A great monolith was raised on a hill near a river and on it the laws of Byblios were writ so that all men might know them and obey them. About the pillar was built a splendid city where the goodness of those laws might be debated and where men could cherish the glory of the gods.

from The Chorus of the First Era, Brother Samson Diego, 212 LE

From the very first stone laid Zakhara was a beautiful city. It was built next to a gentle, flowing river which the people called the D’sayyad. To the south rose hills that were covered with orchards and vineyards. To the west and east the rich, red soil was tilled to reap the bounty of the earth as rye and barley. Across the river a quarry produced veined marble of impeccable quality and it was much used in the raising of homes, palaces, temples and schools. The roads were paved with bricks made from the red clay of the river banks and they were laid out in orderly patterns. In the gardens persica and mulberry trees offered shade to ferns, delicate ranunculus flowers and the glorious Byblian rose.
The beating heart of the city was the Symposium, a building with the reverence of a temple and the clamor of a coliseum, where the laws of Byblios were debated and decided. The sympates who were chosen by their tribes to represent them in the chamber were the wisest and most learned in all the land.

from The Promised Land, The First Book of the Kaladonian Cycle written 12 kc, Isle of Mann

Zakhara was a blessed city. Though it has been gone for a great number of years, it will forever be the place that men yearn to walk.