Whoever thought that someone would be crazy enough to make an entire citadel out of glass? And that it would weather the storm of time to persist through the ages, at that? To me, it is but proof that where there is a will, there is a way, and that our people have always been good at finding unusual ways to match their will.” - Aethelbald Stahlfaust, King of Knallzog, circa 142 FP.
Al-Hassid, the capital city of the Caliphate, was like the nation itself, named after its founding father. Its most prominent feature was how the city was divided into two sections. The outer city looked like most any other city in the region, if with a simpler architecture that focused on function over form. They enveloped a large inner area that was partly vacant other than the center, the inner city of the capital.
Positioned directly in the center of the capital was a grand citadel, made entirely of the same dark green glass Aideen and the rest had seen buildings made out of in other cities. This one was a full fledged one, however. It looked like a massive, rough gem from afar, and only as one got closer were the crenellations and battlements on the walls become noticeable.
The origin of the citadel itself came from the early days of the Caliphate, when they were just poor refugees that fled from Alcidea after a civil war that split the dwarven population into three large groups so long ago. The land where the caliphate now stood was an undesirable desert, which was why none of the locals made much of a fuss when the dwarves settled there.
It was to their great surprise – and detriment – that they discovered the glass citadel already built when some of them tried to raid the dwarven settlers decades later. Since then many grand legends were told about the glass citadel itself, and it contributed greatly to how the dwarves were able to expand to the point where they were the de facto hegemon northern Ur-Teros in the present day.
At the present day, the inner city of the capital was mostly empty, save for the few city blocks closest to the citadel itself. In that area, buildings made out of the same dark glass of the citadel were present, and even the roads were paved with the same material. It was similar to what the group had seen in smaller cities before, albeit on a far larger scale.
Given the large amount of vacant space left in the inner city, combined with the glass roads that extended in the four radial directions all the way to the outer city, the construction project in Al-Hassid was likely one meant to take place over centuries of time, where each generation added their own contribution to the buildings, something that was not meant to be finished until at least another millennium or so.
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It was a typical sort of undertaking amongst the longer-lived races, projects that lasted entire eras and often outlived multiple human nations. Given what they had seen of the cities with similar glass centers, it was likely that over time the Caliphate intended to convert their cities entirely into such glass structures, one at a time.
“I… have never seen such a thing in my life,” admitted Kino with some awe as they watched the city from afar. A nearby hill was actually a popular spot to see the city – and the citadel – from a distance that allowed the viewer to encompass them all within their sight, to the point that there was a thriving settlement there that catered to travelers and locals who did just that.
“You have, actually,” noted Aideen from the side while Eilonwy chuckled behind them. “The Palace of Bones, and by extension, Tohrmutgent itself, is not something Grandpa made in a night or something. They’re still ongoing work from… I don’t even think he remembered when he started it. He said he started building them as a place to stay many thousands of years ago in the past, and I don’t think he really stopped adding things.”
“The city is that old?” asked Kino with some obvious surprise in her voice. “I… never really noticed it that much while we were there.”
“Grandpa maintains the bones he collected and used to form parts of the city, so you wouldn’t be able to tell their age unless you hone your mana sensitivity to the point of being able to sense them that way, anyway,” explained Aideen. “The deepest areas of the Palace, where Grandpa has his private quarters, is where it’s easiest to feel that. Maybe when we return we should get permission from him to train you there.”
“It’d be a useful skill to have,” noted Eilonwy from the side, apparently thoughtful about something. “Since there’s a steady increase in the number of unliving, you would want to be able to notice whether you are talking to a relatively harmless person or a dangerous person at a glance in the future. Aunt already proved to us that’s it's practically impossible to judge one’s age from appearance alone.”
“I get what you mean, it would be useful indeed,” said Kino in agreement as she nodded. It was still early in the afternoon, and from the hill they were on at the moment to the city itself would not take more than an hour, so they had some time to spare for sightseeing. Even the group’s guide and his guards were relaxing in one of the eateries established on the hill, built so that people eating there would have a full view of the city in the distance, of course.
“I guess Tohrmutgent wouldn’t be able to achieve the effect they got here, though,” admitted Aideen after some thought. “Not much to see from the distance. The Palace of Bones is something you have to appreciate from up close, whereas here, the way they made that citadel looked like a gigantic gem that sprouted out of the desert. It definitely has quite a pleasant aesthetic to it.”