Site · Tharax

The Anvil

Tharax's military training system takes its name from this ground, and its training grounds and barracks lie east of Tharxa. Every Phymon boy leaves home at seven for the Anvil and is branded on the shoulder with a spear-point, without a sound; if he makes one, he waits another year. Girls of the Phymun train here too, though they do not fight in the line. The Anvil was rebuilt after the Century of Fire. From 1108 it has admitted the sons of Outdweller craftsmen, which split the Thirty and began the rivalry between the Deneskid and Sastorid lines. Its rites include the ibex hunt and the bear hunt, in which two young Phymun on foot with spears face one Karzhan bear; every boy hears the tale of the Boy Who Would Not Cry on his first night, and every Phymon learns the Spearmarks here by cutting them into wood with a knife.