Korvan Saleh lies, like Simtakka, on the western side of the great Han Torra Khang--the Han Torra Mountains--where the foothills level out to the broad steppe. The city was originally built by the Sendori, a small dark people of the mountains, to take advantage of the crossing of two caravan routes--the Diamond Trail running north and south and crossing the Silk Road which comes down from the Sim Shirah Pass to the east and runs out onto the plains. The Sendori still dominate the population, but the city was taken into the Empire of Lirith Kai about 800 years ago during the Empire's greatest expansion. At that time, the western border of the Empire was far out on the plains, but that empty land has gone back to the wandering horse tribes.

The serais and main streets and plazas of Korvan Saleh are as cosmopolitan as you may find in any of the great cities of the Empire, but the back streets are Sendori--narrow crooked streets made dark by the overhang of the upper stories of houses, and dim-lit shrines to strange godlings. The people dress in dark clothing ornamented with sewn-on coins--the wealth of a family carried with them on their vests and hats. The Adantri find this city and its people gloomy, because they use little color on their dress and buildings and exclude strangers from their festivals.

The great wonder of Korvan Saleh is the Palace of the White Mare, half palace and half temple and wholly ruined. It is said that long ago--before the Adantri came over the mountains--the tribes of the plain were united under a goddess-queen, and the Palace was built for her from moon-colored stones quarried high in the mountains. Big blond barbarians from the western plains still come here from time to time--especially at midsummer--to pay tribute to their goddess-queen: she is not dead, they say, but only withdrawn from the world for a time; someday she will return, and then they shall reclaim all that was theirs. The pale columns rise from a rough oval of grass and tumbled stones; the Sendori avoid it as an unchancy area, but tourists walk through the ruins--by day. It is said to be haunted by the vanished queen and her courtiers when the full moon lights it.

The arena runs irregularly for special events and is regarded by the local populace as another foreign institution which they will accept and absorb. It lie beyond the city walls to the north, crowning a low hill, and the merchants of Korvan Saleh look forward to making money off the gladiators and those who follow them.

More information on non-arena areas of Lirith Kai (arena cities, too, for that matter) is available on request.