[hider=Shahdom of Kera-Bijan]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/qlS0oml.png[/img]
[b]Name of Nation[/b]: Shahdom of Kera-Bijan

[b]Species[/b]: While the overwhelming majority of the Kera-Bijani are regular humans, there do exist a large majority of oddities within the outlying regions of the shahdom. There are places where magic is strong, and the climate harsh, so much so that the settlers there have begun to change form to adapt. Those living in the plateaus have become short and thin, so much so that an adult of the mountain people is about the size of a child in the cities. On the other end of the spectrum, those that settled in the steppes have grown into giants, easily reaching three and a half meters, and have gained the ability to subsist on the grass itself. All three races identify strongly as human.

[hider=Culture and History]
[b]Culture[/b]: The Kera-Bijani faith revolves around five gods, they being Wise Fire, Wise Water, Wise Air, Wise Wood, and Wise Metal. Originally, the five kept supreme control over the universe, and the humans lived in paradise. The gods created a human, who was in all ways virtuous, and they, proud of their work, created a second. The second, however, was envious of the love the first shared with the gods, and sought to disturb their sacred relationship. That second human worked day and night, creating a weapon to destroy the universe, which upon creation he named dishonesty. The moment he spoke the first lie, from his mouth sprang five deities of evil, Corrupt Fire, Corrupt Water, Corrupt Wood, Corrupt Air, and Corrupt Metal.

The good gods found themselves outnumbered. There are five deities protecting nature, but six, five plus the evil human, trying to destroy it. So from their minds came a prophecy, telling of a shah who will one day deify himself by leading a life of maximum purity. When that day comes, each good god will slay his evil counterpart, and take supreme control over the universe again, with a sixth and most supreme member within their ranks.

It is under this faith that the three peoples of Kera-Bijan stand behind, it bringing each other together and unifying them against enemy forces. The lives of every subject, barring the least pious ones, revolve around adhering to the texts written by the gods themselves, the first human, and the many philosopher-shahs from eons past. The texts speak highly of a purity of the self, as well as a harmonious relationship with nature and the five pure forms, and to manipulate nature in any way is considered an affront to the purity of the relevant form. People are encouraged to live simply, to honor others, and to be forever honest. 

Magic, too, is considered sacred, and is viewed as the will of the gods upon earth. Temples prominently feature magic crystals in their sacrifice, feeding it to fire, sprinkling it in lakes and on the earth, and scattering its fine powder into the very air. Some consider the use of magic the only pure way to manipulate the environment, while others claim that to use it is sacrilege in itself. The most recent shahs, however, tend to lean towards the former side, and thus the latter side has chosen to be silent as of late.

[b]History[/b]: There was once a time when the city people were also many infighting tribes, distrustful of both the mountain people and the steppe people. That was nearly two thousand years ago, and a time no Kera-Bijani looks upon with much respect. From this soup of diffusion and war came a legendary figure, Demes Kehmeyid, who the priests said from birth was destined. He expanded both his dynasty and his land through genius military tactic and even more genius diplomacy. When he conquered the land held by an enemy tribe, he declared its chief his own brother, and forced their family to take on the Kehmeyid name. Through this, he fostered brotherhood within all of the chiefdoms, and declared himself the first shah of the Kera-Bijan desert. He was assassinated but five months into his rule, and replaced with one of the conquered chiefs, but the dynasty survived.

It was the second shah's third son, Vedad Kehmeyid, who expanded his territory to include the steppe and mountain people. In long ages past, during early days before the empire, the steppe and mountain peoples were created by the fallout of magic chiefs wielded against each other. They had ravaged the human settlements, but Vedad dared enter their lands with nobody by his side but priests. It was through his strong faith and charisma that many clans joined his cause, following proselytization and integration of their cultures. Those who didn't join the shahdom were violently subject to genocide, the remaining ones loyal to both faith and shah.

It was following two hundred years of stability that the northern peoples, led by the race-purist separatist Satrap Qaro, defied Shah Bandaves and rebelled. Qaro launched brutal genocides against the steppe and mountain people living in his and his allies' satrapies, claiming to want to restore the pure human race. Those few who survived escaped southwards into Kera-Bijani land, as armies serving under the shah advanced northward to reintegrate the revolting satrapies. He and the next four shahs would die over the course of thirty years in combat against the new realm of Qaroitn. 

Eventually, the dust settled, and while skirmishes and raids still exist along the borderlands of the two rival nations, a relative peace has established itself, in no small part due to war exhaustion on both ends. The shahbanu finally completed the task of establishing a land trade route to Surabhumi, and sent them eastward on a voyage of exploration and trading. Twenty long years passed, and within that time the shahbanu that sent the voyage was assassinated and replaced, before the caravans returned. It was laden with goods and stories, nearly all wondrous and in admiration of the subcontinental world. With the exotic trade goods they brought back, the shahdom entered another two centuries of relative peace and isolation.

This ended with the disastrous reign of Shah Nafolosh. Manipulated by his closest satraps, he led himself to believe that he had become the One Who Brings Harmony, savior of all the faith. Armed with his zeal, he declared war upon the entire western continent, nearly destroying the empire in the process. The armies of both the shah and his enemies razed countless hides of land, both within Kera-Bijan and on foreign ground. His brother and heir, Koudad, seeing the imminent doom of their way of life should this hopeless war continue, finally made the choice to have his elder brother assassinated, along with much of the court. In an act still remembered in humiliation, he called off his brother's wars and surrendered.

The current Shah Koudad is at the end of his tether, following sixty long years of stable rule. However, he is dying, and his succession is unclear. It looks as if civil war is inevitable, between his granddaughter, the young Estazar, and her many cousins of the Kehmeyid line.
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[hider=Rolls]
Land Area: 16 (-2)
Land Fertility: 7 (+4)
Development: 5 (+3)
Land Power: 14 (-3)
Naval Power: 1 (-2)
Economy: 13 (+3)
Magical Reserves: 14 (-3)
Magical Sophistication: 15 (+5)
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[hider=Traits]
[u][b]Traits[/b][/u]
Society of Purity: The Kera-Bijani people find that the purity of the body is the highest state of being one may strive to be. They shun intoxicants, such as alcohol and drugs, so as not to corrupt their own bodies and invite evil to fester within. The society strongly looks down upon both excessive gluttony or excessive temperance, and the food is never inflicted with preservatives. Purity of the body is only as strong as purity of the mind, and thus the Kera-Bijani reinforce their purity of mind through good works. They dare not speak dishonesty for fear of weakening the integrity of the universe, and treat their neighbors with respect and good spirit. Most importantly, they keep their environment clean, minimizing waste within the things they use and caring for the living things, for it is they who hold up the five gods.

Might and Magic: Although the technology sector of the Kera-Bijani world flounders, its magical world flourishes. Ley lines stretch across the nation, allowing instant contact between the shah and his satraps as far away as the steppes and as high up as the tallest plateaus. Water, scarce on the surface, is willed up from deep reserves where other peoples would have to drill for it, seeping through the ground upwards to where crops may access it. It is because of this power that the shahdom is still has voice in the world, and its neighbors would do well to listen. 

Brotherhood Among Humanity: In many respects, the life of the city people and that of the steppe and mountain peoples are vastly different. The city people are content to build, develop, and trade with foreign species and races. They are proud of their communities, and live social lives. The other two are anything but. The steppe peoples have a long history of conflict with their neighbors, often raiding over the borders with the intent of killing the non-humans. They do not tend to build anything larger than a yurt, and live nomadic clan-oriented lifestyles. The mountain people are even more hostile to outsiders, living either alone or in small family units. They, unlike the herbivorous steppe people, are strictly carnivorous, and raise great herds of mountain goats to eat and trade with the city people. The city people view the mountain people and the steppe people as brothers, and the feeling is mutual, but the mountain people and the steppe people each regard the other as something alien, and thus tend towards animosity regarding one another.
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