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[centre][h1]Al Baqi Sheikhdom[/h1][/centre]
[centre][i]Inaziz janahi zurq - In the name of the All-Loving, we go into paradise.[/i][/centre]
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[centre]Al Baqi is a desert sheikhdom under the rule of [b]Sheikh Said IV Abd al-Aziz ibn Fawzi[/b]. Its thousand years of history along the four ancestral river valleys of Eastern Soiryndia carry the influence of war, politics and religious and cultural disputes that still impact the country to this day. Separated into four major clans, the human majority all live their lives in accordance with their cultural contexts, many of which have led to disagreements with their peers. While the nobles have recently grown more and more interested in Amrean technology, the majority of the country's population still live as they have for millennia, reaping the rich bounty of the four rivers to fuel an extensive caravan economy.[/centre]
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[hider=Al Baqi Sheikhdom]
[b]Type of Government:[/b] Absolute monarchy - the whole of Al Baqi is ruled by the sheikh and his family.
[b]Head of Government:[/b] Sheikh Said VI Abd al-Aziz ibn Fawzi, of the House of Baqi. 
[b]Economy:[/b] (Main imports, exports, industries, technology level, etc.)
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[*] Imports: Cereals, silk, cotton, technology and industrial parts, modern weapons, raw materials (steel, timber, etc.)
[*] Exports: Coffee, crude oil, olives, exotic fruits (dates, pomegranate, figs, citruses and melons), almonds, pine nuts, copper, tobacco, spices (cinnamon, saffron, turmeric, cumin, sumac, black pepper), perfumes (rose, lavender, lilac). 
[*] Industries: While Al Baqi is far from an industrialised nation, their capital of Amshadr has multiple mechanised canneries to preserve produce and coffee for export and storage. 
[*] Technology Level: While Al Baqi used to be a great centre of magic and science in earlier times, they have fallen far behind in the race to modernise, and have little to no modern industry to speak of for the majority of people; the sheikh and his family, however, have taken to wearing Amrean imperial clothing and have inbuilt electricity provided by the country’s only powerplant. In terms of factories, the country possesses a total of two canneries, mostly operated with man or animal power, as well as two crude oil refineries, one in Amshadr and another in the second largest city, Al Fawzi. 
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Primary Species: Human.
Population: 6,6 million.
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[*] Humans (Baqi, Hadi, Imam, Jalal, other): 5,5 million.
[*] Sahra: 540 000. Desert and steppe-dwelling goatmen
[*] Karaniü: 400 000. Minotaur steppe nomads. 
[*] Ahkrak: 200 000. Rhino-beetle-headed humanoids from the mountains.
[*] Gnolls: 75 000
[*] Amreans: 3 000.
[*] Various other magical/non-magical creatures from surrounding nations and countries: 4000.
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[hider=Culture]
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[*] Religion plays an enormously large part in most citizens’ lives, and piety is seen as a must-have in terms of personal traits. Weekly visits to the mosques are seen as the norm, if not multiple times a week. This is regardless of social class.
[*] Tribal identities still remain strong even after almost a century of Baqi dynasty rule. Baqis are, after all, only one tribe among four other major families: The Hadi, the Imam and the Jalal. This occasionally causes tension between certain groups, especially between Imams and Baqis. 
The Baqi hail from the heartlands between the Nahr and the Jabdal rivers. They typically have bronze skin and black hair, and are the most pious and, currently, most powerful tribe. They are the original believers in Aziz and hold onto that legacy with an iron grip. Baqi dress in very monocoloured and conservative attires that cover most of their bodies. Headdress for men include a simple white cap; for women, the whole face is covered save for the eyes. Jewelry and the ability to keep one’s clothes clean are the only true signs of class division among the Al Baqi. Their influence is strongest in their heartlands and around the capital Amshadr and the city of Al Fawzi.
The Hadi is a tribe from around the Jabdal river delta, all the way to the Majraa in the north. They have a fierce pride in their great cultural heritage from the golden ages of Hadi kings and sheikhs, and are especially wary of their northern rivals, the Jalal. The Hadi support Baqi supremacy, but only as long as the Baqi sheikh remains fair and just to tribes beyond his own. The Hadi are faithful and pious, but also value greatly the sciences and philosophy of their heritage, defending their right to practice them at every turn. Appearance-wise, the Hadi are very similar to the Baqi, but dress more colourfully and flamboyantly than their southern allies. This makes it more evident who has the greater spending power within the tribe. Compared to the Baqi, they also employ their own regional dialect which, while not unintelligible, can be difficult for Baqis to understand at times. Their influence is the strongest in the north up to the Majraa river and especially around the university city of Khayrat.
The Imam have long had a difficult relationship with the tribes to the north, being both a target of and perpetrator of raids and skirmishes against them. Their culture is vastly different from their neighbours north of the Tahtamil: Even compared to the Hadi, their clothing is bright, colourful and beautifully patterned. They have much darker skin than their northern compatriots, and worship a localised version of Aziz, as well as a pantheon of sages associated with Shallahist faith - in Shallahist canon, these sages are mentioned, but not worshipped; in Imamism, they often take centre-stage over Aziz themselves. The Imam dialect differs radically from both the Hadi and the Baqi dialects, so much so that it can be considered its own separate language entirely,  being traceable all the way back to the language spoken during the Shaytan dynasty over 1200 years ago. The Imam are also fiercely proud of their cultural heritage, especially the golden age of Shadhad when their region was the country’s cultural centre. They earned a fierce hatred for the Baqi when their city was burnt to the ground, a hatred that lasts until this very day.
The Jalal are the only sizable tribe in Al Baqi to not be descended from the progenitor civilisation to the other three tribes known as the Awall. The Jalal are actually a group of Tzücomen (Zikomel in Baqish) all the way from the northern steppes, who came to Al Baqi 677 years ago as raiders and bandits. Like the Imam, they speak an entirely different language, one which has its roots in Tzücomic, but over the centuries has been influenced heavily by Hadish and Baqish. Today, it neither communicates with its kin on the plains nor its neighbours in Al Baqi. The Jalal still live a largely pastoral lifestyle north of the river Majraa and are considered among the poorest tribes of Al Baqi. While bands will occasionally form and terrorise the countryside, modern weapons have made it nearly impossible for them to choose this as a lifestyle. Many have moved southwards to the farmlands or into the cities and integrated into Baqi and Hadi society.
[*] Coffee, tobacco and spices form the cornerstone of Al Baqi popular culture, and are all consumed by the tons by both the wealthy and the poor. Alcohol is forbidden in accordance with Shallahist law, and tobacco thus takes the spot as the recreational drug of choice, being smoked in both wooden pipes and shishas. 
[*] Literature, architecture and calligraphy are much appreciated among the upper class and the lower class equally, though only the upper class truly has the means to dabble sufficiently.
[*] The Baqi try to impress on the international scene with their musical and culinary cultures. 
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[hider=Religious and Other Beliefs]
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[*] Shallahism: Shallahism is the main faith of the royal family, as well as the majority religion of the sheikhdom. It emphasises worship of the god Aziz through daily prayer and upstanding behaviour. Mosques to Aziz can be found in every village, town and city in Al Baqi. 
Imamism: A sect of Shallahism popular among the Imam tribe. Offers a much more liberal view of the sacred texts and also introduces a pantheon of sages of the faith that have existed throughout time and brought prosperity to the Imam and the whole of Al Baqi. 
[*] Oshori faiths: A shamanistic faith prevalent among the desert-dwelling Sahra. It emphasises the worship of water and the sun and moon as gates into the quintessential planes. 
[*] Kargyyraism: An animist faith prevalent in the north among the Karaniü, gnolls and northern Sahras. Emphasises connection to all natural elements through meditation, often accompanied by throat-singing or animalistic sounds.
[*] Arthorisism: Arthorite missionaries from New Galia have converted some Karaniü and Sahra tribes to their faith. 
[*] The Golden Dawn: The faith of the Unbroken Host’s god-seer, too, has managed to gain some support, particularly among the periphery tribes of Karaniü, Sahra and nomadic tribes related to the Jalal.
[*] Church of the Sun: A small minority have converted to worshipping the Sun God as a result of foreign missionaries arriving in the capital city. 
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[hider=Location, Territories and Climate] 
The arid lands of South-western Soiryndia. The country has a total of three cities with populations over 100 000: Amshadr (450 000) on the Nahr river delta (second southernmost), Al Fawzi (193 000) on the Jabdal delta (second northernmost river) and Khayrat (110 000), also on the Jabdal delta. The rest of the population live in smaller towns and villages along the rivers. A recent acquisition of the northern steppe province of Samermek has almost doubled the country’s area, but the reality is that the Al Baqi presence in the northern half of the country is incredibly limited, in large part due to rowdy Jalal raiders at the desert border to the steppelands. 90% of the country is covered by scorching, nigh-uninhabitable deserts; the remaining 10% is lush, humid forests and farmlands around the four main rivers - the Nahr, the Jabdal, the Majraa and the Tahtamil. This is where 99% of the country’s population lives. 
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[centre][img]https://i.imgur.com/eKw1PBO.png[/img][/centre]
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[hider=Military and Magic]
 The military is poorly developed, any resemblance to a standing army limited only to levies armed with arquebuses or, if they’re lucky, proper modern rifles. While the army size that -can- be recruited can number up to a million, the majority of these are untrained, undisciplined peasants with no manner of military experience to speak on - and that’s not even mentioning the backlash the state would receive for recruiting so many. That being said, the royal family of the Sheikh has a personal company of royal guards known as the Alharas Almalakiu, or just the Alharas. These are provided with modern weaponry and equipment, and can clearly be told apart from the other armed forces by their flamboyant (and at times, cumbersome) uniforms. This company numbers roughly 100 individuals. 
The pride of the Al Baqi arsenal is likely the rifled musket, the base concept for which has been in use for over 100 years. It shoots far, but reloading techniques still lag behind, making it a slow weapon to this day.
Bronze and, at times, iron cannons are featured as the main artillery in the Al Baqi army. While the weapons often are cumbersome, they are employed both in offense and defense to great effect.
Al Baqi has a very limited navy outside of sloops modified to carry cannons, a max of two per boat. The Al Baqi navy can muster up to thirty gunboats like this in case of emergency. While they possess larger ships in their trading fleet, these are owned by private merchants and would have to be commandeered by the state to be utilised.

Magic Prevalence/Usage and Elemental Alignment: While magic has historically played a huge role in Al Baqi, especially as a weapon or tool of war, it has since fallen out of fashion outside of alchemy guilds and academic circles. Their primary type of magic is solid. 
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[hider=History]
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[*]3500 years ago (AC -2866): A group of humans settle around the Nahr river and reap the bounty of the fertile soil. Theirs was a culture far different from that of modern day Al Baqi - they had no concept of Shallahism, nor did they build mosques and practice the calligraphic arts. These are known today as the Awall, the precursors to what much, much later would become the three of the four main human tribes.
[*]3000-2920 years ago (AC -2286 to -2366): The Awall violently expand towards the Jabdal river to the north and the Tahtamil to the south. The ancient capital city of Quailat is founded as a frontier against the barbarians in the north.
[*]2600 years ago (AC -1966): The empire ruled under Quailat experiences a series of droughts in the farmlands along the Jabdal, forcing a retreat southwards back to the Nahr. The bastion city of Shuklat is founded here and remains a powerful bastion for the next few centuries.
[*]2170 years ago (AC -1536): The first written record, the Tablet of King Shuk III, outlines the great conquests of the Shuk dynasty, carried on the backs of able magicians using solid magic to manipulate the sand and stone of the desert.
[*]1950 years ago (AC -1316): The Ziggurat of Shuk is constructed. The project, which according to further records took nearly 100 years to finish, subsequently bankrupted the Shuk empire, causing it to collapse merely 2 years after the completion of the Ziggurat.
[*]1812 years ago (AC -1178): After what is estimated to be 134 years of civil war and no dominant power outside of local warlords, a merciless conqueror known as Shaytan unifies all four river valleys from Tahtamil in the south to Majraa in the north. Proceeds to form the Shaytan dynasty during which the old Shuk dynasty logographic script is replaced by an early version of the phonemic script known today as Baqish. 
[*]1789 years ago (AC -1155): Shaytan dies at the age of 67, leaving his sickly third-born to inherit the throne. The empire subsequently splits in two - the north which governs the Majraa and Jabdal, and the south which hold the Nahr and the Tahtamil. The south is governed by the sickly third-born, Shaytan II bin Aimsahr; the north is governed by his cousin, Khazm I bin Faosi. The south are pushed to the very bank of the Nahr, but Khazm’s forces never make it across. The stalemate persists for half a millennium.
[*]1432 years ago (AC -798): Khazm VI bin Dobah moves the northern capital from Faosi further inland to Dobah, constructing the Dobah Academy of Magic and Alchemy in the process. The focus on magic and science further bolsters the military capabilities of the north compared to the south.
[*]1234 years ago (AC -600): Yusuf II bin Dobah conscripts every magician in the north in an attempt to take the south; however, even with all the military supremacy of the northern forces, they only manage to take the Nahr - sustaining enormous losses in the process. By the time Yusuf II returns to Dobah, the kingdom is financial ruin and collapses soon thereafter. The Shaytan dynasty in the south, also heavily battered from the fighting, collapses, too. For centuries, a black, empty spot forms a dense void in the historical record.
[*]872 years ago (AC -238): A new faith appears in the heartlands of the Nahr, known at the time as the “Word of the All-Loving”. Prophets of the All-Loving, or Aziz, spread far and wide into the desert and between the many tribes living between the ruins of ancient metropolises. The prophets come from many peoples, but most hail or have been taught their practices by a mighty tribe known as the Baqi, led by the chieftain Shayyid the Bread-Breaker. Many accept the faith with open arms and travel to Shayyid’s home village of Beirut; however, many also grow wary of the growing cult.
[*]823 years ago (AC -189): Shayyid dies at the age of 63 - his son Afzal lacks much of the diplomatic skill of his father. The prophets of the All-Loving adopt more aggressive rhetoric, claiming Afzal and the Baqi tribe are destined to rekindle the flames of ancient civilisation and restore the empires of old. Many followers join them; many critics are silenced; many foes prepare for the coming storm.
[*]811 years ago (AC -177): Afzal and the Baqi face off against increasingly frequent skirmishes from a southern tribe known as the Imam, lead by Danyal of the Blue Desert. The Baqi hunker down in Beirut, which in the time since the prophets of Aziz appeared, has grown into a bustling trade and religious hub. The Imam raid smaller satellite villages and the Baqi begin to lose support, especially in the south. Desperate, Afzal pleads with the northern tribes, particularly the Hadi, led by a warrior-poet named Hafiz. Hafiz agrees in exchange for free passage through Baqi lands for a century. This is granted.
[*]762 years ago (AC -128): The Imam are eventually beaten back from the Nahr heartlands, but the 49 years of skirmishes and war have left the land scarred and the people in agony. The Baqi fade into the shadows; the Imam are nearly wiped out and won’t recover for another half millennium. The Hadi assume the role as the dominant power in the region and annex the Nahr heartlands from the Baqi. Hadi rule sees a renaissance in pre-Azizan arts and music - an academy similar to the one found in Dobah over 500 years ago opens in the Hadi capital Fawzi on the Jabdal river. Emphasis on living a poetic lifestyle and devoting one’s life to philosophising over the nature of reality, magic and God consumes the upper class, initiating a golden age of humanism and culture. Many of the greatest architectural and artistic feats of the Al Baqi culture today are from this period.
[*]677 years ago (AC -43): A series of draughts and mass-starvation on the countryside bring an abrupt end to the golden age of the Hadi. While state-driven efforts to relieve the peasants’ plights were effective in certain areas, a new, previously unknown enemy from the north cause so much havoc in the countryside that the majority of these relief efforts failed. This group, known then as the Zikomel (Tzücomen in their native tongue), known now as the Jalal, later settled in the lands they had taken.
[*]673 years ago (AC -39): The end to the Hadi hegemony once again spurs great skirmishes and battle between the tribes. With the Jalal functioning as a tie-breaker on the three-way balance between the Hadi, Imam and Baqi, previously established facts of alliances and war are thrown out the window, and everyone will cooperate with everyone as long as it leads to the fall of at least one of the four tribes.
[*]659 years ago (AC -25): After 14 years of battle, the Baqi are pushed all the way into the western deserts by an alliance between the Imam and the Hadi. Here, the Baqi survivors are given asylum with the local goatmen, known as the Sahra. A bond of brotherhood forms between the Sahra and the Baqi and they set out to unite the Sahra tribes for a counterattack. Meanwhile, the Imam-Hadi alliance crumbles as the Imam lure the Hadi chieftain and his family into an ambush by the Jalal. The Hadi disappear into the shadows thereafter, thought eliminated for good. The Jalal and Imam, now without anyone to fight, begin fighting one another.
[*]634 years ago (AC 0): After 25 years in the deserts, the Baqi return to the heartlands with an army of Sahra behind them to find that the Imam and Jalal both have exhausted each others’ forces and cannot even hope to stand against this new force. The Baqi easily seize control of the four river valleys and establish the Amashadar dynasty after their chieftain-crowned-king, Amashadar ibn Baqi, in the city of Amshadar, later Amshadr, on the Nahr delta. Resources are poured into rebuilding the ravaged land, with government aid granted to peasants and merchant caravans, many of which are sent northwards to Zihomal (Tzücomen, later Miranid territory) and westwards to Al Rawiya (Amrea). This year also marks the founding of the Amshadar Calendar (AC), which is still in use today.
[*]461 years ago (AC 173): The first 200 years or so of the Amshadar dynasty are referred to as the “Age of Gold and Spices”, characterised as a time when the Baqi enjoy unprecedented wealth and prosperity, greater even than the Hadi golden age. New farming technologies such as rotational cropping and magical manipulation and refinement of fertiliser bring an influx of food into the cities, which swell like balloons into regional superpowers. These cities initiate huge construction projects to the Baqi religion of Aziz, now names Shallahism. These temples are known as mosques and soon dot several sections of every city in Baqi lands. A wish for the revival of Hadi golden age art and philosophy among the upper class is shut down by the Baqi kings, who instead emphasise focus on religious art and literature in honour of Aziz. Heavy censorship of philosophical texts and works of art stifle the creative class, leading to stagnation in the cultural development of the Amshadar dynasty. Growing corruption and cronyism among the upper class eventually sap power from the Baqi kings and into the hands of the royal guards, the Alharas Almalakiu, who form a de facto government with a puppet king 461 years ago in Al Fawzi on the Jabdal delta. 
[*]432 years ago (AC 202): A failed coup d’état against the Alharas government causes mass purges of the upper class and the establishment of a secret police known as the Shursiri. Censorship grows ever stricter and the prosperity of the Baqi hegemony falls as many among the nobility seek asylum in Al Rawiya (Amrea). Imported matchlocks from Al Rawiya are hoarded by the Alharas Almalakiu and replace the standard bow and arrow employed for millennia. 
[*]428 years ago (AC 206): The censorship as well as rampant oppression and enslavement of non-Baqi groups by the Alharas government lead to insurgencies in the countryside, large scale uprisings lead primarily by a coalition of Imam, Sahras and Hadi, equipped with primitive weapons for the most part. These fare poorly against the Alharas matchlocks, and the rebels suffer heavy losses.
[*]426 years ago (AC 208): The Alharas forces suffer their first true defeat at the Battle of Sunbaked Sands, when, unbeknownst to the Alharas commanders, the supply chains reaching for the Nahr heartlands all the way into the western deserts where the armies fought the rebels, was being raided ceaselessly by Jabal bandits. The matchlock-equipped army, starved and tired, is butchered by hillfolk with crescent daggers, spears and wicker shields. The Alharas manage to sound a retreat in time so as to not lose all their forces, but the rebels have gained too much ground by the time the army can properly regroup. The exiled nobility provides funding for more weapons, armour and mercenaries from Al Rawiya (Amrea), hammering the final nail in the coffin for the Alharas. The Alharas government falls that same year and the whole royal guard is executed and replaced with new recruits. A coalition of the three rebel factions, as well as returning Baqi nobility, form the Council of Wisemen to steer the country into the future.
[*]396 years ago (AC 238): The Imam break out of the Council of Wisemen due to disagreements over the censorship rules which were passed down from the Alharas government - whereas the Imam advocate for full removal of all censorship, the rest of the council agree that the clause forbidding satirisation, criticism and/or ridicule of Aziz or Shallahism should persist. The Imam return to their ancestral lands in the south to establish the free artist enclave of Shadhad. A number of the artists that were exiled under the Alharas move to Shadhad and soon, Shadhad becomes a centre of the written word, producing fantastic works of literature full of allegories for philosophical concepts such as the importance of God and the human condition, ambition and motivation. Many of these works never reach the peasantry, but the nobility in the capital Amhadr, the academic centre Al Fawzi and the trading port city Khayrat all gain access to this literature in secret. 
[*]386 years ago (AC 248): After ten years of hailing criticism from nobles in every corner of the empire, the Council of Wisemen finally give in and remove the restrictions on literature and artworks critical of Aziz and Shallahism. This causes great dissatisfaction within the Shallahist priesthood, which proceeds to forward a counter-proposal to make criticism punishable by death and for Shadhad to be declared a sacreligious city of sin. This counter-proposal causes further division within the Council, especially coming from the Sahra, whose religion is vastly different from Shallahism altogether, being a shamanistic faith of completely different roots. The Sahra’s relinquish their support the following year.
[*]380 years ago (AC 254): After six years of rule by only two of the original four members of the Council, it becomes clear that they no longer have popular support, especially not in the south, where Shadhad’s presence has brought growth and prosperity to the region, making the area once more a threat to the central-northern hegemony. 
[*]373 years ago (AC 261): Seven years of paranoia and pressure from the Shallahist priesthood finally culminate in the Fatwah, the order to invade the southern lands and level Shadhad with the ground in the name of Aziz. By the following year, the entire army mobilises southward. On the way, it becomes very clear that the Imam have been preparing thoroughly for this outcome, and as in ancient times, the north just cannot seem to push further south than the river Tahtamil; furthermore, the Imam have been experimenting with Al Rawiyan technology and acquired grenades, which would sink every boat trying to ford the river and break every bridge formed by magic. These grenades, coupled with matchlocks and midnight raids on the army camps, lead to losses so great that the Council army is forced to fall back. 
[*]371 years ago (AC 263): Unfortunately for the Imam and Shadhad city, the alchemists at the academy in Al Fawzi use solid magic to shape molten metal into long cylinders with one closed end, which are then filled with black powder and balls of lead or round stones. This newly invented cannon is not as reliant on the need to cross the river to do damage, but can shell the Imam forces from a distance. With this form of artillery, the northern forces level Shadhad with the ground. The crops around it are burned and salted, and whatever Imam cannot escape are enslaved and brought back to Amhadr.
[*]351 years ago (AC 283): The cannons are once again employed to great effect in taking down a Jalal horde uprising. The effectiveness of the artillery against the mounted riders inspires further innovation within ballistics and firearms technology. Rifling becomes standard in all firearms produced.
[*]285 years ago (AC 349): The powerful military sector which has been supporting the Council for nearly 150 years grows immensely powerful as greater and greater shares of the state coffers are funneled into research and development - and into the pockets of the senior staff. When another series of draughts affects the Jabdal and Nahr deltas, the army stages a coup d’état and puts an end to the rule of the Council of the Wisemen. It is also around this time that expeditions into the desert in search of metals for weapons production cause explorers to stumble upon a black, sticky goo which reacts violently to fire. They name this substance nft or “oil”. Extraction of this substance starts immediately and it replaces wood and wax as the primary energy source for lighting.
[*]283 years ago (AC 351): In order to further prove their legitimacy, the military government elect a leader known as a sheikh, as a nod to the ancient tribal chieftains. The first sheikh is Sharif ibn Khayrat, a powerful Baqi general with a number of cronies in high places, particularly in the priesthood. Under the leadership of Sharif, Shallahism fully takes over what had previously been a largely privatised system of education within the now-sheikhdom. Previously secular universities and academies now double as monasteries and mosques, and the censorship on anti-religious art and literature is further reinforced. By now, after centuries of oppression of the free arts, the last of the opposition begins to fade away.
[*]193 years ago (AC 441): Religious imagery has almost entirely drowned out the artworks of old - known ancient treasures have been set aside - or worse, defaced and destroyed - in favour of artifacts praising Aziz and the teachings of Shallahism. The sheikh’s grandson, Sultan II ibn Fawzi, has managed to garner so much power than he almost holds single-handed rulership over the whole country.
[*]174 years ago (AC 460): Sultan II suffers what is most likely a heart attack caused by his lavish lifestyle; however, his cronies blame the sheikh’s untimely death on assassins sent by opposing cliques at court. A great purge of the nobility is conducted by the military, headed by Sultan II’s brother, Tahir ibn Dushar. Tahir’s nephew, Sultan III ibn Fawzi, is elected sheikh after the purges, even though he is only 11 years of age. Tahir serves as his advisor and makes certain to garner as much power to himself and his cronies as possible.
[*]170 years ago (AC 464): A majority of the opposing cliques that had been purged four years earlier belonged to the Hadi tribe, and the remaining nobility from that tribe plot Tahir’s assassination as retaliation for what they see as treachery. Later that year, Tahir is shot during a public ceremony in the Mosque of Amashadar, the largest mosque in the kingdom. The event is condemned publically by nobles all over the kingdom, and the young sheikh reinstates the secret police to find the culprit. This causes a thirty year reign of terror known only as Alkawf Alkabr, or the Great Fear, in which everyone from the highest tower to the lowest pit are thoroughly investigated and punished on the smallest flaw. As many as 300 000 people are executed, roughly a tenth of the population at the time, and millions more are beaten and shamed. The true culprit is never caught.
[*]139 years ago (AC 495): Sheikh Sultan III ibn Fawzi dies from choking on his food, later thought to have been poisoned. The Alkawf Alkabr comes to an end shortly thereafter. A Hadi sheikh by the name of Talib I ibn Haswah is elected instead of Sultan III’s son, Sultan IV. Talib and his followers belonged to a smaller clique at court, one which had secretly worked to overthrow Sultan III for years. Talib immediately set out to reduce the influence the military had on the sheikh’s decisions, as well as the presence of Shallahism in education and the public sector. While this made him a target, Talib managed to push through enough reforms to increase his popularity beyond what had been thought possible in the context of the Great Fear’s aftermath. The reforms revitalised the aid programs aimed at the peasantry, which brought a booming growth to the agricultural sector; they opened for greater freedom of expression, which brought a renaissance in the cultural class; they removed mandatory conscription, which both weakened the strength of the army considerably while also gaining Talib the support of the young men now free to work instead of slaving in the army for five years. Since Talib now was untouchable, neither the military nor the priesthood could remove him from office. 
[*]110 years ago (AC 524): However, merely 29 years after Talib took office, a plague swept the country, taking him with it. While the plague passed within the year, it left open a power vacuum that couldn’t simply be filled by the army or the clergy: Talib had added too many failsafes. Instead, the army and priesthood insert Talib’s cousin, one Omar I ibn Khayrat, ignoring Talib’s son, Hamed I’s, claim to the throne. Omar manages to be the exact opposite of Talib - uncharismatic, slow-witted and rash. It takes five years for the sheikhdom to once again lose all support with the nobility, and within five more, the peasantry stops caring for him, too. Omar accepts a role as puppet for his only remaining supporters - the military and the clergy. 
[*]98 years ago (AC 536): The military and clergy grow tired of Omar’s incompetence and replace him with sheikh Said I ibn Fawzi of the Baqi. Said I, while supported by the military and clergy, realises he needs the nobility and the peasantry on his side, and thus spends his life trying to mediate a deal between the four actors which satisfy all of them. He never gets to see the outcome, passing away at the age of 74. 
[*]54 years ago (AC 580): Said I’s son, Said II ibn Fawzi, tries to continue his father’s work; however, he is drawn too far away from the peasantry in his effort to appease the upper classes, causing a great peasant uprisings at the bazaar in Amhadr, known as the Day the Gutters Ran Red. Between five hundred and a thousand civilians are killed, the fault of which is laid on the sheikh. Criticism of the sheikh’s inability to appease the masses eventually drives the sheikh mad with stress, and causes him to suffer a heart attack shortly thereafter. The sheikh’s son, Said III ibn Fawzi inherits the throne. 
[*]35 years ago (AC 599): The first 19 years of Said III’s rule are largely uneventful - he manages to leave all four factions, the peasants, priests, nobles and army men, neither happy nor angry. However, the 19th year saw large-scale economic collapse across several trade networks as the Rebellion of the Five Provinces broke out in Al Rawiya (Amrea). Widespread unrest and riots broke out in the streets of the cities and the countryside as shops had to close and left thousands without work. The uprisings threatened another countrywide collapse, but a series of well-timed relief programs enacted by the central state kept the population just shy of outright rebellious. These relief efforts nearly bankrupted the state, however, and the sheikh had to expropriate heaps of funds from the nobility, leading to a deep-seeded hatred from the upper class that lasted throughout Said III’s remaining rule. 
[*]23 years ago (AC 611):  As an attempt to regain respect among the upper class, Said III ushers forth a revitalisation campaign for the army and sends them to invade the northern steppes (now named Samermek) that had previously been under the rulership of roving clans and tribes. The army meet little to no resistance - in fact, they meet so little resistance that the project backfires - it did not at all manage to boost morale as planned and cost the state coffers a fortune. Instead, the sheikhdom conquers an area of land over half the size of their ancestral province with no resources to hold it. They set up a stronghold in a large village in the west called Shoog, but the province only belongs to Al Baqi in name. In the sheikh’s final years, news reach him and his court about a new project drawing a great deal of attention over in Al Rawiya.
[*]Today (AC 634): It has been two weeks since sheikh Said III ibn Fawzi passed, and now the young Said IV, titled Abd-al-Aziz for his devotion to Aziz and the Word of the All-Loving, sits on the throne. While he is green in the role, he and his advisors all observe the ongoings in Al Rawiya and agree on one thing: Al Baqi must modernise.
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