City of Tang

Tang, the capital of Khitai, is the biggest and most splendid city in Jambu. Known as the Celestial City, it was founded centuries ago by the first Khitan emperors, and its original walled core was laid out according to cosmic principles expressing the sacred qualities of symmetry, harmony and stability.

Within the gates order is strictly kept. The efficient city guards, in decorative metal lamellar and armed with katanas, answer any disturbance with at least one company of six sentinels. All gates but the celestial gates shut late in the evening, drunkenness and lewd or disruptive behavior are forbidden, and guards may stop, question and search anyone suspicious. Foreigners are welcome but must register at the City Office of Residency in the Imperial Courts. Short-stay passes are easy to get, but anyone staying more than seven days must give a detailed account of background and purpose, then is either granted a pass or escorted out of the city. Guards watch closely for offenders, especially westerners, who are rare here.

The city sprawls well beyond its walls into outlying villages of the lower classes, many of them immigrants, full of shabby, run-down homes, shops and taverns. Much of Tang's criminal element gathers there, and unregistered foreigners sometimes hide there, though guard patrols sweep these areas now and then. To soothe the poor and stir national pride, the government often throws lavish festivals inside the walls, relaxing the laws, serving food and drink and staging stirring speeches on Khitan superiority and the unity of the classes, ideals the nobles, merchants and scholars loudly echo. Criticizing the government is unwise and can bring charges from disturbing the peace to treason.