Karakuru

Karakuru

(City)

Titles

The City of a Hundred Fountains

Nation

Taldor

Region

Porthmos Prefecture

Size

Small town

Population

1,758

Source: The Inner Sea World Guide, pg(s). 182

Karakuru is a small city located on the banks of Taldor's Porthmos River, just on the southern edge of the foothills of the southern World's Edge Mountains. Known as the City of a Hundred Fountains, Karakuru sits atop a high-pressure natural spring that brings water up to the surface. The citizens of Karakuru have harnessed this water source to power both the fountains that give the town its nickname as well as bathhouses that draw tourists of every class from throughout Taldor. Due to this constant influx of noble visitors arriving to soak in the ochre-colored mineral water in the hopes of alleviating aches and pains and treat chronic illnesses, the small tourist city is one of the wealthiest communities in Porthmos.

Karakuru is also home to Taldor's iconic fighting style known as rondelero, which represents a combination of peasant dances and noble weapons, a mixture that is a direct consequence of the interactions between people of all classes that happens at the bathhouses. The lightly armored fighting style uses an off-hand buckler to deflect blows and distract the opponent, while delivering precise strikes with a falcata. A small academy specializing in this combat art, known as the Rondelero School, is located in Karakuru and accepts up to a hundred students at any given time. Students typically come from a talent pool that includes locals, sons of the nation's wealthier families, and the most promising military officers in the empire. Though it is possible to learn rondelero at other combat schools that operate without the same exclusivity or punishing footwork drills, no institution has produced more skilled or respected masters of the fighting style.