Aziran is a fantasy world.
The Lirithi culture is modeled on ancient Mesopotamia. It is agriculture-based, pre-industrial and they have tools for agriculture, pottery, creating weapons, carts, etc. They are city-states, which means they have walled cities with farmlands and communities that surround them. The Lirithi people trade widely for materials they lack. While they are sited next to a large river system, they are also on relatively flat plains, so they lack hardwood trees, stone building material and metal deposits. What they have an abundance of are clay, and, using a system of canals, land for agriculture.
Within the walled city of Nakesh is a walled temple complex which contains the temple of the city’s goddess, Yanara, upon a tall platform, smaller temples to other gods/goddesses related to her, and a few other buildings, including the living quarters of the priests and priestesses.
The walled city itself is huge. Other than the temple complex it contains several large districts each having homes, their own smaller temples, roadside shrines, bakeries, beer shops, metalsmiths, etc. There is a main canal that runs through the middle of the city.
That’s it for now. Hope to have more soon.
E. K. Carmel 
Slowly, I am getting a picture of your world and so far I like it. Keep up the good work.
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Thanks Cat!
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Like Cat, I am getting a good picture of your world, too.
About Kara, do you know what her fears are? What is her goal in the story? She’s going to be a ‘threshold’ (which is what fate/the gods/the universe has ordained for her, but is she likely to have what she wants for herself (family, home, love), being a priestess? And who are her enemies? Who hates her? Who does she hate?
I think characters are the staple of fiction. They’re the most important part for me, and plot comes about because of characters motivations and reactions to events beyond their control. Creating characters is enjoyable. 🙂
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This is interesting. It puts me in mind of visiting the archeological digs at Ebla, where women still make clay bricks in the way they’ve been done for thousands of years… I love the idea of a fantasy in a setting like yours.
I also wonder what sort of goddess is Yanara: I seem to recall some pretty gloomy Mesopotamian gods…
You made me curious: now I’m looking forward to find out more.
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It sounds like you are doing a good job of planning your novel. I like it.
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Thank you all for your wonderful comments!
liselm – I’ve been getting some interesting answers out of Kara this weekend, so probably within the next couple of days I’ll post some more about her.
ivye – You’ve been to Ebla!!! I’m going to PM you. You are right about the gloomy Mesopotamian gods. Because of the divine magic in my world, the Lirithi are not so much in the dark about what their gods want and aren’t as easy to conquer as the Mesopotamians were, so the intense pessimism won’t be there. However they won’t all be goodness and light, either!
anschau – You’re right. I plan to focus on only a couple of the elements and just lightly touch on the others.
I’m glad the time period for my setting is interesting to others. I’m fascinated by it, but I know it hasn’t really been done much in fantasy fiction. There is a Harry Turtledove novel, but I think it was one of his early ones and I wasn’t really impressed. I’ve also noticed a couple mystery series set in Egypt and later, in Rome. So, I’m glad to know I’m not completely off the deep end here!
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This sounds really interesting. This, right here, is my downfall. I like getting into the meat of a character and all the emotions that surround his/her choices. I like writing the moving story. I loathe figuring out my setting. 😀
You really seem to have done a well researched, thorough job. Congratulations!
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>>The Lirithi culture is modeled on ancient Mesopotamia.
Yea!!
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