Sea of Qelu (CCW)

Mozra’s western coast is a hotbed of revolutionary conflict and current focal point of the Old World. Exceptionally beautiful, and littered with recently valuable resources, these colonies and former colonies of Sunya are the Empire’s most bitterly held possessions. The territories are currently in a bloody deadlock, with the loyal Sarun and Pali Malicates surrounding and containing the incendiary nations of Bauyuna and Ismai.

Sarun and Pali Malicates
These resource-rich, socially stratified, conservative colonies of Sunya act as somewhat of a buffer to the far more rebellious and radical provinces they encircle. Sunya’s genius is convincing these proud, absurdly wealthy Maliks that they are independent kings paying deference to the Sunyan Emperor, while doing his dirty work in the region. And they most certainly do the work, falling over each other to please the Vermillion Bird, more out of a desire to outdo each other than anything else. Their whole nations seem to operate under these conditions as well: family businesses competing over wealth and prestige, spending extravagantly and paying little attention to those beneath them. In fact, it is highly shameful in the Malicates to save wealth or to speak directly to your lesser. If you have money, you spend it. If you want something done, you wish it to the air and expect your servants to hear you and respond. Needless to say, wealth and luxury are not well distributed here.

How do the Malicatis sustain such a lifestyle? Sarun, composed of land reclaimed from the desert and Pali, mostly reclaimed from the sea, sprung up around large deposits of rare metals and minerals, now used in many mage technologies. The Malicatis fully embraced the Sunyan financial system and invested all their earnings in foreign markets as well as their own rapid development. The newest, most cutting edge universities and companies are all here, as well as some major financial institutions.

Notes: Sarun is the more progressive of the two regions, leading the old world in gender equality and religious toleration. Pali is one of the most beautiful places in the world, with a pristine coastline and brief, snow dusted winters. It is also, unfortunately, one of the few places in which human enslavement is still widespread.

Bauyuna
Both the cradle and fulcrum for revolutionary thought and action, the self-proclaimed nation of Bauyuna has been actively resisting its Sunyan colonizers for the better half of a century and staging frequent rebellions long before that. Each successive uprising has become ever more radical and ever more organized and the Sunyan backlashes have matched their increasing fervor in escalating brutality. So great is the Empire’s fear of Bauyun radicalism, that they deny its existence altogether, maintaining that Bauyuna is frequently invaded by foreign pirates, not armed rebels. Some argue that the true fear of the Vermillion Bird is not of the Bauyun, but of their landless countrymen on the home island, who very well might take a cue and rebel themselves.

Bauyuna, after all, was Sunya’s most stable and prosperous colony before all this independence nonsense began. Its conquest wasn’t particularly bloody, its people were no worse off than any other colony—and in many cases better off. But a series of financial crises and an ill-timed crackdown on religious freedoms triggered the current violent independence movement, starting with a middle class political revolt and then progressing into a working class military revolt. But despite all the trouble, this is a colony that Sunya cannot afford to let go. Bauyuna possesses large mineral deposits and a skilled workforce. It contains the highly fertile Dacr River Valley, the vast and ancient Deep Forest, and a concentration of wealthy, perhaps even more ancient cities. This includes humanity’s largest and arguably most famous city, once the “Capital of the World,” known today as Kimat.

City of Kimat
Kimat, in many ways, exemplifies everything the Sunyans want for themselves. Yes, it boasts a population in the millions and a strategic position at the mouth of the Dacr. But more impressive are its narrow streets, lined with palaces, markets, and temples from every era of human civilization, and beyond: four abandoned Guiyant structures tower above the human ones, each gigantic enough to be ten cities by itself. These are the four sentinels, covered on every facade with intricate glyphs and designs. And carved into the very mountains surrounding this impenetrable city is a sprawling Citadel, so massive that its turrets reach into the clouds—no doubt the handiwork of the gods themselves. This vista, of one forgotten world nested within another, is the perfect image of Bauyuna at large. A mythic landscape invoking humanity’s succession in a procession of greatness, a lost garden of paradise shaped by the hands of greater beings. Yet to the Bauyun, it is simply home, simply a land in which they have lived for generations, in which they desire to be free and do with it what they please. They could care less for all the glory and sacresant, and to the jealous Sunyans, this is their greatest crime.

Notes: These were once the lands of Aden, and consequently the backdrop for many stories and legends sacred to that pantheon—many centered on the fabled city of Halumram (now Kimat). Bauyuna’s relationship to the Adenite faith stops there, however. The Adenites are long gone and the region has changed hands more times than most people can keep track of.

The present day peoples descend from Mak Bauyun, a nomadic people that conquered the region in the 16th Century Ks. They converted to the House of Kimat soon after, and then under Makalan rule, the Keaslian faith was born here. This makes Kimat the former center of three major world religions. '''

Ismai
Sometimes called “the sixth kingdom,” Ismai is often thought of as a younger sibling to the five kingdoms of Inner Mozra. Its material culture and language are close, certainly, and its people descend from the same barbarian maks of the central steppes, but this is about where the similarities end. Its geography, for one, is that of the serene and otherworldly Qelu coastline. And it is small, very small in both land and population. But most importantly, unlike its siblings, Ismai is a modern state through and through, with revolutionary blood running through its veins. Spurred on by the social movements of nearby Bauyuna, Ismailis violently rebelled against their Sunyan rulers roughly fifty years ago, and successfully won their independence. Since then they have become the first state to install a fully secular and democratic government and are actively sowing seeds of rebellion around the world.

One might think the Sunyans would instantly quash such an offense to everything they stand for, but for whatever reason, Mathsra has declared open support for Ismai’s independence and supplies them with arms and expertise. The Sunyans may be proud and strong, but they wouldn’t be so foolish as to provoke war with Mathsra.

[And Beyond...]
See also...
 * The Ferali
 * The Wynder
 * The Guiyants