month and braids the next. Woman could be wearing long skirts one month and then short skirts the following. Barun-Mitân also produces a number of very good wines. The vineyards that produce the grapes, line the Bazrâ as it approaches the city.

In addition to Khazarkars, the city is home to Kriavfahliil and Nermaneans. The Neetch Institute attracts a number of intelligent personages, including a few beholders and illithids. Most of the city's halfling population have Nermanean lineage. These halflings have ancestry that traces back to the First Epoch when their forefathers traded across a vast area of Cinazan. Barun-Mitân's trade is largely controlled by halfling-run merchant companies.

We arrived tired from the seventy mile journey up the Kaminâth. Just last year, this would have been done by steam ships. Now, those are being used to move supplies and troops to the Cinazan Front. Some of us are still in disbelief, as one of the newspapers on board the galley says that the Black Tide of Thasmudyan has returned to Brucrumus. They have joined with the Tormoran Federation and split their armies in two, one is heading towards the Toomrur Hegemony and backed by many Black Tide necromancers and several Harvesters. The larger force of the Black Tide is moving east in the direction of Grashakh. Nearly a thousand skeletal riders led by death knights are moving ahead of the army. The objective of this undead army is unknown but military theorists suspect that they are going towards Gúluzgash. Church officials say that something more important has drawn them this far north, its not a city they want, but the dead.

We disembark at a small village along the Kaminâth. The entire town is out to greet us with food, drink, and trinkets, along with boisterous cheers. We make our way through the throng and head towards Barun-Mitân. This city, like all Khazarkar cities, is grandiose with colorful house banners and multi-hued buildings. Obsidian, a prevalent rock of the realm, adorns many monuments and statues. Some of the richer dwellings have Crimson Nibarranâths adorning them. Several waterfalls, starting far into the mountains backing the city, cascade through areas of the city. Barun-Mitân is built on a granite plateau extending outward from Uradûnê.

In the distance we see the Titan Cannon of Garaldrarg. This was one piece that was taken before the fall of Sapthiladân. When this cannon fires, her crew must be under a silence spell or have their eardrums shattered. The boom echoes in the distance and thereafter the mountains seem to rumble in protest. We ride to the city and pass farmers waving and cheering at us, offering the toil of their labors as we pass. One poor fellow gets too close, and is knocked over by my mount. He falls in a muddy canal, gets up quickly and apologies to me.

The city is decorated for a hero's welcome. The people are out in-mass and a ceremonial guard of two hundred soldiers line the entrance to the city. Seems during these dark times, that the common folk need heroes.

- Syrtis Ved'jusk, "The Heroes Welcome"