The Dry Gate of the Plateau
Ortongard stands in the center of the Devseg plateau — a broad, sun-scorched expanse dry for most of the year, cracked and dusty beneath relentless sky. Yet when spring rains come, the plateau transforms into a sea of green grazing that draws herders from miles around.
The town was founded not by steppe clans, but by Darshi-speaking merchant houses who recognized the plateau’s value as a livestock aggregation point. For generations, Ortongard prospered by buying horses, sheep, and cattle from nomadic villages and driving them west in enormous caravans to Imperial markets.
Livestock is currency here.
Hooves are coin.
When Urkhun’s riders came, Ortongard’s walls and mercenary guards proved meaningless. The town surrendered after brief resistance. Urkhun granted it to the Arkit clan — rewarding their valor during the conquest — but the commercial structure remained intact.
Today, Ortongard is Khuzait by banner, but merchant by instinct.
Ortongard feels open and wide. Its streets are broader than those of Odokh. Corrals dominate interior districts. The smell of livestock hangs heavy in the air.
Stone walls encircle it, but they are less imposing than Akkalat’s fortress. These walls were built to deter raiders, not to withstand empire-level siege.
The architecture shows Darshi influence:
Flat-roofed storehouses
Courtyard compounds
Carved trade seals embedded above gates
The Khuzaits did not erase this aesthetic. They added horsehair standards and clan banners to it.
Ortongard is the livestock engine of the Khanate.
From here:
Massive herd drives move west toward Imperial markets.
Breeding contracts are negotiated.
Tribute livestock is counted and redistributed.
War remount reserves are assembled.
When the plateau turns green in spring, Ortongard becomes a living tide of animals.
When summer dries it out, trade caravans dominate the roads.
Ortongard controls:
Central plateau grazing rights
Major herd migration coordination
Trade corridors linking steppe to Imperial markets
If Ortongard were lost, the Khanate’s economic muscle would weaken significantly.
It is less glamorous than Makeb — but more essential than many realize.
Tulag Beg rules a town built on commerce. The Arkit clan has adapted to this reality.
They are known for:
Hard bargaining
Structured herd accounting
Maintaining large, disciplined caravan guard forces
Unlike more traditional clans, the Arkit have embraced the settled-commercial blend fully. They understand that wealth builds riders just as surely as conquest.
Tulag maintains:
Strong mercenary detachments
Close relationships with merchant families
Strict toll enforcement
He knows Ortongard’s wealth makes it tempting prey.
Primary horse-breeding settlement. Produces hardy plateau stock.
Sheep and wool center. Supplies trade caravans and military felt needs.
Mixed grazing and caravan staging village. Acts as forward assembly ground for herd drives.
Together, they sustain Ortongard’s massive livestock trade network.
Ortongard feels:
Dry and sun-struck
Busy with animal movement
Commercially sharp
Less mystical, more practical
It is where the steppe turns grass into gold.