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The World of Thews &
Thaumaturgy
Part Three of Three Parts
This is the world into which our adventurers set forth to win gold and glory. Tuza, once a great empire and still a city of dazzling wealth and squalid poverty, is a place racked by civil unrest. Ancient pedigreed aristocrats vie for the imperial throne, courting the favor of the volatile Tuzan mob, whose capricious humors can make or unmake a dynasty. Or, when the mob turns against them, the aristocrats hire mercenary companies--crossbowmen from the Hyrian piedmont and pikemen from Amuan--who ravage the countryside when their blue blooded masters fail to pay. Ancient Ffex remains in the imperial orbit, slumbering in its granite walls. Its dreams of past splendors beset from time to time by nightmarish cabals of treason and sorcery. Iskar is a no man's land, divided between lawless bandit hordes and the decadent, isolated slave farms. The latter, their access to the sea blocked by the corsairs of Myndo, have become ingrown backwaters; petty despotisms where absolute tyrants indulge unchecked in every vice and iniquity. While Myndo itself has become a pirate city; a haven for bloodthirsty outlaws from a thousand lands. Amuan remains peaceful and prosperous, but tensions between the "new men" who won the civil war and the loyal nobles grow. Some mutter that another war looms closer each time an ancient noble who family is dispossessed of its ancient lands by a bumptious, newly rich, tradesman.
In the north, the barbarians of Movash and Ghat, unrestrained by regular patrols of the imperial army and navy, grow restive. The Movash range far south in their carved war canoes, plundering Zai and Iskar,and return to their communal long houses in the misty fjords laden with the plunder of southern lands. Hordes of naked, shrieking Ghatians armed with stabbing spears and great shields of auroch hide terrorize the northern marches of Amuan, where a great wall, constructed centuries ago by the Tuzan emperors, fails to prevent their incursions. In the south, the Overlords of Mirat prosper as they act as middle men between the traders of Zanj and the Oroolian Sea. Great markets flourish here, where figs, dates, olive oil, and the famed vintages of Zai are bartered for the furs and amber of the north. Thieves and footpads slink in the shadows of Mirat's bazaars as the flash of yellow gold changing hands glints in the avid eyes of greedy merchants. In the south, the cities of Zanj and Ebnon grow fat on the gold of Xibangu and the spices of Phargol; although the lower orders groan under the weight of the bloated upper classes. Mass religious movments arise from time to time among the poor, led by prophets claiming to be avatars of Khezmenas. These would be prophets preach a message of reform: the people of Zanj have strayed from their faith. The rich must give up their wealth and return to the simplicity of the Oundaghir nomads who first heeded the message of Khezmenas, and the poor will become become uplifted. All men will then live as brothers under the merciful judgment of Shahar. But invariably these high ideals give way to the basest passions and end in an orgy of bloodletting, as destitute mobs indiscriminately loot and slaughter the rich. Order is restored, and the bands of marauding paupers are cut down by hordes of mounted Oundaghir tribesmen employed by the effete Zanji nobles, who have become all but subject to their nomad kindred and erstwhile mercenaries. Rhastikoor, Vedex, and Tsan, the lands of the east, rich in silks and balsams, prosper under the governance of wise philosopher kings. Eastern ships voyage far into the Orient Sea and return laden with rare and costly goods from isles unmapped by western sages. The eremetic Gloabites dwell high on their lofty plateau, pursuing arcane researches, peering into the heavens, or deep into the sea, and amass great knowledge. Their city of Min, said to contain the wisdom of the ages, remains barred to outsiders, and the Gloabites rarely travel beyond their mountain realm. North of these land lie the island realms of Yibma and Oubar. Lofty mountains, spewing forth fires and sulphurous fumes, scar these isles. Steams and smokes erupt from the earth beneath. The pale skinned inhabitants gather the rare salts and minerals these eruptions deposit, for they have valuable medicinal and occult properties, and voyage from one end of Antikhton to trade their wares.