Caravansarai District (Ra’azum)

The Caravansarai District is Ra’azum’s primary hub for long-distance overland trade. It serves as the city’s interface between external caravan traffic and the internal markets, handling bulk goods, animals, storage, and staging before commerce disperses into the city proper.

The district is deliberately positioned to absorb the disruption, noise, and risk of caravan activity while keeping the ceremonial and religious heart of the city insulated.

Location and Adjacency

The Caravansarai District lies along the western approaches of Ra’azum, outside the city’s interior core and removed from its most sacred districts.

Adjacent areas include:

• Southeast: West Market District via a major internal trade route
• East: Interior districts of Ra’azum
• West: Overland caravan roads leading into the hinterlands
• Southwest: Peripheral staging grounds and approach yards

The district is directly connected to the West Market District by a long commercial thoroughfare known colloquially as The Long Haul, which skirts the outer edges of the temple districts and allows caravans to bypass the city’s religious core entirely.

District Character

The Caravansarai District is expansive, utilitarian, and transient.

• Large enclosed caravan yards
• Warehouses, granaries, and bulk storage facilities
• Stables and animal pens
• Inns and barracks built for short-term stays

The district is most active at dawn and dusk, when caravans arrive, depart, or redistribute goods.

Trade and Operations

The district handles:

• Long-distance bulk trade
• Draft animals and pack beasts
• Caravan security and guards
• Customs inspection and taxation
• Temporary storage and redistribution of goods

Transactions here are slower, larger, and more formal than those conducted in the West Market District.

Security and Control

Security within the Caravansarai District is visible and functional.

• Guards patrol caravan yards and main routes
• Entry and exit points are monitored
• Disputes are resolved quickly to avoid trade disruption

Order is maintained to protect commerce rather than to enforce morality.

Social Role

The Caravansarai District is Ra’azum’s first and last impression for overland merchants.

• Many foreign traders never enter the inner city
• News from distant regions arrives here before spreading inward
• Caravan crews transition from overland discipline to urban negotiation

It is a district defined by waiting, bargaining, and preparation.

District Character

The Caravansarai District is practical, orderly, and impersonal. It exists to contain the friction of long-distance trade so that the rest of Ra’azum does not have to.

Pages in this category

This category includes pages for:

• Caravan yards and enclosures
• Warehouses and granaries
• Inns, barracks, and stables
• Trade officials and caravan masters

All relevant pages should be categorized here.