Icari Tol

Icari Tol is the capital and largest city of the Icarian Commonwealth, a nation in the jungles of Bazwebwe. It sits atop the five peaks of Mount Ikthos, the highest mountain in the entire jungle.

Founding Myth: The city was founded millennia ago by tribes folk native to the Arelian Jungle. In the years leading up to Icaria’s founding, unprecedented flooding had devastated jungle communities east of the river that bisects the jungle. A group of refugees comprised of many different tribes sought shelter on Mount Ikthos (called Mount Orrain by foreigners). When the hardiest among them reached the top, they were amazed to find the source of the water: a seemingly magical spring gushing from the rock and flowing down the far side of the mountain. Each tribe sent forth a leader to discuss what to do. Several people suggested that they stay atop the mountain and ride out the storm. One of the coastal tribesmen suggested that they head down the mountain to the ocean and sail away to lands untouched by the vicious flooding.

One man named Icar opposed both plans. He spoke out, saying, "Let us not abandon out brothers and sisters on the plains and jungle below, those who stayed because they were old and infirm or unwilling to abandon the land of their ancestors. Let us conquer the raging spring and be the people our descendants tell stories about." Swayed by his statements and unwilling to look cowardly in the face of the other tribes, each member of the assembly agreed to his plan, some reluctantly and some willingly.

For three days they debated on how to approach the geyser. Arewlar of tribe Itanka led the execution of the first plan. His engineers constructed a wooden tower around the water, in preparation for dropping great boulders into the water's path, to block its source. A dozen men were injured when the first rock was flung upwards by the current and smashed the scaffolding to matchwood. A priest from tribe Mabar suggested they pray to the Gods to save them. For twelve days and twelve nights they prayed to the Many Gods, to Fortuna to seal the rock, for Tritius to calm his waters, to Griot to save his trees and Sherphos to save his animals, to Imperious and Derophis as protectors of mankind, even to Gharos to call down fire and brimstone to boil away the water, but it achieved naught. The waters raged on as they had in the days before.

Icar awoke the next night with a firm conviction in his mind. If neither man nor the Many Gods could defeat the water, then there remained only one who could. He got out of bed and folded aside a tent flap as he stepped outside. The air was cool and wet as he walked through the quiet camp. A wide ring of torches marked the edge of camp, with a sentry line outside it. Within the camp no one stirred as Icar walked towards the spring. He slipped by the sentries without issue. There were only two of them, they were tired, they were watching for enemies from the outside rather than the inside, and they lacked the discipline of sentries at a military encampment. He heard the spring well before he saw it, its low roar obliterating any noise from the wildlife and the wind blowing through trees and shrubs. He rounded a corner and the noise almost tripled as he beheld the great geyser. It splashed fifty feet into the air, mushroomed, and cascaded back down. It stood almost ten degrees from vertical and sent most of its spray to the Northeast, where a crescent moon was slowly rising. Icar approached from the opposite side until he was just two meters from the water. Icar paused, said a short silent prayer to the God of Gods, then closed his eyes and walked into the water. It swallowed him whole without a sound.

The camp awoke the next morning and gathered its leaders at first light to discuss other options for how to deal with the flooding. They had just assembled and begun to comment on Icar's tardiness when a sentry ran up and interrupted their meeting. They rushed to the site of the spring and found it quiet and still. A small trickle of water from a hole several meters in diameter marked the place where raging waters had once sprung. They returned to camp and searched Icar's tent. Within they found a short note. The tribes spent three days in mourning, followed by three days of celebration. At the end of the week, they declared that together they would found a great city on the mountain, named Icari Tol (Icar's Mountain) in honor of Icar and his sacrifice. Despite their commitment, the majority of the camp disbanded and returned to their homes to rebuild. Work on the city began at a turtle's pace with the few people who remained. Construction finally began to pick up after a great drought several years later sent hundreds of refugees back to the city. Many called it a sign of the Gods to remind them of their promise, and retention was much greater this time. The city grew, and the monument atop the fountain grew with it. As it was built taller, the water's flow kept increasing, maintaining pace with the city's growth. Occasionally excess water would need to be flooded off down the mountainside, but the raging spring that had once terrorized the people was not to return.

History:

For approximately the first two thousand years after its founding, Icari Tol was isolated from the rest of the world by its dense jungle and steep mountain slopes. Any foreigners, be they shipwreck survivors or lost adventurers from distant lands or simply neighboring tribesmen who wandered too close, would be brought into the city but denied the right to leave, in order to protect the city's secrecy. Many people, especially those not native to the jungle, accepted their new life - it was better than slow death by jungle diseases or a fast one by mountain lion. Of those who resisted, only a handful ever escaped and lived to tell the tale. Many were killed, some brought back successfully, but the effort was successful in keeping the city a secret from other tribes and powers which might seek to conquer it. A military was last on the minds of Icari Tol's leaders, who knew that it took the labor of every citizen just to build the hydraulics, houses, and farms needed to eke out a living on the mountaintop.

Approximately two hundred years before the modern day, after most of the city had been built to a sufficient level, the governing committee made the decision to open the city to international trade and diplomacy. Crop yields were exceeding demand by this point, and would form a significant export in the years to come. Many travelers and traders would visit, but the city was never threatened by invasion thanks to the thick jungle that surrounded it and the almost two hundred meter climb that would face any attacker.

Religions:

Icaria has one native religion and two foreign religions which make up a significant minority. While the endemic Faith of the Many Gods (Gogism) is the state religion and critical to the city's founding myth, there is significant tolerance for the other faiths brought in by the "visitors" who were detained during the city's isolation period. The two greatest of these are the Twin Faiths of Alticar: Nialism and Eternalism.

Gogism is a polytheistic paganist faith. A single creator God, known simply as the God of Gods (Gog) because to say his true name meant death, created at least twenty lesser deities, who then created the world and its inhabitants.

Alticar was born a beggar, became a cartographer, a sailor, a pirate, a merchant, and eventually became the richest man his side of the world had seen (in lands far from Kylorne to the east). After he had reached this high and saw nothing more to do, he ended his life, and did not return as all other people do. After he did not reincarnate/resurrect/respawn, people began to speculate about what had happened that could explain this impossibility. His nieces and nephews would ultimately come up with two explanations that would become Nialism and Eternalism.

Nialism - He stayed in death to bring us the peace of everlasting death and a blessed escape from our mortal plane. Alticar died so that he could work to bring about unending death and the peace that can only be found outside our mortal existence. Life is filled with pain and suffering and loss. In death there is none of that. It is known from how other religions worship that the immortals, the Gods and those like Alticar, derive their power from the faith, worship, and sacrifice of mortals. By following the faith of Nialism, we can work to make him stronger so that he may free us from the shackles of mortality and bring about unending death. It is known.

Eternalism - He died to conquer death and free us from this endless cycle, to bring about the great undying when we need not fear pain or sorrow. Alticar made the ultimate sacrifice when he chose to die and never return. He gave up the beauty and grace of life to pursue his righteous goal of freeing the mortals from their perpetual cycle of life and death. If we give him our love and our faith, he will make us and our children and their children immortal, once he has amassed enough of the power that only we can give him. He did everything in life to support his family. Now he is doing everything in death to support his new family, the whole of the mortal races.

Architecture:

The defining feature of Icari Tol is its network of aqueducts, culverts, waterfalls, and underground piping that supply water to its many farms and houses. A central fountain and water distribution network built over the spring tamed by Icar provides the water for all these works. It has twelve output channels, named for the first twelve gods of Gogism. Much of the mountain has been terraced to provide flat space for houses and farms. The terraces and houses are built from gray stone, with mostly wood and thatched rooves for the latter. Paths and roads are constructed of orange-brown rock and dirt.

[Inspiration is mostly from pre-Colombian South and Central America, especially from the Inca. There are other assorted influences, as needed, including European influences for elevated aqueducts and period buildings that wouldn't have existed in the Americas during medieval times.]