Ahamkara
From World of Kralis
| Regional Information | |
| Population: | 1,650,000 (50% Dejah, 20% Khaarish, 20% Junde, 10% Other) |
|---|---|
| Capital: | State Dependent |
| Government: | Multiple States |
| Major Religions: | Azahak, Gishra, and Llir |
| Imports/Exports: | Varies |
Older than the Empire of Resha and most of the kingdoms of the Southern Realms, the realm known as Ahamkara is the most ancient of lands once a part of the original place where mankind first reached their greatness during the Time of Contact as the Kishan Empire spread its power through out the central lands stretching from the Sea of Magnara to the northern shores of present day Sea of Dragons. This ancient land is extremely powerful and prefers to be left alone more often than not.
Ahamkara is made up of four distinct states: Aham (Central Ahamkara in the Valley of Kartu), Kuur (Eastern Ahamkara on the border of the Great Dale), Chessther (Western Ahamkara between the Aham Moutains and the Sea of Magnara), and Thoranas (Central Ahamkara south of Aham and north of the Sea of Magnara.)
Ahamkara is a realm of twisted power, often to be better left untouched by outsiders. The four states are always vying for power amongst themselves, which often leads to some revolt or war between two or more of the states. Aham and Thoranas always seem to be at some state of bickering. Most of the Southern Realms give these states a wide berth. There are many things that are unique to this realm, strange and powerful magic, unusual technology, strange monsters, great treasures, unknown delights, and life ending adventures.
Contents |
Aham
Established only 200 years after the fall of the Kishan Empire, in 8,800 B.F.A., Aham was settled by the Archmage Tarrik Ahamka and several of his Wizards of Kish. The organization set about to create a magocracy in the fertile valley in Central Ahamkara. Initially, Tarrik and the Wizards, set out to rule the nation in a cooperative fashion, gathering in council to debate and establish new decisions. As with all spellcasters and wizards, there is a deep desire to extend and secure one's powerbase for various reasons, but particularly for the research of all things magical. This quickly escalated as far to many spellcasters were gathering to make decisions in the Council. The system eventually broke down and spellcaster turned on spellcaster and the Mage Wars began. After several hundred years, and horrific battles of magic that altered the very land that was Aham, there rose a single, very powerful, and some suggest blessed by Magnara, spellcaster known as Jia Hurith. He established a strong, ruling class of mages that were assigned to oversee specific regions of Aham. Each of these regions were to pay fidelity to the capital of Hurluth. Since this establishment of rulership the wizards have become a reflection of the ancient Kishan Empire. Many of the things that the mages consider necessary for their lives, they have had to trade and batter for from their neighbors, as well as from further foreign kingdoms in the south. This has lead to many of the regions wanting to conquer and control the lands that produce those things that they need or desire, which has ultimately led to the various regional mages scheming and planning attacks on their neighbors outside of Aham.
Life and Society
As the oldest and most ancient of the various states of Ahamkara, Aham is one of the most largely populated realm in all of Kralis, counting the slave population there are just over 750,000 sentient people within the borders of Aham. However, this number may or may not be accurate as the various regional mages are reluctant to share this information. Those most accurate number and best counted of persons in Aham are the slave population.
Aham is ran by slaves, it is off the backs of slaves that the upper class make their wealth within Ahamkara and through out other parts of Kralis. Most of Aham is farming, which is of course done through slave farmers which gives a proportion of slaves to freemen about 10 to 1. Most people live in the few large cities and towns of Aham than they do in the rural farming country of the nation, most of which are owned by lower classed freemen and landholders.
Aham is made up of three social class strata: Nobles, Freemen, Slaves.
The country, while ruled by the various regional mages, is ran by the nobility that has been granted by the mages of each region. Unless, there is a disturbance amongst the various nobles of a region, the mages are content to allow the nobles run the region as they see fit, so long as it does not go against the direction that the Magriarch desires and they receive their tribute.
There are numerous noble families within Aham, and many new noble families are created at least twice per year, mostly through arranged marriages between two rival noble families. Once a noble family has been created it is nearly impossible to take that status away from them. While spellcasters may become a noble by right, not all spellcasters are noble. For a spellcaster to become a noble he must undergo the Haklu-Agrhim, a test to prove the worth of a spellcaster (which is generally not performed until a spellcaster is able to cast high powered spells (PR9 and above)). Those that fail are forever banished from becoming a noble and are magically bound to never be able to cast high powered spells. Those that pass through the test, and survive, are endowed with nobility, which includes his or her entire family.
Being a noble does not necessarily guarantee success for a family, as is the nature of all things political in Aham, noble families can disappear as easily as they appear because of the backstabbing and backroom deals of political intrigue that makes up most of the day for Aham nobles. With the right connections and power networks a noble family can completely disappear from Aham overnight when the noble families enemies feel that they are getting too powerful.
The freemen or middle class is a bit of an oddity within Aham. Merchants and tradesmen are viewed as nothing more than another laborer. Because of the fact that nearly all "work" is done in Aham by slaves, there is very little experience within the Aham Nobles of the middle class that is so often relied on through out most of the rest of Kralis. However, their need is not questioned as they are seen as a valuable way to get resources that they may not normally be able to get, either by conquering or threatening.
The greatest population in Aham is the slave population at almost a seven to one odds, they greatly outnumber not only the spellcasters of Aham, but also the Nobles and freemen. However, despite their greater numbers, they are well controlled through the use of threat and violence, by owners and overseers as well as the very meager food rations, hard labor and degradation. Most slaves are used for nefarious means such as magical experimentation, blood sacrifices to power magical items, fed to demonic monsters, or used as trade with dark forces of the Omniverse.
The slave population is a very unclean and unkempt population with rags for clothes, barely covering any modesty, hair that is thick and matted. Most are just barely bones and skin, others are malnourished.
Aham has large populations of humanoid monsters, such as ogres, oracs, karnacks, elben, quinas giants, and a number of evil dragons. Many of these monsters make up various regional mage's armies. This has given risen to a great number of monstrous mercenary groups that are used by not only the regional mages of Aham but through each of the of the other three states.
Unless you are a freeman, noble or spellcaster in Aham, life is disparaging, downtrodden and brutally short. The society at large is built upon greed and paranoia. It seems that every person in Aham, from freemen to spellcasters, is dedicated to raising themselves to the highest possible point of success, which is often done on the back of all those around them, including family, associates and friends, if any. As a society at whole, there is a overreaching sense of evil believes and pursuits within this land.
There is a large presence of Kishra Tal within the state. They are highly secretive working often in the background behind any works of the various mages that control the state. These dark jinhuur are well known operatives of the mages, often used in removing problems, permanently.
Major Cities
Hurluth
With a population of nearly 250,000, Hurluth is not only the largest city in Aham but it is also the capital of Aham. It is a walled city, with very few buildings outside the walls. It sits at the basin of the valley of Kartu, it is a flat barren piece of volcanic earth that is incapable of actually sustaining any agricultural life which must be transported to the city from the many farms that city outside the volcanic waste. The Aham river flows through the center of the city, dividing the residence from the business and government portions of the city.
Bezan
Often called the Portal City, Bezan sits in shallow river valley above the River Aham on the border with Thoranas. It is considered a port city as it sits on a deep portion of the river where trade barges from Thoranas and from other lands with access to the Sea of Magnara arrive. It has been destroyed and built many times in battles between Aham and Thoranas over the past thousand years. It was most recently rebuilt to include high stone walls and a thick Iron portcullis over the river to keep unwanted barges or ships from entering the city. It is also now supported by a large karnack mercenary group that occupy the surrounding mountains of the city.
Murbrand
As the third largest city of Aham, Murbrand is unique in that it is the city that overlooks and controls the various mining operations along the southern slopes of the Aham Mountains above the Valley of Kartu. It is a heavily fortified city because of the various silver, copper, iron ore, and coal mines that it watches over. It also has the largest slave population in all of Aham, nearly 20 to 1, which are used to mine the dangerous tunnels of the mountains. Many of these mine tunnels often lead deep in to the mountains, often opening up to a DeepEarth cavern or some lost city of demonic control.
Major Features
Valley of Kartu
The Valley of Kartu is some 1000 miles long by 500 miles wide. For the most part it is a very fertile valley, with thousands of farms. However, it is the remnants of a giant volcano that collapsed upon itself, some 30,000 years ago. It is also rumored where a great host of demonic forces were unleashed by the Kishan Empire in an attempt to control the southern potions of Kralis thousands of years ago. In the center of the valley, where, Hurluth sits, is completely barren. This is not because of the volcano itself, but rather after defeating most of the demonic forces that the Kishan Empire had summoned, the demonic prince Balthoricys, the third son of Demon Lord Abraxas, was ultimately destroyed on the spot, and his horrible magic and powerful evil left the land marred and barren. There is a great sense of magic that the spellcasters of Hurluth have used since his demise to create powerful, cursed items.
The Aham River
Coming from a number of natural springs high in the Aham Mountains, the Aham river begins as a torrent of white water but quickly becomes a deep, wide river that passes through the city of Hurluth and Bezan. It is well known for it fresh water giant carp, and a number of other monsters. It is alos said to be the home of a small clan of water dragons.
Sarshur Marsh
Just south of Hurluth the river Aham wides and shallows out a great deal and creates that Sarshur Marsh. It is a huge marsh stretching some 100 miles south of Hurluth and covering just over 50 miles in width. It is a nighmarish bog broken up by relatively few hillocks of high ground and small huts of criminals and escaped slaves. It is also home to a great number of lizard-kin tribes.
Mines of Aham
Situated in the Aham Mountains, north of Murbrand, are the vast network of mines of Aham. The southern slope of the Aham Mountains are filled within untold number of volcanic lava tubes, and veins of silver, copper, iron and the occasional red steel and gold veins all of which are aggressively mined by slaves at the whips of their overseers. Many of the tunnels are filled with harsh gases, monsters and worse.
Important Sites
Ruins of Darmal
Situated in the low hills of the northeast section of the Valley of Kartu in the Aham Mountains sits the ruined city of Darmal. This ancient city was built nearly a millennium ago by dwarves that had come to mine these mountains. It fell to an onslaught of undead things and soon became a haven for a number of Yaqu that have reigned over the region since the fall of the dwarven city. Many rumors state that the city is also home to an ancient Kishan artifact that has yet to be found by the Yaqu or other searchers.
Major Organizations
The Council
Major NPCs
Cities, Towns and Villages
Rydthar
Akana
Wryth
Unther
Skur
Kuur
Bordering the Great Dale to the north-east, Kuur is an energetic realm, compared to the the other three states of Ahamkara. Because of its location on the border of the great plain, it has considerably more at risk from invading armies of orcs, karnacks, and others. It is a state filled with numerous towns and five large cities. While socially the other states are more stable and are less likely to vary from region to region, in Kuur this is not the case. As one travels between the various large towns and cities, each is very different from the others and will contain substantial differences in their laws, character and social mix. As with the other states of Ahamkara, Kuur is made up of three social classes: Nobility, Middle or Freemen, and Slaves/Serfs.
Life and Society
Kuur culture is dominated by the free enterprise that is cultivated by the cities and towns that make of the realm. Most of the land in Kuur is wild, uncultivated and unoccupied by non-monstrous races. It is politically diverse with no standing army that represents Kuur as a nation. Unlike Aham, Chessther and Thoranas there is no central council or ruling body over the various cities. However, each city is careful to make sure that ambassadors are continually moving from city to city and town to town to insure a open line of communication, most of this is done to determine if one city or town is arming for an attack or politically maneuvering against another. The greatest strength that the region has is its trading merchants as they are busy traveling from one city to another trading their wares.
Since there is no cultural background or identification that the people of the region can pull on as a whole, the various cities and towns act like mini-regional cultural centers. Despite this lack of societal culture, there is significant influence from racial culture of the various races that make up Kuur. There are strong standing populations of aelywn, elf, dwarf, gnome, jakara, kanus, minotaur, and troll. There are also a great number of centaurs that make up the population among the human population. Hurthspur and Durlador are well known for their large mix of races.
Nobility
Like most of Ahamkara Kuur has a great number of nobility. Because of the various internal wars and battles along with the various wars along the Great Dale border, most nobles hail from the fighting men and women of the realm. There are a number of spellcasters that have formed some of the most powerful noble houses of the state. Each of the various houses are given title and hold over a claimed area that they are able to control and farm. This often requires the noble to have either the ability to hire a standing group of mercenaries or have a mercenary group already at his or her disposal. Most of which tend to be a part of his or her fighting company that they established during a long career of adventuring and fighting wars.
The Freemen
The middle class of Kuur bears the greatest resemblance to the various merchant classes, farmers, and traders of the northern and western realms. While the nobility tends to control large amounts of wealth and land, it is the freemen that controls the greatest amount of wealth and money in Kuur. Most cities recognize the power of the freemen and allow them a large berth when it comes to controlling trade and such. They do this so that the city governments may rake in the income of taxes.
While the nobles control the land, the majority of farmers of freemen with serfs that help in the control of the agricultural aspects of the lands that the nobles control. Because of this, the nobles understand that they need to treat those that work their lands to be fair and treat them with respect, lest the farmers rebel. Those freemen that do not farm the land of nobles, tend to be wealthier than their peers as they act like minor nobles, controlling large sections of land that they allow serfs to use and farm, while they give a portion of their crops to the freeman owner.
Slaves
Like most of Ahamkara, slavery is a way of life for those in Kuur. However, unlike most of Ahamkara, slaves are not enslaved people from some other location or captured lands or towns. Rather, slaves tend to be purchased from the other states or criminals that are used for more dangerous tasks. Those slaves that are purchased from other states and slave traders tend to have a better life in Kuur. Most are treated with civility, but are expected to work hard for whomever owns them.
Generally, life in Kuur is peaceful with most folk trying to do good, there are however the few renegade individuals bent on evil and destruction. Because Kuur is a realm known for its fighting nobles, there is a great deal of feasting that goes on through out many of the towns and cities on a very regular basis.
This has lead many to believe that the state is filled with drunken and riotous people that do nothing more than drink and fight. While it is true that many within the state are devout feast goers, many miss the fact that the people of Kuur are a passion driven people, that work just as hard as they feast, both of which they can do very often and at great lengths. The people of Kuur rarely do nothing, if they cannot do it to the extreme and with great passion. They tend to believe that today is the best day one could have, so why waste it on fatalism or depression.
The people of Kuur believe that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well. This attitude has driven the people to become highly specialized in various skills, including warfare and art. They pursue both with a great deal of passion and exuberance.
Major Cities
Kuur is the largest state within Ahamkara, made to feel even larger with the wide open and unclaimed Great Dale on its borders. While it is the largest, it is by far the least unified. Kuur is essential a large collection of city-states. Each of these city-states range in size from 50,000 individuals to just under 150,000 for the largest city with hundreds of smaller towns and villages scattered here and there. Essentially there are 5 cities that are well known and connected in Kuur. There is no nationalism. Citizens of Kuur are known to affiliate more with their specific city-state than of Kuur as a whole.
Cyreth
Authnu
Chesbar
Urkana
Surthan
Major Features
Forest of Herth
On the eastern border of Kuur, lies the Forest of Herth, and home to a large community of centaurs. The forest is not very dense, but there is a great deal of lush vegetation that gives the forest a great deal of green color to it. Most of the trees are very ancient, reaching heights over 300' in most copses. While there is a large host of centaurs within the forest, there is also a number of elf, alweyn and sprite-kin communities.
The forest is renowned for the dense ironwood that is milled within the small towns outside the border of the forest.
Major Organizations
Major NPCs
Cities, Towns and Villages
Chessther
Situated in lower Ahamkara is located the grand state of Chessther. Bound on the north by the Aham Mountains, on the east by the Aham River and the south by the Sea of Magnara, Chessther is a well organized, well ran state. It is one of the culturally richest cultures in the Southern Realms. It is also a very agriculturally diverse region as the Aham River is irrigated into large lakes, which are further irrigated to provide the hundreds of farms through out the realm with water in which they grow.
