[b]Faction:[/b] Kingdom of Poertia

[b]Race:[/b] Human, with Gul/Vampire ruling dynasty.

[b]Location:[/b]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/6AEU9As.png[/img]

[b]Backstory-History[/b]

The land that is now called Poertia was, in antiquity, the home of tribal peoples who made their homes in the arable river valleys amongst the mountains. In these days, there was no single name for these mountain cultures. Despite any shared characteristics they might have shared, they considered each other as quite separate. The word "Poertia" is a Shapuran bastardization of "Purita", one of the tribes in the sandstone hills that sit next to the desert, while the Vishput preferred "Hurut", the name of a different tribe further in the mountains. Some current day tribesmen have began to use the term "Hurut" to distinguish them from the Shapuran conquerors, but this has not brought any true sense of unity to their race.

Historically, their relationship with the Vishput was one of loose, nominal fealty. The Vishput hired some tribal peoples to guard their border with the northern deserts, who's nomadic peoples enjoyed raiding Vishput outposts. Though there was cooperation between the two peoples, there was little trust. The mountain tribesmen called the Vishput "Jinn", a term both them and the peoples of the northern deserts used to describe demons and trickster spirits. Children and women were taught to avoid going out at night, or else the Jinn might drag them away. Warriors bragged about slaying Jinn abductors they met along the roadside. Some superstitious sorts even avoided looking out windows or doorways at night, afraid that a Jinn might be just outside watching them.

The arrival of Shapur changed the political atmosphere of the area. Shapur was a king from a land far across the deserts in the distant north or east. His armies were so large that legends have been born from their alleged enormity. Some say that the deserts once bloomed until Shapur turned his armies to fight the Vishput, and they ate up every living thing. Others tales have it that it took so long for his forces to cross the land that the vanguard will have died and been replaced by their children before the men in the back of the column arrived. Whatever the case, Shapur's forces had a difficult fight ahead of them. The wars between Shapur and the Vishput lasted decades, and at their end all Shapur had managed to wrestle from them was the mountains where he would establish the Satrap of Poertia. 

What happened after Shapur's death is less known. It is said that he was succeeded by a frail ten year old daughter named Sulena, but the details of her reign are muddled. Some say she left the territory for good to govern her fathers homeland far away, while others say she was murdered. These stories have been dwarfed by the official tale that is told by the current rulers of Poertia: That she lived, and she sired a dynasty of Vampires, or as the locals call them, Guls.

In this official story, Sulena's frailty and the ambition of her father's officers puts her in danger until a mysterious wanderer offers her powers. He tells her of the things that he can give her, strength and long life, the ability to inspire fear and fight like her father had. By the time he reveals himself to be a Gul, she is intrigued and orders her guards to spare the monster. She takes up its offer and is turned.

The Gul is a creature of regional myth that lives off the flesh of men and goes mad. Folklore presents the condition as a punishment given to those who try to circumvent the Gods and increase the spans of their lives. Their lives grow longer, but they become wretched and pathetic as the years go by, until all dignity is gone and they are animals. For Shapur's people, similar creatures called vampires were known, though in their world they were servants of the God of Death, and much more dignified and respected. The term "Gul" is most commonly used by the native peoples, while the Gul's themselves refer to their kind by the "Vampire" term of their Shapuran ancestors.

Sulena's story varies wildly from teller to teller. Some say she turned her infant child when he was just born, destroying his ability to come of age and turning him into the freakish killer-infant named "Kizzeh." Many scholars point out, however, that the Kizzeh is referenced in some folk stories and art that predate the Shapur dynasty. The official story does not elaborate on this. Eventually, she has children who she allows to grow older before they are turned, and their dynasty becomes the "Gul Shapur's" and all that remains of their old empire is Poertia.

As monsters, local mistrust and fear threatened the Gul Shapur early on. It was with a few clever strokes that they would secure their thrown. First, they helped to hunt all other Gul's to extinction within the realm of Poertia, and they swore a solemn pact to kill themselves before their condition drove them into madness in old age. This kept the beastly later form of the Gul's from ever taking place. Next, they promised to only feed on tributes taken as captives in battle, or on raids against other peoples. Twice a year, taking place on each solstice, a delivery of captives takes place in the form of a religious ritual. In this way, the Gul Shapur have ascended to a sort of demi-god status, and their thirst for flesh is quenched by the vanquishing of the realm's enemies rather than murder and mayhem.

Another result has came from the taking of prisoners. With glory and honor now placed in raiding and plundering, the mountain tribes have become much more warlike. Some neighbors have chosen to pay tribute rather than face bloody attacks for sacrifices. As time goes on, the kingdom has began to slowly grow, and new populations means more warriors seeking to prove themselves. If they were to leave their mountain homes, Poertia and its Gul masters could become a threat to most peace loving peoples. And the Gul Shapur's remember when their ancestor ruled half of the world.