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|books=[[The Stormlight Archive]]
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'''Kharbranth''', City of Bells, is an independent city-state on [[Roshar]], ruled by the King [[Taravangian]].{{book ref|sa1|3}} It is one of the five Vorin nations The city isand home to the [[Palanaeum]], the largest library on Roshar.{{book ref|sa1|3}}{{book ref|sa1|7}} Kharbranth is also known for the quality of its hospitals, and people come from all over the world to train in medicine. Colours of Kharbranthian royalty - burnt orange and white{{book ref|sa1|5}}
== Geography and Ecology ==
=== Environments ===
=== Location ===
{{book ref|sa1|3}}
- May be older than the Last Desolation - at least one in world source claims it was built during the shadowdays
- BUilt on raw, unbroken stone like most of Roshar.
- A small politically fragile city state but also a free city{{book ref|sa1|3}} The city-state consists of only Kharbranth{{book ref|sa1|5}}
- Vorin Kingdom
- Docks open to all regardless of nationality or status
- Animals can be found around the docks (and presumably throughout the city): skyeels, crabs, haspers, mink
- Built up a steep incline/mountain (added)
- Wedge shaped (added)
- Built into a natural lait, like a wide crack in the stone. One of the most sheltered major cities in the world (added)
- Considered by Captain Tozbek to be a 'safe city'
- "a man pulling a curious contraption with two large wheels and a canopy-covered seat. " (added)
- Long/Scenic and short/direct route from the docks to the Conclave
- Roadways are cut up the hill in switchbacks (added)
- The story goes that the bells were initially set up to warn of the Highstorm as it was so soft that people wouldn't notice. (added)
- Bells are everywhere - displayed in shops, hung from rafters. Hung under every lamp in a lantern poles, on transport carts such as the one Shallan takes through the city (added)
- Strong smells to the city. Spicy scents of food, the pungent smell of alleyways. Shallan describes the city as not having a clean smell.
- Noisy. A hundred voices called to one another, mingling with doors slamming, wheels rolling on stone, occasional skyeels crying. The ever-present bells tinkled in the background, louder when the wind blew.
{{book ref|sa1|5}}
- The mountain that protects Kharbranth is hit hard by the highstorms and this can sometimes lead to cave-in's within the structures that have pierced the mountain though they are rare(such as the Conclave). Avalanches on the stormside can sometimes occur after highstorms and these can lead to the cave-in's. {{book ref|sa1|5}}(added)
{{book ref|sa1|7}}
- Bells can be heard even from deep within the Conclave/mountain (added)
{{book ref|sa1|36}}
- The main throughfare from the docks to the Conclave is called the Ralinsa and leads down the hill with switchbacks (added)
- The city continues to function late at night and the streets are still busy and full of noise from voices and bells
- Kharbranth has a theatre district
{{book ref|sa1|45}}
- Kabsal compares Kharbranth to Kholinar, believing them both to be made by the Almighty.
- A cymatic of Kharbranth has not yet been found
{{book ref|sa1|71}}
- Kharbranth is infamous for both its crowds and the steepness of its walkways and as such porters are often used to transports goods instead of chull carts.
{{book ref|sa3|58}}
The orientation of the city and it's lait (?) slightly to the south, prevented it from being badly damaged by the Everstorm (added)
{{book ref|sa3|108}}
There is a honorspren stronghold called Unyielding Fidelity close to Kharbranth in the Cognitive Realm. Shallan thinks that that is where they are being taken by the honorspren after Syl is arrested. (added)
Buildings
{{book ref|sa1|3}}
{{book ref|sa2|24}}
Kharbranth has restaurants
The Conclave
{{book ref|sa1|3}}
- Painted white and carved from the rock face. The roof outcroppings have squat domes that are painted in metalic colours
- Inside it is a large rectangular hallway lined with Stormlight lamps. Broad, high and long, with grand chambers lining the sides and smaller corridors branch off from the main room.
{{book ref|sa1|5}}
- The hallways are particularly long and drill downwards into the mountain
{{book ref|sa1|8}}
- There is no gate before the Conclave
{{book ref|sa1|29}}
- Another reference to the Conclave being underground
- Jasnah and Shallan's quarters are within the Conclave
{{book ref|sa1|33}}
- Shallan and her drawings became well known around the Conclave fairly soon after she was taken on as Jasnah's ward.
{{book ref|sa1|36}}
- The baths in the Conclave are carved directly into the ground and heated by fabrials.
- The Conclave <!--all of Kharbranth?--> has heated plumbing (the water is pre-heated using fabrials) and water is delivered to the baths via pipes.
- Running water system
- Heat fabrials are also used in Kharbranth to heat rooms.
- Books from the Palanaeum are not to be taken into the bathing chambers.
{{book ref|sa1|39}}
- Guests staying in the Conclave can leave their spanreeds with master-servants and be notified when they have received a message
- The palace gardens are varied, but not as extensive as those on Shallan's family's estate. Some are structured like mazes made of stone - the walls are tall enough to shield someone from view when sitting but not when standing.
{{book ref|sa1|42}}
- It is a long walk from the Palanaeum to the guest quarters.
- The guest quarters are guarded by master-servants who fulfil the purpose of both concierges and guards and monitor who enters and exits the area.
- The roof of Shallan's room has been left intentionally rough and resembles the roof of a cave.
- The maids that work for the king were carefully chosen
Taravangian goes for walks at midday and often walks through the gardens.
The Palanaeum
{{book ref|sa1|7}}
- Set in the Conclave within the mountain
- Both the Palanaeum and the Veil predate the founding of the city. Some on Roshar believe that the rooms were built by the dawnsingers.
{{book ref|sa1|36}}
- The Palanaeum is open throughout the evening <!--(and doesn't close?)-->
{{book ref|sa2|6}}
- Jasnah found that many of the records in the library had been tampered with and altered during the Hierocracy.
{{book ref|sa3|50}}
Kadash has a spanreed that connects directly to the leader of Vorinism in Kharbranth and the Vorin research team at the Palanaeum .
After Navani realised that Dalinar had helped translate part of the dawnchant through his vision, she sent her work to the Palanaeum to be worked on further by the Vorin researchers. The researchers send translated sections to Kadash periodically.
{{book ref|sa3|53}}
The ardents in the Holy Enclave also worked on the dawnchant translation and were ahead of the scholars in Kharbranth on their translation.
{{book ref|sa3|24}}
Taravangian along with a consort of people including Malata and Adrotagia, Kharbranth's head scribe, arrived at Urithiru. Prior to the visit, Navani got in contact with the Palanaeum as she was after information on the NIghtwatcher and the boon and curse. She had difficulty as ever since the Everstorm, the Palanaeum had been inundated with requests for research into the Voidbringers. Taravangian's visit to Urithiru, as well as a favour owed to her, got Navani access to the information she had been after. There are at least 300 cases that Navani knows of, of the boon/curse, from the Palanaeum.
{{book ref|sa3|111}}
The team of scholars in Jah Keved and Kharbranth reached the Eila Stele translations independently </-- unreliable narrator, Taravangian is a liar-->
The Veil
{{book ref|sa1|7}}
-Before the Palanaeum proper is the Veil - a waiting room that stretches upwards into the mountain and with sides pocketed by private balconies.
- The door to the Veil is an intricate geometric design that incorporates circles, lines and glyph's and creates a chart, split across the two doors.
- There are stone shafts around the room with manually controlled elevators set into them to take people to the different levels. Four Parshmen are needed to operate these elevators
- The balconies can be accessed through hallways set into the stone surrounding the room.
- They are round like a turret, with a waist high stone rim and topped with a wooden railing.
- Desks connect to the rim of the balcony and follow the curved shape.
{{book ref|sa1|29}}
- Varas is the Palanaeum's chief of collections. Shallan did a portrait of the man, who then shared it with King Taravangian. Varas reported that the staff of the staff of the conclave were quite taken with Shallan.
{{book ref|sa1|46}}
Epigraph - The original Palanaeum was involved in a fire <!--does this refer to the Palanaeum in Kharbranth or was there once a Palanaeum somewhere else?-->
{{book ref|sa2|67}}
The plumbing system developed in Kharbranth became quite popular in the war camps with many buildings (including Sebrial's lodgings{{book ref|sa2|40}}) installing the systems. Kharbranthian style plumbing relies on gravity to move water through pipes.
{{book ref|sa3|24}}
After the coming of the Everstorm and the transformation of the parshmen, the Palanaeum was inundated with requests from all across Roshar for information on the Voidbringers. Navani sought out the Palanaeum to find information on the Old Magic but found it difficult to get time from the researchers. She found at least 300 cases of the Old Magic in the library and in each one the curse and boon lasted until the persons death.
The Palanaeum Proper
{{book ref|sa1|7}}
- The Palanaeum proper is accessed through a small chamber full of soulcast crystal partitions.
- The chit of admittance for the Palanaeum proper is of one thousand sapphire broams, which pay for the many hospitals in Kharbranth. There is no fee to use the Veil.
- There are over seven hundred thousand seperate texts in the Palanaeum - more than even the Holy Enclave of Valath
{{book ref|sa1|33}}
- Shaped like an inverted pyramid down into the rock, with a walkway running around the walls to form a giant square spiral. There is also a series of lifts to reach levels at a quicker pace.
- The bottom of the room cannot be seen from the top
- The Palanaeum proper doubles as the Kharbranthian royal treasury and the cities wealth of emeralds are used to light the walkways. They are periodically changed out by ardents from the Devotary of Insight
- The books, manuscripts and scrolls stored in the Palanaeum are stored in rooms with tall bookshelves that branch outwards from the walkways.
- Inside each room is troughs containing white powder. Shallan theorises that this is why the room are never damp
- The size of the Palanaeum and the high admittance fee makes it unlikely that people will run into each other while searching.
- Ardents and servants are available to collect volumes on request
- The Kharbrathian filing system is standard for many of Roshar's libraries and archives.
- Books are organized by the date that they entered the Palanaeum and the top level of the Palanaeum proper contains large cabinets filled with indexes
- The head of each (bookshelf) row is carved with a symbol indicating the date the book had entered the Palanaem
{{book ref|sa1|45}}
- Ardent's will reshelve books
- The Palanaeum proper has 57 levels
- The main shaft of the room predates the creation of the city of Kharbranth. The rooms that branch away from the ramps and hold the books were cut out from the stone by Kharbranthians.
- The point of the inverted triangle aligns with the nadir and within it sits a large infused diamond.
- The Palanaem proper has a system of lifts that span the 57 floors (instead of one single lift for all floors)
Kharbranth's Hospital's
{{book ref|sa1|16}}
- Kharbranth is said to have more hospitals than taverns
- The surgeons won't take on apprentices until after they have turned sixteen
- Kharbranth offers the best medical training
- The testing to be admitted to study medicine in Kharbranth are rigorous
- Surgeons and healers train at the Great Concourse of Kharbranth
{{book ref|sa1|48}}
-Shallan is admitted to one of Kharbranth's hospitals after she slices open her arm to cover up the fact she had soulcast.
- Kharbranth has many high quality hospitals
- The hospital wards are shared by many patients and are large and resemble hallways
- Some, if not all, of the shared wards are segregated by gender.
- There are privacy screens that can be set up around the beds
- Taravangian also visits the hospitals in Kharbranth frequently and is well liked by the patients. The landlords and houselords involved in the political court of Kharbranth complain about how often the King spends in the hospitals but also exploit the political freedom that it allows them
- The hospitals cater to all - no one is turned away regardless of social rank of eye colour.
- The hospitals are funded by the chit of admittance that gains one access to the Palanaeum
- The hospital that Shallan stays in is run by an ardent called Mungam
{{book ref|sa1|50}}
- The hospital that Shallan stays in has private rooms available and at least some of them have windows and views of outside
{{book ref|sa1|71}}
There is a passage from Taravangian's study to his secret hospital
The hospital is hidden and not listen on any maps that Szeth could gain access to (through bribes or purchases)
The room is large and long and is painted white.
It is filled with hundreds and hundreds of beds and many of them are filled
The king tries to only move the worst case patients to the secret hospital as they are unlikely to survive, however when not enough sick patients can be provided those who the 'forgotten and the lowly' are taken and brought to die.
The secret hospital functions as a way to maximise and record the death rattles
{{book ref|sa2|i14}}
The colours of Kharbranth, burnt orange and white, have become synonymous with the healing throughout Eastern Roshar. The Kharbrathian banner is thought of as the banner of the surgeon.
{{book ref|sa3|121}}
Kharbranthian surgeons assist the injuried after the Battle of Thaylen City
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