Quetz'A-Telako

Quetz'A-Telako
A hiss and a hum, a drumbeat booming in time to the thunder of the water, this is Quetz'A Telako. Here, to breath is to consume the full brunt of the desert heat, and along with it, an intoxicating vapor of life where there would otherwise be death. The Savage Lands are as beautiful as they are deadly, and nowhere is that truth so thoroughly exhibited as in Quetz’A-Telako.

Aesthetic
Quetz'A-Telako is unlike any other major city found within the Illian Empire. It was built by the oldest of the Ebirean peoples, the Naga. Slithering and spilling out along the edges of the lake Che'Huatl, it is the city is a vast array of stair-stacked pyramids and temples. Its streets are wide and well paved to accommodate the swift-curling movement of a Naga in motion, and the sequential leveling of the buildings allows for easier progress over what would otherwise be a steep vertical ascension.

Water permeates the city, with several structures having poured out into the lake. Steam often rises from the lake and  hovers around the edges of buildings or under bridges. Where no serviceableland could be had, the inhabitants have carved into the canyon rock, and those who live closest to the falls, where the water of the river crashes down to the lake, find the boom and roil of the water a pleasing, ever-present rhythm. If one digs deep enough, they will find that below the lake, water seeps into further caverns with a great many mineral deposits before at last coming to rest in an enormous underground aquifer.

Culture
The Naga, not to be mistaken for Lamia - their feral counterparts who can be found throughout the desert - are an ancient people. They approach life as if it must be conquered, just as the waters of the Che'Huatl have conquered the rock of the canyon. Strength and endurance are the height of virtue. Alongside that philosophy is a deep appreciation for their environment.

However, the Illian Empire brought with it a great many people of varying race, and especially, fortune seekers hoping to find riches around or below the lake. The desert which surrounds the canyons is also home to other creatures, the most notable of which are the capricious Efreet, who roam the sands after having been displaced from Canaan far to the south. This mix of influences and common incursion of the Efreet has created a jumble of conflicting pockets of people who would feel at odds with one another if not for the galvanization of the Efreet’s meddlesome and often violent inclinations.

History
Long before the arrival of the Illian army, Quetz'A-Telako existed as a sacred place for the Naga. What began as a holy place grew to be the seat of their civilization. The leaders of warring tribes would meet on the neutral grounds of the temple or seal their treaties with the entwining of their broods. In time, they came to be as one people, but their force of their strikes and the advantage of their home ground could not outlast Illian’s superior numbers and greater magic. Furthermore, the Illian Empire had access to new resources the Naga could not previously have acquired. Therefore the Naga brokered a deal: they would acquiesce to Illian oversite in exchange for being allowed to administer themselves and serving with the Illian Legion. The Naga also retained the right to worship as they wished but agreed to the building of a Proximian temple.