Terumbu Nagaram

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Terumbu Nagaram is a city at the western border (2023) of the Shire, southeast of Zenophalia. It is being built by Zalidia and was inspired by a world building project of his and the real life Meenakshi Temple.

Terumbu Nagaram is among the oldest cities of the Shire. It is built mainly on a large beach next to a coral reef in Pavala Bay (Temburan: Teluk Pavala) (which is referred to as [insert name] in neighboring Zenophalia), that has been historically significant to the city in terms of economy and culture. The reef has 4 big rocky islands in it, each of them with a building. This all together is called the Desa Karang (which translates to 'town of coral'), an iconic monument in the city. This city is the founder and host member of the Iustitia Alliance. South of the historical center, there is another bay by the name of Prajurit Bay (Temburan: Teluk Prajurit).

Landmarks

Desa Karang. The building in the center is the Tahusemua.

Desa Karang

The Desa Karang is the most prominent landmark in Terumbu Nagaram. It is used for many things. From entertainment for the masses to a museum, from a library to the government building. They are described in this section.

The Desa Karang consists of 4 buildings. The northern island's building has a small dock and is otherwise mostly a tribune for audiences or the senate, depending on what day it is and what the Desa Karang is used for that day. If it is a friday, it's a guaranteed debate day for the government.

The southern island has the gate to the city.

The center island and the biggest of them all has the Tahusemua, a large and colorful temple-like building. Here you can find a banner and map museum, as well as the oldest discovered map of the Shire: Map 57. It has a stage with a speaker chair for lawsuits, entertainment, government debates, et cetera. The top of the building is like a clock with 5 sections, each indicating a type of event currently going on. It defaults to the middle section, the pink one, which indicates no event.

The western and eastern islands have the library and a house that is rumoured to be where the founder of the city lived or still lives. It was rebuilt a couple of times, as the current building there is only the fifth iteration of this house. The library has a collection of books any Shireling can contribute to and any Shireling can read any book they want to in the library.

Utara Square

Utara Square lies in the center of downtown Terumbu Nagaram. It is surrounded by embassies of To'ufenua, Olympia, Zenophalia, Fox Valley, Laurelian, Catville, Oranjestad, and Terra Sapientiae. In the middle of the square, there is a hole in the ground that has the remains of the oldest discovered Temburan house, and around it 4 arrows in the tiles of the square that point in the 4 cardinal directions, which is what it was named after: "north square".

The lighthouse.

Mercusuar Teluk Lighthouse

Mercusuar Teluk Lighthouse is the oldest lighthouse of Terumbu Nagaram, and is the first sign of Terumbu Nagaram for incoming ships. It does not look like a conventional lighthouse, because it isn't a truly conventional lighthouse; it was built to house a flame that would be kept burning by continuously feeding it fuel, such as wood. On clear days, the fire would not be fed, so that the keeper could clean out the firepit. Nowadays, it has been modernized and just uses a strong light.

Zalpelin NT Skyport

Zalpelin NT Skyport

Zalpelin NT Skyport (ZNT Skyport) is the current headquarters of a branch of Zal Industries that makes blimps and zeppelins; Zalpelin NT. This skyport is the home port of the famous vessel ZNT Geoffrey. The skyport is equipped with a large landing pad, as well as a docking tower with elevators. It was built in 2024.

Economy

Terumbu Nagaram employs a capitalist system with strict market regulation. The water, electricity, housing and public transit sectors are all nationalized, although the sales of real estate are executed by Karya Kelana Inc under close supervision. Various companies have locations in Terumbu Nagaram. These include:

• Taiatea (a warehouse and a store)
• Zal Industries (and the Zalpelin NT branch)
• Karya Kelana Inc
• Lucky Star Noodles
• Gato Radio
• Untico Globus Ploughery
• MalacDonalds
• Kebober
• N't²
• TechRepair4U
• BOX Hotels

Real Estate & Zoning

Full page: Terumbu Nagaram Zoning

Terumbu Nagaram frequently puts companies in charge of selling buildings. The current realtor is Karya Kelana Inc, who has to abide by specific regulations while filling this role.

Terumbu Nagaram has a special city subdivision for urban zoning, where there are commercial zones, mixed-use zones, residential zones and industrial zones. For example, the zone of the famous road Jalan Damai and surroundings is JLD.

History

Hints at civilization in the area of Terumbu Nagaram date back to 12,000 PRY, with the oldest discovered house (in Utara Square) dating back to 6200 PRY, which is often considered the date of founding in Terumbu Nagaram, making the city over 8000 years old.

Before 6200 PRY

Not much is known about the time before 6200 PRY, as it left behind little to discover. The beach was used for fishing, foraging, etc, and a few temporary huts were set up on the beach in these times.

6200 PRY - 500 PRY

Commonly known as the Era of the Fish. In this portion of Terumbu Nagaram's history, Terumbu Nagaram was a fishing village. The oldest discovered house was presumably one of the first buildings of this fishing village. The coral reef made this beach very attractive to fishermen, hoping to catch some good fish from a big reef with tons of diversity.

The architecture of this time was mainly practical. Houses had a stone foundation, made with rocks, wet sand, clay, etc, almost like some kind of ancient cement. On top of these foundations they presumably built out of wood, which is why there's only a foundation left of the house in Utara Square; the wood eventually rots and collapses and gets carried away by the sea. Some buildings survived because they happened to be further away from the sea, but they also collapsed at some point. Buildings aren't built like this anymore in Terumbu Nagaram unless it's for research or educational purposes.

500 PRY - 12 RY

This era is commonly known as the Era of the Shield. Terumbu Nagaram has grown to a size much larger than the beach. During this time Terumbu Nagaram started waging war with the neighboring city of Marambatang, which is now a neighborhood of Terumbu Nagaram. The end of this era is defined at when the construction of Benteng Manal, a fortress in central Terumbu Nagaram, ended. This fortress was made to protect its citizens from attacks from Marambatang and train warriors in the arts of sieging cities.

Architecture of this era is known for the first buildings that use the coral as a way to dye building materials. In this era it was only used on sandstone, resulting in the same buildings from the age before, but with fancier foundations.

12 - 230

This era, known as the Era of the Bird, is commonly referred to as Terumbu Nagarams golden age. In 50 RY, Terumbu Nagaram completely conquired its neighbor Marambatang and started using their cheap labor to help expand the city even more. The coral business is booming, population growth is higher than ever, army is stronger than ever, and citizens have never been so safe in Terumbu Nagaram. This golden age (and the age of the bird altogether) ended when the coral reef was almost farmed into extinction. The economy started worsening, and population growth was now out of control.

Architecture in this time got a heavy boost from the newfound wealth that Terumbu Nagaram had. More people wanted dyed building materials in their houses as well as more space for themselves, so architects and engineers of the time started thinking of ways to achieve this. The second floor was born. To offer support for this second floor, the second floor would be smaller than the first one to make sure new buildings don't fall over easily.

231 - 600

The collapse at the end of Terumbu Nagaram's golden age resulted in a dark age that it took 3 centuries to recover from. Hunger and homelessness, poverty in general, are so commonplace at the start of this era, dubbed Era of the Sand, that at times the only way to reliably get food was by getting it from the religious sites of the city. This started a shift towards religion unlike anything ever seen before in Temburan history.

In this era, due to this shift, many of the religious buildings of Terumbu Nagaram were built, including the Desa Karang, where the first of the iconic Temburan cylindrical roofs were built.

The shift also slowly eroded the power of the old government, giving rise to a system whereby the various religious sites elect a leader to follow. This system officially started in 273, and didn't disappear until the end of this era.

As the only dyed buildings were now only religious ones, which they didn't really construct too many of, the coral reef could finally start to recover.

600 - 1025

In the Era of the Dagger, a leader elected by the temples had slowly amassed enough power over the people to prevent the temples from removing him, although he depended on them to stay in power. He was Cahayajelas, nicknamed Pembawa Badai by the populace. This tension between this king and the temples eventually led to a civil war between Cahayajelas' new army and the temples' monks and newly trained warriors. After a decisive battle at the Desa Karang, the temples had no choice but to give in, and the Cahayajelas Dynasty began. Cahayajelas pulled the city out of the dark age and expanded its borders to beyond city limits; he conquered the nearby towns of Mejamerah and Desapasir. However, after the initial takeover of Terumbu Nagaram and then the other two towns, the populace started to rebel against him. The temples were once their great benevolent leaders, and they had now been replaced by a king no one chose. After Cahayajelas' death, all the rest of his descendants were kept busy making sure the people didn't stand up against him and the two outlier towns didn't declare independence. The era was dubbed the Era of the Dagger due to the many assassination attempts and general mistrust among the higher powers of the city-state. This era lasted all the way up to 1025, when the last of the Cahayajelas Dynasty was killed in the Great Revolution of Terumbu Nagaram, without an heir.

In this era, the design of temples started inspiring the residential buildings of the city. At first, they were expensive and only used by rich merchants, successful blacksmiths and coral company owners, but later, as the cost of the materials decreased, it became available for more and more people.