City of the Goat-Mother

According to legend, Shiráddam is named for a goat herder that once worked in the area where the city now stands. An animal-talker, Shirad lived by himself with only his herd for company. After many years, his neighbors (such as they were) suggested the successful herder marry, for it was considered bad luck to hoard wealth rather than create and support a family. A number of maidens visited the herder, but he turned each away. Each time, the local holy man asked Shirad why the woman was unsuitable, the herder would reply that he could not relate to the woman. After the fourth maiden was refused, the holy man came back with a mystic from the Eastern mountains. The mystic told Shirad to choose one nanny from his flock that he most preferred. When Shirad did so, the mystic Channeled a powerful spell transforming the goat into a woman. The woman could not speak as Yrūn do, but instead bleated like a goat. Shirad was happy with this solution and together the two had dozens of kids. The descendants of Shirad settled on their father’s land, forming the foundation of the City of Shiráddam.

The city of Shiráddam is an ancient capital which predates the founding of Æzàlar by thousands of years. Originally an independent city, then the capital of Azal, Shiráddam has remained a major trading port despite the rise and fall of surrounding states. Not until the City of Æzàlar was established as the capital of the Dekàlan city-state has the importance of Shiráddam been diminished in northwestern Tassèrus. Despite this change in fortune, most port cities would love to have a fraction of the commerce that Shiráddam enjoys.

Wards

Shiráddam is a walled city that stands removed from the shore by a Dekàlan Mile. The wharf-towns and city are connected by a series of cargo roads which converge at one of three gates along the city wall. Within the walls the city is trisected by the three avenues, each leading inward from one of the gates. The avenues meet at a central walled boulevard that encircles the temple grounds. The wall was erected after the Second Acèntyri-Dekàli War to provide the shrine with an additional line of defense.

• Alyàhmorah Zidam (Merchants’ District)
• Garden of Dirad
• Mōhàdrah Zidam (Weavers’ District)
• Shirádrah Zidam (Herders’ District)

Landmarks

• Shrine of the Goat-Mother (Temple of the Blood)

History

Shiráddam was once the capital city of Azal.

Battle of Shiráddam

No Æzàlar city was hit harder in the Second Acèntyri-Dekàli War than Shiráddam. The city was alerted to trouble when its mountain outposts grew quiet. It would later be learned that the Zin Vìrāel had been “hired” to silence the mountain keeps and make way for a small Acèntyri army that was staged to cross into Æzàlar. The agents succeeded at their task. The city had been under siege from the East for three days when the enemy navy appeared. Ships were summoned from the City of Æzàlar to reinforce Shiráddam, a move which weakened the capital’s harbors.

The Azàli Guard could not defend the city against two fronts. As the land-based Acèntyryr burned and razed outlying villages and towns, the navy launched landing parties south of the city to intercept any reinforcements that might be arriving from that direction. While this was happening, Alliance wizards summoned great magics from the decks of their ships, unleashing terrible forces above the city. Æzàlar wizards reported that the Eylfāe employed wide-ranged Kadàktrū spells that filled people’s minds with nightmarish images. Terrified residents ran screaming through the streets, some throwing themselves off the wharves and buildings to escape imagined horrors. A wizard by the name of Ōbybōlum was able to counter these magics to a small degree. His efforts are credited with keeping the Azàli Guard from complete rout.

As the siege continued, the priests of Zalan sealed the reliquary of Irzàla in an ivory chest and escaped through tunnels beneath the Shrine of the Goat-Mother. The first Acèntyri invaders to enter the city tore the shrine apart looking for the sacred treasure. It was a primary goal of the Alliance to dismantle both the state and cults of the Empire. The priests of Zalan were pursued deep into the southern deserts before they were captured and killed. While returning to Shiráddam with the ivory chest, the war party was surrounded by desert-riders and massacred. The reliquary was moved from place to place for hundreds of years, before being returned to the rebuilt shrine at Shiráddam.