Raust Emirate
The Raust Emirate is a young theocratic desert nation located in and around the Tarat desert on the western half of the continent. Its independence from the Kingdom of Valorian is heavily disputed. The country is dominated by the faith in the mysterious god of the desert, Rashdullah, who demands tributes and in return keeps the people of the desert safe from outside intervention.
Rashdullah's throne
The outlook of Rashdullah is a mystery so it is only represented in the form of calligraphy
Etymology
The Emirate is named after its capital, the oasis city of Raust. Raust is a word from the Yallos dialect of the region translating to "pearl", a name that refers to the city's beauty and abundance of water in a very harsh environment.Geography
The claimed territory of the Emirate encompasses the whole Tarat desert as well as parts of the mountain ranges in the northwest, north and northeast and some semi-arid lands in the south. The Tarat desert is a hostile land featuring sparsly populated sandy, rocky landscapes with absurdly hot temperatures, rendering it basically useless as farmland. The southern region of the desert is passed through by the Nergeb river, making the region more hospitable in nature which gave rise to a larger population, though many people fled the region in the chaos of Raust's struggle for independence. The perhaps most iconic landmark of the Emirate is a huge desert plateau, towering hundreds of meters over the rest of the desert and is about 50 km in diameter. It is made of solid red stone and holds special spiritual importance to the people of the region who strictly prohibit anyone to climb the impressive formation. Since the region's indpendence the plateau, previously known as Gor, is referred to as "Rashdullah's throne".History
The Tarat desert was naturally settled later than most parts of the continent and its current population is dominated by nomadic, mostly human tribes and an ever growing population in oasis towns. The nomadic people groups of the region have never been strongly involved with any ruling structures, be it the elven state of Salreon or the unified Abkhazian empire under the Lopesas. Most rulers left the undesirable region to its own and bought ressources from its population in the desert trading hubs. Even wars like the War of Partition mostly ignored the hostile land that would've been strategically valuable if anyone actually had had the ability to reliably hold it. Similarly, the desert population never felt compelled to bow to the new Lopesa kings in Gebra as a part of the Kingdom of Valorian. As they still profited through trade, the rulers of the region reluctantly accepted being formal subjects of the Kings in Gebra. Everything changed in the 920s AGF though. Desert trade became more and more dangerous as many trading caravans or entire tribes disappeared without a trace while wandering the desert. The elders of the desert tribes agreed that a new force had appeared in their land that they were no match for. When Valorian reluctantly sent out an expedition corps to identify what was lingering in the desert, these troops disappeared in the same fashion as many had before them. After this, Valorian decided to no longer get involved with the matter. Simultaneously, many people in the desert started dreaming of an unknown force, named Rashdullah, the god of the desert. It allegedly stated that it rose from its millenia long sleep to help the people of Tarat to gain their independence and would protect and defend them as long as they offered it perpetual servitude. Based on this, the belief in Rashdullah as the one and only god of the desert spread through the desert faster than any sandstorm ever could. With it rose a movement to free the desert from foreign meddling and forever live in worship of Rashdullah. The subsequent rebellion against Valorian started in 930 AGF and is still ongoing to this day.Politics
The Raust Emirate is ruled by an Emir, the king of all desert tribes and highest priest of Rashdullah, seated in Raust. The separate tribes swore fealty to the Emir, though they are mostly self-ruled, also due to the fact that uniform ruling is difficult in this hostile land. It is however commonly agreed that any worship apart from Rashdullah is to be punished severely, usually by the Emir calling upon all tribes to act out Rashdullah's will and hunt down and eliminate the heretics. Sometimes, however, Rashdullah seems to take these matters into its own hand and makes the heretics disappear long before any holy hunters even have a chance to catch them.The capital city of Raust
Culture
Society within the Tarat desert is organized in tribes in which the word of the eldest is considered law, inferior only to the word of the Emir and to Rashdullah itself. In the few years since Rashdullah revealed itself to the locals, society has become deeply religious, with the worship of Rashdullah considered to be the most important virtue of any man, woman and child, as it is this worship that keeps everyone in the desert safe. Worship of Rashdullah is not uniform across the whole desert as there are no written guidelines or holy texts, only the same dreams that Rashdullah sends to some of his faithful every day. One of the commonly agreed practices of worship is daily meditation, in which the believers pray to receive a message from the god in their dreams. Also, it is mandatory to offer sacrifices to the god that are usually brought out into small desert temples or just out onto the highest point of the surrounded area. These sacrifices include foods, drinks, animals but also valuables like gold and gemstones. The most holy site to bring offerings to is the foot of Rashdullah's throne, to which everyone should pilgrimage at least once per decade. Attempting to climb the throne or use other means to look over the edge of the plateau are considered unforgivable acts of heresy and are immediately punished with death, as was commanded by Rashdullah itself.
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