Walbah to Maari
Journeys in the Lost Lands
Hail and well met weary traveler! Welcome to the Caravan Road running from Walbah to Maahri. This route takes you from the First Caravanserai at Walbah on the coastal road between Bhutan and Hava, through the relative safety of the Western Erg, across the Desert Wall Mountains, into the Painted Canyons, on a long run through the Ashurian Desert, to the trading metropolis of Maahri. It is not a safe road, nor an easy one. In fact, for much of its length it is not a road at all but a series of trails the great caravans cover. Throw on your desert robes, saddle your camel, and keep an eye out for bandits, monsters, and worse!
Points of Interest
There are many well-known locales along the Great Caravan Road, such as Beni-Hadith, the Ruins of Gaiyan, Salt Springs, Ethbosy, Tarasunah, Lawraqah on the edge of the border between the Caliphate and the Assurian Empire, and the eastern most caravanserai at Liyyun. Many travelers stop to marvel at the wild beauty of the Desert Wall Mountains, Painted Canyons, and the Ashurian Desert.-
It is rare that a satrapy of the Caliphate is ruled by a sharif, one of the traditional leaders of the desert tribes. Those that are usually are caravanserai centered around oasis. The Satrapy of Al-Bunt is one such, and it is the Beni-Bunt who rule and govern it as they have owned the oasis for untold generations. By long held tradition, the caliph appoints one of the tribe to the position of satrap, but this posting is almost always the person the Beni-Bunt have already chosen to the their leader.
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Most Caravanserais are either walled oases administered by the local tribes in the name of the caliph or fortified trading points set up by one merchant guild or another and then taken over by the caliph. Rundah is different for it is a fortress along the Great Caravan Road, an unassailable pillar of basalt surmounted by a fortress of stone from which the soldiers of the caliph can surveil the desert for miles and miles.
Effendiya ibnat Shukri commands the fortress at Rundah. She may have first won her commission through her father’s political connections, but she has risen to her
Effendiya ibnat Shukri commands the fortress at Rundah. She may have first won her commission through her father’s political connections, but she has risen to her
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Legends say that long ago the Ashurian Desert was a wilderness garden of trees and rivers. The same legends speak of a great city, Ubar, that was the capital of the garden. Also known as the City of A Thousand Pillars, Ubar is said to have streets paved in gold bricks, spice trees that yielded all manner of flavors, fountains of milk and honey, and a people who traded in diamonds as folk today do in iron. As the ruins of such a city have never been found tales tell of it shifting through the sands, appearing first near the Desert Wall Mountains, then in the north almost to the Rukimbur Peninsula, or south close to the grasslands around Tarresh. Not have actually seen it, thus storytellers can spin the Shifting City as a set of ruins or a living city cut off from reality by some great fortune.
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Sharifa Rajiya ibn Zaahir al-Bhutani is the youngest daughter (SISTER???) of the Sultan of Bhutan. As a teenager she was sent to court of King Nabuzerukin II for her education and to make arrangements for a political marriage to ruler from the Empire of Assuria. Her caravan was attacked and young Rajiya was carried off. The Sultan despaired at the thought of never seeing his daughter again and thus offered a reward of at first 10,000 Ammuyads, then 50,000, and finally 100,000 Ammuyads. Wastrels, adventurers, and fortune seekers combed the deserts looking for the lost daughter of the Sultan, but ten years of fruitless seeking proved fruitless.
In the end it was a wandering former street urchin from Hava that found her. Using a magical dagger that he had found in a cave, Zaahid slew the sphinx that was holding Rajiya captive and managed to not die before they were found exhausted on the Great Caravan Road. The young upstart declined any reward, but in a moment that shocked the Sultan’s court, proposed marriage.
Rijiya accepted at once, and the Sultan had little say in the matter (not that he ever did where his favored daughter was concerned). The daughter of a Sultan could not marry some street scum, so the Sultan of Bhutan divested himself of one of his lesser titles and bestowed the hereditary chieftainship of the Walbah tribe upon Zaahid. Sadly, the young hero died a few years afterwards, but Rijiya remains the Sharifa of Walbah.
As the First Caravanserai, Walbah is the jumping off point for those caravans traveling east, and the final stop for those traveling west before they must choose to head north to Bhutan or south to Hava. The coastal roads are well tended and patrolled, making Walbah either the final refuge for weary caravans or the last truly safe spot before beginning the long journey to Maahri.
People Along the Way
The following NPCs can be encountered along the Caravan Road.-
The gnolls of the Painted Canyons are a mercurial lot who tend to follow the strongest leader, and rapidly switch allegiances when the winds of fortune blow from a different quarter. Wasahash is not just the most recent gnoll chieftain to gather a horde around himself, he represents a major shift in how the gnolls of the Painted Canyons operate. To date the gnolls have raided caravans in the badlands where the Desert Wall Mountains break into hundreds of winding canyons. Those following Wahasah have bred great hyenas capable of drawing a chariot into combat, and more, across the open desert.
Mounted on their giant hyena chariots, the raiders of Wahasah have attacked the desert tribes, struck form the sands at caravans that thought they were safely past the worst dangers, and even battled twice with the army of the Desert Princess. Wahasah rides in a large double-hyena chariot that sacrifices speed for armored sides and the room to carry not just the chieftain and his driver, but two other gnolls as well.
Mounted on their giant hyena chariots, the raiders of Wahasah have attacked the desert tribes, struck form the sands at caravans that thought they were safely past the worst dangers, and even battled twice with the army of the Desert Princess. Wahasah rides in a large double-hyena chariot that sacrifices speed for armored sides and the room to carry not just the chieftain and his driver, but two other gnolls as well.
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The famed scholar Risqallah ibn Khaldan can often be found with his small entourage traveling up and down the Great Caravan Road. He asks questions, delves into musty stores of books and scrolls, and investigates every lead he can find. The elderly gentleman is writing a complete history of the Great Caravan Road, and his position as the court historian of the Sultanate of Bhutan makes most people willing to aid him. Information, rumors, and gossip are freely provided, the most carefully guarded libraries are opened, and even highly sensitive documents such as caravan timetables and complement lists are shared. All of this is copied down by ibn Khaldan’s bevy of scribes.
In truth, the learned sage has long been an agent of the Zuma Qulldishi of Bhutan. All the information he collects is encoded and sent to the Zuma for processing. There the information is collated, studied, and used to determine the Zuma’s actions along the Great Caravan Road. Mostly they use this information to better coordinate their smuggling operations, but occasionally they plan raids through third party patsies.
In truth, the learned sage has long been an agent of the Zuma Qulldishi of Bhutan. All the information he collects is encoded and sent to the Zuma for processing. There the information is collated, studied, and used to determine the Zuma’s actions along the Great Caravan Road. Mostly they use this information to better coordinate their smuggling operations, but occasionally they plan raids through third party patsies.
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The Havari River pass through the Desert Wall Mountains is favored by most caravans, but in the season it can become packed with travelers. When two great caravans, one coming east from Maahri and the other from Walbah to the west meet at the Devil’s Throat, the traffic jam can take days to unravel. Because of this some caravan masters who feel pressed for time make for one of the lesser passes. The risks are great, there are precarious trails that hug mountain on one side and open air on the other, rock falls, a lack of water or fodder, and the steep climb out of the valleys and up across the shoulders of lower slopes. Then there are the Black Tooth goblins, raiders who fall upon unwary or ill defended caravans and slaughter all and sundry.
Named for the talawuth root they chew and the dark stains I leaves on tooth and chin, the Black Tooths (never Black Teeth lest you want to anger them further) have a reputation for brutal cunning. They dwell in hidden valleys and shallow caves along the passes and form an alliance of a dozen interrelated tribes, each with their own chieftains and shamans. When they spot a likely target, word is sent from cave to cave and camp to camp by drumming on the hollow thunder rocks found throughout the Desert Wall Mountains. Their attacks are usually preceded by a triggering a rockslide, cutting the ropes of a swaying plank bridge, or other use of the environment and terrain they know so well. To the Black Tooths, picking the loot form the crushed remains of a caravan is just as effective as fighting a pitched battle against caravan guards, and far easier.
Named for the talawuth root they chew and the dark stains I leaves on tooth and chin, the Black Tooths (never Black Teeth lest you want to anger them further) have a reputation for brutal cunning. They dwell in hidden valleys and shallow caves along the passes and form an alliance of a dozen interrelated tribes, each with their own chieftains and shamans. When they spot a likely target, word is sent from cave to cave and camp to camp by drumming on the hollow thunder rocks found throughout the Desert Wall Mountains. Their attacks are usually preceded by a triggering a rockslide, cutting the ropes of a swaying plank bridge, or other use of the environment and terrain they know so well. To the Black Tooths, picking the loot form the crushed remains of a caravan is just as effective as fighting a pitched battle against caravan guards, and far easier.
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Nearly every caravan master and caravanserai are familiar with the smiling face od Habib Rahman ibn Amur the tinker. With his trusty camel Jamila, ibn Amur can be spotted plodding along the Great Caravan Road, the sound of metal tinkling together as the overloaded camel sways along. A dealer in scraps, found items, and his impressive skills at roadside blacksmithing, ibn Amur is usually a welcome sight. However, he is talkative, overly gregarious, and freely dispense his wisdom to all he meets, often without letting them get in two words. Yet, despite his constant prattle, he sees and hears much and is as useful a source of gossip and news as he is a mender of broken pots and thrown shoes. There are many tales of ibn Amur told around campfires and in the cool taverns of caravanserai, some of the true, that speak of his words being the clue to some great treasure or secret, as well as the timely arrival of Jamila and her master just in time to save an ill-stared traveler.
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The legends of the Desert Prince are popular across Libynos, and especially in the Eastern Erg beyond the Desert Wall Mountains. There are many variations, but all include that a leader will emerge from amongst the nomadic desert tribes, unite them, and wage a great war to claim the riches of the cities that were stolen from the tribes. In the Eastern Erg the current form this legend is taking is Shabana ibnat Amir, the future Desert Princess who will one day rule all between the Assurian Empire and the Desert Wall Mountains.
A daughter of the famed Benu-Harib tribe, Shabana (né ibnat Fouad) ibnat Amir forsake the traditional role of women in her society to become a successful hunter of the sandy wastes bringing gazelle, oryx, and even cheetahs back to her father’s tent. It was on one of these hunting expeditions that she discovered a small cave in the mountains. Inside she found an ancient skeleton hugging a magnificent saddle untouched by time. Her tribe’s wise ones declared this saddle was none other than the long-lost saddle of the desert prince, a priceless and powerful magical item that serves as one of the sacred relics that the true Desert Prince will bear.
Her tribe was hesitant to follow her into battle for both her youth and her gender were not the traits of their traditional leaders. Yet follow her they did, first against the neighboring Beni-Ymil who the Benu-Harib had long had a feud with. The victory was complete, and in the past three years Shabana ibnat Amir has led her tribe, and the combined survivors of six defeated tribes that have sworn allegiance to the Desert Princess, to a dozen victories. The caravan masters fear raiders, but they fear the green banner of the Desert Princess above all others.
A daughter of the famed Benu-Harib tribe, Shabana (né ibnat Fouad) ibnat Amir forsake the traditional role of women in her society to become a successful hunter of the sandy wastes bringing gazelle, oryx, and even cheetahs back to her father’s tent. It was on one of these hunting expeditions that she discovered a small cave in the mountains. Inside she found an ancient skeleton hugging a magnificent saddle untouched by time. Her tribe’s wise ones declared this saddle was none other than the long-lost saddle of the desert prince, a priceless and powerful magical item that serves as one of the sacred relics that the true Desert Prince will bear.
Her tribe was hesitant to follow her into battle for both her youth and her gender were not the traits of their traditional leaders. Yet follow her they did, first against the neighboring Beni-Ymil who the Benu-Harib had long had a feud with. The victory was complete, and in the past three years Shabana ibnat Amir has led her tribe, and the combined survivors of six defeated tribes that have sworn allegiance to the Desert Princess, to a dozen victories. The caravan masters fear raiders, but they fear the green banner of the Desert Princess above all others.
Adventure Hooks
The following seeds can be expanded and even linked together or with ones from nearby Journeys.-
The panoply of the desert prince never seems to appear all at once. A piece is found in the Caliphate, another in Irkania, a third down south in the Maighib. This time things are different and the Desert Princess Shabana ibnat Amir has been joined by two rivals, Awani ibn Hamdi el-Fawaz and Shaakir ibn Waseef el-Mir. Both of these claimants have a different piece of the panoply of the desert prince, with el-Fawaz bearing the sword and el-Mir the thawab. As there can only be one true desert prince destined to unite the tribes, this is prompting a three-way conflict. Caravan master are happy, as tribes feuding with each other are not raiding the Great Caravan Road. However, the Caliph’s advisors are not pleased by the bloodshed and fear it will spill over and draw in more peaceable tribes of the desert folk. They certainly do not want a desert prince arising, so the advisors are looking for people willing to go into the sands of the Ashurian Desert and either discredit the claimants or arrange for a mutual failure of all parties involved.
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It began in the marketplaces of Maahri with a knife in the dark, a loved one slain, and vengeance sought. The killer has escaped along the Great Caravan Road and could be anywhere between Maahri and Walbah by now. To claim their vengeance the characters must travel the same road, and swiftly, for if they catch their prey in the open desert away from official eyes then did a murder actually happen? Yet, the road is dangerous, especially for those ill prepared and who do not know the shifting paths. Perhaps a fast caravan can be found, guides hired, or they can simply put their faith in their own skills and the whims of the gods.
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