Gurabad

Gurabad
The great gate of Gurabad
Type	Ancient Civilizations Lore
Region	Sumeru
Area	Desert of Hadramaveth

Gurabad, also known as the city of brass and City of Kings, was an ancient city located in the southwestern part of the Desert of Hadramaveth in Sumeru. It arose after Nabu Malikata's death and fell before King Deshret's forbidden knowledge incident.

It was led by Ormazd before his murder via Liloupar's machinations, after which it was ruled by Parvezravan. Parvezravan himself was later killed by his son, Shiruyeh, and Liloupar's usage of Abyssal power caused most of the city to fall into a deep chasm while a plague claimed the lives of most of the city's population. Afterwards, the city was abandoned and the few attempts to revive its former glory ended in ultimate failure.

Its ruins still lie in the desert, where a massive Ruin Golem (similar to the one found in Devantaka Mountain) is located. Sumeru Akademiya conducted an expedition to Gurabad in the distant past, which was mentioned in some of Zandik's notes.

Story

History

Gurabad was established after a shepherd named Ormazd gained the favor of King Deshret and the Jinni Liloupar, and used Liloupar's blessing to unite the desert peoples. Although Gurabad prospered, Ormazd grew corrupt with power and perpetuated the slavery which Liloupar had expected him to abolish. Her sense of betrayal led her to plot Gurabad's downfall over the course of three generations, using her own children to perpetuate the city's destruction.

Liloupar's daughter with Ormazd, Shirin, was married to Liloupar's son Kisra — whom she had left as an orphan and was adopted by Ormazd — after Kisra had performed many great accomplishments for Gurabad. Ormazd bestowed him with the title of Parvez, making Kisra's name "Kisra Parvez." Using an unwitting Shirin as her pawn, Liloupar had her daughter deliver poisoned honey to one of Ormazd's banquets, which resulted in the deaths of Ormazd and all of Shirin's other siblings. Shirin went insane upon realizing what had happened, while Kisra took the opportunity to take the title of king for himself, adding the title "Ravan" to his name and becoming "Kisra Parvezravan."

As king, Parvezravan turned to Liloupar for a method to gain even more power, and she gave him the idea of creating Jinn-powered machines. Parvezravan forced Shirin to create mindless Jinn to power these machines, which were then used to replace the slave labor that was used in Gurabad. These slaves, left without a means to make a living, were easily swayed into joining the "Brass Mask" rebellion led by Khorramdin — who was actually Parvezravan and Shirin's son, Shiruyeh, who had been banished from Gurabad by his father for being a potential threat to his reign. Liloupar gave Shiruyeh her support, appearing before disgruntled workers and former slaves under the guise of aiding them in their time of need.

Eventually, Shiruyeh amassed enough followers to launch an open rebellion. The exact details of what happened afterwards are unclear, but Liloupar used the power of the Abyss as the final part of her revenge, causing Parvezravan to turn into a monster while much of Gurabad was swallowed into the earth, including Shirin and Shiruyeh. Shortly afterwards, a plague arose from the chasm and killed half the inhabitants of Gurabad.

Legacy

Because Liloupar's machinations were unknown to the people of Gurabad — albeit suspected by her fellow Jinni Ferigees — Liloupar is largely presented as a neutral figure in renditions of Gurabad's downfall, whereas Shirin was vilified despite having little to no awareness of her actions due to her insanity. The fall of Gurabad and the plague that came after it was known as "Shiruyeh's Plague," and Shiruyeh himself was dubbed the Lord of Pestilence. Ever since then, the name "Shiruyeh" came to be associated with cowards and exiles.

Khaenri'ahn automatons, including a Ruin Golem identical to the one in Devantaka Mountain, can be found in Gurabad. Zandik noted that the parts he found around Ardravi Valley could be used to repair the machines in Gurabad. It is currently unknown why Khaenri'ah sent Ruin Golems to Gurabad and Devantaka Mountain specifically.

Trivia

Etymology

• Gurabad (Persian: گورابه "City of Gur") is a reference to the ancient city of Gur, which was the original capital city of the Sasanian Empire and was built by the founder, Ardashir I. Its name appears in the Shahnameh, which was the inspiration for much of Sumeru's desert lore; Ormazd, Parvezravan, Shirin, and Shiruyeh are all derived from influential historical Sasanian rulers.
• Gur can also mean gôr (Persian: گور "grave"), in which case "Gurabad" would mean "city of the grave"
• "Shiruyeh's Plague" is based on the actual Plague of Sheroe, which killed Kavad II (Sheroe) two months into his reign and was a major factor in the downfall of the Sasanian Empire. The plague devastated the later Sasanian capital city of Ctesiphon and the entire western side of the empire.

See Also

• Port Ormos, originally known as Orghana, the city of the Twenty-Nine Deys

Other Languages

Language	Official Name
English	Gurabad
Chinese (Simplified)	居尔城 Jū'ěr-chéng
Chinese (Traditional)	居爾城 Jū'ěr-chéng
Japanese	ジュラバド Jurabado
Korean	구라바드 Gurabadeu
Spanish	Gurabad
French	Gurabad
Russian	Гюрабад Gyurabad
Thai	Gurabad
Vietnamese	Gurabad
German	Gurabad
Indonesian	Gurabad
Portuguese	Gurabad

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