The Ancient Merseian Capital

There is much about Ardaig, the Merseian co-capital city on this blog. Here, I want to focus on some of its unusual differences from Terrestrial cities:

apparently no radio, television or cinema;

turf streets with luminous pavements;

not words but heraldic emblems on street signs;

ground vehicles on only a few streets;

pedestrians and gwydh riders on most (not our idea of a planetary capital);

small shops run by the same families in the same houses for generations;

but also some large mercantile centers (I should think so);

quiet at night.

Modern antipodal Tridaig is noisier. And Admiralty House, in Ardaig, does work overnight.

Poul Anderson contrasts Ardaig with human cities both in physical details and in social dynamics. We expect mercantile centers to out-compete small family businesses and to regularly reinvent themselves in response to technological innovations and to economic successes or failures. Merseians have somehow combined stability with progress.