Larna Tarl and Tarna Larl (as their inhabitants pronounce it) are a pair of cities of perhaps ten thousand souls each--smallish, for Lirith Kai. The "twin cities" stand in the middle of the foothills of the Jade Panther Hills, one on each side of the Silu Tan River. Their primary industry is jade mining, but there is also considerable farming, and the region is noted for its dairies. The region is blessed with frequent rains and mists that roll down from the Hills, making it wet and extremely fertile. Both jade and farm produce are shipped downriver to the heart of the Empire. The lowlands near the river flood every year, which is why the homes and warehouses in those neighborhoods are built on sturdy legs of stone, with a network of bridges and catwalks connecting them ten feet above the ground. In dry seasons, the dock region bustles with two levels of traffic, a source of amazement to visitors and an image often featured in books about the two cities.

As one might expect, the cities' architecture is richly ornamented with jade of all colors, although the white and green-streaked white, for which the nearby Seven Temples Mine is so well known, is the commonest throughout the cities. The rivalry between the sister cities is intense, and one area in which they compete is the elaborate ornamentation of their public and private buildings. In wealthier neighborhoods, the roof crests, cornices, and eaves of the buildings are so heavily decorated that it looks as though they have been snowed upon. In less well-to-do neighborhoods the builders have had to make do with plain green jade, much less valuable, giving rise to the expression "moss roof," indicating a low-born person.

The ruler of the twin cities is Subgovernor Magistrate Rhe Arring bel Jehsian, brother of the governor of Dal Shang, a member of the Crystal Chime warrior clan, and a man of great intelligence and wisdom. He commands the cities' polite and helpful force of constables. Being so far within the borders of the Empire, Lyrna Tyrl and Terna Lyrl have no standing army, though there is a civilian militia composed of almost all able-bodied citizens. The militia holds drills in four one-day shifts each month, so that each volunteer donates one day per month to the protection of his city. (There is, of course, considerable competition between those militia groups raised from Lyrna Tyrl and the ones from Terna Lyrl.)

The people of the twin cities of Lyrna Tyrl and Terna Lyrl are pure Adantri, with no recent admixtures of other cultures. Most people in the Empire consider them a bit narrow-minded and quite conservative, which perhaps is why it came as a surprise when Subgovernor Magistrate Rhe Arring asked to host a gladiatorial arena. The reason he gave is that it would increase the tourist trade, though there are some who say that his real purpose is to startle the people out of their stagnation. Be that as it may, the Larnatans, as they call themselves (they spell it Lyrnatans) have succeeded in pretty much ignoring the arena thus far. Fond as they are of their Magistrate, they seem to feel that bringing in the arena was an abrupt departure from the paths of reason and good sense in an otherwise admirable man.

In the end, of course, the cold and unwavering indifference of the Lyrnatans encouraged the smaller towns and villages in the area to petition the Gladiatorial Commission to transfer the arena to one of them, pledging encouragement and full support from whichever one should be selected as the new host of the arena.

The six settlements that joined to send the petition were Jade Mountain, Kol Ti-Mang, Linang Gorai, Terna Moro, Sim Kae Lia, and Whitecliff. Each gave its reasons for feeling that it would be suited to be an arena town: Jade Mountain felt that it offered the best natural site; it was about one hundred miles from the Twin Cities arena, which would have to be rebuilt--the supporters of the Jade Mountain site offered to do the building themselves at their own expense. Kol Ti-Mang was the closest settlement to the Twin Cities arena (which had been built well away from the two cities), about a mile and a half to the east of it; though small, its supporters felt that its convenient location would offer the most trouble-free transfer of offices and registration. Linang Gorai was the next closest--about five miles to the west, and had the best ale in the area, which was felt to be a telling point. Terna Moro was the next largest town in the area after Terna Lyrl and Lyrna Tyrl; it was about twenty miles from the site and offered to build a paved road connecting the town to the arena. Sim Kae Lia was a crossroads settlement about fifteen miles down the road from the arena; the residents were willing to pull up stakes and move the entire village to the current arena site, diverting the second road (little more than a trail) so that it ran past the arena. Whitecliff, nearly as far from the original site as Jade Mountain, claimed it had a better site than Jade Mountain did, and it also offered to rebuild the arena. It was Jade Mountain that was ultimately accepted.