Fars Province · 1820
Shiraz under the Qajar state
A grounded life simulation set around Shiraz in 1820, where rents, patronage, caravan trade, heat, illness, and local authority all shape survival.
Opening situation
The spring markets are opening in Shiraz, but coin is tight, grain prices have become uncertain, and local households feel the pressure of rent, tax, and patronage.
Rents are coming due in the poorer quarter.
A possible caravan arrival may tighten or loosen local wages.
Clerks may turn to stricter collection if revenue disappoints.
Locations
market
The city's commercial heart: crowded lanes, tight margins, patronage, and constant gossip.
religious
A place of sermons, petitions, alms, and public reputation.
residential
Household workshops and narrow rooms where work, kin, and debt blur together.
trade
Pack animals, guards, merchants, and labor brokers gather here when routes are open.
authority
Clerks, guards, and local power under the governor's shadow.
outskirts
Gardens, water concerns, and the uneasy boundary between town and countryside.
Factions
economic · influence 76
Profit-minded bazaar families navigating scarcity, patronage, and tax extraction.
political · influence 73
Clerks, guards, and local officials focused on revenue and visible order.
religious · influence 69
Scholars, petitioners, and donors balancing charity with social discipline.
security · influence 44
Guards, rough laborers, and opportunists whose loyalty follows coin and danger.
social · influence 58
Neighbors, kin, debt ties, and gossip webs that can quietly make or break a life.
NPCs
rent collector
A landlord's man who would rather be paid early than asked for mercy.
merchant
A seasoned merchant who weighs everything against risk, margin, and connections.
imam
A respected cleric who values order, dignity, and visible restraint.
widowed weaver
A careful widow balancing thread supply, kin pressure, and survival.
caravan guard
A hard man of the road who knows both honest risk and ugly shortcuts.
herb seller
A seller of remedies who trades as much in practical knowledge as in leaves and roots.
World state
Patronage matters more than abstract fairness.
Debt is social as well as financial; shame can bite as hard as hunger.
Public reputation, modesty, and visible respectability matter in disputes.
Authorities enforce order unevenly, but low-status people suffer first when they do.
Qajar-era Persia is decentralized in practice, with local authority, clerks, and patronage networks shaping daily life.
Urban labor is precarious, and households often mix wage work, craft, credit, and kin obligation.
Scarcity, rent, and tax collection can matter more to ordinary people than court politics far away.
Religious institutions provide legitimacy and some relief, but also discipline behavior and reputation.
Freeform play
Risk low
Seek carrying labor around the bazaar or caravanserai.
Risk low
Look for prices, rumors, and informal openings.
Risk low
Approach a respected figure for counsel or help.
Risk high
Try to keep some coin away from rent collectors, kin pressure, or clerks.
Risk medium
Approach a relationship with caution and regard for household expectation.
Risk high
Take work or chances beyond your immediate quarter.
Risk medium
Use your coin to turn a small margin in goods or services.
Risk medium
Seek backing from an institution or local network.
Ready