Dates! Fresh dates! Plump dates! Sweet sweet dates! If you're in Andur and you want dates you're going to be dealing with the meerkats. While some professions may have more of one species working it like the warthogs in sanitation http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4836762/ or the water buffalo city inspectors http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4816634/ but when it comes to the date business it is all meerkats.

In fact the meerkats have by law a monopoly on the date business that goes back over two hundred years to when Andur was still called Malakakar. When Sultan's ancestors http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3018771/ had to flee their homeland they wandered for many months through wild unsettled lands until they found the eastern coast of Africa. Heading north along the coast the first signs of civilization they found were date groves. following these further north they found Malakakar itself. For that reason the flag of Andur has the silhouette of a date palm on it.

However the ruler of Malakakar would not let them entered the city and told them to go back where they came from! The ruler of Malakakar at that time was a less than generous or likable fellow who was rather poorly running the city and was paranoid of competitors. In the leader of Andur clan he saw a dangerous opponent and was determined to not aid him or permit him within the city walls.

Of course this did not sit well with the refugees who made increasingly desperate pleas to enter the city to buy supplies but the ruler would none of it. He even forbid the merchants in the city from going outside the city walls to sell to them.

This enraged the refugees and eventually they decided to lay siege to the city. Of course they were not prepared to put a city as large as Malakakar under siege but they felt that they had little choice. They had children and elders for which the months in the wild had taken a terrible toll. It was a desperate gamble.

Through all this the only local people who directly helped Andurian refugees were the meerkat date farmers. Still without some kind of miracle the besiegers had little chance of success.

Then in moment that was right out of legend Malakakar was hit by an earthquake. Not one big enough to level the whole place but severe enough that gatehouse to the main southern gate collapsed. Seizing the opportunity the refugees rushed through the hole in the wall and into the city. Fortunately the city guard was disorganized and main commander quickly captured. In a bit of bitter irony the ruler of Malakakar was found dead on the toilet. His head apparently smashed in from a piece of masonry that fell out of the palace ceiling. Cue the muted slide trombone.

The Clan Andur quickly discovered that there were few in the city who would shed tears for the recently deceased ruler and his cronies. In short amount of time they found themselves in charge of the city. It was then that the city name became Andur. To honor the little meerkats who so generously helped them during their desperate times the first Sultan of Andur gave them the exclusive right to sell dates within the city walls.

Dates are a treat enjoyed by rich and poor in the city and are prepared in bewildering number of ways. So to have the exclusive on dates made the meerkats overnight an important political and economic force in the city. And with the growing population of fennecs http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3119977/ in the city the are almost guaranteed a profitable future.