Zakar, The Lands of the Crimson Mages
Structure
Basilkarns are the ruling Kings.Queens, Emperors, and Empressess of the cities and lands. All are mages of the Crimson Schools as is mandated by old tradition and right of power. While most rulership is passed down family lines, if one is powerful enough they can overthrow and install themselves as ruler so long as they have the strength and will to do so and beat any competition into oblivion. Under them are the various noble famalies and members of high society, and trusted military generals and commanders who serve in the Zakarin army. Under them are the merchant famalies and minor slave trade houses, for most of the larger ones make up most of the upper nobility. Under this are of course the peasents who toil endlessly for their betters. Under all is the slaves, which make up a terrifying amount of the population of Zakarin lands, even if a good portion of those slaves are undead, lifeless corpses.
Culture
When Zakar is mentioned on whispered lips in seedy taverns near docks and across Nilush, the mind conjures images of horrifc, brutal cities built atop the rotting corpses of zombie workers, and the wailing of young men and women whipped and in chains as they are treated like property rather than living beings. This image is true....and also not true of the whole picture. These are but the classess of society able to enjoy more freedom than the common workers, though make no mistake that evil is still present even in the lowest social classess. While the people born here are not inherintly evil, it is much like the Drow of the Old Underdark that the unforunate reality is people born here are only taught how to be "evil". Zakar is not a place that typically breeds heroes of compassion, justice, and good deeds. However, upon walking in the lands one would find a hard working, humble, and even freindly atmosphere amongst the peasentry. When everyone above you rules over your life with an iron blooded fist, the people below this fist must take solace in one another. While they are certinely aware of the sterotypes surronding their nation, they simply try to worry about themselves first and foremost. Honoest and reliable, they sadly labor under the oppresive yoke of total arcane regimes. Ever since their land was made into scatterted islands and land massess, the people have all adopted their own customs and ways of life, but due to being so close to one another similarities are bound to crop up amongst the city states. Tattoos being a common practice of telling stories or showing ones station to onlookers, though some styles of tatoos are reserved only for the upper class.
Most of Zakar society is built upon the idea of superiotiry and hierarchy. Those born of Zakar are more advanced and civilized than any other nation in the world. Is is their right by their own arcane might that they be allowed to rule as they do. So powerful are they that they need no coddling and guidance from gods, and to loathe spellcasters of foreign lands. One is taught from birth to do as ones told, and work for thy betters lest you be given the whip or far, far worse. However, the drive for power and prestige is always dangled just out of reach of even the lowliest peasent, and so many seek to advance their station, wealth, or reputation by whatever means necessary. While high society is the most cutthroat, even the lowliest workers can be found stabbing each other in the back for their own survival. While rising above ones station into at least lower nobility is possible, it is highly unlikely due to the volitile nature of law and might in the city walls.
However all are still expected to obey the laws given to them, and one that has been enforced since the dawn of their civilization has been to give up ones gifted children. At birth, every parent is required to wait no more than 2 weeks time to have their infant child tested for arcane ability. While some foreigners think this process is some cruel ritual, in truth its a fairly simple, and benign procedure. If the child has no magic gift they are simply given back to the family, for the red robed wizards are just not intrested in lowly peasent problems. However if the child has the gift of the arcane, the parents are informed of this, and the child is taken away to be trained by the mages in the schools of magic. They are not allowed to see their parents until after they graduate, and the schools do not tolerate failed students. It is for the good of the nation this is done, for more powerful wizards means stronger might for the many city states of Zakar. The sight of grieving families is quite common in the streets, but also proud parents that their coupling brought about a powerful being. While one might think the parents of arcane children might have their station raised, it is only in cultural perception rather than actual rank. While their rank is not raised, they can enjoy some benefits even if not offical mandated, like lighter work loads, working with less supervision, and if a returning student wishes to, gifts and nicer housing. Of course, most Red Wizards hardly know their parents if at all, and so most don't bother, some even come to hate their parents in some twisted cases.
The high society of Zakar lands live in decadency and gluttony. Nobles enjoy the finest wines, the finest food, and great harems of concubines protected by only the most trusted of Harem Guards. Magic is their very power, and so the better someone is at magic the higher in society they are. Some famalies have strict rules for having children as they only couple with those they deem to be of good stock. Knights and other low noble famalies squabble for the scraps of high society, and thus many famalies turn to the slave trade to raise their wealth and power. Indeed the bulk of Zakar society is built upon the hordes and legions of slaves they maintain. While Tajir and Alddinheimr may think themselves to be wealthy in the slave trade, in truth they are easily outshined by Zakar for it is a land of unimaginable cruetly. Slave raids are common, and the markets ussualy reserve the largest spot in the marketplace to be used for auctioning slaves for whatever purpose their dark hearted masters see fit. However, one would be surprised to know that many slaves are the dead themselves. When one is a slave, they are never considered free at any time. Even if their master is dead, the "property" is simply inherited according to the will of the now dead master, or aqquired by an acreditor to be sold to the next client. Even with the death of the salve, the body can still sometimes serve some use, and so zombified workers and even soldiers are a common sight in normal Zakar society. Using methods learned from old Shezarkai scripts of mummification, and with some personal modifications, most of these undead labourers are zombies wrapped in scented cloth, wearing armor representing their owner. The smell alone is also the reason the cities are choked full of insense candles and other methods of drowning out the stench of rotting flesh, to surprisngly effective degrees in all honesty. For this reason undead slavery is considered still noble and proof of ones station, but as cheaper and less prestigious as living slaves. A zombie does not need to eat or tire, but a living slave still needs food, water, and a place to live even if squalid. Living slaves are a sign of status, in some areas, but while the bulk of the labor force is undead servants there are still living servants and slaves who do manual labor and the like. indeed the land is similar to old Drow society in some ways, for compassion and caring for others outside of ones own family is seen as weakness. Better to be strong of will and clear of purpose, and sieze what can be made yours through clenched fists and incanted spells.
History
A wizard should know better than to play god and kingmaker, but some let their hearts turn to vile deeds regardless. Magic is a beautiful practice even with the superstition and discrimination against it around the world. It is the pursit of knowledge in its entierity, and understanding the science between breaking the laws of reality itself and bending, molding the energies to someones will. Magic can be used for good or ill, but while the people of Nilush fear magic mostly from ancient days, there is another reason. For many know the stories and histories of an archipelago just off the coasts of Nilush and Carall, a land where wizard kings and queens rule. A land where no magic is barred from study, no matter how debased or vile it may be. Where the necromancer is seen as a politican, where the street worker is an undead slave, and where the only reward for the hard and terrible labour the citizens have is the endless wealth they creatre for their rulers. Welcome to Zakar, the land of darkest hearts and most terrible of nations.
Many might not know it, but there used to be a land bridge connecting Nilush with Carall oh so long ago. This land bridge is believed to be the main way the Ishtar Empire was able to move in to the south the easiest, and allowed for the Shezarkai and the predecessors of the Tajir to come about. Regardless it also saw usage when the Ishtar Empire fell and the mortal races immigrated en masse across the west of Nilush. Heading south, many tribes would come to inhabit both Carall and the land bridge known as Old Zakrond. strangely enough, as most of these tribes were nothingg but waring bands of hunter gatherers, the birth of Zakar civilization came from magic. Strangely, this land mass had several magical artifacts and old buildings scatterted about, seemingly pulling the waves of the chaotic magics of the world spear to flow strongly around it. These artifacts are also believed to be why Carall magic flows somewhat more weakly than other lands, but regardless these artifacts over time began to change the tribesman. Many started developing magical powers, but unlike the shamans of other nations they were powerful and terrible in their power. When magic was young and all schools were learned, the mages of Zakar were wizards while the rest of the world were but shamans and witch doctors dancing with bones when the Zakarins cast great spells. These artifacts also seemed to lure in great swathes of the beast races and green skins, yet they were never able to cause too much trouble for the Zakarins thanks to their magic. Nay, danger came not from outside the borders, but within.
While Zakar has (and still does) raid nearby lands, they tend to worry more about politcal gains and land grabs amongst each other in their land. Ever since the first cities were being built, the mages and wizards enforced their iron willed rule amongst the populace. However, when talks ofa unifying political figure, an emperor, should be picked amongst the cities to help them conquer all, war broke out in its entierty. This was, known as the Crimson Wave War, began in around 200EC and would last up until 210EC. While the war was fought primarily between 2 major powers, being the loyalists of one Alexis and another wizard named Sosibios respectfully, there were countless other minor factions vying for power. However, the war came to an end with no real winner as a great wizard named Dralas Kozka would go mad from his arcane might and from the constant screeching he heard from his magic letting him hear the factions bicker insesintly. He cast a great spell, channeling most of the artifacts scatterted about into causing massive earthquakes and floods so great that shocks were felt across Nilush entirely. By the end of this spell, Dralas's fortress had sunk to the sea, as well as the land bridge connecting Zakar to Carall and Nilush. The lands were now a scatterted archiepalago of factions now broken and ruined.
Many other nations would have simply rotted and died from such an apocalypse, and perhaps the world wouldve been better if they did. Alas, magic and the corrupting desire for power everlasting drives the minds of lesser men to extremes of extremes. Necromancy and raising the dead became invaluable into rebuilding the nation, as why should the rotting corpses of the dead be allowed any rest after death. This came about around the same time the wider schools of magic were being formed across the world, and where the forbidden magical arts first became forbidden: necromancy, blood magic, etc. However, why should Zakar, seeing itself as the cradle of true civilized society, listen to the demands of squabbling foreign fiefdoms? For moral reasons? For the good of society? Such notions are but matters of persepctive, and so the dark arts were practicied quite commonly, and even encouraged in the lands of Zakar. From Crimson Wave War came about the forming of the many independent city states, kingdoms, and empires of the land. All have diffrent customs and ideals, but all are ruled by the rightful people: the mages and wizards of the Red Mage colleges. The civil war taught that magic was the mark of power and status, and so at birth every Zakarin is checked for arcane talent before being taken away to learn the art of all magic. Such every petty nation amongst Zakar is a magocracy, and bloody cold hearted rulers at that.
Since then they have mostly kept to themselves thankfully, but not entirely. They raid other nations for slaves and loot, namely Tajir and its neighbohrs, along with Ardita and Ashenfeld. While many have waged wars to halt Zakar advances, none have been truly able to make any meaningful dent in Zakar territory, only able to halt their navies or chase them out after they are loaded with slaves and spoils. However, such tales even early on in Zakarin history spread like wildfire thanks to sailors and merchants, of a land so vile that the magics draw the rulers mad. This helped spread wider distrust and fear of the arcane arts amongst the wider populace of Nilush, something that has never really died down, only expressed more quiet than loud as before. Alas, fear the land of the crimson robed wizards, for they rule a land making up the largest slave population in the world, and while many think Tajir to be a hub of the slave trade, truly it doesn't even come close to Zakar. Fear the land where toil and labor are only rewarded with smug grins and the fact that you avoided death, mutilation, or wose by but a hairs inch is the only reward one can expect. Even if one amasses great welath and power in their local lands, the wizards and mages are the only true power of the land.
Demography and Population
Due to the nature of the migrations that led to the land being populated, and the vast slave empire Zakar is, one can find species and peoples from all across the world in its entierty. The beast races and greenskin races such as orcs, goblins, bugbears, etc. are also unsually high in these lands, and unlike the wider continent have mostly intergrated with wider Zakar society. So much so that there was never any problem with the orcs admist the Green Wars that raveged Nilush, as most of the orcs were either already slaves or labourers already.
Religion
Zakar is unusual, in that while the rest of the world can be seen as devout, Zakar is almost close to atheist compared to the wider world. That is not to say that they do not believe gods are real at all, most learned mages do recognize that gods are real, metaphysical concepts, but that they are but diffrent embodiments of arcane enlightenment. Worrying about what the distant gods think is simply lower on the list of worries for Red Mages, as personal and arcane power are above all other concerns. in the past foreign gods and faiths had been banned, but in the last 1,000 years this ban was softened and foreign faiths can be found in the land, however small and unimportant they may be.
In terms of old gods of Zakar, there is Reius the Hydra Headed God of land, sky, war, and sea, and of course Ova the Horn Headed Goddess of Lust, beauty, power, wealth, and fertility. Both of their symbols are painted in blood red, such has it been since the early days, and thus the color red is a prominenet color in Zakar society. Its almost a holy color to wear, and so few outside the noble upper class can wear such an esteemed color of the gods themselves.
Foreign Relations
"I saw her ya know, my wife. She was being led in chains aboard a Zakarin ship, and we all know the fate that awaits those taken by those basterds. I..I couldn't let her suffer like that, and i knew the second that boat got underway she would be gone for good. So...I took my crossbow, and did what had to be done. Don't you dare lecture me about fighting them, you and I both know we can't." - Sabino Bosio, greiving Arditan sellsword
"One shudders to even think of the name of that place. Even the people that manage to move out of there can only sing to the gods above in thanks for escaping that place. Yet most of the people over there don't see any damn problem with what their life is like. I can't imagine being whipped and beaten so bad that I can hear the clanking of a thousand, thousand shackles and think: yea this is just fine and dandy" - Ayah Francis, Ashenfeld farmer
"Oh so eager to demonize our ways for the practice of slavery. Oh the irony never fails to make me laugh with enough force to cause an earthquake round the world! Is it not the same lands that denounce us as rabid dog slavers the ones who make purchases of our goods? Is it not foreign informants that give us good raid targets in exchange for coin or product themselves? Is it not lands like Ashenfeld, where they merely "pretend" to have slavery outlawed when every ignorant churl knows that it is still well alive and kicking. Do not lecture to your betters about what is write, for we know more than you by centuries of experince. Do what you are told, do not question orders, and never get in out way" - Phylia, Red Wizard of Zakar.
Due to its reputation as a powerful collection of slaver empires and magocracies, most other nations do not entreat or interact with Zakar in the slightest, at least offically. Most other nations distance themselves from Zakar, and even other nations that practice slavery like Tajir have major tensions with them as Zakar regurarly invades their lands on slave raids. Unoffically however, the welath and power that can be gained by working with the Red Mages of Zakar behind closed doors is too much for many noble men and women to resist. So it is that Zakar has its tendrils in many foreign lands, surprinsgly deeper than any would expect. However most Zakarin citizens, at least the high society ones, find it necessary to hide their ancestry lest they be killed on sight. While lowborn Zakarin refugees are not killed on sight, sadly many of the sterotypes of their home are thrown at them, and so life can be tough for those that just escaped a land of unbearable cruelty. The only solace the world can take is that while powerful: time and again they have been beaten back by armies of the other nations. Zakar is a divided land of petty sorrceror lords, and so a long, continued conquest of the wider world is not possible even with their arcane might.
Type
Geopolitical, Magocracy
Alternative Names
The Land of the Red Mages. The Cursed Land. The Wicked
Demonym
Zakarin
Government System
Magocracy
Judicial Body
While varrying in their names and structure, most of the nation states have their rule enforced by tough and brutal minions, sometimes having significant numbers of undead or bugbears and other such monster races making up the bulk of the guard force. Typically these guard forces are named the Phylkarn, and enforce their masters brutal, tyrannical laws. While Zakar does have trials for lesser offenses amongst the peasentry, any crime involving a noble or knight or anyone higher than peasent will find it hard to win if at all. Most judges typically find the one of higher standing to be more in the right or innocent of crimes. Slaves of course have no such liberty of even a trail. Many of the city states also employ secret police forces to root out sedition and opposition whereever found.
Neighboring Nations
