The White Fortress
Akkalat rises pale and angular from the surrounding steppe, its walls of sun-bleached stone visible from miles away across open grass. The Khuzaits call it the White Fortress, though it was not built by their hands. It was raised generations ago by Padishah Hoshtar during one of his western expansions, when eastern empires pressed hard into the lands of the Devseg tribes.
The citadel was constructed on a natural stone rise, dominating both the surrounding grazing grounds and the caravan roads that cross this portion of the steppe. At its highest point once burned a sacred flame, kept alive for decades as a symbol of Hoshtar’s rule. The flame signified suzerainty — not merely political control, but spiritual authority over the tribes beneath it.
When Hoshtar’s realm weakened and retreated eastward, the flame was extinguished. The tribes did not weep. The fortress remained.
Today, the nine-horsetail banners of the Khuzait Khanate fly where the flame once burned. The stone still carries foreign geometry — square towers, enclosed courtyards, heavy gates meant for siege defense rather than mobility. The Khuzaits did not demolish the structure. They repurposed it.
Akkalat is one of the more settled towns within Khuzait lands. Unlike the migratory clans, its population is mixed:
Steppe-born Khuzaits
Descendants of Devseg tribes
Traders from eastern realms
Imperial merchants who never left
The architecture reflects this fusion. The inner citadel remains austere and eastern in design, while the outer districts have expanded with felt-roof markets, horse corrals, and caravan yards more suited to steppe life.
Unlike Makeb or Baltakhand, Akkalat does not sit at the political heart of the Khanate. It is a frontier anchor — a place that once represented conquest from the east and now represents Khuzait control of that legacy.
Akkalat controls:
Key caravan routes linking eastern deserts to the central steppe
Seasonal grazing corridors
Access to fortified storage and tax collection
Its white stone walls provide something rare in Khuzait lands: a strong defensive fallback point.
In times of invasion from the east, Akkalat becomes the shield.
In times of internal unrest, it becomes the cage.
Though the sacred flame is no longer maintained as state doctrine, some eastern families quietly tend small fire altars within the old citadel chambers. The Khuzaits tolerate this. The Khanate does not enforce spiritual uniformity so long as tribute is paid and rebellion is absent.
Among steppe warriors, however, the extinguished flame carries symbolic meaning. They view it as proof that no empire holds the steppe forever. Flames burn out. Banners change. The wind remains.
A grazing settlement south of the fortress. Provides horses and sheep to Akkalat’s markets. Its people are more steppe-traditional and less urbanized.
Located near seasonal riverbanks. Supplies grain, vegetables, and limited irrigation farming uncommon in deeper steppe regions. Tismil represents the gradual blending of settled agriculture with nomadic oversight.
Akkalat is ruled by Hurunag Beg of Clan Tigrit. His authority rests on:
Managing tax flow from caravans
Maintaining the fortress garrison
Keeping eastern border tensions contained
The Tigrit are known for caution and discipline. Akkalat reflects that temperament — less wild than other Khuzait towns, more guarded, more deliberate.
Akkalat feels watchful.
It remembers being ruled by a flame.
It now flies horsehair banners.
It sits between settled power and open grass.
It is not fully Khuzait in origin.
But it is fully Khuzait in control.