Kurukar (meaning "Blessed Beaches") was begun as a mere stopover shelter by a handful of Karnhorn fishermen from Aljafir when the trade route from North Fork to Vithicar was routed through. The small village remained a minor stop on the trade route, home to merchants, traders, and all manner of crafts. Initially considered merely a colony of Aljafir, and therefore under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Kalif Ayrikas, Kurukar was little attended by the far-off Karnhorn government. Upon the ascension to the throne of the current Satrap, the elders of the town saw an opportunity to gather merit and wealth. Knowing of the Satrap's desire to increase the strength of the Empire, they appealed to the Khashka in Zuwayza, and were rewarded with a Kalif, Tehzarrik of the House Vhakaln--and the promise of a new arena.
The Kalif organized the city council--he had been trained in city government by Ayrikas himself--and has begun a wise and popular rule. He levied taxes on imports and structured all export tax so that no one merchant or trader may make more off a sale than others. He organized the training of the city guard, dock workers, and set up road detail to keep the north-south trade road wide, clean, and level. With an extreme far-sightedness, he leveled old, rickety buildings and built the first schools in Kurukar, and ordered the installation of street lights and cobblestones on all major town streets. It is to be hoped that revenues from the new arena will help to pay for what some of the other Kalifs whisper is mere extravagance on Tehzarrik's part.
The Satrap of the Empire, Kharijhal, signed the papers allowing the foundations on the new arena as one of his first duties in office, seeing it as a way to expand the strength of the Empire across the isthmus to the Trier Sea; also, with the trade on the westward side of the Empire, it promises more growth and prosperity for the Empire. When Tehzarrik became gravely ill with pneumonia, following a stroke, in the last months of the year 503, he was hastily replaced by a far less popular Kalif, the Kalif Jhuizkhal of the House Vhakaln, whose only claim to fame was being the younger brother of Kharijhal's first wife Jasryala. He is a spendthrift and cares little about how things happen as long as he looks good doing them. He fell under some suspicion upon tearing down the Satrap's simple wooden arena and building the Grand Arena of Kurukar (Kalif's Folly).
While many people believe Tehzarrik to be the "true" Kalif of Kurukar, his condition has not improved sufficiently to resume control of the government, and many people fear that it will never do so.
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