Alright party people. Does anyone have any idea what kind of character(s) they'd like to make? I figured I'd flesh out some of the players in Al Mitras to let people get some ideas for brainstorming.

[u]King Yusef:[/u] Your garden-variety incompetent Arabian monarch. Yusef is 30-something agnostic hedonist that delegates as much of the day-to-day operation of his kingdom as he can while he gets daydrunk on a yacht full of Swedish models. His ministers are just as clueless, and virtually all problems in the kingdom are resolved by throwing oil money at them.

[u]The Royal Army of Al Mitras:[/u] The Kingdom of Al Mitras possesses a well-equipped but inexperienced army. With its only real combat experience coming from an ill-conceived invasion of Yemen in the 80s and 90s, the Royal Army has something of a tarnished reputation. Under the command of a cousin of King Yusef, the army's primary role in recent years has been stamping out a low-intensity insurgency in the mountainous interior of the island.

[u]The Asleen:[/u] The Asleen are the descendants of the native people of Al Mitras who inhabited the island when the Arabians discovered the island in the 11th Century. Like the Malagasy of Madagascar, the Asleen are an afro-asiatic people; their ancestors arriving pulses of oceanic migration from the Horn of Africa and Melanesia. Very little is known about about Asleen history before the arrival of the Arabians, for they were forcibly converted to Islam and quickly assimilated Arabian culture. Their shrines of standing stones were torn down and their language stamped out by the Arabs, for these were seen as vestiges of Jahiliyyah - the Age of Ignorance as the pre-Islamic world was known. Though they quickly adopted Islam and Arabian customs, the Asleen were always treated as inferiors. The Arabian colonizers extirpated the Asleen from the coasts and lowlands, relegating them to the rocky hills in the center of the island. The Asleen have long bristled against such injustice, and cycles of rebellion against the Arabs have occurred many times in the history of Al Mitras.

[u]Foreign PMCs:[/u] After the disastrous Invasion of Yemen, the Royal Army came to rely heavily on private military companies from abroad. Many of these contracts are only for consulting services, providing training and guidance to the Royal Army. However, there are still plenty of true mercenaries in Al Mitras, most of which are assisting in stamping out the Asleen rebellion. These PMCs come from a variety of nations, though the Americans, Russians, and French are best represented given the numerous veterans with combat experience in brushfire war in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Africa, respectively.

[u]Khalij Alrumaan Naval Base:[/u] The United States leases the bay of Khalij Alrumaan from Al Mitras as a naval base. Officially, the base's role is to protect American interests around the vital Suez Canal, but it is no secret that the main goal is to guarantee American access to Almitran oil from the Bahr oil fields along the western coast of Al Mitras.

[u]Populace of Al Mitras:[/u] The Almitrans are predominantly of Arabian descent and culture, though foreigners make up a considerable minority, especially in the large cities of Almarfa and Jaddaf. Oil wealth has brought incredible prosperity to the island, which provides a standard of living that is comparable to that of wealthy western nations for much of the population. This has attracted many foreigners from the Philippines, Eastern Europe, and throughout the Middle East seeking a better life, or at least a well-paying job with which to send money back home. As a result, Al Mitras is much more cosmopolitan than any other Middle Eastern nation. At least 3/4 of the population are Muslim, but for an Islamic nation Al Mitras is extremely lax. Supermarkets in expatriate neighborhoods sell alcoholic beverages, and there are even grocery stores in Jaddaf where bacon is sold. This is laxity does not sit well with more conservative Almitrans. Many of these despise King Yusef as a corrupt western puppet, and wish for a ruler that would rule with a much more fundamental interpretation of Islam.