City on the Solta River in the northwest portion of the Uzdumalian province also called Ambarak.  The nearby hills were known from early times as a major source of tin, and the city was an early center for bronzeworking and was later famous throughout the empire for its decorative tinwork.  The area was inhabited by the Glenrid people as far back as written records go, and an early Glenrid kingdom with its capital at Ambarak also attracted many formerly nomadic tribes speaking Gargian languages to settle in the fertile Solta valley.  Although many of these newly sedentary farmers violently opposed early Uzdumalian efforts at conquering the area, the Glenrid kings eventually decided that it was in their best interests to accept Uzdumalian suzerainty in exchange for imperial guarantees that they would retain power as governors.  This cozy arrangement persisted until the empire's authority began to wane and the peasants started to take advantage of the changing situation to test their power.

Although one of the more obscure corners of the Uzdumalian empire, Ambarak prospered under its rule, and many merchants in the city grew wealthy and powerful by sending grain and other foodstuffs downriver to other provinces.  This elite, largely Glenrid, class, saw its interests as aligned with those of the governors, and strongly favored the empire against its enemies both internal and external.  Given Ambarak's location, however, this support was largely symbolic until imperial authority began to crumble in some of the more peripheral provinces.  The first major challenge to imperial authority in Ambarak came during the reign of Emperor Lagador II, when Gargian peasants in the middle Solta valley, inspired by the recent army mutinies in the eastern provinces and various disturbances elsewhere, rebelled against their Glenrid landlords and the imperial troops stationed nearby.  Several imperial tax collectors were among those killed in the ensuing mayhem, which was quickly suppressed when another division of troops was sent up the river to reinforce the small contingent already in the province.  As imperial power began to wane, such uprisings became more frequent, both in the Solta valley and elsewhere.  In the city of Ambarak, where many of the affected landlords lived, such disturbances inspired fear and ever-increasing loyalty to the imperial order that had been so good for the city and its merchants.

Long one of the main centers of support for the empire, the city of Ambarak was also one of the major holdouts against the rising tide of Targhandism.  Although the farmers of the Solta valley embraced the new faith eagerly, the urban elites clung to their traditional religion based on the worship of certain holy trees.  When the first Targhandist missionaries arrived in the city shortly after the fall of the imperial administration and the reestablishment of the old Glenrid kingdom under King (formerly Governor) Halibik, they were largely dismissed by the merchant elites, and it was only when the new religion began to spread among the poor of the city, many of whom were recent migrants from the increasingly chaotic and dangerous countryside, that the upper classes began to perceive it as a real threat to the established social order.  This is when the great Glenrid polemicists such as Yahino, Kambinaha, and especially Gladnos began their work defending the traditional religion from the new one.  The elegant treastises of these great thinkers were unable to stem the rising tide of Targhandism, however, and it was during the reign of Halibik's successor, Rabihi, that the Glenrid monarchy itself converted and, following the precepts of the new faith, began to discourage tree-worship.  Within two or three generations, the traditional religion was lost, although some scholars have claimed that the legacy of opposition to Targhandism in the Ambarak area was a contributing factor to the later popularity there of Targhandist heresies such as Nominalism.

See also:

Glenrid Tree Worship

Lagador II