N'qada
| The Free City of N'qada | |||
| [[|270px|N'qada photomontage|frameless]] | |||
| |||
| Motto: | |||
| Anthem: | |||
| [[|270px|Location of N'qada|frameless]] | |||
| Map versions | |||
| Official language(s) | (various) | ||
| Demonym | |||
| - Adjective | |||
| Government | Regional Capital | ||
| Sheikh | Hamad bin Maktoum al-N'qada | ||
| Legislature | City Council | ||
| High Councillor | Hamdan bin Rashid al-Saif | ||
| Establishment | Around 1450 AN | ||
| Area | Soutwest within the Great Sandy Desert | ||
| Population | around 260,000 (1750 AN) | ||
| Currency | Hexarchy Guilder (£) | ||
| Abbreviation | NQA | ||
| Time zone(s) | |||
| Patron | |||
| Animal | Diamondback Desert Cobra | ||
| Drink | Date wine | ||
N'qada is the largest city in the Great Sandy Desert, with a population near 260,000 as of 1750 AN. The city is located to the south of the desert, with the nearest core Realm of the Hexarchy being Karnak. The city is surrounded on nearly all sides by vast sandy desert. The plains where the city sits are bounded by rocky hills that protect the large oasis and aquifers underneath. The harsh terrain outside of the city and the massive, shifting dunes beyond have historically made major settlements in close proximity to the city nearly impossible. Therefore, there is significant concentration of urban sprawl within the rocky center, with agricultural activity reserved on the plains around the city.
Given the highly fertile soil and limited area, there is a concentration of agriculture in the region that allows a city of this size to exist, and forces concentration of human activity to this point, even more than similar oasis settlements farther into the Great Sandy Desert.
History
Education
The city's only four-year universities are N'qada University, founded in 1720 AN, and the recently formed Pschent Sozer V University, founded in 1741 AN by funding from Karnak. The rest are either two-year colleges or technical schools founded variously from local, regional, or national funding. Owing to the area's recent accession to the Hexarchy, exchange of students from outside the region is still relatively rare. Often, N'qada sends its best graduates from its high schools and from N'qada University abroad, owing to the lack of local elite institutions capable of doctoral level training.
Transport
Only in 1752 AN were permanent paved rail lines and roads connected with the rest of the Hexarchy, these leading through Karnak instead of east in the direction of the Empty Quarter. The only other access to the city is through its sole regional airport. Most tourist traffic now comes from the south by rail from Karnak, through Amarna on the Abyd'os Line. This same infrastructure was aided by engineers from Çakaristan at the Pschent's behest, in an effort to integrate the vast desert more properly into the country and provide for its defense.
Rail transport developed rapidly along with these plans, with the city enjoying a metro network with modern service and amenities, albeit with outdated locomotives purchased on discount from other systems that were upgrading to new units themselves. Overall, the city's rail networks is deemed more suitable than its roads, due to the density of the city itself in a small area, the quality of metro service paired with the difficulty in importing sand-tolerant automobiles from outside of the region. Instead, residents are known to favor motorbikes as their preferred mode of private transport than four-wheeled vehicles, if not taking the railroad. Tuktuk-like vehicles are often used by tourists within the city as a result. Rural residents often use similar vehicles with small trailers attached to transport crops into the city for sale at farmer's markets.
A continuation of N'qda's intercity rail line is planned towards the desert city of Lotharia by 1760 AN. However, due to the inability for conventional paved roads to function, this line is plagued by challenges from the extremely large, quickly shifting dunes in the deep desert. Resistance from the native desert tribes (derisively known in the city as "desert rats") has also stalled agreements on construction of the rail line. Due to stable geology, proposals have been floated to construct the rail line underground, but the cost would be prohibitive compared to the size of the settlements that rail-based traffic would otherwise service.
