For the first time since the Abbasid Caliphate, Grand Vizier Suleiman Al-Farhad, proprietor of Al-Farhad & Sons: Weaver of Dreams Since 1026, is slashing prices. Usually, buying an Al-Farhad rug requires a royal bloodline, and a three-year background check by a panel clerics. But today? We’re practically giving them away.

"My ancestors survived the Mongol invasions," Suleiman sighed, gesturing toward a mountain of silk Isfahans. "But they never had to deal with a three-hundred-tanker pile-up in the Strait." ...