BoNanras
From AuroraWiki
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| Location in Sam'thuma
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| Principality | Venkalesshar |
| Founding Date | 1250 |
| Area | 427 km² (165 sq mi) |
| Population • Density | 1,204,000 2821/km² (7297/sq mi) |
| Majordomo | Suraj Nhagwati |
| Administrative Divisions | 41 Divisions |
| Time Zones | EDT (East Danetian Time) (AMT -5) |
BoNanras is the capital city of the Kingdom of Sam'thuma, a country on the continent of Danetia. BoNanras is located along the south bank of the lower Nwasari River in the Principality of Venkalesshar. The city has been the seat of the ruling Nam family for over 200 years.
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History
Artifacts dug up in recent construction projects date back as much as two climate cycles. The few pottery shards and building stones with depictions of people indicate a relationship to proto-Anadili or proto-Heloans, rather than the Kubu peoples of the last few hundred years. A monument stone from more recent strata is marked with date spans starting in 1250, running to 1304. The numbers use an Anadili calendar notation, and the script is Anadili, but the language bears no resemblance to any present Danetian tongue. Presuming it to be a list of rulers, BoNanras dates its beginnings to the 1250 start of the monument list. At that time the area would have been grasslands and light forests, like those of the last waning cool period - the late 1900's and early 2000's.
In more recent times the city has been a trade hub, then an administrative center, again a trade center, ruins (sacked by the Barbii), a manufacturing and trade city, and presently the center of a Kingdom. In the 1600's and 1700's BoBNanras covered an area wider than at present, though with single-level dwellings, it would have had far less than a million inhabitants.
BoNanras certainly has been a capital city for all the two-hundred-year reign of House Nam. The center parts of the Nysoah Palace were built in the 1940's as one of several BoNanras House Nam residences. Nysoah became the administrative center of the Sam'thuman Kingdom in the early 2000's, a role it has now relinquished to the far larger Utimrav Government Complex a kilometer to the west. Nysoah and two other BoNanras palaces remain the pinnacle of architect V.K.T. Simpras' legacy.
Architecture
BoNanras' buildings, the nicer ones, fit in the Kubu Revival description, with obvious Etrurian and Antaran influence, yet a strong local character. Few reach higher than four stories -- steel-framed skyscrapers are innovations that have not yet reached Sam'thuma. Towers and domes are common elements. The less well kept sort of structures are of mixed sandstone and wood construction, and would fit in two dozen other Danetian and Samir cities without notice. Sufficient wood is in use that the ocasional block or three area has been obviously rebuilt at the same time -- remodeling by fire.
Economy & Demographics
Newcomers arrive in BoNanras seeking social mobility, financial movement, and cultural modernity. What they get is indeed mobility - the Antaran commentator Sulius Octuple referred to the city as "that Kubu anthill". The streets swarm at all hours, with the most important vehicular feature being a horn. Motorcars seldom reach any great speed, save on the three new outbound highways -- pedestrians, cyclists, and other slow traffic rules the road. The variety one may experience in BoNanras is still very much Kubu -- insular communities across the Kingdom have contributed their uniqueness to the mix, but less than two percent of the residents are from outside Sam'thuma.
Transport
BoNanras has excellent connections with other nations by air, sea, and land. It is in fact easier to get from there to Antara, or Etruria, or Lindosse, than to many isolated communities right within Sam'thuma. The capital's main civil aerodrome is north of the Nwasari River, with service overseas and in-country. A smaller airstrip some 1200 meters long and a full-service airship port are right within the city limits to the west. Several foreign and domestic passenger lines dock twelve kilometers downriver at Esbet, with river taxi and motor vehicle connections to BoNanras' Central Union Station. Rail and road connections can be made to northern, western, and southern borders, albeit with roundabout routes.
Culture
BoNanras is a sprawling, teeming, lively collection of all the regional aspects of Sam'thuma, plus a particular local flavor. The Nam family influence over two centuries has provided all manner of excuse for entertainment, from dance venues, to mandated festivals (nineteen to thirty, depending on what level of society you move in), to athletic pursuits. As it is the nation's business center, there are plenty of earnest bureaucrats, grasping financiers, and shrewd tycoons, but the prevalent unit of BoNanras culture is the family. Where some national capitals may be filled with lonely people come in from the hinterlands on their way up in the world, BoNanrites either maintain family groupings, or if new in the city, join some remote cousin of an in-law's uncle's adopted household.
The scattered nature of specialties across the city give its people a restless air as they walk, bike, and tram about. Yet foreigners wish over and again that the locals would hurry once in a while. When traveling across BoNanras, plan to enjoy the street musicians, admire the buildings, or count the ducks in front of a Sjandee temple. You might as well -- wanting speed won't get you anywhere faster. Families try to gather for a dawn meal, which does strip the streets of much traffic. Rise early, and you may make that 10:00 appointment two miles away.
BoNanrites are less obviously religious than residents of smaller cities and villages, just because those tend to have one faith with a near-monopoly. The capital has a mixture of every faith in the nation, and some from abroad. Temples and churches are many - some purpose-built and lavish, others but a storefront between two merchants.
Municipal Services
Draconian penalties for many crimes and a populace often armed with at least a chaaku knife keep the city reasonably safe. Foreigners are not universally welcomed, but are presumed to be powerful or influential, thus are let alone. The municipal police are everywhere, fully half in plain clothes. They watch for mischief, direct traffic, mediate disputes, and collect the city's innumerable (but miniscule) fees. The electrical services of the city are now a municipal monopoly and are much more reliable than a decade ago. Voltage can vary widely from the nominal 200 volts, though Antaran-standard connectors are at least universal.
Clean water is the responsibility of the user -- one filters or boils what comes from the tap. That water is at least widely available, with decent pressure, thanks to the Juwahal Reservoir in the hills outside the city. Bottled water is available, for the squeamish or weak-stomached. At least an attempt is made to treat the city's sewage -- one can no longer walk across the Nwasari downstream of BoNanras, as supposedly one once could. Still, fish for sale in the city prominently note their origin as not from the river. The strong water supply is well used by an efficient firefighter corps -- seldom does more than a contiguous block or two go up in flames.
Only officials' motor vehicles are city-owned or -run, though the road network is city-maintained. Red trams marked BSSTA are city-owned, though sometimes run by contractors. Other trams, and the buses, taxis, and various rickshaws are pure private enterprise. With more people than jobs, BoNanras has a ready pool of public works laborers, and the road surfaces tend to be good. Bridges are safe, with the late King Nam Phosphet having had a particular interest in structural engineering.
The city is as clean as one could expect with animal transport still in use. Rickshaw runners will offer finicky riders a reasonably clean cloth to spread over seats, at extra charge. Streets are swept periodically by city workers, who may be barefoot boys of ten years' age. Sidewalks are kept neater than streets, partly in deference to the fifth or so of the city who go barefoot year round.
Private Services
All other wants and needs are available through vendors in some part of the city. Some fan out each morning from their district on bicycles and with pushcarts, hawking wares or services. Of particular note to foreigners, translation is available on a thousand street corners. Look for men with backpack typewriters or women with portable desks. Every price is negotiable, except such as bus fare or telephone, which have standard tokens. Both those services are private, and one faces a bewildering array of choices -- only the fare is fixed. The Old Antaran warning "Caveat Emptor" is true here - wares are not necessarily what they are claimed to be. Sam'thumans do randomly take a liking to strangers, and occasionally a naive visitor will be about to pay an outrageous asking price, when a local may quietly advise otherwise. Or an obviously local mother with baby strapped to back might startlingly speak up in, say, heloan, asking a seller if he might take ten, rather than the suggested thirty. Just beware - if the "uninvolved bystander" is a relative of the vendor, they may echo the fraud instead of blunting it. Oddly (to outlanders), street urchins are safe hired carriers of one's purchases -- few would think of running off with a load of goods.
Professional services in the capital are up to international standards - doctors, accountants, engineers may have studied in other lands. The barest accountant's office can display multiple Hundsvergen certifications. BoNanras is one of only a few cities across Sam'thuma where skilled workers in modern trades can be found - machinists, designers, electrical workers, chemists are available. Pharmacologists are in large supply, as numerous medical firms are exploiting various extracts of exotic jungle plants. BoNanras offices of these companies are seldom headquarters -- cities further to the south like Ulamdet, 658, and Wesdenifera are right amid the forest and jungle diversity.
