Koumbasi
| Allegiance | Sirdabi Caliphate |
| Capital | Koumbasat |
| Governor | Abdannur Olundawe es-Saif Amir |
| Demonym | Koumbasi |
| Official Language(s) | Sirdabi, Bissa |
| Official Religion | Azadi |
| Currency | fals/dirham/nour |
| Native Heritages | Bissenke, Tessouare, Jogo |
Wealthy in both gold and wisdom, Koumbasi in far northwestern Idiri is the furthest-flung possession of the Sirdabi Caliphate. As one of only two emirates associated with the caliphate, its status allows it a somewhat greater degree of independence under the rule of a local emir, or prince. Both trade and travel pour down the wide course of the great Tajeddi River that runs through the emirate's heart, from the nearby Cloud Kingdoms, to the neighboring province of Tessere, down onto the Gilded Plain -- and it is the Koumbasi people who control the flow of commerce. But they are as proud of their learning as they are of their material riches, and have a great drive both to accumulate more knowledge and to disseminate it throughout the world as widely as their gold dust, for the greater honor and glory of their realm.
Geography & Climate
Like all lands in north Idiri, Koumbasi is a country of extremes, with blistering heat in the summer but bone-chilling cold on winter nights, infrequent but punishing thunderstorms, challenging mountain ranges cutting across stark desert expanses, and a well-watered but reef-studded coast. But Koumbasi has also been blessed with the Tajeddi River, a broad and navigable flow that tumbles down from the bowl of the Cloud Kingdoms, spills over into the marshy Tajeddi Delta, and then loops itself through the southern part of the emirate, creating the Great Bend between its tortuous curves. Although still subject to high heat and seasonal drought, the arid plains of the Great Bend allow for raising crops during the rainy season, and pasturing cattle and other livestock during the drier parts of the year. Seminomadic tribes travel through the area, avoiding the widely scattered villages during some times of the year, while in other times stopping to trade at the seasonal markets that spring up at predictable intervals each year.
Along with these markets, the most predictable and anticipated event of the Koumbasi year is the return of the annual rains and the flooding of the Tajeddi river basin. After the severely hot and parched months of Pavana and Ashbat, the spell is finally broken by the arrival of the rains around the middle of Jinniyah, which continue on until the beginning of autumn. Even before the rain begins to fall in earnest upon Koumbasi the river has already begun to rise, responding to the precipitation that has begin to swell the streams of the Cloud Kingdoms in the preceding weeks. But as the rainy season returns to the emirate itself, the Tajeddi quickly bursts free from its banks and swamps the surrounding lowlands -- the reason many towns and villages around the river are built upon stilts, hills, or artificially constructed earthen platforms. Although some minor destruction is invariably wreaked during the floods, this is largely accepted as the river's due, and a small price to pay for the fish and crabs, fertile silt, and replenishment of irrigation water that the Tajeddi brings. The largest cities of Koumbasi, Jalu-Jaro and the capital Koumbasat, rely both on these gifts and on the river's navigational value for their prosperity.
Aside from the lands the Great Bend, the terrain of Koumbasi consists largely of alternating strips of flat desert land and stark, nearly impassable mountain ranges. The western reaches of the great Sentinel Range cut across the heart of the emirate, while further to the north, the lower but still treacherous Spiny Hills run along the back of the coastal strip parallel to the sea. Between these two ranges lies the vast Plain of Aoughessa, a stretch of the Hazari Desert that ranges from flat baked earth to low swells of sand dunes, marked here and there by a scattering of oases. Koumbasat sits atop the low broken country of the Hills of the Hundred between the Sunset Sands to the east and the Plain of Red Dust to the west, and suffers frequent sand and dust storms in the dry months as a result. The most desolate place of all is the Great Bleakness that occupies much of the northwest of Koumbasi beyond the terminus of the Sentinels. With only a few poor wells amidst endlessly shifting and blindingly pale sands, and rumored also to be the haunt of malevolent jinn as well as ghuls and other unnatural perils, this waste is almost entirely unpopulated and few dare venture in.
The coastal regions are the most temperate parts of Koumbasi, receiving regular late winter and early spring rainfall and experiencing fewer extremes in temperature than inland. Both Tureghat, situated close the Adelantean shore, and Télaba on the south side of the Spinies are able to grow a good share of teff and barley as well as produce. On the Great Stormy coast on the west side of Koumbasat, conditions are less ideal as rain is less frequent than fog and the weather overall is unpredictable. Nevertheless fishing is a thriving industry in Chigokun, and limited farming and grazing are made possible both the fog and the days-long rainstorms that come up with little warning and vanish again just as abruptly.
People
The people of Koumbasi are a mix of largely Bissenke and Tessouare populations. The Bissenke predominate in the southern half of the emirate, with large numbers living in towns and farmland along the Tajeddi River. Outside of Koumbasi the Bissenke are especially known for their cities, with their great madrasas and mosques, prosperous markets, and striking earthen architecture. A great many Bissenke do in fact live and work in such cities, finding roles as craftsmen, scholars, scribes, religious functionaries, and a host of other professions. But many more live in small villages scattered along the river or across the savannah lands of the far south of Koumbasi. Here they are farmers and fishers, cultivating the fruits of the land, as well as caravan guides and middlemen helping to drive the gold trade along. The Lassanda tribe is especially recognizable for their lives centered entirely along -- and on -- the Tajeddi River, and their goodwill is carefully cultivated by all those whose trade and travel relies on transport via pinasse, the Lassanda's maneuverable boats.
Tessouare make up more of the population in the northern parts of Koumbasi, where desert and dry mountains characterize the landscape. They chiefly live in small mountain villages or as part of wandering tribes criscrossing the deserts, guiding caravans and herding their flocks of goats and camels across the arid expanses. In the mountains many Tessouare raise sheep as well, whose wool is sent down to become part of the textile industry of southern Koumbasi and the Cloud Kingdoms.
In the midst of these two peoples, the Jogo also live in Koumbasi occupying a position of servitude. Many are attached to the land, residing in their own oasis villages where they plow the earth, tend orchards and palm groves, and care for livestock on behalf of their nomadic Tessouare lords. Jogo are also found in the cities of the emirate, where they form an enslaved underclass that performs a variety of menial duties and domestic chores, or serve as personal servants for Bissenke masters.
Economy
Koumbasi is an exceedingly wealthy land, and much of that wealth stems from its control over the gold trade. Most of this gold comes from outside the emirate, originating from within the Cloud Kingdoms to the south, where the exact source of the precious metal is kept a closely guarded secret. However, some amount of gold dust can also be gleaned from the upper reaches of the Tajeddi River, where the emirate has several small-scale sluicing and panning operations that separate the glimmering dust from the waters' abundant sand. Regardless of its origin, the gold then makes its way up the course of the Tajeddi, either by boat or by caravan, eventually arriving at the capital Koumbasat. Here some gold is retained as currency, tax revenue, and material for the city's goldsmiths, while the rest makes its way through complicated channels of additional tax collectors, trade factors, and merchants before being sent off along the storied Gold Road trade route across the Hazari. A large amount of the gold in the caliphate may be traced back to this route, and ultimately to Koumbasi and its neighbors.
The gold trade is not the only thing for which Koumbasi is famed, however. Its books and manuscripts have brought it equally great renown, and no city in the caliphate is more associated with the very idea of books than is Koumbasat itself. Not only does it import novel works with which to stock both renowned libraries, but it also produces a multitude of copies which then go to booksellers' shops throughout the emirate, and back to the rest of the caliphate. Koumbasat in particular is a city of scribes and scholars, as well as illuminators of manuscripts and leatherworkers busy crafting beautiful bindings for special works. But Koumbasat in its great love for the written word has also devised a special instrument for expanding access to books to rich and poor alike -- the clever contraption called the printing press.
Besides these two great powerhouses of the Koumbasi economy, a number of smaller trades make their own contribution to its wealth and style. Flax is grown in many places along the Tajeddi, particularly in the lands of the Tajeddi Delta, and this is used to produce linen cloth which is then made into a variety of garments. Cotton is imported from the Cloud Kingdoms and also extensively used in the Koumbasi textile industry, which is centered in Jalu-Jaro. Goldsmithing is a staple trade in the capital, and the emirate's productive relationship with Tessere and, in particular, the city of al-Sabiyyah, has helped the Koumbasi cultivate a knowledge of mechanics which was instrumental in their creation of the printing press.
Religion
Koumbasi is a staunchly Azadi land, which helps to explain its willingness to bring itself under the aegis of the Sirdabi Caliphate during Koumbasi's Time of Turmoil. Originally pagan, both its rulers and its ordinary folk converted more or less fully to Azadi within the span of about a century, from approximately 30-130 N.D. Since that time Koumbasi has produced an astonishing amount of religious and legal scholarship as well as a number of leading imams and holy women and men, and it has contributed strongly to Azadi theology and philosophy.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Koumbasi practice of Azadi includes veneration of holy persons and their lineage, the saints and marabouts common as well in the Tessere provinces of the caliphate. A great number of such holy persons and movements have arisen in Koumbasi, to the point where Koumbasat itself is said to be under the protection of a full hundred different saints whose remains are buried in the Hills of the Hundred which encircle much of the capital. Meanwhile in Jalu-Jaro, the great Olufemi Mosque is famed as one of the most unusual and beautiful mosques in the entire caliphate, attracting a small but steady stream of travelers wishing to see it with their own eyes and take the waters of its lovely sirdab.
Cities & Towns
- Koumbasat, "the Ever-Changing" capital of Koumbasi, as famed for its libraries and university as for the wealth of its gold trade.
- Adé, a mountain village that serves as an epicenter for jali culture.
- Chigokun, a fishing town sheltered from the Great Stormy Sea by its school of barrier islands.
- Jalu-Jaro, Koumbasat's traditional rival in fame and prestige, known especially for the grandeur and sanctity of its Olufemi Mosque.
- Mbolu, a river town once destroyed in the Time of Turmoil, now rebuilt around the grand Tower of the Wind.
- Okele, a market village where the bounty of the sea is exchanged for the produce and goods of the interior.
- Oursalit, a sheep-raising town in the West Sentinel foothills where Tessouare and Bissenke mingle along the Tureghat Road.
- Souare, the great mountain town of northern Koumbasi, where Bissenke jalis come together with Tessouare poets for the renowned Festival of Harmony.
- Télaba, a farming town overlooking the desert from the south side of the Spiny Hills.
- Tureghat, a port town of stilt-legged buildings overlooking the Adelantean coast.
- Yedele, the City of Boats, the floating center of the Lassanda river people's culture.