Djinn City, page 47
Creationists: Archconservative djinn faction that denies evolution and strongly maintains that djinns were created superior to all other life-forms, as evidenced by their powers and long life. A stalwart subset of the conservative movement.
Secret Archaeological Conservation Society: Group strongly in favor of preserving ancient sites of great and mostly obscure significance, the selection and importance of which is only known to itself.
Angling Enthusiasts: One of the most powerful clubs in djinndom. Almost all waterborne vessel captains are members. Djinns in general are great amateur fishermen. The oldest standing member is Bahamut, although he has, for many years, refused to attend meetings, so his exact position is in flux. Also, some have argued that since Bahamut is, in fact, a school of fish, the deliciously piquant situation might arise where Angling Enthusiasts are in a position to bag him. This and other similar concerns continue to amuse the djinn as they while away the ennui of centuries. The group’s main event every year is the Whale-Bashing Run in the Pacific Ocean.
Ageist Society of Young Djinn: ASYD is one of the pioneers of the neo-club scene among younger djinn, forming a counterculture to the traditional club-oriented hierarchy of djinn. The neo-clubs are deliberately without charters, rules of membership, or even any stated purpose. ASYD itself was formed as a protest against the stifling rules and regulations imposed by elder djinn upon society at large, in the form of the Lore and the laws.
Cabal for Zoological Variety: A very old club founded by Givaras the Broken before his fall from grace. Its overt function is to protect favored animals and plants from extinction, although many of the members in fact are more interested in creating new kinds of animals and plants, sometimes with disastrous results. While not as powerful as before, Zoological Variety still boasts an impressive membership and is home to many of the scientific-minded djinns.
Geography
Bengal: Historically wealthy region in the Indian subcontinent, located at the deltaic confluence of multiple Himalayan rivers. An ancient trading hub and population center, the fame, industry, and wealth of which enticed the British to first come to India, where they proved to be the sort of houseguest who just wouldn’t to leave. Currently suffering a hangover from the colonial era: Bengal was split in two by the British and remains divided to this day. West Bengal is a state in India, and East Bengal is the country of Bangladesh. Combined, there are 250 million plus Bengalis in the world, which, anyone will agree, is a damn high number.
Dhaka: Capital city of Bangladesh and one of the most densely populated places on earth. Dhaka has between sixteen and twenty million people, and the urban sprawl is expanding, so at some point it might just straddle the entire delta.
Gulshan, Baridhara, Banani: Suburbs of Dhaka that are somewhat nicer than other suburbs. Known as the tristate colloquially, this is where most embassies are, as well as a larger concentration of restaurants, hotels, clubs, etc.
Wari: An older suburb of Dhaka that was once posh, now not so much.
Sylhet: District of Bangladesh that is somewhat hilly and known for tea gardens. Sylhetis also speak some incomprehensible dialect, and anyone venturing out there would do well to take a reliable translator.
Chittagong: Main port city of Bangladesh and inferior to Dhaka in every way, despite what the Chittagonians may claim. The question is, if Chittagong were so great, why the devil don’t Chittagonians stay there instead of all flocking to Dhaka?
Other districts: Not really important.
Gangaridai: Ancient heart of the first civilization and the jewel in the crown of the djinn empire that was at the core of the Great War.
Kehmet: Egypt, one of the old bastions of djinn civilization. Ruled previously by Horus, also known as Ghorus, Givaras, the Broken.
Lhasa: One of the centers of djinn civilization. Several important Ghul clans resided in the Tibetan plateau, and Lhasa was always considered a Ghul city, even though it was ruled by the Ifrit Empress-elect of Lhasa, who was later married to the High King of Gangaridai in an alliance of the two cities.
Mohenjo Daro: Harappan city, one of the oldest in the world, the ruins of which still continue to amaze us with new findings. It was a primarily Nephilim city, destroyed prior to the Great War. Rumor has it Memmion destroyed it and blamed Gangaridai, thereby precipitating the civil war and causing many Nephilim to join the rebels against the High King.
Foods of Interest
Tehari: A delicious combination of rice, lamb, and green chilies flavored with mustard oil.
Biriyani: Rice, lamb, and potatoes cooked together in sealed pot, typically over a wood fire, and further flavored with dried plums. Possibly the best food ever made. The best version is definitely found in Bengal. People of Hyderabad seem to think they make a good biriyani. Unbiased studies have shown the Bengali kachi is infinitely better. Anyone wishing to dispute this is invited to come find out.
Ghono Dal: Lentils cooked to a thick slurry, this particular version with coconut oil.
Appendix A
“The Charnel Road” (Djinn Nursery Rhyme)
Long ago I walked the black road
Dark and frightening,
The charnel road of endless winding,
In heavy wind and bone dust grinding.
What fresh hell approaches here?
What putrid breath that lurks so near?
Upon a bend I hear a sound,
Panting, snorting, stinking fear,
The deathless baying of a deathless hound.
My lungs are acid slowly floundering,
And in the dark I slip and stumble,
The valves within my chest are pounding,
On the road my courage crumbles.
Breathless curses rend the air and
The rasping flair of tempered steel.
Hooves are sparking in pursuit,
Some heartless foe is hunting me.
We battle upon the forlorn road,
Gray and dark and hopeless still,
Through leafless trees and blighted ruins,
In lifeless lakes and rootless hills.
Decades later, the days are brighter,
I sit at peace beside the sea.
The sole survivor of the day, I
recall that dread stranger upon
the road bent on killing me.
A luckless fellow and his dog,
I think perhaps that fateful day,
He’d been a traveler just like me,
A lonely djinn who’d lost his way.
Appendix B
Excerpt from the Register of Kings
By His Excellency, the Grand Ifrit Mohandas, the Most Efficacious, Lord of the Frozen Waters and the Lands Therein, Holder of One Hundred Patents
In writing this preface, I must humbly include that my own excellence and stature are such that the reader might wonder at this peculiar whim, in listing and enumerating the reigns of the petty kings of Gangaridai, an interest which, I admit, stems from my love of the macabre.
While there was once widespread interest in the doom that befell Gangaridai, the so-called Grand Empire, the First City of Djinn—claims no doubt conflated beyond all reason—it is no longer the fashion to be curious about that epoch, seeing as all the principal characters have fallen out of vogue.
Gangaridai itself seems to have endured a catastrophe due largely to war and mismanagement, for which her kings must be blamed, insofar as they were a singularly stupid lot. A more talentless race of royals can hardly be found. In fact, such was their infamy that in their fall they tarnished the entire occupation of kingship, so that thereafter most premier djinns of the time abandoned that form altogether for the present fashion of republicanism. Had I been consulted in this matter, the Great War would have been over before winter, and everyone would have been home and merry, and the world would have enjoyed its springtime, instead of the prevailing Ice Age, which promises to carry on for quite some depressing time.
Megrim I the Ill-Bred
Nothing surpasses the absolute lack of culture and refinement shown by this Ifrit, the so-called builder of Gangaridai, who chose the riverine land of current Bengal as the site of his residence, having found nowhere else on the continent a place as swampy, unpleasant, or mosquito infested. For the next two centuries, such a great builder was Megrim that he denuded this godforsaken land of all its jungle, replacing it with a blighting eyesore of a sprawl hardly rivaled anywhere in the world until recent times. Had I been consulted by Megrim the Ill-Bred, I would have created a magical capital of soaring towers and pleasure domes. Megrim, instead, created a giant slum and peopled it with djinn, Nephilim, and an assortment of apes.
Eltham the Miser
Having first endured the coarseness of Megrim, the poor denizens of blighted Gangaridai were forced to put up with Eltham the Miser, a nephew of Megrim’s, elected king following an accident that caused the Ill-Bred one to be torn apart by griffins. Eltham the Miser started off his reign in good form by taxing everyone into poverty, driving all trade away from the city through punishing port charges, and literally sinking the far-flung maritime power of the empire by using his navy to pirate the very ships coming to do commerce in his hideous city.
What he did with his obscene wealth is unknown, but it is rumored that he converted everything into gold and hoarded it in a reverse basement pyramid, which he constructed using a race of Neanderthal cousins who were afterward put to death, thereby adding specicide to his list of personal faults.
Once having bankrupted a thriving economy, becoming reviled by djinn and man alike, and suffering from plummeting dignatas, Eltham then went on a ruinous expansionary drive, conquering hapless farmers and fishermen with excessive pomp, claiming a lot of useless land and celebrating fatuous triumphs, until the whole of Gangaridai became a bloated, pus-ridden empire full of half-bred peasants.
Megrim II the Short
So called because his reign was quite short. He abdicated within a paltry hundred years, terming the empire too difficult to manage, and retired to a life of leisure and frolic, thereby gaining significant dignatas for his farsightedness. His actual height, as far as I can determine, was average.
Almas the Terrible
The so-called First Reign of Terror, giving rise to the nascent republicanism movement, although if you ask me, Almas was a perfectly decent ruler who brought some much-needed reform to the decadent empire of the delta. Almas was noted for two great acts. The first was the massacre of the bay dolphins, who were allegedly showing signs of sapience. The second was the ill-fated massacre at Mohenjo Daro, which destroyed a large number of Nephilim as well as thirty-two djinns and an almost countless number of regular human vermin. This did not sit well with either djinn or Nephilim, all of whom were of course interconnected through familial lines. Ultimately, the war to remove Almas was mostly conducted in salons and drawing rooms and assemblies. Nonetheless, the political divisions between royalists and republicans were sharply drawn, and the seeds of the catastrophic Great War were sown. Almas abdicated from power three hundred years after his ascension, on a very sad day for all djinn I am sure. Mohenjo Daro was not rebuilt until after the Great War, when a largely human empire were resurrected with the same name.
Regency Years
An unspecific number of years passed when enough volunteers could not be found to rule the absurd First Empire of Djinn, leading to the formation of the Regency, which was variously filled by humans and djinns of different stripes.
Notable regents were:
1)Subdas the Bore (Nephilim), who reigned for thirty-five years, presiding over a period of unsurpassed and excruciating boredom, during which many notable djinn went into hibernation.
2)Trifan Storm Caller (Nephilim), who professed to be able to call lightning down on people. It is probable that he was either a sorcerer, or had a djinn hiding behind him, using the field to create a lightning effect. Trifan was very popular with the peasants, and his reign was almost fifty-five years, during which lightning struck a large number of people.
3)Engineer Sukoma (Nephilim), who built a lot of roads. This allowed one lot of horrible peasants to meet up with another lot of horrible peasants. Pretty soon they were moving around everywhere. It is my opinion that road building is a terrible mistake. Bridges are even worse, allowing the unwashed horde to actually cross perfectly good natural barriers intended by God to pen them up. Peasants should stay in one place. Their job is to farm. How are they supposed to farm if they’re out wandering around all day? Engineer Sukoma’s reign was even longer and more unfathomably dull than his predecessors, stretching to eighty-eight years. He lived to 120.
Aside from building a lot of unnecessary stuff, Sukoma also apparently codified a lot of laws, created a common measurement scale, standardized seagoing vessels, and reestablished the maritime lanes by eradicating pirates. Pirates in the bay and the ancient submerged isles to the east were a colorful and enterprising lot. Their harassment by Sukoma was a tragedy that resulted in many deaths, destruction of their hidden island forts, and a general loss to the world of a unique and dashing people.
Return of the Kings
The line of kings was returned with the Nephilim line. The descendant of the last regent wedded the daughter of the Emperor of Lhasa and was crowned the King of Gangaridai. They reigned for fifty-five years of alleged terror, until the Great War ended their rule and, indeed, the entire world. During this time the republicans came to the fore, and the subsequent conflict got entirely out of hand, with the final withdrawal of the great city by the High Lords of Gangaridai, the sundering of the world, and the onset of the great Ice Age. Those of us left behind are faced with extinction, and many of us pure-bred djinn are forced to contemplate a permanent dilution of bloodlines and a loss, entirely, of djinndom. It is the fall of the Kingdom of Fire, a final end of the chosen people.
It is my hope that those who crossed to the other side, both Nephilim and djinn, are able to preserve our race better than we, the inheritors of the earth, have. The traitors Horus the Light Bringer, known as Givaras the Maker; the Marid Bahamut of the Deep; the Lord Memmion of Gold Mountain and the Eagle’s Crest; and the others who have contributed to this war… well, I hope you reap what you have sowed in a much-diminished world. I hope you enjoy the years of darkness and cold ahead of you, I wish you all the centuries of boredom and pain you deserve. Horus, I name you Givaras the Broken, breaker of all things good, and I curse you that you may never find peace, that all things you touch turn to ash.
I retire now to go to sleep. Do not wake me up until the return of Gangaridai.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Saad Z. Hossain is a Bangladeshi author writing in English. His 2015 war satire, Escape from Baghdad!, was published in the US by the Unnamed Press, as well as in Bangladesh, India and France. Djinn City is his second novel.
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Saad Z. Hossain, Djinn City
