Differences between Yuthuppa and Raibanth

[Sir_Godspeed]

I've previously made a thread about Alkoth, and it seems to me that it is by and far the most distinct of the Dara Happan Tripolis. Its explicit association with Shargash and its physical construction, being surrounded by a massive, green solid-structure wall makes it stand out visually as well.

I've sometimes asked myself what exactly makes it "Dara Happan" beyond simple imperial history and administratrion (does Alkoth have Buseri priests scrying the skies? Does its noble houses act as fastidiously and jealously as their Yuthuppan counterparts? Etc. etc.)

This made me also consider in what ways the two other cities, Yuthuppa and Raibanth, were different from each other. I will admit, that aside from the Footstool of Yelm being located in Raibanth, and it therefore being the traditional coronation site of the Emperor, and the Star Towers of Yuthuppa, I can't really see much of a difference between them, culturally.

Aside from specific historical events and the various monuments, are you aware of any general practices, traditions, events, styles, etc. that separate the two?

[Joerg]

Yuthuppa is a lot less ancient than Raibanth. Its star towers are hollow, unlike the massive Footstool and its lesser copies in Raibanth, and are equipped with Buserian's Frame (a projection of a yurt's wooden frame) - possibly as galleries.

The main portion of Raibanth lies on the outer edge of the Silver Shadow, and has two centuries (four wanes) of greater exposure to Lunar influence and whackiness than the two parts across the rivers, in different satrapies.

The Oslir runs through the city, rather than around it, but has been bound to its shores by ancient decree. This might create strange effects at the Sea Season high water levels, possibly with the river bulging to remain inside the allocated course.

Yuthuppa doesn't have one of the ancient planetary deities as its guardian. In Anaxial's Septopolis, Buserian is elevated to the status of a little sun. He does get mentioned as guardian of Hamados (the city of the Near East in Murharzarm's Decapolis) but is absent from the Copper Tables shenaningans which don't map that well on Murharzarm's realm.

Yuthuppa is situated on a hill above the marshy plain where rice farmers and weeders dwell. Raibanth apparently is right in the river valley.

[metcalph]

Raibanth is the City of Yelm (Noble Families, Sun Worship) while Yuthuppa is the City of Dayzatar and Buserian (Scribal Colleges and Star Worship).  There are noble families in Yuthuppa and scribal orders in Raibanth but they are not as prominent.

[davecake]

Anaxial is revered as the founder of Yuthuppa - he founded it by landing his boat there after the flood. Yuthuppa means 'Gods boat' in Dara Happan. Anaxial is actually the guardian deity of Yuthuppa. 

[jeffjerwin]

My non-canon speculation:

From all this I'd expect Raibanth to be socially stratified to the Nth degree (everyone, down to the street-sweepers, knows how many generations separate them from the Sun or an Emperor), with a fair bit of pointless fighting over 'giving the wall' (in the 16th century in England, bravos would try to intimidate their lessers into stepping out of their way - 'out of the sunlight' in the case of Raibanth - and stab people who didn't make way. A cruel, inward-looking place, with its tensions intensified because of the obvious presence in the sky of a more dominant philosophy. The Lunar Way is viewed privately as a dangerous innovation by the City Fathers, but they can't oppose it outright. Every generation, more and more people are lost to it.

Yuthuppa is a very organized place. People know their places, but it's much less unidirectional as in Raibanth. Castes are organized by work rather than by descent per se. The Yuthuppan census is a yearly thing. The ruling class are distracted intellectuals and engineers, not haughty Yelmites. There are a lot of students from elsewhere in the Empire, generally behaving either studiously or badly as the case may be. While Raibanth probably has street lighting by night, Yuthuppa forbids it - it interferes with star gazing. The greater social cohesion (compared to clan cohesion in Raibanth) helps to allay the night-time danger of burglary and theft.

[Jeff]

In 1625, the three metropoles, along with Glamour and Elz Ast, form the core of Lunar Heartlands culture. In each of these cities, the Lunar Way and the Dara Happan traditions are deeply merged. The only folk who might view the Lunar Way as a dangerous innovation are young Lunar aristocrats who try to show how Illuminated they are (especially if they aren't) by pointing out the dangers of the Lunar Way. The Red Emperor has been the ruler of Dara Happa for nearly four centuries - which actually makes his "dynasty" the longest-lived Dara Happan dynasty of Time. Pretty much every Yelmic aristocratic family is descended or otherwise related to the Red Emperor (who is after all the highest priest of Yelm). 

Each city is a world to itself, but also each city has its specialisation for which it is best known:

Alkoth stands out for its martial spirit. The "Sparta of the Lunar Empire". 

Raibanth stands out for its endless rituals and ceremonies. Proxies of the Red Emperor perform a ceaseless procession of sacrifices, chants, and other ceremonies intended to keep the world in Golden Age harmony. Many of these rituals serve no obvious purpose, but are done because they have always been done. Only 20 miles from Glamour, Raibanth has a similar relationship with Glamour as Assur had with Nineveh. 

Yuthuppa is the "city of scribes" or the "city of sky-gazers".  The city is the centre of the Irrippi Ontor cult, and is where promising youths go to study to become the imperial scribes who administer the Lunar Empire. 

 

[jeffjerwin]

7 hours ago, Jeff said:

In 1625, the three metropoles, along with Glamour and Elz Ast, form the core of Lunar Heartlands culture. In each of these cities, the Lunar Way and the Dara Happan traditions are deeply merged. The only folk who might view the Lunar Way as a dangerous innovation are young Lunar aristocrats who try to show how Illuminated they are (especially if they aren't) by pointing out the dangers of the Lunar Way. The Red Emperor has been the ruler of Dara Happa for nearly four centuries - which actually makes his "dynasty" the longest-lived Dara Happan dynasty of Time. Pretty much every Yelmic aristocratic family is descended or otherwise related to the Red Emperor (who is after all the highest priest of Yelm). 

My game is currently set in 1450 when there was a Dara Happan pretender ('On Horse', of course). So my perspective is, it seems, anachronistic. I still wonder who the Seleran pretender was.

Though it would seem that the Empire may have substantially reinforced its claims to be the heir of Yelm after 1461. Traitor families would have been rooted out.

[David Scott]

There's a map of Raibanth:

https://www.glorantha.com/map-of-raibanthi-do-have-a-map-of-raibanth-lying-around-i-even-have-a-final-by-gillian-pearce-but/