[h1][center][b]SECRETS OF SAMARA[/b][/center][/h1]

[b]SAMARA[/b]: a city that exists in defiance of the desert. Known to many as the ‘Jewel of the Desolation’, the golden city is situated in the heart of the Desolation of Ghand, tightly hugging the El’Junei Oasis. Due to its position on the continent of Araasyr, Samara maintains status as an economical metropolis, a necessary pause in the travels of adventurers and merchants and a vessel for trade between the nations of Araasyr. In Samara, the enigmatic sciences and arts of the east meets the vibrant grandeur of the south, and the wonderfully bizarre doodads and creatures of the west.

It is often said that whoever controls the Jewel of the Desolation controls the heart of Araasyr, and inherently, all safe routes through the wasteland. It is for this reason alone that the city has been hotly contested over the past decade. First, the first custodians of the city, the ithuri, a now dangerously endangered race (along the trope of elves in this world), governed the city, as their forebears did. They ruled for a century, until the imperial armies of Paerium took the city. With Samara, Paerium now controlled the entire east. The Jewel of the Desolation became the staging ground for an imperial invasion into the west. Earning the ire of the Habbisian Principalities and the Sultanate of Varazhyr, Samara came under the yoke of the southerners, until three years later; it was handed back to the ithuri, namely Ussariel. Ussariel and the remnant of his people were left to govern Samara. Yet, wealthy southerners remained, forming the foundations of our conflict.

The military campaign of Paerium has settled, and trade now bustles across the golden continent. In Riavein and Ceirdyl, a cultural movement has inspired a new generation to invest in the arts and the comforts of life. Paerium enters the next phase of its industrialisation, as new technologies, sciences and weapons come to the fore. A river of art, knowledge and wealth now flows through the city, and the southerners wish to have control over every single scrap of profit that enters the city, regardless of who they seize it from and who suffers as a result. The southrons take the form of the Viziers of Anaphi, an exclusive league of merchant princes from the Habbisian Principalities.

Counterpoised to this desire for wealth and expansion is Ussariel and the Remnant. To them, the Jewel of the Desolation is known as Vyrias, an ancient city of their people that Samara is built upon. With ithuri scattered across the world and universally hated, the Remnant desire to control the flow of trade and turn the city into a thriving sanctuary for the ithuri and bring it back to its ancient roots as a place of magical study and wonder. The Remnant see the threat of the Viziers, and despite their distaste for humans, have arrangements with various factions and nations that wish to stem the power of the Habbisians.

In Secrets of Samara, you are caught in the conflict as it slowly boils. Do you take the side of the Viziers, or the Remnant?

Feel free to ask any questions regarding lore and anything else related to the RP. :)