Difference between revisions of "Urithiru"

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== Location ==

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The plateau on which the tower is located is at a considerable altitude. The air is thin enough to make physical activity difficult. {{book ref|sa3|46}} The cliffs beneath it extend further than the eye can see.{{book ref|sa3|58}} This location is high enough that both [[highstorm]]s and the [[Everstorm]] pass beneath it, which makes it difficult for the tower's current occupants to obtain [[stormlight]].{{book ref|sa3|4}}

 

 

There is an unnamed village in the foothills of the mountain to the south of the tower, {{book ref|sa2|i|10}} but it is apparently not visible from the tower, as all Dalinar can see is clouds and rocks.{{book ref|sa3|86}} In addition, Urithiru sits relatively close to the [[Valley]] of the [[Nightwatcher]].{{map ref|Roshar}}

== Appearance ==

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The lower levels "meld" into the mountain on either side, but the center and the upper levels have a flat side on the stormward side. Rooms in this flat side have windows facing the [[Origin]]. {{book ref|sa3|4}} The glass windows miraculously survived thousands of years of abandonment utterly intact.{{book ref|sa3|8}}

 

===Strata===

 

Shallan theorizes that the strata might be veins, though she's unsure of what they would be carrying.{{book ref|sa3|25}}

* '''On the way to Dalinar's quarters''': "wide reddish strata alternating with smaller yellow ones"; "sloping slightly upward"{{book ref|sa3|8}}

* '''Shallan's quarters''': "bright circular patterns"{{book ref|sa3|13}}

* '''Sparring room''': "grey and black"{{book ref|sa3|16}}

* '''Sadeas' quarters, side room''': "muted pattern of strata"; "oranges and reds that blended together so evenly you could almost pretend the wall was all one hue"{{book ref|sa3|21}}

==== The Theater ====

A room resembling a theater can be found on the tower's third level, near the Breakaway. It's a large chamber with round walls and rows of stone benches facing a raised platform that served as a stage. This stage can be reached both by stairs from the audience and by a separate entrance. The corridor leading to it is narrow enough to be touched on both sides, and goes by several smaller chambers, possibly dressing rooms. Past the theater's back door (the one which would be, presumably, used by the audience), there is a circular room with large vertical slits in the walls, some of which face Breakaway, although neither it, nor the theater itself can be reached directly from the market. It is there that [[Shallan]] puts on a [[Surgebinding#Illumination|Lightwoven]] play of [[The Girl Who Looked Up]] for [[Pattern]], and where they first encounter [[Re-Shephir]].{{book ref|sa3|25}}

 

==== The Gem Archive and Re-Shephir's Chamber ====

{{for|Urithiru gem archive}}

 

The chamber in which the [[Unmade]] [[Re-Shephir]] hides until being banished by [[Shallan]] can be reached from the tower's ground floor, from a room where a large pit with a stone spiral staircase leads down several stories. Rust marks on the wall indicate that part of the stone once served as a secret door, though the hinges have long since decayed and Shallan has to cut her way in with a [[shardblade]].{{book ref|sa3|29}}

 

=== Era of Solitude ===

Some time after the tower was abandoned, [[Re-Shephir]] broke out of her confinement, but remained within the tower.{{book ref|sa3|29}}

 

== Culture ==

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Though massively important in the past, prior to the coming of the [[Everstorm]] Urithiru was all but unknown to [[Vorinism|Vorins]] who didn't study the [[Knights Radiant]], with Shallan being unfamiliar even with its name.{{book ref|sa1|45}} This could be the result of the [[Hierocracy]] working to suppress all knowledge of Radiants, similar to how they discredited [[Surgebinding]].

The tower city's economy suffers from three main difficulties: a lack of labor, a lack of supplies, and a lack of infrastructure.

 

 

Since Urithiru's crop growing system is non-functional, the city depends on trade to provide supplies. At first, goods flowing into Urithiru through the Oathgates are mostly salvage from the warcamps abandoned during the flight from the [[Everstorm]], harvested by enterprising merchants backed by the [[highprince]]s.{{book ref|sa3|25}} Dalinar has considered trying to resettle the war camps, but the area has been quietly claimed by those highprinces who stayed behind. Though Sebarial has forests near the camps that could be used to supply the city, harvesting the lumber isn't economical without parshmen.{{book ref|sa3|104}} Emeralds for [[Soulcasting]] food are also in short supply, despite continued hunting for [[gemheart]]s on the [[Shattered Plains]].{{book ref|sa3|104}} Later, after King [[Taravangian]] joins the alliance, regular shipments begin to come from [[Jah Keved]].{{book ref|sa3|29}} Still, there is not enough trade to support the city, leading [[Bethab]] to speculate that without a deal with [[Azir]], Urithiru may not be able to support its current population.{{book ref|sa3|104}}

 

Another minor issue affecting Urithiru's early economy was the lack of [[stormlight]] to infuse [[spheres]]. The need for stormlight to power the Oathgates meant that in the period immediately following Urithiru's discovery, when the [[highstorm]]s disappeared, infused spheres were worth considerably more than face value. Now that the highstorms have returned, spheres can be re-infused by lowering them in large cages down into the storm.{{book ref|sa3|4}}

 

== Trivia ==

* The stones of Urithiru being unhallowed is part of [[Shinovar|Shin]] culture rather than something magical.{{wob ref|6508}}

* Brandon has confirmed that Urithiru is not a spaceship used to travel from [[Ashyn]] to Roshar.{{wob ref|8762}}

* The inspiration for the [[Breakaway]] was Korean [[wikipedia: Night market|night markets]], street bazaars that typically operate only at night.{{wob ref|8635}}

* Urithiru may provide passage to the cognitive realm.{{wob ref|12017}}

 

== Notes ==