Torroramâi

Torroramâi (also Tororr, T'amai, [tɔ-ROR-ah-MAH-ee, or simply “The Capital”) is the administrative and religious capital of the modern nation-state of Ororr.

The city was founded in 72 ME, planned and designed as the official capital of the new state. The city centre was planned and zoned, with the church-state headquarters on a circular island surrounded by canals at its heart, and canals and roads spoking out from it in a Y shape to form the world-treeplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigTherist Wheel

The Therist Wheel, also called the World Tree, is an emblem of the church-state of Ororr.

Therism

therism

This is in the series of articles related to the Church of the Mother, commonly called Therism, the state religion of Ororr.

The wheel is a common religious symbol in cultures throughout TheristTherist symbol of the Church State. The remainder of the city grew more organically along planned roads.

In the Doroun languageplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigLanguages

List of human languages and dialects, contemporary and extinct.

Language

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This is in a series of articles about Languages and Communication.

topics sidebar cult1, Torroramai means “golden city of the mother”, or “blesséd of the mother”, referring to the Great Mother goddess of the Therist Mother Church.

Despite it's strategic location near the junction of the Silt River and the Wiyel, the region was historically swampy and prone to to flooding, so only had sporadic settlement. The marshy environment was also a breeding ground for virid pests and spores, so that crops were difficult to grow and disease a constant threat. Trading posts were established by many civilisations including the EnSanni, but no great cities were ever able to develop.

In the early years of the newly founded state of Ororrplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigOrorr

Ororr [o-ROARR, ɒ̝rɔ'ɾ], also called the Holy Motherland of Ororr, is a theocratic nation in Anásthias, one of the world's great powers. It the largest nation in the world, perhaps the largest empire in history, occupying the entire northwest of the continent between the mountains and the sea. Ororrlanguagelanguagelanguage, there was fierce debate about the location of the new nation's capital city. The Old Ororrans in the east claimed Déor as the first capital ruled by the Prophet, while Initerer claimed itself as the first and longest military headquarters of the Mother Army. Remel claimed to be a spiritual capital as it saw the first great miracles and defeat of the old religion, while Galkesh was capital of the old empire and home to its civic bureaucracy, but was considered a hotbed of corruption and vice. The Prophet and his acolytes resided at Foratuna in the desert, but the nearest important city of Seqal was too cramped.

These competing interests caused such friction that it was eventually decided to build an entirely new city in a strategic location in the centre of the country, near the confluence of the Silt and Wiyel rivers, which would tie together the disparate parts of the new nation. The site of modern Torroramai was chosen because it provided easy access to the east, north and south by river, and was in a politically neutral territory.

The site was previously undeveloped because it was a huge virid wetland, prone to flooding, though it was dotted with villages. A long term plan was developed for construction of the city, beginning with a series of canals to drain the land, then a network of roads and bridges providing better access. The centre of the city was to be the governmental headquarters for the nation, set in managed parkland, with radial roads and zones for housing, administration, markets and services.

Laying out the city took more than thirty years, and the death of thousands of migrant and indentured labourers from disease.

After the initial phase of planning, the outer city developed in a much more haphazard fashion. Due to the marshy nature of the environment, many landowners excavated canals or pits to build earthworks for houses and businesses.

The city is nearly 8 km wide, with a metropolitan area of roughly 64 sq km.

At its centre is the Holy City, a circular island in a landscaped bend in the River Nioca. Three canals radiate away from it in the shape of the Therist Wheel, the holy symbol of Ororr and its faith. The Holy City is a raised artificial island surrounded by water, with an embankment of earth and stone both protecting it from floods and for security. It is the heart of Ororr's central government and of its religious heirarchy.

Pilgrims enter the Holy City from the west via the bridges over the river Nioqa, or by barge along the Grand Canal. These enter Loyalty Square the largest plaza in the city, a huge paved open space used for public gatherings, surrounded by pools and gardens. Facing Loyalty Square are the most important buildings in the city: the National Pandata, a hugely important centre for pilgrimage, and the National Convocation, meeting hall for the kritarchy. At the centre is Government Circle, a circular park flanked by the Nine Ministries. At its centre are the three pyramidal buildings of the Nonarchy, build in the 4th century ME. These are still used for investitures and formal meetings but have long since been outgrown, and are now mainly museums and public exhibition spaces.

At the very centre is the Prophet's Monument, a 60 metre column of white stone. The original 38 metre obelisk had begun leaning alarmingly in the 6th century and so was transferred to a reinforced base, adding 22 metres to its height. The surrounding stone plaza is marked along its south side like a giant sun dial, marking the time of day and year. Nine streets radiate from Government Circle, with ancillary offices, residences, lesser temples and the Priest-Militant Colleges.

The city's river docks lie to the west, connected to the Holy City by the Central Canal, 34 wide and two kilometres long. It is flanked on either side by spacious boulevards lined with trees, formal gardens and flags of the nation's regions. The Central Canal throngs with pleasure boats and tourist barges, most heavy freight now being carried into the commercial districts via the Shipping Canal to the south, avoiding the clutter of pilgrim boats.

The area surrounding the curve of the Holy City was traditionally virid marsh prone to flooding, so was converted into the Water Gardens, a semi-natural managed parkland of virid plants, green flowers and trees offering shade, interspersed with streams and pools with decorative bridges. The waters are stocked with snapfish and river dolphins to keep virid pests at bay. Sighting or feeding the shy dolphins is considered to be lucky.

Sanitation is vitally important in such a huge city. Water was originally intended to be supplied by the Y-shaped canals, which were fed by surface level streams and collecting in the nansa or reservoir ponds. Effluent flowed into the Nioqa and thence out to the River Weil.

As the city grew this became unhealthy, so a system of aqueducts and sewers was built. Aqueducts carry clean water from the surrounding region to fill a network of tanks and cisterns through the city. Underground sewers carry waste water to vast settling pits some distance north of the city.

• Holy City - national government buildings, thronging with provincial petitioners and pilgrims visiting the national monuments
• Mikouru - public housing for government workers, allocated by job level and family status
• Michimunto - suburbs with light industry and Tamba Stadium, with nearby sports training facilities
• Matsimanta - high prestige residential blocks for wealthy residents and offices of national businesses, along with high value shopping and parkland along the Grand Canal.
• Chamyonga - Matsimanta's quieter neighbour, mainly residential. Also has consular offices for various nations.