THE LANDS OF THE PEOPLE

From the Notes of Loremaster Rathfaust

ATUALON

The mightiest kingdom in the Near West, Atualon is the seat of Ka Atu, the Dragon King. Fabled to be built on the back of a sleeping dragon, Atualon is the wellspring of a deep and ancient magic.

This magic is known as atulfah, and is comprised of sa and ka, female and male, heart and spirit, the Song of Life. Only those born echovete—able to hear the magical song of creation—have the potential to manipulate this magic, and only an echovete child born and raised to the throne may be trained to wield it.

SINDAN

The Sindanese empire stretches from the pearl-choked waters of Nar Kabdaan in the Middle East, over the ice-tombed peaks of Mutai Gon-yu, to Nar Intihaan in the Far East: End of the Bitter Lands, End of the Great Salt Road, End of the Known World. The story of Sindan stretches far beyond written memory and into the misted memories of the First Men, before the thickening of the Veil. The Daemon Emperor of Sindan rules absolutely from his throne in Khanbul, the Forbidden City, though his thoughts turn ever westward. He is covetous of atulfah, for its power is the only thing greater than his own.

QUARABALA

Once a place of beauty and art, high learning and gentle culture, the Quarabala was scorched clean of life and hope during the Sundering. Few now survive in the dead lands west of the Dibris. Occasionally a story will turn up in the slave-trading town of Min Yaarif, rumors of wicked beasts and wickeder men driven to desperate acts as they struggle to survive on the Edge of the Quarabala. Even more rarely an Illindrist, a shadowshifting sorcerer, will emerge from the smoking ruins, night-skinned and demon-eyed, leading a trader or three with packs full of the precious red salt and eyes full of waking nightmares.

THE ZEERA

A land of silk and honey, great warriors and greater predators, the Zeera is a vast golden desert and home to the desert prides. Once a proud and prosperous nation, the Zeeranim are now a remnant of their former glory. The Mothers live in mostly empty cities along the banks of the Dibris, the Ja’Sajani take census and record the final days of a dying people, and the Ja’Akari guard the people against enemies within and without the prides. Too few are born, too few survive, and too few are chosen to become Zeeravashani, bonded to the great saber-tusked cats with whom they are allied. The wardens write, the warriors fight, and the Mothers sing lullabies against the coming darkness, but their struggles are like the notes of a flute, lost and forgotten in the coming storm.