Category Archives: Imaginary City

“Stairway to Nowhere” Video

Posted on March 30, 2022 by julian peters comics

The incomparable Jim Avis has been transforming some of the instalments in my recent “Views of an Imaginary City” into his trademark “vidiettes.” Here is his take on “View 46: The Stairway to Nowhere at Tanaliska.” More of these to … Continue reading →

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View of an Imaginary City 48: The Stairway to Nowhere at Tanaliska

Posted on December 30, 2021 by julian peters comics

According to Chogya beliefs, it is possible for individual souls to reincarnate into lives chronologically antecedent to the ones that they have just lived through. This would seem to open the door to a number of potential temporal paradoxes, were … Continue reading →

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Views of an Imaginary City 47: Cloud Oracle at Marikora

Posted on October 12, 2021 by julian peters comics

The earliest inhabitants of the region of Sensuka were water worshippers. They looked upon the clouds as constituting the genitals of the Great Divine Water Being, from which all waters originally sprang forth. It was water’s floating, condensed form that … Continue reading →

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Views of an Imaginary City 44: Bird Temple in Peleosti

Posted on September 8, 2021 by julian peters comics

The view is from a hill in the Peleosti district, overlooking a skyline dominated by the dome of the Chogyan Temple of Tofa, the Luck Goddess. Occupying the majority of the picture plane, however, is a close-up depiction of what … Continue reading →

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Views of an Imaginary City 33: View of Orepi Tower

Posted on July 26, 2021 by julian peters comics

Orepi Tower is perhaps Sensuka’s most iconic building. Even those foreigners who know next to nothing about the city may recognize it as “that barber’s pole tower.” The tower was built under the empress Nanéh as a monument to her … Continue reading →

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Views of an Imaginary City 37: Inside the Imperial Library

Posted on June 23, 2021 by julian peters comics

The Imperial Library in the Kaduyorma (See n. 4) holds the largest collection of books in all of the empire. Indeed, it is supposed to house all of the books ever published in the imperial domains since the advent there … Continue reading →

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Views of an Imaginary City 32: Along the Tizabu Canal

Posted on May 25, 2021 by julian peters comics

The Nefirobe neighbourhood sits on a small hill at the northern end of the Lekaro district, just to the west of the much larger hill of Labetachi. In the reigns of Bulodi II and of the empress Aritokéhhe neighbourhood was … Continue reading →

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Views of an Imaginary City 29: A Schoolyard in Topla

Posted on May 3, 2021 by julian peters comics

In Sensuka, some very basic primary education is offered free of charge by monasteries and temple organizations. For those families who can afford the moderate fees, however, there is also the option of sending their children to a kadilu (from … Continue reading →

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Views of an Imaginary City 25: Night Market on Jajapi Beach

Posted on April 6, 2021 by julian peters comics

The Totamontra festival takes place over the course of a week at the end of summer. The series of ceremonial and festive events that comprise it were originally intended to propitiate a good harvest season, but they have long ago … Continue reading →

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Views of an Imaginary City 15: Hot Air Lantern Display

Posted on February 24, 2021 by julian peters comics

For centuries, it has been a tradition throughout the empire to mark the eve of Midsummer (considered to be the first new moon after the summer solstice) with a nighttime display of takarnalu. These are paper lanterns mounted around a … Continue reading →

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