Jippirim

From Almeopedia

Jippirim [ˈdʒip pi rim] is the capital of Šura and its chief city, with about 175,000 inhabitants. It's located just north of the Šinour delta, about 30 km from Ičili.

The city was founded by the Skourenes, as Engidori; see that article for its early history.

Tžuro conquest

It was conquered and renamed by the Tžuro atej Busiŋgal in 1716, amid the general rout of the Skourenes following the disastrous battle of Ṭisutra and the loss of Peligi.

Jippirim became the center of administration for the Skourene conquests; the ateje divided their time between palaces in Jippirim and their tents on the steppe. The Tžuro had an interest in keeping their home base in good order, so the city experienced less plunder and oppression than any other conquered city; it expanded further when much of the population of Imuṭeli was relocated there after it rebelled and was razed in punishment.

Within a century the ateje were spending nearly all their time in Jippirim, which became the capital of the Kurundasti Tej. As the Tžuro moved from plundering to ruling, and as Skourenes converted to Jippirasti, they found that they needed laws for sedentary and urban life; these were largely adopted from local custom in Jippirim. In 1785 an advisory mafali (senate) was created, sitting in Jippirim and dominated by local Tžuro lords and converted Skourene magnates.

The state of Jippirim

Jippirim
2505 - 2795
Native:	Jippirim
Verdurian:	Ďípirim
Characteristics
Capital:	Jippirim
Government:	Monarchy
Ruler’s title	atej
Language:	Tžuro
Religions:	Jippirasti

The Anajati Tej, successors of the Kurundasti, divided in the early 2500s; the Anajati themselves continued to rule in Feináe, but lower Skouras had a new atej. As both ateje and dynasties came and went quickly over the next centuries, and because the mafali was the one constant, the tej is known simply as Jippirim, after the capital. The minor cities of the tej were Dusilim, Ičili, Sukand, and Kurundim.

In the late 2500s the Čisran Empire was at its height, having united all the Uṭandal outside Gurdago; it finally addressed the long-promised Uṭandal dream of reconquering Skouras from the Tžuro. It made a good start with the conquest of the coastal city of Dusilim in 2601. But Skouras was not what it had been nine centuries before. The inhabitants, whatever their ethnic heritage, spoke Tžuro, worshipped Jippir, and far from welcoming their liberation, considered the Čisrans to be uncouth pagan invaders. The Čisrans made a few efforts to take Jippirim, but their heart was no longer in it; they concentrated instead on expanding their empire westward.

When the rising power Xurno occupied Čisra in 2750, the Čisran empire fell apart, and Jippirim was able to recapture Dusilim and parts of the Namal. It happiness was short-lived: Xurnese pressure drove the nomadic (and pagan) Sainor eastward, and in 2790-95 the Sainor poured into Skouras, putting an end to the tej.

Modern times

In 2986-88 the Sainor were pushed out of Jippirim by Dusila, Ičili, and Šurantal. The three states agreed to rule the city together, joined by a representative of the local mafali; but Jippirim was both larger and craftier than its legal rulers. By 3012 it managed to assert local autonomy under the sovereignty of Dusila, kicking out the other two powers, and within a century the mafali was effectively in control of the kingdom.

When the king of Dusil and the queen of Pajimi married and formed the united kingdom of Šura in 3162, the royal couple naturally lived in Jippirim. And when they both died in 3179, the mafali declared itself the guardian of their six-year-old son Apač, in effect turning Šura into a republic and the Jippirim senate (expanded with some seats alloted to other cities) into the national legislature.

The city remains the chief metropolis of the Jippirasti cultural sphere, with a strong economy based on trade and manufacturing, and a lively cultural life. Ičili, closer to the sea, now mostly serves as its resort area.