Notes from initial conversation:


Desert Kingdom:

Name: Echar

This desert kingdom has a strange history. Centuries before, in the neighboring country of Driunia, a noble family was beset upon by the reigning king. The whys are likely lost to time, though there was no doubt some dispute over who was next to sit in the throne. The entire family, seeing that it was on the brink of a great ousting and much blood, fled over the mountains into an inhospitable land just beyond. The deserts were not of interest then, being only sand and sea and a long mountain range that cut the sands off from other lands. Some nomadic tribes lived and died, but they were few and far between.

So fled this noble house and, because they were of a mind to rule, they began to set themselves up as the rightful rulers of sand and stone. They intermarried with some of the nomadic tribes, took on some of the indigenous people's ways and inserted many more of their own. Then some short time after, they discovered a reddish mineral which, when taken with certain waters, makes for a acerbic, pain killing drink. It is mined in the sands and the placement of these mines, along with the flow of this mineral, are all kept very secret.

There are passes through the mountains to either side, countries there pay a good deal for the mineral as well as for precious stones that are mined out of the mountains and other strange things only the people of the sands can offer. However, the easiest path is to take to the sea and simply navigate around the ends of the mountain range and into the harbors beyond. This is difficult, though - due to there only being one seventy mile stretch along the coast which is not dunes with a hard enough soil base to support buildings and that the people of this land are not sailors. Fishers at times, but not sailors. They've been at the mercy of the need of other countries and while their commodities are expensive to buy, so too are the merchants that come to their coast willing to overprice their own goods.

It has created something of a complex system of trade wherein the country moves goods over the mountains, into their own country, to their more inland (there is one large river that runs, Nile'like, up into the countryside and to the mountains) capital city of Ithor. There, the goods are sent to the harbor city and sold, undercutting the overpriced merchants, at times. But the overhead for the merchants is so small while it is much greater for their own country, that even this is only somewhat successful.

Then there are the pirates.

Ships of precious stones and minerals and the like are great fun for pirates. :) So after centuries of this strange trade war that happens between all comers, the Echarians have reached out. The pirates are still... well, pirates, but they've been organized for some time, their own country for all intents and purposes.

This plan is a bold move by the latest Queen (Echarians are matriarchal) Tra Brade. She has offered her second born, a daughter, to their prince.









Echarian culture:
Matriarchal. Very specific greetings, partings, etc - traditional. Children are sent to stay with tribes when they need to be toughened up - sometimes children do not return. Hunts use long legged cats. Hunting is a big pastime. Only their queen is flashy. Most of them are bare faced and wear leather and black. Men are clean shaven, women wear pants and soft leather sashes with intricate stitching on them. The stitching must have meaning, but it's not something spoken of outside of the home. Not sure about what they ride yet - something.