What to see: Xengiman

Some of the touristic highlights of Xengiman:

Palace of the Salons, Inex, Xurno: The Palace is essentially a huge meeting space, large enough for the 792 Academicians of Revaudo Xurno to meet at one time; the governing Council of the Academy (Bicikesni Jurum) also has its chambers here, and three of the Salons (Sculpture, Weaving, and Poetry) have their own palaces in adjoining buildings. The scale and the decoration are both worthy of a state ruled by artists; the main meeting hall is divided into eight quarters, each of which was designed by a separate Salon. (The subsequent creation of a ninth Salon, that of Prose, is commemorated in the courtyard outside.) The visitor can take in not only governmental debates and intrigue, but performances and exhibitions— and the occasional demonstration, as the huge plaza in front of the Palace is the traditional place for public protest.

The Jennine Wekipaijua, Rajjay, Xurno: One of the strangest remnants of ancient Wede:i culture, the Wekipaijua was a temple complex the size of a small city. Priests and kings sometimes created small models of gods or men, or of palaces and realms; the Wekipaijua was nothing less than an attempt to create a model of the universe, not only its visible structures but its history, cosmology, and culture. It was created collectively— and contentiously— and some suspect that the excessive preoccupation with this project or cult led to the doom of the city of Jennine.

The Great Tower of Gurdago, Gurdago: During its Second Empire, over Jeor and western Xengiman, Gurdago created this monument to itself— still the tallest structure in the south of Ereláe, at 155 meters. The Lesḍurḍagram, finished in 2048, is notable for being built with iron reinforcing rods, a type of construction pioneered by the Gurdagor (who had access to enormous iron deposits at Rudeŋ), far in advance of societies of similar development on Earth. It serves as a lighthouse, and for those who can face its more than 1300 steps, a spectacular view of the city. Architecturally, the Gurdagor made it as straight and simple as they could manage; like the empire it celebrated, the Tower is about raw power, not decorative culture.

The Šivines, Ṭetäs, Čeiy: The Šivines takes its names from a pool off the main square of Ṭetäs, the Čeiyu capital; a number of young men from good families used to meet there to swim in the 1850s, and decided to hire tutors to give lectures on various skills and sciences. By 1862 it had become an educational insitution with a Senatorial charter— arguably the first university in Ereláe, in operation nearly half a milennium before the University of Verduria. It has occupied various buildings throughout its long history; for the last seven centuries it has occupied a large and pleasant campus on the shore of the Xurnese Sea. Its scholarship is comparable to any institution on Almea, and is receptive to the Verdurian scientific revolution; but it is also an excellent place to enjoy the peculiarly Čeiyu invention, the adversarial method (ešikävu), which in its full glory requires seven participants: two to argue for their propositions, two to argue against, two neutral parties to ask probing questions, and an adjudicator who would decide the truth.

The Jamim Colony, Šinku province, Xurno: The Colony is essentially an artists’ colony, not the largest of its kind, but one of the best known, and worth a visit— if one can wrangle an invitation. (The best way is to make friends with a minor relative of a Colonist.) It was once a noble estate, but during the Revaudo revolution the noble was thrown dead in a ditch; half his lands were given to the peasants, and the remainder became the Colony. The legal owner of the Colony is the Greater Principle itself; in practice it is the property of thirty Colonists, who can live and build there as they please. It is a place for indulging one’s artistic whims, whether in architecture, painting, sculpture, dance, drama— the grounds themselves are a sequence of marvels, while the frequent parties and exhibitions are almost overwhelming. They are also of enormous political moment: many an important artist received their first exposure at one of the events at the Colony.