Jericho (Jericó) is “the first city, the first place” of the Holy Land, older than Jerusalem and on the road to it. When found, it was ruin and garden at once: walls fallen to ancient spells, overgrown in a single month by orchards and farms.
| Type | Place |
| Chronicle | florenzen |
| Era | 1300 (and since always) |
| Location | Holy Land, on the Jordan, outside Jerusalem |
| Spanish entry | Jericó |
Location
The road “passes through Jericho and reaches the heights of Jerusalem”, so anyone marching on the Holy City must cross it first. It lies on the bank of the Jordan, closer to the river than to Jerusalem, a few kilometers from that city, on its outskirts; it existed “before Jerusalem existed”.
Two superimposed cities
- The stone city. “The walls have fallen through the effects of ancient spells”; even fallen, “it is the oldest wall”. The main gate of the walls still stands, giving off golden light. The layout survives: gardens, named streets, boulevards.
- The living city. Within a month “life grew there and a kind of forest formed, more a garden of delights, with orchards, with scents, birdsong”, butterflies and farms. Some saw “a perfect city too”, as if the place “had grown” by itself.
The old bones supply the streets; the new growth supplies the food.
The boulevards
One enters Jericho by choosing a boulevard. When a company entered, the boulevards were named after its members’ deeds: Boulevard of Victory, Street of the Templars, Avenue of the Visiles (doubtful spelling), Boulevard of Conquest, Boulevard of Glory, Boulevard of Treason, Boulevard of Damnation.
Granary of the war
“War refugees could live here”, with a food capacity given as 5,000; at minimum, “the places for the orchards are prepared”. It is the only declared food capacity of this war. The city has no stable population: it offers prepared orchards, farms and named streets.
Below
The aqueducts of the first city run beneath the streets, an alternative way in. A sign there marks “some kind of trap, or at least a warning”.
It was also the place where the summoning of the Evanescent Tower was tested.
Open questions
- No link or agent is recorded between the fall of the walls and the month’s regrowth.
- Refugees “could” live there; whether they already do is not stated.
- What the Avenue of the Visiles names, and what the aqueduct sign says, are unknown.
- Whether “the perfect city” is a quarter of Jericho, the whole city or a place beside the forest is unclear.
- Whether the golden gate opens by itself or is opened, and what its light announces, are unknown.
- Whether Jericho is the Evanescent Tower’s own site or only a place where its summoning was tried is open.