Invara (In-var-ruh)

Invara is a broad term for the Northwestern kingdoms of the Dasaran sea region. While every one of these 35 kingdoms is its own realm with its own local culture and politics, there are some commonalities across this region: the culture here tends towards hyper-individualism, with the prevailing idea that the role of state and community power should be to prevent wanton violence and provide the minimum livable infrastructure. Everything else is a matter of the individual. Some states and communities push back against this idea hard, but those are minority opinions that help define the norm. 
Invara is a dry land of shrublands, seasonal forests, and deserts. The lowlands are full of cotton farms, subsistence farms, Divine Incense plantations, and opium farms. The highlands are full of sheep, goats, wandering tribes, and cults. You can find any kind of religion here, any sect or cult that couldn't find a home anywhere else. Cults, scams, and schemes are tolerated to the extreme here, typically as long as they don't wage violent war on their neighbors and as long as they contribute something to the economy. This can be gambling, drugs, smuggling, or more legitimate trades. Money does find its way here one way or another; many elites from other realms that want to hide money for a rainy day store it here, as the Invaran banks are famously apathetic about their clientele and tend to be fairly reliable. Lunar Cults that don't fit any organized religion often end up here - currently Hiku the Muse, Emesh the Loremaster, and Ishkibal the Warrior have the most powerful cults here, but no one is anywhere close to winning control of the region. 
Mercenaries from here are also an export of sorts; the berserkers of Invara are famously difficult to route, and fight to their last breath. Many are also paladins or ex-paladins; anyone who either has crossed the law serving a God, or have crossed a God and want to hide from the consequences ends up here. Outlaws, scammers, and traitors who make it here with a full coinpurse tend to retire here as well. 

Significant States

Generally speaking, there are five states here worth keeping in mind: Alkatora, Eselhi, Sakalsi, Panatri, and Rinralwa. 

Alkatora is the most prestigious of Invaran states; they are a famously neutral Sumoxan theocracy run by a council of monks and druids. This government is heavily tied into Alkatora's most famous group: the Circle of Sparrows, a druidic order dedicated to stockpiling knowledge and training as many spellcasters as possible. They even have their own wizarding school, known as the Grove of Truth, who study wizardry in relation to the ephemeral, unknowable, and strange (these wizards, who feed into the Darzan University, are often derided as "crunchy wizards" by their less-druidic peers). The Circle of Sparrows has taken in scholars and spellcasters that have fled civil conflict and war from across the Sumoxan world, and it has extremely close ties to the Empire of Sakesh (the Empire of the Great Shepherd). Sakesh protects Alkatora from any possible threat, and Alkatora trains their promising youth in exchange. 
Eselhi is the richest of the Invaran states, and the best connected. A merchant republic-turned-depotism, Eselhi's commercial princes hold property in just about every other Invaran state worth a dime. Eselhi's merchant guilds often own basic infrastructure such as bridges in other kingdoms, and they project immense influence across the region.
Sakalsi is a rising power and constant source of controversy. It is a kingdom run by prisms, but that has rejected Akadism. The prisms here are Sumoxan, blending Akadism with local beliefs with Sumoxan teachings to create a blend of strange new traditions. These prisms aggressively reject the idea of "Covenants", and are openly hostile to Akadism, Pratasam, Areto, and Halikvar. The arrival of Half Prisms in recent years has allowed these communities to fully intermingle, and supposedly the monarchs have even invited a number of very strange, very foreign Choricals to their court to begin a "transformation" of the kingdom. What that means exactly is unknown. Sakalsi is also known for its gold mines.
Panatri is known as the Kingdom of the Free Underground - a mix of open-minded Kima Cities, Sakalsi-style prisms, and prism eccentrics that maintain an underground network of roads. Every town here gets to make its own rules; the monarchs are essentially mediators in a federation of commercially linked prism communities (with some hill tribes as well). Panatri's Crown Bank and Vaults are the number one place to squirrel away anything you really don't want found. Eselhi helps coordinate Panatri's trade with the outside world, but doesn't have much influence within the kingdom itself. Panatri also sits on a critical route between Invara and Eastern Samvara, so they get a fair amount of traffic.
Rinwalwa is a militantly Sumoxan theocracy that sees itself as a "force of order" in Invara. They lead the Northwestern corner of Invara in an alliance against foreign influences, and they make a point of driving out religious groups that don't fit their Harbinger's vision of Sumoxa (such as Halikvar groups, Aretans, or Lunar cults they don't like). Rinwalwa is the most monastic, the most feudal, and the least tolerant of bad behavior. They are close with both the Grand Shepherd of Sakesh and the Kingdom of Shekota.

Geography

Invara spans 630 miles West-East and 410 miles North-South. Two major rivers run from the mountains in the East to the Dasaran sea: The Ingedi river in the North and the Emata river in the South.
The river lowlands of Invara are dry continental forest; the surrounding areas are either shrubby hills, or arid flatlands that turn into deserts.

Fauna & Flora

Moon bears, ibexes, pale weasels, gray wolves, leopards, stone martins, tigers, and cheetahs can all be found here in Invara.

Natural Resources

There is gold in these hills! Not an exceptional amount, but certainly enough to help the local economy along. The climate is perfect for growing divine incense, cotton, opium, and almonds as well. As a more niche trade, a multitude of hallucinogenic mushrooms grow in the mountains here and are farmed in large quantities by the prisms - so any trippy drugs bought have a good chance of being sourced to here.

History

Early History

Invara has a long history of being the "land beyond" for Samvarans. When Bilgaza, the land to the East, converted to Pratasam and formed many large kingdoms in the -500s DE, Invara was the strange land of half-monstrous berserkers and dangerous spirits. The people were slow to adopt mainstream Samvaran religion; it took until the 300s ME for Pratasam to really start to reach the local populace. Even then, it was easily steered away. In the 500s ME, the Cult of Ishkibal seized the local Pratasa temple when their favored son, Tamadi Ishvar, conquered much of the Ingedi river into the first Invaran empire (known then as the Ishvari empire). The resulting religion was a weird blend of Ishkibism, Pratasam, and even Theia worship. In 609 ME, the Ishvari were overthrown and Lily of Red placed a Pratasa dynasty on the throne - but the century of Ishkibal and Theia in control left a mark on the local culture and religion, making Invara the weird other place for centuries to come.
The Ishvar (now Swenivar) Empire collapsed in 750 ME, and for several centuries the region fragmented into many hyper-local kingdoms. In 1190, a new heretical empire rose in Invara - the first to cement the region's name as Invara in fact. The Invaran Empire was founded by a curious figure: Jakeli the Exile, a former Kima City prism who led his family out of the Kima and traveled the world as a paladin of Emesh. Jakeli settled his clan in Invara while he adventured, and he eventually returned with magic items from distant Garadel. Through intrigue, he became king of the local kingdom; through conquest, he forged his own empire. From 1190 to 1325, the First Invaran Empire was ruled by prisms who blatantly violated all traditional religious dogma about the division of prism worlds and human/dryad worlds. Invara was too useful to broader Pratasam (and too distant from anyone who could stop them) to be fully cast from the community, but they were also regularly condemned. In 1325, Pratasa radicals inspired by the Druidic Revolution toppled the monarchy and drove the growing heretical prism communities Eastward, into the mountains. Order was restored, again - but Invara's eccentric reputation had been reinforced. 

Late History

The Druidic Revolutionary government lost popularity sharply in the 1400s, and was itself replaced in 1450. In 1560, an invading force known as the Sumoxan invasion swept over Invara and incorporated the empire into their own. 
In 1690, the Sumoxan empire decentralized enough for Invara to re-emerge as its own discrete kingdom. It was nonetheless rather dependent on the Empire of the Grand Shepherd for trade and legitimacy, and it ruled as a stalwart Sumoxan ally for most of a century. In 1760, a horrific civil war tore through the kingdom; just as the Shepherd's empire was in chaos, Invara was burning. In 1770, six princes divided the kingdom between them. These kingdoms quickly disintegrated as well; the 1800s were a rapid deterioration of centralized powers. The new Invara could be anything, and many groups saw this chaos as a great opportunity to stake out a new home. Asavari Halikvar, a religious sect in decline, fled here in significant numbers. Lunar Cults, religious minorities, and failed religious movements soon followed suit. Sakesh did briefly try to reinstate order (and possible reconquer) the region in the early 1900s, but these wars were general failures that mostly served to prop up a handful of regional powers. By 1950, Sakesh had fully withdrawn.
Since 1950, Invara has prospered in a way. War has occurred, but not on a vast scale. The Darzan University has invested resources into connecting Invara to the broader global economy, and new technologies and magical arts have flourished. The trade route through the mountains to the Grand Kingdom of Severesh has become more stable (if still rather rough). And new gold deposits have been found in the mountains. Whether this increased wealth will lead to more war, drastic income inequality, or an age of stability is anyone's guess.

Alternative Name(s)

Ematinam

Type

Region

Location under

Samvara

Included Locations

• Alkatora