Near Vishkanya

The Near Vishkanya are the ophidian inhabitants of Near Vishkai, a smaller peninsula to the east of Qikuo and south from Far Vishkai, forming the Bay of Lotuses. Many have also settled on mainland Qikuo, in the territories south of the Rose Kingdoms, and prosperous colonies have sprung up on the Ridgeback Islands to the south in the past few centuries. Unlike their brethren to the north, the Near Vishkanya are welcoming and adaptive, incorporating countless elements of other cultures, each a scale on the snakeskin that is their culture. Most consider themselves to be Vishkanya, but few have more than half Vishkanya blood, the other members of their lineage often being humans, elves, or lizardmen.

The Near Vishkanya are a nautically-minded people, controlling the eastern seas of Qikuo and even the Bay of Lotuses itself, with a near monopoly on trade in the Jade Sea. They have a reputation as skilled sailors, diplomats, and merchants, and it is not undeserved, as traders from Near Vishkai have a virtual monopoly on trade in the Jade Sea, and the lucrative trade routes to the Lizardmen of Purenkgal and Grand Erbakan beyond.

Gleaming Jewels

The Near Vishkanya primarily dwell in great cities on the shores of the Jade Sea and the Bay of Lotuses; the arid terrain permits little else. As such, fish constitutes a major part of their diet, but the majority comes from the floating sea rice farms. Sea rice thrives on salt, and so the farms both provide food as well as purifying it for drinking.

The cities are in theory ruled by landed nobility or even Dongs from Qikuo, but actual power lies with the wealthy and influential merchant-princes. The houses and merchant-conglomerates of Near Vishkai have as much of a stranglehold over politics as they do over the trade lanes, and in most cities the actions of the noble ruler must be ratified by an assembled council of representatives from the great houses, and the mercenary armies of even the smallest house could outmatch the forces of Near Vishkai's vestigial nobility. Their power stretches outside the bounds of individual cities, and so they effectively govern the entire region. These houses are familial organizations in only the loosest sense, for while there is often a core family around which the organization forms, in order to grow as they have they accept new members regularly, provided that they can serve the financial or political purposes of the house. Membership in a house is highly sought after, as its resources are at the disposal of its members (provided they have proven to be productive), and there are few problems that their wealth cannot solve.

While the influence of the Merchant Houses has made Near Vishkai prosperous and powerful, they have also brought with them several dire consequences. Most directly, they have, through their aggressive mercantile expansion, brought Near Vishkai into many conflicts, primarily with the Caecilian trade-networks of the Ridgeback Islands and the Kegasic port-cities far to the west, which also seek to monopolize the profitable sea-lanes to Grand Erbakan. The Caecilians in particular see the Jade Sea as their sphere of influence, and the aquatic race has not taken kindly to the destruction of their influence in the region. The nobility of mainland Qikuo, particularly the Tsukimoto, also see the Near Vishkanya as a threat to the established order, and the Tsukimoto have struggled mightily for the past decade to bring a semblance of the warlord system to Near Vishkai and break the stranglehold of the Houses. More insidiously, the merchant houses have led to the extinction of smaller mercantile endeavors along the Jade Sea, particularly in Near Vishkai; it is simply impossible for small-time merchants to compete with the might of the houses, and so most either go out of business or become yet more agents of the House's wishes.

Parent ethnicities