Xha’en Hegemony
The mighty Xha’en Hegemony (sometimes written Xi’en by those of other nations) is a union of several powerful city-states united under the hereditary rulership of an emperor or empress based in the ancient city of Xha’ahan. Secure behind the imposing slopes of the Impossible Peaks and the near-impenetrable depths of the Great Akadonian Forest, the Hegemony has grown and prospered over millennia into a powerful and sophisticated state that is only now developing full contact with the outside world.
The Hegemony’s borders range from the semi-autonomous Gtsang Prefecture in the north, along the edge of the Great Akadonian Forest to the east and the wild regions of the Utterends in the south. To the west lies the Caerulean Ocean (known as the Nether Sea to the folk of Castorhage) — dark, vast and mysterious.
Many outsiders are entirely unfamiliar with the Hegemony, and first-time visitors are likely to be astonished that such a great state has evolved in isolation. While many portions of the Hegemony still live following the ancient ways, Xha’en city-states contain numerous wonders of art, architecture, and science that equal or exceed those of kingdoms such as Foere and Oceanus.
Outside visitors to the Hegemony are rare, and locals tend toward suspicion (in the countryside) and curiosity (in cities). Ever-present Imperial officials are quite interested in the affairs of visitors, and often insist upon official passes and fees. Foreigners will find themselves watched closely and sometimes even followed. This is not to say that the Xha’en are openly hostile, but a healthy level of caution prevails in most of their interactions with foreigners.
History and People
The ancient Xha’en people have occupied western lands for long millennia, and in that time many kingdoms and empires have risen and fallen. Today’s Xha’en are believed to be descended from the primeval nomadic folk of western Akados, the original progenitors of such races as the Hundaei and the clans of Reme. Originally hunter-gatherers, the Xha’en settled in the fertile Plains of Xha, where they adopted a more agrarian culture and built permanent settlements while farming and herding livestock.
For many millennia, the population of the Xha region remained relatively low, but as they prospered and their numbers grew, the Xha’en came into conflict with the Senge, the area’s other inhabitants. After generations of sporadic warfare and migration, the Senge were slowly forced from their traditional lands and into the hill country to the east. They still exist today, but as a minority in the greater Xha’en Hegemony.
The Hegemony as such did not exist for several millennia to come, as various city-states and small nations rose, fought, and fell. This era, known as the Thousand Kingdoms, is one of the most popular in Xha’en art, literature, and theater. Those days are said to have witnessed acts of great heroism and fell villainy, as well as mighty sorceries, the blackest of necromancy, and the forging of legendary artifacts.
The greater history of the Xha’en Hegemony, spanning as it does over three millennia, is a long and complex story. Brief histories can only touch on its high points, as a full study of the Hegemony would take several lifetimes. The city-state of Xha’ahan (a derivative of the word Xha’en, the name the folk here have given to themselves for thousands of years) was founded soon after the final defeat of the Senge in –1302 I.R., now designated as Year 0 in the official Xha’en calendar (XC). As years lengthened into centuries, Xha’ahan grew larger and more influential, dominating the neighboring cities of Tsadar and Aphapor.
Xha’ahan’s explorers reached out across the region and made contact with many other entities, including the efreeti of Soohr-Ahmaad. The Xha’ahan quickly realized that the efreeti were extremely powerful and some called for a campaign of conquest, but these foolish voices were quickly silenced by those who knew that such an act could lead only to disaster. Instead, complex treaties were signed with the efreeti, the contents of which remain a mystery to this day. Some scholars point to the efreetis’ mystical powers and legendary wish-granting abilities and note the continued success of the Xha’ahan, suggesting that there may be some connection. For their part, Xha’en officially recognizes Soohr-Ahmaad but have very little to do with the strange state and its equally strange inhabitants.
With or without efreeti aid, Xha’ahan cemented its dominance in 1115 XC (–187 I.R.) with the construction of the engineering marvel called the Lujhiran Dam, named for the Xha’ahan queen Lujhira sa Bhor Ahra. Intended to prevent the annual flooding of the Alu and Pantai Rivers and thus free up vast stretches of the Plains of Xha for settlement, the great project resulted in the creation of the vast body of water now called Lake Pantai, and just coincidentally the submergence of Agretor, one of Xha’ahan’s chief rival cities. Xha’ahan’s allied cities Tsadar and Aphapor now sit on the edge of a great body of water, which allows direct access between the city-states by boat. With the loss of the Pantai lowlands, greater emphasis was placed on the Xha farmlands freed up by the dam’s construction. Great aqueducts and canals were constructed to replace the yearly floods while also providing a controlled source of irrigation to The Plains.
The dominance of Xha’ahan was challenged in 1447 XC (145 I.R.) when the cities of Jhohir and Rojhah formed a confederacy, sharing a single legislative group of nobles and a military commander. As Jhohir was the dominant party, this state came to be known as the Jhohir Confederacy, and it lasted nearly 400 years before falling to internal discord and external defeat. In 1834 XC (532 I.R.), a mighty flotilla of vessels filled with Jhohir and Rojhah warriors set sail, intent on the conquest of the The Thousand Rocks and the great Anaros Island beyond. The Anari, long thought to be uncultured barbarians, took umbrage at this act and fought back, battling the invaders for each rock. Bad weather descended on the Sheltered Sea as well, with the wind battering ships, waves sinking dozens of vessels, and the chill cold spreading across the land to slow and sicken the mainland warriors. When at last the invaders had had enough, they returned home, greatly weakened and diminished. At this point, a ferocious squabble between the two states broke out over who bore responsibility for the disaster, and by the end of 1837 XC (535 I.R.) the once-proud confederacy lay in tatters, with each of its partners now going its own way.
The Xha’en Hegemony as it is known today was founded in 2700 XC (1398 I.R.) when Lord Vaelos su Dis Ahra, of the clan Ahra (Kingfisher) declared the three allied cities — Xha’ahan, Tsadar, and Aphapor — to be a single union. Already ancient, Xha’ahan became the center of a new and growing empire. In 2845 XC (1543 I.R.), the city of Rojhah fell after a long siege. A puppet ruler was installed by the ruling Ahra clan, and the following year the port city of Jhohir accepted the inevitable and agreed to peacefully join the Hegemony, followed in 2848 XC (1546 I.R.) by Aban Rha and Thanalos.
The luck of the gods was with the new state, for just a few years later in 2856 XC (1554 I.R.), a massive tidal wave swamped the region’s west coast and devastated the city of Tianos, one of the last holdouts against the Hegemony. A massive series of offshore earthquakes triggered this disaster and also spread destruction across the undersea Kingdom of Caerulea, but no one among the Xha’en was aware of this until several years later when raids by the desperate sea-kingdom began to pick off merchant shipping. By the time Caerulean forces began to attack coastal regions of Quy Island and the Xha shore, the Xha’en realized that they were facing a new and until-now unknown threat.
The coastal cities, still reeling from the aftereffects of the great tidal wave, attempted to band together to face their attackers, but the Caeruleans were cunning, and with the ocean as their secret, utterly unseen highway, could strike anywhere. Forces from across the Hegemony were called up to man coastal garrisons. Mounted troops and messengers were posted at regular intervals to quickly respond and spread the word of raids as they occurred. In response, the Caeruleans began to raid in greater numbers and brought substantial forces ashore and struck several locations simultaneously. False raids intended to draw off defenders were common, and soon the entire coast and Quy Island beyond was aflame with a war between civilizations. Hostilities lasted until 2878 XC (1576 I.R.), when the two peoples, exhausted from conflict, finally settled a treaty that ended the raids.
The seemingly inevitable march of the Ahra clan to total dominance halted abruptly in 2883 XC (1581 I.R.) when assassins felled the Emperor Gyris su Ard Ahra and his family. In a brilliant coup, the independent Ophronya (Peacock) clan seized power and declared their home city of Djir to be the new seat of the Hegemony.
The Ophronya Dynasty’s end came after a long, slow decline and ended with a descent into madness on the part of the so-called Boy Emperor Ziris su Dos Ophronya, who took the throne at age 11 in 3062 XC (1760 I.R.). Prone to fits of rage and irrational behavior, the young ruler was hopelessly mad by his 20th birthday. A council of nobles met in secret and decided to depose the emperor with the help of several allies in the royal guard. In early 3083 XC (1781 I.R.), a mysterious fire in the imperial palace claimed the life of the emperor. Immediately, stories circulated that Ziris immolated himself while commanding the fire to stop burning. Thoroughly discredited, the emperor was officially deposed, and his dynasty ended.
The leader of the rebellious nobles, Sarilla sa Dan Huris of clan Huris, proclaimed herself empress and thus began the rule of what many believe to be the greatest of all Xha’en dynasties. Under the Huris Dynasty, art, music, and science prospered with noble sponsorship. Cities grew, and huge public works were constructed. The dynasty reached its height under Emperor Takar su Pan Huris when the Hegemony’s capital moved back to the city of Xha’ahan in 3223 XC (1921 I.R.). This move led to a revolt by southern nobles who saw their power slipping away. For a time, the rebels met with success until 3230 XC (1928 I.R.), when Takar su Pan’s forces emerged victorious from the epic Battle of Taode River. Over the next five years, the Hegemony reconquered the rebel cities one by one, and the surviving rebels fled to the Utterends where, to hear the Xha’en tell it, they were forced to survive as bandits.
With the Hegemony reunited, the Huris clan returned to their program of civil works by building roads, fortresses, toll stations, port facilities, and similar improvements. Great works of art and music were displayed in the capital and elsewhere. Engineering, astronomy, biology, and medicine all advanced as well. Temples trained clerics and warriors in the healing and martial arts, and colleges of magic were founded to expand and codify the science of the arcane.
But this order and advancement came at a price. A rigid caste system grew up under the Huris, with peasants at the bottom and nobles at the top. Taxes were often penurious, and those who could not pay found their property confiscated and their families forced into indentured servitude. Thus, a class of virtual slave labor arose, a system that persisted for centuries. So while one may marvel at the great buildings, monuments, roads, and other works created during the Huris dynasty, they were accomplished on the backs of slaves and at the cost of countless lives.
Legal rigidity increased under the Huris as well. Laws were established by a council of scholars under the emperor’s guidance. While these laws were intended to be rational and relatively benign, they were enforced with ruthless efficiency by the official constabulary, even if they proved to be misguided or unintentionally cruel. To enforce the law, the Huris’ rulers decreed the creation of a class of traveling judges — specially-trained warriors, many with some knowledge of magic — who wandered the Hegemony to hear cases and deliver their judgements on the spot. These warrior judges became the Huris’ most feared servants, and legends are told of their adventures to this day.
The authoritarian Huris faced many challenges during their years in power. Most prominent was the so-called Ghost Plague that began in 3414 XC (2112 I.R.). First in small villages, then in larger settlements, and finally in the streets of major cities, the spirits of the dead began to wander, moaning and begging for food and to be reunited with their loved ones. In time, the spirits grew hostile and attacked those who could not help them, driving out entire towns. It fell to the warrior judges, Imperial priests, and others skilled in dealing with the undead to clear abandoned towns and buildings of their unwanted inhabitants. The plague continued for two years and ended as quickly as it began. Though theories abound as to the plague’s origins, no one today knows for certain why it happened.
Like the previous dynasties, the Huris eventually fell into decline and vanished, but their end was more dramatic than most. Aging Emperor Amaran su Bha Huris had always feared death, and despite his advisors’ assurances that he would ascend to heaven and take his place alongside the other great rulers, he began to seek out a way to cheat mortality. His experiments took him down a very dark road, and when he began to hold court wearing fanciful masks, even his closest advisors began to suspect that something was very wrong with the emperor.
In 3697 XC (2395 I.R.), 20 years after his experiments began, Emperor Amaran’s advisors demanded that he abdicate in favor of a council of regency. In reply, Amaran revealed what many had long suspected, that he was an undead horror, and that his royal guard had been replaced by undying resurrected corpses. All would bow before him, Amaran declared, and serve the new unending Immortal Dynasty. For long years the Hegemony suffered under the undead emperor’s yoke. Amaran’s necromantic minions spread across the land, occupying villages and cities, and carried off innocent citizens to be transformed into undead or to feed their master’s ever more horrific experiments. Even execution or death from torture did not end the suffering of Amaran’s victims, for many of them rose again as undead servitors, or as the dreaded Immortal Guard, Amaran’s elite warriors. As the emperor’s atrocities grew and the people suffered, an uprising was all but inevitable. Once more, civil war raged across the Hegemony, and this time the nation fought for its very survival.
By 3777 XC (2475 I.R.), the rebels gained the upper hand and laid siege to Amaran’s palace. For his part, the lich-emperor crafted a powerful ritual that he believed would raise all the dead in the Hegemony as his servants. Amaran’s mad scheme was to transform the Xha’en state into a land of the undead that would never die and be forever subject to his whim. Only drastic action could stop the mad lich, and it fell to a band of heroes — a misfit band that included an Anari Uarsinsi warrior, a stern imperial soldier, a battle-priest, a sorceress, a warrior judge and even an outlaw rogue — to scour the land for the lost Ahra dynasty artifacts that could destroy him. In the end the adventurers, known today as the “Heroic Seven” succeeded, facing down the emperor just as his terrible ritual began. In the battle that followed, most of the heroes perished, but the undead emperor was destroyed forever, along with all the wonders of the imperial palace. The Immortal Dynasty was over.
In the aftermath, the nation rebuilt under the relatively benign Tilgi (Ibis) Dynasty. The reign of the Tilgi was marked by its very mundanity as the nation prospered and the more rigid and cruel of the old dynasty’s laws were relaxed. The Tilgi died out peacefully, as was their nature, to be replaced with the more aggressive and militaristic Rachar Dynasty in 4258 XC (2956 I.R.).
The Tilgi Dynasty was not without its momentous events, however. The Xha’en had always been aware of a greater world beyond their borders, and certain ambitious families such as the Y’lshon of Quy Island sought to increase their personal fortunes and influence by seeking trade with distant nations, especially the City-State of Castorhage, whose penal colonies were known to occupy the eastern shore beyond the Great Akadonian Forest. In 3809 XC (2507 I.R.), the Y’lshon received imperial permission to send vessels south around the Talanos Peninsula and into the Crescent Sea. After several unsuccessful ventures, the trading junk Bounteous Harvest made the journey and reached Castorhage, offering Hegemony silk, artwork, and foodstuffs in exchange for Castorhagi gold, livestock, and manufactured goods. The journey was long and arduous, but the Harvest caused a sensation when it returned in 3811 XC (2509 I.R.). A trickle of trade commenced, with individual ships braving the journey to ferry goods back and forth while bringing both nations news and information about the other. It was not until 3888 XC (2586 I.R.) that the twin Castorhagi regents King Alar and Queen Elspeth finally sealed a permanent trade agreement with the Hegemony that triggered an even greater flow of trade and also a steady stream of immigrants from the Hegemony to Castorhage where the Xha’en quickly became one of the largest minority groups in the city-state. A door to the outside world had finally opened, but it would be some time before that opening widened to more than a crack.
It was another disaster, this time on land, that finally established real relations between Xha’en and the Caerulean sea kingdom. Beginning in 3826 XC (2524 I.R.), a sea-borne plague spread by tainted fish consumed the Hegemony — first in coastal cities, then farther east. The plague was quick, debilitating, and deadly without treatment or healing magic. The sickness even proved resistant to magical cures, for those treated by clerics often fell ill again immediately. When folk started to sicken in the capital city of Xha’ahan, Emperor Alnand su Var Tilgi summoned his advisors to deal with the situation.
Some advisors believed the Caeruleans themselves spread the plague to weaken or exterminate the Xha’en in preparation for a renewal of hostilities. Others advised caution and a measured, diplomatic approach to the problem. The emperor sided with those who counseled caution, much to the anger of the war faction. Diplomats were dispatched to the undersea kingdom while a renegade faction of nobles and officers plotted an attack on Caerulea.
Even as the diplomats were on their way, a flotilla of Xha’en vessels set sail with elite warriors equipped with water-breathing magic. A heavy, costly strike against the sea kingdom would surely trigger a strong response, thus forcing the emperor into war, a situation that the conspirators considered vital before the plague killed or incapacitated too many Xha’en.
Fortunately for the Caeruleans and the peace of the region, the legendary Warrior Judge Samadar foiled the plot after learning of it from a drunken nobleman and immediately moving to stop it. In a fierce showdown, the conspirators were arrested, and their orders were countermanded just in time to allow the diplomatic mission to proceed.
As it transpired, the Caeruleans were aware of the plague and provided a cure. Distributed throughout the Hegemony, the merfolk’s potion stopped the sickness in its tracks and vastly improved relations between the two nations.
Today, under Emperor Sajrac su Kar Rachar, the Hegemony stands at a crossroads as the outside world begins to intrude. An intelligent and forward-thinking monarch, Sajrac su Kar has chosen a path of cautious engagement by sending diplomatic expeditions to Foere and several other western nations while expanding trade with Castorhage. Though the arrival of Castorhagi colonists on the Bream Islands in 4512 XC (3210 I.R.) sent shockwaves through the Hegemony, Sajrac su Kar sees the presence of the Castorhagi naval yards and citadels on the Breams as an opportunity to actually engage with outsiders and has also expanded his contacts there. Unfortunately for him, an unscrupulous Castorhagi governor may have plans of his own, for the foreign military presence has been steadily growing over the past few years.
The Hegemony’s population is largely human, and many of the indigenous peoples have been absorbed into the Xha’en culture. A few exceptions exist, such as the Senge, the descendants of the region’s original inhabitants. Today, most Senge dwell in the Sengejia Hills and live in small villages along the Upper Pantai River. The Senge were already declining by the time Lake Pantai flooded their original homeland after the construction of Lujhiran Dam. Retreat to the hills proved costly, and many Senge perished. Today, they exist semi-autonomously, keeping to themselves and avoiding contact with the Xha’en.
The Senge are not particularly aggressive, though strangers are treated with suspicion and generally shunned. Senge villages are overseen by clan hetmen and supported by shamans who are known to cast powerful druidic spells in defense of their territory. Senge trade handicrafts, furs, and produce for metal tools, clothing, and livestock.
The native Bream islanders who live in small villages along the shoreline resemble the Senge and are believed to be close relatives who chose to settle on the islands rather than The Plains at some distant point in the past.
Non-humans occupy an unusual place in the Hegemony, for many clans of halflings and dwarves occupied regions conquered by the Xha’en, and the hostile Eloitan elves occupy the depths of the eastern forest. A small population of half-elves exists in the Hegemony but they are generally shunned by human and elven societies.
Most Halfling communities were agrarian and could do little to stem the tide of Xha’en migration. The Xha’en often displaced these villages and killed or enslaved their people, or transported them to less-favorable regions. Today, small communities of halflings persist, especially in the southern portions of the Plains of Xha.
Dwarven settlements dot the Sengejia Hills or are dug deep beneath the Tsendakar and Odarnadar Mountains. For the most part, the Xha’en left these groups in peace, and today they remain fairly isolated, keeping to themselves and sometimes trading with the Xha’en.
In the south, particularly the Utterends, the situation is far more chaotic, with humans and non-humans existing side-by-side and sometimes coming into conflict. Officially, the Hegemony includes the Utterends and nearby territories on its official maps and in the emperor’s decrees, but in reality, only a portion of the region comes under Hegemonic control.
Religion
During their early agrarian days, the Xha’en worshipped a variety of ancestral and nature spirits, propitiating them in annual rituals. These spirits were highly localized and varied across the region. Most did not adhere to a single pantheon, and it was commonly believed that all of the local entities coexisted, with each group being in charge of its chosen territory. No general concept of afterlife existed beyond a general belief in reincarnation.
The founding of the Hegemony changed all this. The ancestral spirits of the Ahra clan were elevated to the status of true gods, and their worship became mandatory. Priests were sent throughout the Hegemony to establish temples and to see to it that the locals worshipped in the approved manner. Local pantheons were allowed to continue, as displacing them might cause widespread disruption and unrest, but all citizens of the new Hegemony were required to worship the Imperial Pantheon as well.
Like the Hegemony itself, the Imperial Pantheon is rigidly structured, with the great god Ara at its head. Ara is an androgynous deity who gave birth to all the races of humanity and also the other gods. The remainder of the pantheon consists of six gods — Dakhan (war and justice), Gorni (mountains), Jatan (sun and moon), Noradu (nature), Oba (oceans), and Zakur (planting) — and an equal number of goddesses — Banra (the underworld), Estia (the sky), Lainu (lakes and rivers), Meita (the harvest), Quana (love and mercy), and Yainda (childbirth). Zakur and Meita are both agricultural deities and divide duties between the planting season (Zakur) and the fall harvest (Meita).
Trade and Commerce
Wealthy and largely self-sufficient, the Hegemony engages in extensive internal trade, with goods transported within its own frontiers. Livestock, produce, textiles, and timber flow from the northern regions south, while raw materials such as silver and iron come from the mines of the Odarnadar Mountains and gemstones are mined amid the treacherous volcanic peaks of The Cauldron. The waters of the Caerulean Ocean are rich with the bounty of the sea, providing all varieties of food to the Hegemony from the fishing villages that dot the eastern shore. Off the coast, the shipwrights and mariners of Quy Island provide ships and crews for the Hegemony.
Foreign trade exists, though today the Hegemony has official trade agreements with only the City-State of Castorhage and its colonies on the Bream Islands. Hegemony goods are exchanged for gold or manufactured goods, and Xha’en immigrants continue to travel to the city-state, growing in importance and bringing their cultural traditions (including less-savory aspects of Xha’en society such as the Triad criminal gangs) to the eastern lands.
The Hegemony also maintains trade relations with the Anari of the The Thousand Rocks. Fish, ceramics, and copper ore are imported from the islands in exchange for grains, cattle, tools, and smelted copper. While a few emperors over the centuries considered conquering the islands, the beneficial economics of the status quo always prevailed.
The mountainous Gtsang Prefecture is an odd exception to Xha’en dominance and maintains its effective independence due to its inaccessibility while at the same time paying lip service to the Hegemony with small tribute payments. The economic benefits of this relationship outweigh the expense and inconvenience of outright conquest, as the mines of the Tsendarkar Mountains are the Hegemony’s only reliable source of tin, and it is generally known that the Gtsang are easily able to destroy their mines in the event of invasion. While the Hegemony could reopen these mines if destroyed, it would be an incredibly expensive undertaking. The Tsendakar mines are also the biggest source of gold in the Hegemony, making the region even more valuable.
The growth of the Tycho Free States has opened another avenue of trade, but the elves of Eloitan and the Green Warder States have so far prevented the establishment of overland trade. Contact with the Free States must be by ship only, but the voyage south then north into the Crescent Sea is difficult and expensive.
With the ascension of the relatively enlightened Emperor Sajrac su Kar, the Hegemony seems poised to end its long isolation. Diplomatic and trade delegations make perilous journeys to distant lands such as Foere, Oceanus, and elsewhere, and goods from the Hegemony now flow to eastern kingdoms other than the Xha’en’s old trading partners, the Castorhagi.
Crime in the Hegemony
As a highly lawful state, the Xha’en Hegemony abhors crime and harshly punishes even the most minor and mundane of offenses. All the same, the Hegemony is a human state, and like all humans, the Xha’en themselves are imperfect and vulnerable to corruption. Despite the best efforts of local magistrates, warrior judges, and the Silent Demons (the emperor’s secret police), crime exists and flourishes in many places in the Hegemony.
While there are extensive petty crimes and many local crime bosses, particularly in slums and poorer villages, the two major axes of illegal activities are the Crimson Mask and the Triads, two groups that take quite different approaches to lawlessness. The Crimson Mask is a very old organization, run primarily by the Vilgyr clan of Djir. While this identification suggests that rooting out the Crimson Mask would be an easy task — after all, with supreme authority, why can’t the emperor simply arrest every member of the Vilgyr family? — in reality, the Vilgyr themselves are quite adept at hiding in plain sight, often with a complex and sophisticated network of secret identities, legitimate business, and safehouses. The Crimson Mask has often been compared to a hydra, for when one head is killed, two more seem to take its place at new and even better hidden locations. The Crimson Mask also commands a secret network of assassins who are said to be able to kill anyone if their price is met (the price for the emperor is, naturally, so high that almost no one can afford to pay, though the Mask’s assassins insist that they would be equal to the task should they ever be called upon).
The Triad gangs, on the other hand, are a far more diffuse and harder to identify group. These are independent entities organized according to very old traditions that may date to before the founding of Xha’ahan city itself. The name “triad” is based upon the gangs’ use of triangular symbology, as well as the philosophy that their practices require a combination of three forces — heaven, earth, and spirit. Five major Triads — and numerous smaller ones — are believed to exist in Xha’en. Triads are involved in almost every criminal enterprise within the Hegemony and beyond, including smuggling, murder, theft, the sale of narcotics, prostitution, and slavery. Branches of the Triads have made their way beyond the Hegemony and are especially active among the Xha’en immigrants in the city of Castorhage.
Loyalties and Diplomacy
Separated from the rest of the world by imposing mountain ranges and tangled forest, the Hegemony has existed in something of a bubble for much of its history. While relations with the The Thousand Rocks, Gtsang Prefecture, and the sea Kingdom of Caerulea have long been established, these are neighboring states that cannot be ignored. For many long years, the only truly foreign power that the Hegemony traded with was the City-State of Castorhage.
Emperor Sajrac su Kar’s advisors have told him that the world is changing, and that the old ways are fading, which will require new paths of thought and action. To this end, he has begun to reach out to other states of Akados, sending diplomatic missions to Foere, Bard’s Gate, and elsewhere. The Castorhagi have been trading partners for a long time, but the volume of trade was always strictly controlled — this too may be changing as a growing number of Xha’en emigrants make their home in Castorhage, taking with them many cultural and social practices and institutions. The appearance of Castorhagi colonists on the Bream Islands three centuries ago created yet another crack in the Hegemony’s walls of isolation, and now the emperor hopes to further expand his nation’s outside contacts, using the Breams as one route to the greater world and its riches.
A handful of Xha’en merchants also made their way through the northern reaches of the Great Akadonian Forest, risking attack by hostile wood elves and dangerous creatures, to trade with the young Tycho Free States, and more eastern goods have begun to appear within Xha’en borders. These steps toward opening up Xha’en to the outside world are thus far relatively tentative but may grow in time.
Government
While the Xha’en’s state is officially called a Hegemony, it is ruled by a hereditary monarchy based in the city of Xha’ahan (excluding the period in which the capital was officially moved to the city of Djir). Its great city-states — Jhohir, Aphapor, Tsadar, Rojhah, Thanalos, and others — in turn exercise authority over surrounding territories, making them de facto provinces in a larger empire.
The Hegemony’s history is divided into dynasties, beginning with the founding House of Ahra (the Kingfisher). Four other dynasties — the Ophronya (Peacock), Huris (Ostrich), Tilgi (Ibis) and the present-day Rachar (Heron) — rose and fell, either peacefully or violently, and the succession continued uninterrupted for four and a half millennia.
Over the centuries, the occupant of the Imperial Throne has ranged from a powerless figurehead to an absolute monarch, with stops at almost every level in between. Today, the power of the emperor appears to be on the increase, with the vital and intelligent Sajrac su Kar reclaiming some of the throne’s old authority. Already he has undercut the privileges of nobles in other provinces and insists that they pay taxes and visit Xha’ahan at least once every two years to report on conditions in their homelands. He has placed much of the army under his and his advisors’ direct control, and dispatched diplomatic missions far abroad, triggering a growing flow of trade from the east.
How well the emperor’s reforms will succeed remains to be seen. Many nobles chafe at his new taxes and decrees, and a significant number of priests of the Imperial Pantheon express conservative views and call for a return to older, more isolationist policies. A small but powerful group of nobles has banded together to form a secret society known as the White Serpent, but so far their plots against the emperor have been foiled with the aid of the warrior judges and the Silent Demons.
Military
Traditionally, the Hegemony’s military is made up of several armies, each maintained and commanded by its city-state of origin. Also by tradition, the army of Xha’ahan is required to be the largest and most powerful. As the Hegemony has few enemies, these armies have dwindled somewhat over the generations, and today serve mostly to safeguard the country against bandits, put down local uprisings, and patrol the border. Nevertheless, some ancient traditions continue, and the Hegemony military still contains skilled and even legendary warriors.
While armies differ in appearance and composition from one city-state to the next, all use similar military technologies and tactics. The bulk of the army is infantry, divided between unarmored skirmishers equipped with shortbows, medium infantry in leather armor (often derived from the tanned hides of elephants and rhinoceros as well as horses and cows) armed with well-engineered crossbows, and heavy infantry in chain mail or plate, usually armed with large two-handed weapons such as glaives, mauls, and halberds. Weapons and armor bear design motifs and details that are unique to their cities of origin.
Most mounted troops ride horses. The horse-archers of Thanalos are considered the finest in the realm and carry on the traditions of excellent horsemanship developed by their distant ancestors. The knights of Xha’ahan wear heavy scaled armor and fight with great lances and swords, while the lancers of Aban Rha are lightly-armored, mobile, and deadly as both scouts and shock cavalry.
Several unusual units exist within the Hegemony’s military, though most of their greatest exploits took place in the distant past. The Tiger-Riders of Xha’ahan are probably the best known of these elite groups. An all-female unit of armored warriors, mounted on tigers bred for both size and ferocity and armed with lances, swords and bows, the Tiger-Riders are credited with winning numerous battles for the Hegemony’s leading city-state. Their numbers have dwindled over time, and where once over a thousand served at the personal command of the emperor, only a single regiment of 300 remains.
The city-state of Djir was long able to resist the dominance of Xha’ahan through the excellence and professionalism of its army, which included its legendary aerial cavalry, mounted on griffons from the Odarnadar Mountains. Like the Tiger-Riders, the Griffon Knights are today a shadow of their former selves, consisting of a single squadron of six, maintained almost entirely due to tradition.
Despite the suppression of halflings throughout the Hegemony, the city-state of Rojhah maintains better relations with its halfling population and has for many generations maintained several regiments of halfling skirmishers equipped with bows, slings, and darts. These halflings are employed as scouts and rangers and often participate in successful campaigns on behalf of the Hegemony. Other non-humans occasionally serve with the Hegemony military, usually as contractors or mercenaries — dwarven engineers and half-elf scouts are most commonly employed in this fashion.
Arcane and divine magic have played important roles in the Hegemony military, even more than in the eastern kingdoms. An entire coterie of battle-wizards serves the emperor and can be called up on extremely short notice. It was this command of magic and its application to warfare that helped Xha’ahan dominate the region’s other city-states, and the emperor continues to maintain a large number of these battle-wizards. In the past, each regiment of the Hegemony’s united army contained one or more war-priests who commanded both offensive and healing magic, though this tradition is currently in decline along with other military practices.
The Xha’en maintain only a small standing navy, as few major threats come from the sea. Emperors in need of ships can press civilian vessels into service or commission the construction of ships intended for short-term, fairly limited purposes such as amphibious invasion or the suppression of piracy. The need for either function passed long ago, and today the Hegemony remains a largely non-naval power. The vessels of Ankhura and Castorhage patrol the outer waters but are restricted from approaching the Xha’en coastline too closely.
Overall, the Hegemony military remains strong and is easily the equal of any nation that might present a threat, but generations of relative peace have sapped much of Xha’en’s more militaristic tendencies, and today the army has been largely relegated to civil duties and the suppression of minor threats to the nation. Emperor Sajrac su Kar has undertaken a program of modernization, sending diplomats to study foreign militaries, reorganizing old and inefficient units, and putting the armies of the Hegemony’s various member-cities under his own direct command. Needless to say, this irritates many of the cities’ nobles, especially members of the radical White Serpent Society.
Major Threats
The Xha’en Hegemony is one of the most stable of known nations. Safe behind nearly-impassible mountains and forests, the Hegemony has few real outside enemies, and those within its borders lack the power to do more than inconvenience the emperor.
The nearest states with any power are the relatively new Tycho Free States located on the eastern side of the near-impenetrable Great Akadonian Forest. Engaged mostly in a struggle for growth and survival, these states have little interest in antagonizing their larger neighbor to the west and welcome the handful of Xha’en merchants who make the difficult journey through the forest to trade.
The Utterends in the south are the least-settled portion of the Hegemony and are home to independent groups of humans and non-humans. Relations with these groups vary, from friendly trade agreements to outright hostility, with human bandits, humanoid raiders, and angry warlords attacking Xha’en settlements and merchants. The Xha’en military responds to these provocations, but the sheer inaccessibility of much of the region limits their effectiveness.
The most significant threats to the Hegemony come from inside its own borders. A new emperor has taken the throne, hoping to awaken a sleepy nation and set it back on the road to greatness. To this end, Sajrac su Kar has rattled many cages — taking greater control of the state military, dismissing advisors and bureaucrats from old families, improving local administration, sacking corrupt governors, and making tentative moves toward ending the Hegemony’s isolation from the rest of the world.
While these moves have met with some approval, especially from younger and more progressive Xha’en, they have been frowned upon by an increasingly alarmed establishment. Established noble houses, the rulers of various city-states, military officers, and doctrinaire priests of the Imperial Pantheon have all expressed dissatisfaction and, in some cases, outright defiance of the new emperor’s edicts.
A few nobles banded together into a secret society known as the White Serpent and intend to depose or kill the emperor. So far, the emperor has survived two attempts on his life by masked assassins, and has dispatched his secret police, the Silent Demons, to find out who is behind the conspiracy and bring them to justice.
Elsewhere, there are rumors that a cabal of wizards who practice forbidden arts of necromancy wish to resurrect the undead Emperor Amaran su Bha Huris and bring back his dreaded Immortal Dynasty. Most Xha’en would consider such an abominable act to be all but unthinkable.
The Hegemony has maintained trade relations with Castorhage for centuries and has come to warily accept the presence of Castorhagi colonists on the Bream Islands. However, the expansion of both nations’ influence may lead to conflict. Some believe that the Breams’ governor, Lord Duke Taneth, is building up naval and land forces with the intention of invading Quy Island, thus expanding his nation’s holdings and potentially provoking war with the Hegemony. This outcome, sure to be disastrous for all involved, is one that all save Taneth and his allies seem determined to avoid.
Wilderness and Adventure
Although it remains one of the largest and most powerful states in Akados, the Xha’en Hegemony is not well-known outside its frontiers, and opportunities abound for those who wish to travel there, as well as those who were born and bred in the region. Surrounded by a changing world, the Hegemony will soon be experiencing seismic changes in its culture and society, surely creating many chances for adventure and good fortune.
The central regions of the Hegemony — the lands around Lake Pantai and the fertile Plains of Xha — have been settled and civilized for millennia. Other regions, such as the wild Sengejia Hills, the rugged Tsendarkar Mountains, and wilderness in the Utterends remain lightly populated, minimally settled, and largely unexplored.
The depths of the northern Akadonian Forest — and particularly the wild elven realm of Eloitan — present a significant barrier between the Hegemony and the growing Tycho Free States to the east. These former penal colonies have vital economies and may prove important in the new trade routes springing up along the Crescent Sea and linking the Free Coast to the great city of Castorhage and other ports. The forest is indeed an imposing barrier, thick with ancient trees, tangled undergrowth, treacherous ravines, and deep, swift rivers. The presence of hostile local wildlife is only the beginning of the challenges facing those who would venture into the forest. The Eloitan elves, xenophobic and hostile to all but their own kind, lie in wait for unwary travelers.
All of these factors make crossing the forest a near-suicidal proposition, yet eager merchants and explorers on both sides continue to make inroads, venturing into the forest and — rarely — actually making it out alive. Rumors of treasure — lost elven gold, holLow Hills that contain the wonders of the ancient reptilian civilization that once flourished here, and the remains of the old Castorhagi fortresses — continue to draw adventurers despite a depressingly high fatality rate.
Many other adventuring opportunities present themselves, even in the relatively cosmopolitan regions of the Hegemony. The Crimson Mask and the Triads control most of the Hegemony’s crime, and also maintain an extensive smuggling and assassination network — both enterprises that adventurers may encounter or be drawn into. The nobles of the city of Djir maintain a private hunting preserve in the nearby Earos Hills, where they seek out the region’s exotic megafauna, and these expeditions always require assistance from professional trackers, hunters, and explorers. Diplomatic and trade parties regularly visit the Sea Kingdom of Caerulea and the dwarves of Ankhura, and those parties often require aid from warriors, mages, healers, and the like.
Region
Xha’en Hegemony (sometimes, Xi’en)
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