Ilsig

This northern Ranke town of several thousand is an old Arabie settlement, seized and oppressed by the Rankene overlords in the last century. The Ilsigi people are swarthy and hook-nosed, and speak Arabiq, which they call Ilsigi. Most of them speak Common as well, but unless its to their advantage, they often forget how in the presence of strangers. The town's architecture is distinctly foreign, with many minuets and beautiful mosaic tiling in most buildings.

Ilsig has fallen on hard times. Most of its people are bitter and sullen, reliving past glories in their imagination while resenting the prosperity of the Rankenes who arrive from the capital. Those Ilsigi with any get-up-and-go have generally got up and left, mainly to Sanctuary, where they often congregate in Little Ilsig, drink, and talk about restoring their ancient town to independence.

Alhambra

One of the most brilliant jewels of human Alusian architecture is the Alhambra, a series of palaces and gardens built under the Nazari Dynasty in ~ 1400AP. This mighty compound of buildings - including the summer palace called Generalife, with its fountains and gardens - stands at the foot of Ranke's highest mountain range, and overlooks the city below and the fertile plain around it.

Its most celebrated portions — a series of courtyards surrounded by rooms — present a varied repertoire of Arabie arched, columnar, and domical forms. The romantic imagination of centuries of visitors has been captivated by the special combination of the slender columnar arcades, fountains, and light-reflecting water basins found in those courtyards — the Lion Court in particular; this combination is understood from inscriptions to be a physical realization of descriptions of Paradise in Arabiq poetry.

http://z.about.com/d/gospain/1/7/p/4/-/-/mini-P1030348.JPG

From Damian Corrigan, a Rankene painter.