The caravan city of Simtakka sprawls amid the endless pale dunes and grain fields of the Simtakka Valley, growing ever richer in the crossing of two trade routes--the Great Western (or Eastern) Route that winds from the distant western sea across the Empire to Dal Shang, through Alastari, Ferencia, and beyond, and the Diamond Trail that descends from the snowy mountains of the north, along the edge of the plains, to the Salt Sea that borders all lands.

Unlike most of the cities of Lirith Kai, Simtakka is built largely of adobe and brick, locally made. The citizens have used their Adantri flair to achieve beautiful patterns by carving the molds in which bricks are made and glazing them with bright colors; much use is made, also, of colorfully patterned tiles. They have indulged their fancy in their architecture, ornamenting their buildings with spiraling towers, domes, and cupolas. They sometimes accent their buildings with fossil rocks, stone carefully chiseled away to present the bones and shells in bas relief, or made into polished tiles of stone that show off their tiny fossils as a pebbly texture. To further satisfy their intense need for color, the inhabitants have dug deep wells and used the sweet water to grow flowers--millions and millions of flowers in all imaginable shapes and colors, flowers in window boxes, flowers on rooftops, flowers in islands in the boulevards, flowers in courtyards and along the tops of walls.

The city has four products of its own to contribute to the caravan trade--salt and fossil rock from the ancient sea bed of which the valley is a part, flower seeds, and fierce Adantri guards.

The ruler of the province is Lord Governor Avanis ten Deletir, famed for his hospitality and diplomacy and for the beauty of his wife, Semrian, the Blossom of Simtakka. He commands a formidable paladin cavalry, which is used to keep the routes free of bandits, as well as a competent police force. He requested an arena primarily to provide an occupation for the population of non-Adantri caravan guards waiting for work, who offer a tempting labor pool to recruiting bandit gangs.

The Simtakkans are, for the most part, a friendly, open-minded people, shrewd in trade but generous in hospitality. Though uncertain as to the value of the arena, they are willing to give it a chance to prove its value to the city.