Saqirbhalan

Exterior

The villa of Saqirbhalan is constructed in a relatively simple style common in the Calimshan of the late 12th century. The bulk of the building is composed of tightly fitted mud bricks layered on both sides with panels of gypsum plaster which are delicately molded to subtle but repeating patterns, giving the exterior a slightly "scalloped" appearance. While the main house is three stories in height, the northeastern corner is decorated with a 5-story minaret and "wind tower", added some years after the completion of the villa.

The main building, on its south and eastern face, is nestled directly up to the drudach wall of Wahir Drudach, itself overshadowed by the looming bulk of the sabban wall of Axash Sabban. A wide staircase allows access from the drudach "street" up to both the sabban "highway" and to a gated tunnel that leads to the "ground" level of the more southerly Grand Ward. A staircase built against the side of the villa itself provides access for foot traffic moving from the drudach street level to the ground level of Wahir Drudach. There are only two entrances to the villa, one on the drudach street level, the main entrance for family and visitors, and the large wagon gate at the ground level for deliveries and servants. There are few windows looking out to the city at large (mostly to protect the inhabitants from the glaring heat of direct sunlight, but also as a protection against thieves. There are small, narrow slits in each outward facing room that are sheltered beneath a closeable wooden shutter, allowing the inhabitants to gain more or less natural light in the house as desired. On the northwestern corner of the building, on the third floor, is a wooden screened balcony/porch, which serves as the only main vantage in the main house to observe the passersby on the ground floor below. These shutters and the wooden porch are the only real relief of color on the white external surface of the building, being made of dark teak enameled with jade.

The roof of the main building is protected on all sides by a 6' white plaster crenelation with brass fittings. These fittings are used to fasten a modular, removable "roof" of brightly colored silk awnings, allowing the roof itself to serve as private or public spaces, either open to the night air or sheltering from the worst of the day's heat. Removable decorative wooden screens can be set up to create "rooms" of a sort on the uppermost floor, allowing at least a dozen individual rooms to enjoy the night air.

Jaffar's Minaret is the highest point attached to the villa, and it is accessible from the 1st (not ground) and 2nd floors. It is a "wind tower" design, meaning that the minaret itself is a square bodied structure with a circle spiral internal staircase. The walls of the minaret contain hollow channels and the four sides of tower beneath the single open floor balcony on the fifth floor are "scooped" out, channeling wind from any direction down the internal channels into the rooms below it. These scoops are inset and tiled with intricate jade, pale blue, and deep violet arabesques depicting repeating geometries suggestive of the wings of tropical birds.

Ground Floor

The ground floor, also called the servants' or slaves' level is accessed by a brightly painted (jade) wooden reinforced double gate large enough to accommodate a medium sized wagon with a servant's door inset into one of the large wagon doors. The ground level outside the gate is usually crowded with an ever changing assortment of beggars, gamesmen, snake charmers, simple goods vendors, and watermen, who take advantage of the house's proximity to the long and vaulted tunnel beneath the drudach and sabban wall into the underlevels of Grand Ward. Inside the gates is a large, dimly lit gravel floored space with a high vaulted brick and plaster ceiling with wooden beams for hanging closed lamps. A half-dozen stone "cells" on either wall of the receiving space can serve as temporary or overflow storage for goods or stalls for a goodly number of horses, camels, or other beasts. A large wooden door leads deeper into the house directly opposite the main gates, and a small door provides access to a flight of narrow steps up to the main house level.

The large door leads to the house's kitchen. This is, again, a dim and cool room brightly paneled in white gypsum plaster and vaulted above. Lighting in this room is provided by lanterns hanging from the thick wooden roof support beams and by a series of small, rectangular wooden screened windows set high up on the north wall. Also on the north wall are the white bulges indicating the chimney flues for a bank of three differently sized ovens. The central, and largest oven, is designed for the roasting of meat of all kinds, and large enough to accommodate a large pig whole. The right hand oven is a clay brick oven used for the baking of breads and pastries, while the left hand oven is partially emergent into the room and the iron fittings set into its surface are used for the pan frying of vegetables and the boiling of water for soups and teas.

The eastern wall is dominated by a long, low, compartmentalized granite trough used for water. A brass and copper pump is located at either end of the 6' trench and draws water from the clean water granite cistern beneath the house, which is also accessible here through a locked, heavy stone plug in the floor. The water that drains out of the plugs beneath the trench is routed to a secondary cistern beneath the opposite side of the kitchen which is used for cleaning, animal and plant watering, and other secondary functions.

The central space of this room is taken up by a long brick raised counter upon which a series of granite slabs have been placed. There are numerous small nooks and shelves set into the brickwork of the central counter for immediate to hand storage of kitchenware and sundries.

Set into the south wall of the kitchen is a small, brass plated dumb waiter for delivery of goods to the serving stations on the first and second floors directly above it. There is also another small door which provides a short, narrow stair access to the upstairs serving station. A short flight of downward stairs provides access a locked door to the house's only commonly known half-cellar. This is the storage location for the bulk of perishable and non-perishable goods, including enough space for two large tuns of wine and several huge and heavy ceramic containers for various kinds of oil. At the far end of this short and narrow chamber is a second door, also locked and heavily reinforced, which contains the house's supply of silver and gold fineware as well as the house's supply of intensely valuable imported spices. A secret passage behind one of the shelving units here on the south side leads to the Secret Cellar.

The final door from the kitchen leads back toward the direction of the stalls and is lockable from the outside only. This door leads to the servants' (slaves') quarters. This long hall heads straight back west and is punctuated with two doors on either side. The first two doors lead to private quarters for favored servants or slaves, usually, but not always, the head cook and the chief steward. The other two rooms are barracks style sleeping quarters for segregated male and female servants or slaves.

Main Floor

The main entrance to the house is located up a short flight of steps from the Wahir Drudach wall thoroughfare, beneath a sheltered "spade" shaped portico. Though the facade of the building is an unrelieved white with textured scalloping, the area around the main door is heavily decorated with a repeating arabesque pattern reminiscent of the wings of tropical birds in jade, pale green, sky blue, and deep violet tiles. The doors are lacquered and enameled jade teak, double style with rounded tops, and reinforced with heavy iron bracing and bolts. There are two iron barred view ports to examine any visitors to the estate.

Entering the main doors, the visitor first enters a short, wide, entrance chamber with a single lamp hanging from the vaulted ceiling. The floor of this room, and the next one, are both made of cool white tiles interspersed with dark jade tiles in a repeating thin diamond formation. Immediately to the right of the main door is a small door that leads to a closet with hooks for outer garments and shelves for shoes, and a second door on the far end of this that leads to the first floor serving room. Immediately to the left of the main door is marble basin set into the wall that, according to Calishite custom, is to be kept full of cool water for the benefit of visitors to the home at all times.

A short flight of three tile steps takes the visitor down to the majlis (receiving/sitting room). This room is lightly vaulted and cool, light being provided by either the open front doorway or the hanging brass lamps above the center of the room. There are four wood screen doors out from this room. They lead to the dining room on the eastern wall, two northern doors to the majaz (corridor adjoining the inner courtyard), and the iwan (family room) on the western wall. This room is scattered with thick, heavily patterned carpets and there are low, thick pillowed couches on every wall interspersed with low brass and carved wooden tables. This is the room for conducting business with acquaintances, and many visitors will never enter further than here. Beautiful tapestries are usually hung from the walls here, giving the room a rich, textured appearance.

Proceeding through either of the northern doors will lead to the majlis, a short "T" shaped corridor that opens to the north through an onion shaped archway onto the arcade surrounding the sahn (central courtyard). The majlis is tiled, like the majority of the house's main level's floors, in repeating white and dark jade narrow diamond patterns.

The heart of many homes, the sahn (courtyard) is a beautiful open space of greenery in the desert. As simple as the exterior of the villa is, the interior walls of the courtyard are the opposite. The first floor of the courtyard is an open arcade of columns on every side. The slim, arched columns are brightly decorated with patterns of green, blue, and violet tiles. Above the main level, on the second floor, the four white plaster walls are carved with flowers and vines and tropical birds. Each wall sports a narrow balcony overlooking the courtyard and each balcony is protected by retractable dark teak wooden carved screens. The sahn itself is filled with tropical plants, flowers, vines, palms, and ferns in heavy marble and ceramic planters. Low chaise lounges, colorful thrown rugs, and small brass and glass tables cluster in the center of the courtyard to take advantage of the shade and the cool, humid air. In the very center of the courtyard is a low edged pool (a square with the four corners rounded incut) with a low, lotus flower shaped fountain in the center. The pool is the home of small, decorative fish and the bottom of the pool glitters with tiles embedded with flecks of gold.

The eastern wall of the sahn leads through the column arcade to the three-walled dining room. The open wall is simply a series of thin columns on a raised dais, which can be closed with colorful silken draperies. The dining room itself is actually more of a recessed dining well, a large rectangular shallow depression with a series of low connected tables filling the center. The outer ring of the depression forms cushioned seating for up to 26 diners. A large chandelier of lamp sconces can be lowered from the ceiling over the table for bright lighting. Scalloped glass wall scones and table based oil lamps can provide more intimate lighting as desired. The circumference of the room is draped with thick falling curtains of pale, emerald, and dark green. The eastern wall is decorated with three large, ornately decorated beaten silver mirrors. There are two doorways in the southern half of this room, the southernmost leads to a simple, utilitarian chamber used by servants to stage and prepare food rolled up from the dumbwaiter from the kitchens below. The second passage leads to the majlis at the front of the house. The northern wall holds a wide, columned series of arches to the receiving area for the broad, low, spiral marble stairs the lead up to the second floor, and beyond that, the minaret itself.

The northern wall of the sahn is a paneled marble wall set with large, circular geometric mosaics set with blue, jade, and small golden tiles. The center panel is inset with a dramatic, stylized lion headed fountain that pours into a basin of marble. Behind this wall is the bathhouse of the villa. This is a multi-chambered complex entirely of marble and diamond shaped tiles. The easternmost chamber, entered from behind screens off the arcade and stairwell chamber is a small, marble preparatory chamber with stone benches and brass hooks in the walls for hanging clothing. This leads to the next chamber, the hararet (or hot bath). This marble room contains benches along the north and south wall. The center of the room is occupied by a large, smooth rounded stone, the stomach stone. The four corners of this room hold small basins filled with water which can be heated by opening flue vents in the northern wall. These flue vents are designed to siphon heat from the chimney system behind the wall that lead to the massive ovens of the kitchen below, causing the water to bubble and boil over the hot rocks and filling the chamber with steam. In this chamber, residents and guests can sit on the benches, or lay out on the rounded stone in the center of the room, and receive the steam in quiet peace. This is also the room to receive vigorous massages, and to be scraped with pumice and oil. A second passage to the west in this room leads to a short hallway in the middle of the northern wall of the house. There is an archway here to the next room of the complex, to the west, and a closed, stone paneled door in the northern wall that leads to the facilities.

The toilet chamber, accessible here and also from a short hallway along the northern wall for those outside the bath complex, consists of a raised stone dais in the middle of the floor with a hole in the center, for the user to sit upon, along with a short stick fastened to a piece of contoured stone placed in a holder inside the dais. When the user's task is complete, they pull a wooden handled chain hanging from the ceiling and a small sluice gate beneath the floor opens to wash away the foulness to the sewer channels in the Upper Muzad beneath the city as well as washing the contoured stone used for cleansing oneself.

The next room in the bath complex is the warm room, in which a bath of warm but not hot water can be drawn into a marble inset square tub. The water here can be flushed out down to the waste cistern after use. It is common in this chamber to apply scented soaps to the body. A final passage leads from this door to the cool room, which is in the northwestern corner of the house.

In the cool room, a short flight of marble stairs leads down into a dim, cool marble chamber. The room can be illuminated by several sconces in the walls, or by opening narrow screened windows high up in the room. There are small marble couches decorated with silken cloths and pillows here for the bathers to relax, read, or nap in peace and quiet. The last doorway in the bathing complex leads to a second chamber much like the very first chamber, with stone benches, shelves, and brass hooks in the walls used to store clean clothes, which will be left there for the bathers by the servants. A doorway here leads south behind wooden screens and back into the arcade of columns, and thence through a series of arches into the iwan, or inset family room.

The western side of the sahn, and thus the western side of the house, can be accessed by passing through the western arcade of columns and up a short flight of wide steps, through another wall of arches, much like its mirror chamber in the dining room on the eastern face. The iwan is a large, high ceiling vaulted chamber laid out in an open plan. Low reclining couches and curved seating are arranged here to break up the open space of the room, forming discussion groups. There are three of these seating arrangements, all draped with brightly colored fabrics and pillows. The couches and lounges generally face inward, against the western wall. The center of this wall is dominated by a smooth, arched, shallow shell upon a raised dais of marble. The outer pillars of the shell are carved lightly with Chondathan style feminine forms depicting spirits of music, art, and creativity. In addition to being the family room, this is also the music room, and the shell-like stage and contrasting sound baffling tapestries and smooth, reflective walls serve to artfully amplify any sound or music on the stage throughout the room and out into the courtyard and dining room across the way. The light, pale painted beams of thin wood that cross the chamber at twice head height support a star field of glass lanterns suspended upon silver chains. A short hallway south of here leads to the majlis, to which is attached a concealed panel that leads to the the servant stairs to the ground level.

Second Floor

Taking the circular flight of wide marble stairs in the northeastern corner of the house. There is a relatively narrow, arched hallway here that runs the external perimeter of the square villa here. At each of the four corners is an open chamber, connected on two walls to the continuing hallway. There are narrow, wooden screened windows here that can be opened or closed with top-paneled hinged jade painted shutters. The walls of the connecting hallways are of a uniform, cream painted plaster. Small, narrow tables, mirrors, and brightly colored tapestries decorate the walls of the corridors. The inner wall of the hallway is broken by two wooden doors on each face of the villa, heading back toward the courtyard. Starting in the northeastern corner of the house, where the stairs rise, and moving counter-clockwise, the open chambers at the four corners are:

Stair chamber

This chamber serves primarily as a space for the rising wide marble stairs. After a landing for exiting to the second floor here, these stairs continue upward to the rooftop level, and further to the upper balcony of the minaret far above the house. Directly opposite the stairs, on the southeastern wall of this chamber, is a marble fresco built into the wall of a sad-eyed, beautiful young woman dressed in flowing bridal clothes. She is standing with open arms, as if in welcome. Behind her, a verdant, pastoral scene spreads out beneath a disk that depicts either the sun or the moon. This is the young wife of the builder of the house, Khamal yn Harsad el Yaffir, the "Poet Mage".

Solarium

This open chamber is unlike any others. The north and western walls are composed of sliding stone panels that can conceal or reveal protruding, large wooden screened bay windows. The floor of this chamber is tiled with a mosaic of tiles depicted in radiant yellows, creams, oranges, and pinks, depicting a stylized sun. There are wooden benches built into the bay windows here, covered with silken cloth of bright colors and patterns. This room has a commanding view of the rest of Wahir Drudach. The other walls of other white washed villas, as well as the brightly colored tent and wooden structure covered rooftops of the smaller buildings of Emerald Ward spill out below the windows to the north and west. From the western wall, the distant towers and domes of Faiths Ward can be seen, while from the northern window, the rising brown, gold, and red haze of Calimshan desert fills the horizon.

Library

This chamber can serve as both a small office and library. Sheltered, smokeless lamps are embedded into the walls here, and a heavy desk of paneled duskwood faces to the northeast. The walls are lined with diamond shaped niches for scrolls, as well as built in shelving for books and papers. A locked cabinet against the northeastern wall contains expensive dyes and inks as well as valuable linen paper and cases of papyrus.

Shrine

This chamber contains a small shrine to Lathander, the Morninglord, built by the Lady Aribeth du Chagne of Selgaunt. Four small angled marble benches form a V, whose open end faces to the southeast, toward the rising sun. In the southeastern corner is an teardrop shaped marble altar built upon a small raised dais. At on time, a two foot wide disk of beaten gold hung suspended from decorative chains, but it has since been removed.

The eight doorways that lead off of the halls, two on each side, lead to the villa's bedrooms. Each of the bedrooms is decorated in a unique style, but they all have certain things in common. Each has a single door of polished dark wood reinforced with decorative black iron banding in intricate scrollwork. The doors can be locked or unlocked with individual keys, copies of which are held by the room's inhabitant, the house's steward, and the master of the house. Each room backs on to a balcony shared with it's immediate neighbor on the north, west, south, and east upper walls of the courtyard. These shared balconies are accessed by teak wood screens that are lockable or unlockable with the same keys as the front doors to the bedchambers. Starting at the northeastern bedchamber and moving counter-clockwise, the rooms are as follows:

Bedchamber 1 (Scarlet's Room)

This room is bright and lavishly appointed. The floor is inset with marble diamond tiles inset with jade and gold flecks. The alabaster walls are lightly textured, with pale, heartwood wainscoting in repeating square disks. A series of low marble steps leads up to the bed, a large white marble installation affixed to the floor. The most recent long-term inhabitant of this room was the former master of this house, Dorian Adricus.

Bedchamber 2

The most recent long-term inhabitant of this room was a bodyguard of Dorian, a being known as Kahn. It also served the wizard Adricus as a supplemental private office and workroom.

Bedchamber 3 (Thelonius' Room)

This room is cool and gray for much of the day, getting only indirect light in the morning hours. The styling of this room tends toward the spartan, with fitted gray slate tiles on the floor and white and pale blue walls. Two features of this room stand out from every other room in the house. The ceiling of the room is scalloped and white during the day, but at night, a permanent magical effect comes into being. The shadows of the ceiling are lit by twinkling star lights that depict strange and alien constellations. In the north wall of the room a full, floor to ceiling mirror is built into the wall. The mirror frame appears to be constructed of lead or pewter, but his hard to the touch, and is shaped in a quasi-organic pattern reminiscent, but not explicitly depicting, any living thing. The dark glass of the mirror is actually a gate to the Shadow Laboratory. The most recent long-term inhabitant of this room was a shadow mage, Nerick Spellchaser. It served as a supplementary laboratory and workroom, as the wizard had no need of sleep.

Bedchamber 4 (Faen's Room)

The most recent long-term inhabitant of this room was a monk of the Order of the Phoenix, Den.

Bedchamber 5

The most recent long-term inhabitant of this room was a sorceress, Ashella Milsimmar.

Bedchamber 6

There was no recent long-term inhabitant of this room, as it served as a supplementary laboratory and workroom for the sorceress Ashella.

Bedchamber 7

The most recent long-term inhabitant of this room was a mercenary and minstrel, Hyacinth Knight.

Bedchamber 8 (Aemhan's Room)

This room is comfortably dark for much of the day. It receives only indirect sunlight in the late afternoon as the sun passes into the western sky through the intricately detailed wooden screening. The walls here are layered, textured panels of dark wood in pleasing square panels, with contrasting russet colored mahogany, nearly black teak, and pale gray duskwood. The floor is a series of black polished square tiles of marble with thin striations and flecks of pale white. An ovoid bed sits upon a low raised stone platform, covered with dark silk sheets and subdued gray, brown, and dark red pillows. A low reclining chaise rests near the balcony screen. A low table of brass and glass is covered with parchments, books, and drawings on a variety of subjects. The most recent long-term inhabitant of this room was a priestess of Shar, Lucia bint Delilah.

Third Floor (Roof Level)

The third floor, or the roof, is accessible from the winding stair set into the minaret in the northeastern corner of the house. The heavily reinforced green painted door is secured against outside intrusion. This upper floor is a colorful passage of fluttering, multi-colored silken drapery. Framed by a waist-high crenelation of white stone, the uppermost floor of the villa can be divided at will by running up the temporary silken walls on brass frames. When fully covered, the roof level is a dim and colorful series of rooms decorated with portable brass, glass, silk, and wooden furniture. The stone roof floor is covered with a multitude of rugs and blankets, each sporting unique, geometric designs. With all silken panels raised, the roof very strongly resembles a scarlet colored version of the tents used by the nomadic herders of ancient Calimshan.

Minaret Level

A number of wide, spiral steps rise from roof level (ultimately from the first floor) through the squared wind tower to a large, jade enamled, circular double trap door set into the tower's ceiling (the floor of the minaret level). Illumination within the tower itself is provided exclusively by covered sconces set into the wall, as the walls are occupied by a double layer of stone piping through which the cool breezes of the upper city are drawn down into the house. The minaret level itself, accessed through the ornate, secure upper trapdoor allows the visitor a startling view of the city of Calimport. From the railed, square chamber, the visitor can see the fluttering flags and ribbons of the Djen Arenas to the northwest, the glittering gold and white domes of the temples of Temple Ward to the west, the bright blue and silver disk of the sea to the southwest and south, the rising walls, terraces, and gardens of the Noble, High, and Palace Wards to the south and south east, and the thin golden spire of the golden Auret to the east.

Secret Cellar

Accessible only from the house's vault for silver and gold fineware, the main entrance to the "secret cellar" is behind the locked door to the pantry, and further, the even more secure silver closet. A stone catch cleverly concealed on one of the built in stone shelves on the villa's south interior wall allows one to pivot the shelf aside, revealing a short flight of narrow, dark stairs leading to a stone door beneath the drudach street level (set into the drudach and ward wall). The terminating stone door is as old as the villa's foundations, possibly predating the construction of the house itself, and appears to be composed of a massive, solid block of some sort of serpentine. Any living being walking the short flight of stairs causes the stirring of an unusual permanent magical effect. A pale blue silver rune begins to glow steadily brighter as one approaches the door, brightening from starlight to full candle flame by the time one is standing in front of the door. The rune is curved and complex and is represented in no known language. It is presumably the arcane mark of Khamal yn Harsad el Yaffir, but may in fact predate the Poet Mage.

The room beyond the door, in general, is a large, unevenly sized work space built across multiple levels. A series of low, vaulted ceilings give the area a closed, claustrophobic feeling to most surface dwelling beings. The chambers may, in fact, be a portion of the upper Muzad, sealed off from external access long ago. The walls are thick, mortared stone that occasionally have a "bleeding" appearance as the rock leaks rust red iron from concealed moisture. Illumination in the chamber is provided by a series of mismatched standing iron and brass candelabras.

The entrance chamber of the laboratory is a mostly circular chamber whose floor is set with an ancient, 8-pointed starburst picked out in faded brass inlay. Along the northwestern and northeastern arc of this chamber are semi-circular low stone planters containing a clashing riot of strange bushes, stunted trees, creeping vines, lichen and moss covered rocks, and flowers of every size and description. These planters are lit seemingly chaotically by small drifting globes of golden light. These light globes follow a prearranged pattern of illumination, granting just the correct amount of simulated sunlight to the varied and disparate plant life contained in this magical subterranean garden. Three secondary chambers are accessible from this main level, two smaller chambers to the east and south set upon short rising flights of stone stairs and one much larger chamber sunken to the west beyond a falling flight of marble steps. All chambers are visible from this brass starburst through arches as wide as the chambers that they access.

The eastern hemispheric chamber of the laboratory is currently serving as an alchemical laboratory. Stone and wooden shelves of various styles and designs crowd the walls of this chamber, stocked with boxes, jars, and baskets of dried, preserved, and fresh ingredients, each meticulously labeled and categorized in the same cramped, spidery handwriting. A circular stone table is set into the center of the room with two low stone benches flanking it. The table is large enough to contain an alchemical still (alembic, retort, and cucurbit), several different sizes of mortar and pestles, as well as a wooden case of scalpels, scrapes, mirrors, tongs, glass stir rods, and sealants. There is enough space left over on the polished stone table for work. A low series of bookshelves contains handwritten journals, laboratory notes, and essential works in the field of alchemical research.

The first southern hemispheric chamber of the laboratory is currently serving as an enchantment chamber for the creation of magical garments. Stone shelves line the walls, each containing long bolts of various cloth set end out. The bolts of cloth are sealed against moisture and decay by static fields of magic, providing the shelves with a faintly shimmering appearance, like the desert beneath the heat of the noonday sun. Fine racks, tailor's dummies, and a rosewood loom fill the chamber, surrounding a long, low stone table for spreading cloth. A standing rack contains all the tools a tailor could want, including shears, length sticks, dowels, and pin stands. A second, sealed wooden cabinet contains multiple small drawers, each hand-labeled with different strange and magical components for final magical enchantment stages.

The largest chamber of the laboratory sits to west of the entrance chamber, easily seen by the railing adorned ledge of on its western wall and accessible via a short, falling series of marble steps. This chamber currently serves as an experimental chamber and operating theater. Another mostly circular chamber, this room is surrounded by a small, 6 inch wide shallow moat of running water fed by a small, ever-flowing font on the northern wall. Visitors to the room need to step over this moat of running water to access the chamber. A second staircase leaves this chamber to the south, accessing the final hemispheric chamber via a flight of ascending stairs. Defined by the ring of flowing water, the operating theater is tiled with a fitted pattern of black tiles depicting the "wheel", or six fitted "pie wedge" pieces forming a full circle. Set within this circle are a various "stations", each defined by a single piece of a wedge, the better to prevent the energies of various experiments from interfering with each other.

• Constructed by Khamal yn Harsad el Yaffir, the "Poet Mage" in 1187 DR. The older wizard built the villa as a gift to his much younger wife, however tragically she died before it finished construction, he turned his mind to quiet poetry until disappearing 1221 DR. The estate passed into the possession of the state in 1221 DR.
• Purchased in state government auction by Pasha Namir yn Namir el Ghabbal, pasha of the Innkeepers Society, as a home for his family in 1223 DR. He was poisoned in 1225 DR by his own son, Vekam yn Namir el Ghabbal, the ambitious young shadow pasha of "El Ahlani" (The Welcomers), an aggressive thieves guild who specialized in preying upon foreigners and strangers to the city. Pasha Vekam staged a takeover of the Innkeepers Society and began turning the city's inns to dens of murder and crime. He was murdered in a purge of El Ahlani by the other thieves guilds when prominent foreign merchants began avoiding staying in the deadly inns and hostels of Calimport in 1231 DR.
• Inherited by Jaffar yn Vekam el Ghabbal, eldest son of Pasha Vekam, one of the conspirators with his father's murderers in 1231 DR. Under the protection of his fellow conspirators, he became the figurehead leader of the Innkeepers Society and oversaw the dismantling of El Ahlani. The guild of innkeepers prospered under Pasha Jaffar, who in his lifetime oversaw the construction of Best Harps Hall in Marekh Sabban, Maz'ahl Drudach. He also built the slim 5-story attached minaret to watch for the coming and going of the ship of his second son, Shariq yn Jaffar el Ghabbal, who was a prosperous dealer in ivory, teak, and spices from Chult, in which he spent many hours at the end of his life. Pasha Jaffar was found dead in his sleep watching for the return of Shariq after his eldest son died of the Lingering Plague in 1272 DR.
• Inherited by Shariq yn Jaffar el Ghabbal in 1272 DR. An adventurer at heart, Shariq el Ghabbal conceded the leadership of the Innkeepers Society to his father's vizar Tammin yn Salir el Malikkar. Shariq filled the house with relics, trinkets, and mementos of his trades and travels in Tashalar and the Chultan penninsula, as well as many dozens of captured Chultan slaves. Though a respected family man, he exercised a broad cruel streak in the treatment of his slaves. One in particular, San'aa, turned out to be a powerful witch among her people. She endured his brutal treatment for several years until she carried his child to term, using the many latches she had on his soul to enspell him to her will. She forced him to steadily murder his own wife and children, paving the way for her own son to become the sole inheritor of his estates. The witch San'aa and the "Mad Ghabbal" Shariq were eventually destroyed by the former vizar Tammin yn Salir el Malikkar, who waited until the crazed man destroyed the el Ghabbal family before moving against the two creatures in order to gather their wealth to himself. The villa and all its possessions passed to el Malikkar in 1289 DR.
• Purchased (stolen) by Pasha Tammin yn Salir el Malikkar in 1289 DR. The manipulative el Malikkar moved quickly to dismantle or absorb the remainder of the el Ghabbal family holdings. In addition to a cunning mind and manipulative will, el Malikkar held a secret skill with magic. He used all three to gain controlling interest in several other guilds during his lifetime. Pasha el Malikkar conducted the first necromantic experiments on the property of Saqirbhalan, uncovering the hidden magical laboratory of Khamal el Yaffir. As the aging el Malikkar neared his 110th birthday, his living family grew more and more uncomfortable in the house. They eventually left the house and the reclusive pasha to his work, taking on more of the non-magical business. When Tammin yn Salir el Malikkar emerged from his villa by night, now a fledgling vampire, it didn't take long for his clumsy predations to garner the attention of a foreign-born paladin of Lathander, Aribeth du Chagne of Selgaunt in 1335 DR.
• Gifted to Aribeth du Chagne of Selgaunt in 1335 DR. The young and beautiful female paladin was gifted the house of el Malikkar by his remaining family who considered the home cursed and had long since moved on to other properties. She spent some time in the home, attempting to cleanse it of any of the darkness laid over the house by Pasha Malikkar and before him the witch San'aa. Her outspoken foreign ways and her startling beauty brought her to the attention of a local sultan, Said yn Belaid el Djenispool, one of the younger sons of the syl-pasha. The paladin Aribeth and the Sultan Said eventually became lovers. Though the Sultan Said had many wives, he treated Aribeth as if she were his primary wife, all but moving his primary residence to Saqirbhalan for a time. He, his wife, and his children were murdered there in 1358 DR as part of the extermination of the Djenispool family by Ramal al Akeer el Zalaqh, the usurper Mehmed V, in 1358 DR.
• Gifted to Balak Radan yn Radan el Mustaar in 1358 DR. Balak Radan was strong supporter of the new dictator Mehmed V, and in fact was the man who led the team to exterminate the previous inhabitants of the villa. The cruel and driven military officer spent little time in the house since he was often out on maneuvers bringing the remaining recalcitrant cities into line with the new pasha's rule. That rule would turn out to be short-lived, and little skill on the battlefield could spare Balak Radan from assassination during the fall of his master by the forces of the current syl-pasha Ralan el Pesarkhal in 1362 DR.
• Purchased in state auction by Samir yn Akkotal el Tanthal in 1363 DR. The spendthrift and wastrel son of Pasha Akkotal yn Harud el Tanthal of the Jewelers Guild, the young Samir made a habit of lavish purchases and extravagant gambles with his father's outlandish fortune, most of which on were done to impress his equally foolish and imprudent friends, or simply on a whim. The young nobleman never set foot inside the villa, and soon lost the property during a gambling game at the Golden Maidens festhall to a foreign born wizard, Dorian Adricus, most recently of Cormyr, in 1368 DR.
• Won in a gambling game by Dorian Adricus in 1368 DR. The young wizard Adricus, having recently relocated to Calimport after both positive and less-than-positive run-ins with the War Wizards of Cormyr, quickly set himself up in the years abandoned villa. The ambitious wizard found success as an independent wizard-for-hire outside the borders of Calimshan, as he resisted membership in the Guild Arcane for many years. For the most part, the comings and goings of the reclusive mage were a mystery to the citizens of the city, though he briefly gained notoriety in 1373 DR when he stood public trial for the murder of one of the son of one of the syl-pasha's supporters. Eventually acquitted, the wizard Adricus, in an extravagant display of power, created a verdant oasis outside the city shortly thereafter. When the wizard Adricus and his strange friends vanished in 1374 DR, the government of the syl-pasha el Pesarkhal seized the property for delinquent payment of taxes (bribes) on the urging of the Caleph Arcane Eli yn Adnan el Beza. Once under the control of the state, the personal associates of Pasha el Beza turned the villa inside out searching for the secrets of the departed wizard Adricus. Whatever the Guild Arcane discovered remained within the guild, and the estate was once again sold at state auction to Eldain Lothandrien of Evermeet in 1378 DR.
• Purchased in state auction by Eldain Lothandrien of Evermeet in 1378 DR. The well-respected but reclusive elven mage and businessman Eldain Lothandrien operated the estate for several years, using it primarily as a short-term rental property for visiting foreign associates. The villa passed into the possession of the Muzad based wizard Aemhan yi Shabalyn in 1385 DR.