PLACEHOLDER — fortified caravanserai on the royal road between Samarqandh and Bukhara. Prose pass pending.
Real-world basis: Rabat-i Malik, an 11th-century fortified caravanserai on the Samarkand–Bukhara road (Navoi Region, Uzbekistan), built by a Karakhanid khan — an 18m monumental entrance portal, with the domed Sardoba cistern nearby. Already referenced in `world/content/geography_routes_caravanserai.md`.
Morning here means commerce in three languages at once — animals, cargo, and handlers filling the courtyard from the moment the gates open. It also means the road's older authority still rides through on occasion: imperial livery, faded but not retired, collecting tariffs the Merchant Council's spring agreements were supposed to have settled. The two claims to authority rarely resolve cleanly. Everyone here has learned when to look busy.
See: narrative/sessions/00_session0/Session_0_Visionary_Awakening (Actual)