Jaghâna
Jaghâna was a mercantile city of the southern lands, renowned for its wealthy merchant houses and for its decisive role in ending the Madâr, the civil war that shattered the Shârate of Hamât. Remembered less as a conquering kingdom than as a trading realm, Jaghâna exerted its influence through commerce, diplomacy, and the wealth of its merchant lords.
The prosperity of Jaghâna came from its control of caravan routes linking the Ikorbân Valley to distant southern and eastern markets. Its merchant houses, though rivals, could act in concert to extend influence over foreign courts through loans, treaties, and regulation of trade. Jaghâna never relied on large armies, but its caravans, ships, and wealth allowed it to shape events far beyond its walls.
The Madâr, or Realm-cleaving, ended the Years of Joy and plunged Hamât into a century of war. Ambarûl and the Ikorbâni remained loyal to Queen Luzími and her heirs, aided at last by Gondor, who intervened to counter Khandari support for the rebels of the east. The conflict might have consumed the valley entirely had not the merchants of Jaghâna stepped in to enforce peace. Acting from the great city itself, Jaghâni envoys brokered a truce that divided Hamât into two separate realms.[1]
Under this agreement, Ambarûl was placed outside either realm's authority. Instead, it became part of the Ibili lands, named for the Ibili council of wise men established by Jaghâna to govern the city and serve as a neutral barrier between Hamât and Erêsh. With Gondor invested in checking Khandari ambitions and Jaghâna committed to preserving its trade, the truce endured despite occasional tensions. Though the peace prevented further war, the Years of Joy did not return; the scars of the Madâr lingered, and the valley never regained its former unity.
The Jaghâni-brokered peace left Hamât divided but stable, preserving commerce at the cost of political strength. While the merchants of Jaghâna succeeded in securing their trade routes and enforcing quiet upon the valley, their settlement paved the way for later conquests by the Empire of Ordâkh. Even so, Jaghâna's intervention is remembered as a rare moment when the fate of kingdoms was decided not by arms, but by the wealth and diplomacy of merchants.