[jason taylor]

While we're on the Silk Road, a couple days ago I read from the book, "Shiraz in the age of Hafiz". It is a fascinating book about a city that though constantly bullied by warlords around maintained a great civilization of scholars and poets.

The section I read was about the power nexus which was fairly typical including the nearest autocrat, the local governor and the judge, the nobility(descendants of Mohammad in this case), the guildmasters and neighborhood heads, and the various family heads.

All of that can make for a good game of intrigue and espionage. It is also a good place for a stop by normal caravaners or adventurers going on a quest. No doubt the caravansaries and bazaars will have plenty of inns to meet at.

For the matter of that you might even meet Hafiz himself and maybe the local ruler will challenge you to beat him in a contest of poetry.