Sabha
An arid kingdom in the southeast of the Campanel Desert led by a royal family of goliaths. Many dissidents fled here to escape political persecution in the Elflands, leading to decades of reforms that established a forward-thinking constitutional monarchy in this desert kingdom. The kingdom has struggled in the modern era, vassalized by Sardivelia after a vicious trade war while its leaders become more suspicious and hostile towards outsiders.
Structure
The monarch of the Rostami royal family serves as Sabha's head of state, presiding over every major religious and national holiday in the kingdom. A parliament is elected by a segment of the population (typically by merchants or city dwellers) to vote for and pass laws, and the nation's monarch stamps their seal of approval on any bill that becomes law.
Assets
- Tahrir College, one of the most prestigious institutes for higher learning in Pescaliat, is located in the capital of Orem
- Rich deposits of gems and metal are located in the kingdom's border with the Temeraire Mtns
- Qazvin's skilled pearl divers have become some of the world's most renowned jewelers
History
Founding History
In the centuries following the Ostry Apocalypse of the early 3rd Cycle, most of the Campanel Desert created by the Ageless One's final battle with the monstrous deities was uninhabitable wasteland. Only thri-kreen managed to survive the desert's harsh climate in large numbers while small trading posts and towns eked out meager existences on the desert coastlines of the Arrayas Ocean and Karaga Sea. During the Elflands Empire's rise in the first centuries of the 3rd Cycle, many of the desert's small towns like Orem and Qazvin were annexed by the Empire as a final destination for ships sailing towards the Northern Territories. Despite the occasional yuan-ti assault or local insurrection, the region and its diverse variety of races was a peaceful part of the Empire for centuries. Modern-day Sabha had its greatest political shakeup after the Siege of Dhamma at the beginning of the 4th Cycle. The Elflands Empire called on a massive army numbering in the hundreds of thousands to push back the yuan-ti threat, including tribes of goliath fighters from the Toothless Mtns in the Empire's frigid east. After the siege's end and the defeat of the yuan-ti forces, these goliath tribes settled in the cities of Orem and Qazvin and refused to return to a life of subjugation under imperial rule. They founded the nation of Sabha, and a war-weary Elflands was unable to wage another costly desert campaign to reclaim a few small towns on the Empire's periphery. A peaceful settlement was reached, and Sabha became the new homeland for goliaths all over Pescaliat.Modern Reforms
For several centuries the goliaths of Sabha ruled the kingdom as an absolutist monarchy with little input from the region's thri-kreen or other races. The Rostamis, said to be the first goliath tribe to settle in Orem, was chosen as the kingdom's royal family and fought back against any signs of resistance with an iron fist. The kingdom's regime slowly changed in the 4th Cycle's fifth century as political refugees fled to Sabha to escape persecution at the hands of Emperor Polonius III (435, 4th Cycle - 896, 4th Cycle) in the Elflands. A diverse band of radical free-thinkers challenged the political authority of Sabha's monarchy, pressuring the kingdom to reform and modernize in ways inconceivable back home in the Elflands. For years the protests were met with suppression and draconian punishments, but Queen Amaya Rostami (492 - 558) broke from royal tradition and chose to accommodate the demands of the political refugees. A weekslong political convention was held in the summer of 495, establishing a constitutional monarchy in Sabha with a democratically elected parliament and checks on the powers of the state. Many of Sabha's neighbors balked at the political experiment, but in the intervening years the kingdom proved to be a sea of political stability in the chaotic wasteland of the Campanel Desert. An invasion from the Elflands Empire in the 500's was quickly pushed back by a united force of goliaths and Sabhan natives, and apart from the occasional yuan-ti infiltration the kingdom experienced unprecedented growth and prosperity. Tahrir College became one of the most prestigious institutions for higher learning in Pescaliat, and the pearls harvested in Qazvin became the envy of every aristocrat with the means to buy one. Sabha never completely mended its relationship with the Elflands Empire, but the two nations tolerated a shared border for several centuries until the collapse of the Empire in 897 during the Sunken God's Reign of Terror. A wave of refugees and elven nobility fled into Sabha seeking shelter from the Sunken God's reign of terror, an ironic twist of fate for many of Sabha's natives. Queen Yasamin Rostami and Prime Minister Gregor Orangeoak made accommodations for the displaced elves, promising the kind of shelter and security that the Elflands failed to give to Sabha's founders. Even after the signing of the Treaty of Iverburg in 898 and the return of many refugees to their elven homelands, a significant faction of Sabhan natives resented the accommodations made to the elves and believed that even after the Sunken God's invasion the elves hadn't been thoroughly punished for their millennia of oppression.This situation worsened when Sabha found its prosperity threatened by a brutal trade war with Sardivelia in the 4th Cycle's tenth century, Paoli Piedmonte seeking to subjugate the kingdom under an onerous trade deal like it had with the Lotan Conservation years earlier. A radical new generation of lawmakers was elected to the kingdom's parliament, more aggressive on the global stage and turning to extreme measures like sponsoring pirate raids against Sardivelian shipping vessels. But Sardivelia had grown into a global superpower under Paoli, and after the defeat of the Sabhan pirate Wendel Shadman's fleet in 921 the kingdom was forced to accede to Sardivelia's demands. The kingdom has maintained its independence and still elects its rulers, but its trade networks are now operated on Sardivelia's terms. Even the new queen of Sabha Zahreh Rostami has warmed up to Sardivelian influence, any ideas of Sabhan culture and independence reigning supreme left to simmer beneath the surface.
Demography and Population
- 16% Goliath
- 14% Halfling
- 11% Gnomish
- 10% Dragonborn
- 8% Thri-kreen
- 6% Kuo-Toa
- 35% Other Races
Territories
Monarchs of Sabha
- Amaya Rostami (492 - 558)
- Zara Rostami (848 - 893)
- Yasamin Rostami (893 - 926)
- Zahreh Rostami (926 - Present)
- Gregor Orangeoak (878 - 886)
- Wrenn Gobblefirn (886 - 895)
- Gregor Orangeoak (895 - 912)
- Eran Fahramad (912 - Present)
'Shining Through the Sands'
Founding Date
059, 4th Cycle
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Capital
Official State Religion
Official Languages
Related Traditions
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
Comments