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Fantasy (Lore/CS) The Living Waste of Mekhallah

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Meatball30

Ball of Meat
Sheikhdom of Mekhallah, along the border of the Jalema Sultanate

44 years After the Sultan's Coronation



The grandfatherly man's voice was uneasy as the stranger entered his modest caravansary, tracking in sand and a chilly desert wind at their heels, but he couldn't hide the relief of finally having a customer.

The stranger that entered cast a brief glance about the ramshackle outpost while shaking loose sand from his shoes and straightening his kaftan. He could tell the roadside refuge he'd stumbled into was little more than the husk of a brighter establishment, eerily illuminated by moonlight piercing through thin gaps in the shuttered windows. Aside from the stranger and the innkeep, the caravansary was occupied only by empty chairs at empty tables, their sandstone tops dusty with disuse, much like the colorful fabrics which hung to cover otherwise bleak adobe walls. The stranger took a seat in an uncomfortable chair at the nearest table, a worn cushion attempting in vain to improve his luxury.

"You're the first to come through in some time. I'm sure you can see," the owner chuckled, his voice shaky with age. "Is it a rare beauty or a fool's errand that brings you to Alkhafat?"

Fumbling about behind the bar for an uncomfortably long period, the old man produced a ceramic jug, which the stranger could tell from the scent was filled to the brim with arak. Finally shuffling over from behind his counter, the stranger repressed a gag as the spirit's scent mingled with the old man's distinct musk. The keep was just as decrepit as his establishment, the deep-set wrinkles marring his olive complexion and dragging his face towards the floor, much like the faded green cloth of his haphazardly wrapped turban.

The old man poured a full cup of araq for his guest, the stranger nodding and lifting their drink in thanks. "Thank you, uncle. I prefer to keep my business as my own, meaning no disrespect."

Shuffling to the seat across from his guest, the keep gave his feet a rest. The stranger could swear they heard the old man's back snap in two as he lowered himself into the chair. The innkeep didn't seem to mind his non-answer.

"The first drink is free... Once this place was 'The Frontier's Gem,' can you believe it!" the keep mocked harshly, shaking his head. "If your business isn't urgent, I suggest you turn back soon."

The stranger, humoring the old man's clear lust for conversation, took another sip of his arak and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the stone table. "Tell it true, uncle. Is it as bad as we hear? There've been tales, traveling south with starving mothers and withering widows..."

"Worse," the elder said, leaning forward with some effort to meet the younger man's eyes.

The stranger couldn't help but feel perturbed as the keep's haggard brown gaze locked with his own. He could tell it had born witness to suffering, decay, death.

"The Waste is already here, Nafayat al-Hayya! And every day it's getting closer, a stalking lion. They say it's 100 miles north of our city. Farmers are plowing little more than dust and dunes. The Hooved Ones tell tales, too. No matter how far they ride, the mountains are crumbling at their very foundations, worn down into sand."

A long gust of wind whistled through the window cracks then. The stranger felt a chill roll down his spine.

"People are leaving, the ones that can afford it. There's no money here. The few fields we have still producing crop at all are needed to feed our city. They say that, for now, we can survive and scrape by. We're being punished," the old man declared, leaning back in his chair as if the tirade exhausted him. "Crime, immorality, degeneracy. The heavens have had enough."

"What will you do, uncle?" the stranger asked, likewise leaning back into his seat.

The keep parted his cracked lips slightly, revealing a set of teeth sporting the same decay he claimed befell his city. "Welcome hardheaded travelers like you, as long as I can turn a profit."

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Welcome, traveler, to the Sheikdom of Mekhallah. The far northeastern province of the wider Jalema Sultanate, the people of Mekhallah have long embraced their reputation as rugged, resourceful, and determined. According to local legend, the sheikdom was first founded 300 years prior when a scout of the Sultan's army was sent to chase down an enemy messaging bird after a bloody battle, for fear the fowl would summon a greater army. The scout managed to shoot the bird in flight from distance, and when he attempted to recover the corpse and message discovered a massive camp of the Horned Folk nestled in a beautiful oasis. The Sultan's armies would later relay this report, and a large-scale campaign was launched to dislodge the Horned Folk from the region and settle a city along the river valley.

Despite the sheikdom's distance from the Sultanate's capital, the people were able to enrich themselves by exploiting the area's abundant natural resources -- primarily fine gemstones, high-quality metals and the fertile lands of the river valley. The sheikdom's capital, Alkhafat, became one of the largest cities in all the Sultanate. The Sheik of Mekhallah was a coveted position, and was trusted to be both a shrewd negotiator and capable defender against the native Horned Folk and their more beastly cousins, the Hooved Folk to the north, inhabiting the desert that was then simply called The Great Waste.

Approximately 70 years before your tale begins, The Waste began to slowly expand. It was barely noticeable at first, but the Sultanate's border protectors and elite soldiers, the Sand Striders, were among the first to chart its growth. Since then, the Living Waste has grown southward, butting up against the mountains that mark the Sultanate's northern borders and encroaching deeply into Mekhallah. Whole villages have been abandoned as the land around them seems to wither away and die, ground into sand by the unstoppable march of the Waste's dunes.

Over the years, the Sultan has sent scholars, magi, and holy men to investigate to no avail. Now, the Sultanate has not been in contact with Mekhallah for several months. Officials are beginning to suspect the Sultanate has abandoned their sheikdom, and troublesome rumors of looming war and mass hysteria in other cities across the country create further unrest as the remainder of the Sultanate bears witness to Mekhallah's slow decay. Citizens of Mekhallah are rightfully worried. Many have begun to emigrate, some turn to crime, and still others spend their days praying for salvation.

The Sultanate, still a young and recently unified empire, seems poised to burst at the seams, back into the disparate Sheikhdoms that ruled the region for centuries before. That process may be stopped, or hurried along, starting in Mekhallah.

Your tale likely begins in or around the sheikdom's capital city of Alkhafat, still a fairly large city of over 40,000, a metropolitan melting pot of races and religion, and formerly one of the busiest trade cities in the Sultanate. As you and your family or other companions attempt to navigate this new reality, and make decisions on what to do next, the city is set to receive an unexpected visitor...

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"The Hooved Folk" | Nasrifaq

Referred to as the Hooved Folk exclusively by the residents of the Sultanate, the Nasrifaq are a people native to the lands north of the Sultanate, dominated primarily by The Living Waste and other dusty badlands. While not a common sight in Mekhallah, some have been known to settle along the sheikdom’s borders. The Nasrifaq are regarded with varying degrees of fear and suspicion by the sheikdom’s human denizens, and are almost universally prohibited from owning property in the sheikdom. Some may go as far as refusing to trade with them, as a stigma of heathenistic spirits, devil worship, and black magic follows the Nasrifaq throughout Mekhallah.

The race's origins are unknown, and their population is low. Some suggest they descend from barbaric beastmen who lay with their horses, others still claim they were formed through a heathen ritual, performed by a criminal wishing to flee more swiftly from the Sultan's armies. Whatever the case, the Nasrifaq were here long before human settlers arrived with the Sultan's armies, but never lay down a permanent city in the area. They have spent the last several centuries sometimes raiding the small outpost settlements that hug the edges of the Living Waste, clashing with the Sultan's Sand Striders often. Despite their remarkable endurance, the Nasrifaq have also been hard hit by the Living Waste's growth, as the distance they must cover to cross their desert continues to grow and oases disappear.

Though they are nomads, the various disparate tribes hold a strong sense of unity. Leaders are elected in a rough democracy, with as many tribes as possible congregating at an unknown (to the Sultan's scholars, at least) location in the Living Waste. Once gathered, the various elders hear arguments and discuss amongst themselves who should be appointed that tribe's new leader.

While obviously physically strong and swift warriors on open field, they also hold a special reverence for musicians. Much of their worship is carried out through song and chants.


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"The Horned Folk" | Alrifaq

The indigenous inhabitants of the Mekhallah region, the Alrifaq are even fewer in number today than the Nasrifaq, never having recovered from the decades of armed conflict that resulted in the Sultanate's conquest of Mekhallah. With origins just as perplexing to the Sultan's scholars as the Hooved Ones, the Alrifaq share in their bestial aspects, though with greater variation. Some Alrifaq can be born with plainly visible horns, some with hooves instead of feet, while others can be born almost completely human save for a small bumps on their heads. A superstitious people who live in small, permanent communities around the outskirts of Mekhallah, many of the few remaining Alrifaq are struggling with whether to flee their race's homeland or remain at the mercy of the Living Waste's unyielding advance.

The Alrifaq are exceptionally religious, adherents to a faith they call Dzho'Drakt, translating roughly to "Duality" or "Mirror." They pay homage to the stars and moon when the moon's phases are waxing towards full, and revere the sun and earth when the moon begins to wane out of sight. Many often paint their bodies daily, using warm reds and yellows when the moon is waning as opposed to the blues and greens employed when the moon is waxing. They dress modestly, with both men and women covering themselves in layers of beautiful fabrics, which are highly sought after by the Sultanate's elite.

Aside from their beast traits, the Alrifaq appear to be plainly human. Their creation myth holds that they were the result which sprung from the earth when moon and sun were once in the sky together, in perfect harmony. This balance, they claim, provided the perfect conditions for the night and day spirits to mingle and create a race tightly bound to the earth it inhabited, an ideal mixture of humankind and nature.

The Alrifaq are typically well-respected in the Sultanate, despite their cultural distance from the majority of its residents. It is not uncommon for them to hold positions of authority in the military and civic realms, and they are often sought after as strategists and advisors due to a general level-headedness which permeates their culture.

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Elite Troops | Sand Striders

The respected order of border protectors widely known as the Sand Striders are more formally reffered to as the Knightly Order of Muhari Alduud, named in honor of their founder. A fairly recent addition to the Sultanate's armies, the Sand Striders were officially formed 250 years ago when then-general Muhari Alduud led a desperate defense of Mekhallah's frontier against a horde of Hooved Folk intent on sacking Alkhafat. Alduud's forces emerged victorious, but of the 5,000 that went to battle, only 700 survived the bloody combat.

Becoming a Sand Strider is among the highest honors in the Sultan's armies. Initiates on average have served a decade already, but even lowly footmen who display great prowess and valor in the field can be fast-tracked into the order. A highly unconventional force, the Sand Striders are expected to become masters of horseback archery, riding, mounted combat, tracking, and survival in the wastes. As the protectors of the Sultanate's borders, they most often come into conflict with the Hooved Folk and, very rarely, roving bands of wild men who raid border villages for food before disappearing into the wastes.

They are immediately recognizable by the beautiful blue fabrics they wear over their armor, the hue of the Sultan's banners. Another common nickname for the Order is the Turquoise Horde, often used by the Hooved Folk as a term of respect. They maintain regular patrols along border outposts, but unlike typical footmen, are given great freedom as far as equipping themselves.

Their presence close to Mekhallah has increased in recent years as the Waste expands, and hostile groups of Hooved Folk are taking advantage of their retreat, occupying former border outposts now lost to the sands. They have been asked to scout into the Waste to search for the cause of its rapid expansion, to no avail. Recently, some Sand Striders have taken to worshiping a strange figure they call the Daughter of the Sands.



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Heaven-touched Mortals | The Sultan's Magi

Considered the foremost -- and only officially sanctioned -- authorities on magic in the Sultanate, the Sultan's Magi are a small group of magic users who use their abilities to advise the Sultan, defend the Sultanate or otherwise advance the nation's interests. In practice, however, the Magi as an organization are very rarely unified. Most often factions of like-minded mages set their own agendas on what to study, how to go about it and when to actually advance the Sultan's wishes. At present, the Magi are perhaps more fractured than they have ever been historically, as the looming disastrous desertification of the entire Sultanate seems inevitable. The order currently numbers around 150 mages spanning the Sultanate.

There are three academies where individuals can study magic unhindered across the Sultanate, all of which are essentially impossible to enter without first having magical ability, and also having the good fortune to be wealthy enough to pay for the education. None of these institutions exist in Mekhallah, being centered in the Sultanate's richly developed Southeast. Efforts to expand possibilities for magically-capable low born citizens have gone nowhere in the past, but as of now a splinter fragment in the Magi is making a push to find and educate low born magic users, arguing that the Sultanate will need every available hand to fight against the Living Waste.

The Magi are closely linked to Tebala, and magic use which derives power from the daylight is looked on with suspicion and disdain, but not outright banned. Most of the Magi's members rely on moonlight magic, giving them the ability to manipulate freezing desert winds both by moving and utilizing the air itself, and creating frost, snow, and ice. Those that utilize sunlight magic are able to manipulate the desert sands, other earth, and create fire.

Although they are expected to closely work with the Sultanate's government, Magi are given the freedom to travel for study and research. Every Sheik in the Sultanate has an assigned Magi, but the assigned Magi are rarely the best available, as the more senior members of the order prefer to remain independent and pursue their own interests.



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Selfless River Warriors | The Jai-Anar

The Jai-Anar are a group made up of low born sons seeking adventure, daughters looking to escape arranged marriage, and any other citizen of Mekhallah looking for a way out of a typical life. The group was founded by a former sailor and merchant, Zufar al-Siddiqui, though few know him by name. His moniker, River Drake, followed him from a land far across the seas, where he says he learned from pale men who battled across their land's mighty rivers in great war canoes. The River Drake learned how to build these canoes after surviving a shipwreck off the coast of this distant island and being rescued from death by local traders.

The River Drake was without work or a way to support himself in the strange land, but was offered a job by the traders who rescued him. If he could wield a sword, they said, he could earn a way back home by serving as a sellsword along their country's many great and broad rivers, which were the primary trade routes in the region. Additionally however, the shores in between large settlements were thick with jungle and hidden coves, which serviced river pirates who had recently begun to prey on unguarded fleets.

It is unknown how long the River Drake was in this unknown region, but he eventually returned and traveled to Mekhallah with his knowledge. With the continued expansion of the Living Waste, overland trade routes have become rare, and those that still travel are also targets for roving bandit groups that have formed from impoverished residents of Mekhallah seeking a way to survive. The Jai-Anar originally formed as a vigilante gang of sellswords protecting caravans the Sultan's Army could not or would not.

Soon, as overland trade to Mekhallah began to dry up, bandits in the sheikdom took to river raiding. The River Drake and the Jai-Anar would eventually transform their primary function into what they are today -- a group of well-intentioned mercenaries who sail Mekhallah's wide Qaara River on strange war canoes, offering protection to merchant shipping and rooting out bandit encampments.

The Jai-Anar are a small band, numbering about 100 members and seven canoes constructed with the River Drake's guidance. They have a presence all along the Qaara River, which flows through Alkhafat, and often unofficial patrols along the river's edge stumble criminal encampments. The Jai-Anar and the River Drake have become local heroes in the decaying sheikdom, but as more and more merchants begin to leave the city their purpose becomes less clear.



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Sharp-eared Mystics | The Shrouded Star

Though many in Mekhallah believe the Shrouded Star is another religious group serving a strange god, its founders and members are a mosaic of faiths and races. Headed by two women, a human and an Alrifaq, the Shrouded Star operates on the surface as a group of couriers, messengers, guides for foreign visitors and fortune tellers. While it may be due to its founders being lowborn women, one of whom is an Alrifaq Dzho'Drakt follower, there remains some general distrust of the Shrouded Star among the wealthy.

The Shrouded Star reserve membership exclusively for the destitute and downtrodden, allowing a near-guaranteed income for those willing to join their ranks. The Shrouded Star is considered a key part of keeping Alkhafat's poorest families afloat, as the income awarded through guiding new visitors both inside the city and around its outskirts is invaluable. Even more lucrative is the service offered by some in the organization as fortune tellers, who read coffee grounds and tea leaves to divine the futures of many wealthy tourists and distraught locals.

The Shrouded Star gained their reputation and folklore early in their existence. Founded several decades before your tale begins, muggers who targeted citizens being escorted by a member of the Shrouded Star had a strange habit of turning up dead or restrained later in the same day, and the stolen goods were almost always reliably returned to their owner.

Beyond their obvious employ, the Shrouded Star serve as faithful local informants. Throughout their duties they often converse with various people and overheard interesting things, all of which are worth something to someone. While the Shrouded Star very rarely directly involve themselves in anything criminal, they can unofficially serve as a source of information for local law enforcement and petty thieves alike, for a fee.

To the more superstitious in Alkhafat, the Shrouded Star are able to manipulate the future and walk between planes to discern possibilities of a given action. They are easily recognizable most times by the spherical lanterns they carry, which are rumored to emanate a warding magic which repels thieves and other cutthroats. Their fame, rumors on their power and reliability in their humble task extends beyond Mekhallah, which is why visitors often hire a guide out of tradition and curiosity. Locals also pay their respects often by hiring a member of the group, especially in more dangerous areas of the Alkhafat.

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The Sultan's Worship | Tabala

The majority religion of the Sultanate, Tabala as a faith has its roots in the far southeast, in the Sultanate's capital city of Tawira Mundh, where it was founded 700 years before the start of your tale by the Lunar Mantle Haral Musiah. The religion heavily reveres the moon and stars, as it is believed these are the gateways the multitude of spirits and divine entities use to reach the mortal plane and communicate their desires to humanity.

Tabala's adherents believe the movements of the stars and moon can be used to foretell great prophecy and smaller omens, and becoming one who charts the stars is a great honor. Followers pray only at night, and many of their rituals involve imbibing hallucinogenic substances and performing ritualistic dances, during which it is believed worshippers will be able to divine spiritual messages in the night sky formed from stars.

There is no singular deity in Tabala, as every star is treated as an individual spirit, with some of the more prominent stars in the night sky being elevated to "higher spirits" referred to as "Shayamun." The moon is closest thing considered a "chief" of the Shayamun. Since it is believed that the Lunar Mantle Haral Musiah was the moon given form, he is held in high esteem rivalling that of the moon spirit itself. Since the Lunar Mantle's appearance, children with pale skin, pale hair or white eyes have been considered exceptionally blessed. These mutations are rare, but still occur in the modern day. Most often, the children are shipped to Tawira Mundh to serve as seers and advisors for the Sultan, with varying success.

Daytime prayer is considered a great taboo, as it is believed demons crawl out of the sun to spread their influence in the mortal world. Many travelers and caravans avoid the roads during the sun's peak hours if they can afford to, as do the Sultan's armies, preferring to march at dusk, dawn or night by the light of magi's lanterns.

While traditionally there is no organized institution overseeing Tabala, the Sultan has begun summoning particularly influential local spiritualists from across the Sultanate to form a proto-clergy overseeing important matters of magic and faith.

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An Ancient Way | Dzho'Drakt

The religion followed by most of the remaining Alrifaq, Dzho'Drakt translates to the Sultanate's common tongue roughly as "Mirror" or "Duality." The Alrifaq of Mekhallah's river valley long revered both the sun and the moon in equal parts throughout the course of the time, depending on the moon's phases. Followers pay homage to the stars and moon when the moon's phases are waxing towards full, and revere the sun and earth when the moon begins to wane out of sight. Many often paint their bodies daily, using warm reds and yellows when the moon is waning as opposed to the blues and greens employed when the moon is waxing.

While the Alrifaq are the primary wardens of this dying faith, some humans in Mekhallah have begun to convert, with more doing so as the Living Waste continues to approach the Sultanate.

Dzho'Drakt holds that the sun and moon are both worthy of worship, and are in fact a pair of sisters who once inhabited the skies together long ago. When a great sandstorm covered the mortal world in dunes for thousands of years, the two sisters were blinded and lost their way in the skies. Since then, they have been circling the skies in search of each other, but are always just a few steps behind one another.

Worship rituals often involve traditional, solemn prayer and lighting strongly scented torches, which are intended to catch the attention of both sun and moon and draw them together at last. Followers believe once the moon and sun are reunited, the world will return to its previous ideal balance to bring lasting peace and return the souls of the Alrifaq killed by the Sultan's men to earth. Followers also revere the natural world, which is said to contain energy from both the sun and the moon, and to which the Alrifaq are strongly bound by their beast traits. The most devout followers take a pilgrimage to Barazhyr at least once in their lifetimes, the highest peak along the mountain range on Mekhallah's northern border. The mountains are considered sacred platforms through which one draws themselves even closer to the sun and moon.

Their belief in the previous state of ideal balance has led their culture to conserve the river valley's resources where possible, and the Alrifaq villages are often carved into the sides of mountains or near the bottoms of cliff faces in adherence to this belief. Wildfires are considered terrible omens, and a strict tenet holds that one must find a way to replace what is taken, if possible.

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Praise the Sun | Qariqism

Just a few centuries older than Tabala is Qariqism, founded around 1,000 years before your tale begins. This faith features the solar spirit called Qariqadouk, revered as bringer of life and a shield against the evils worshippers say lurk in the dark -- murderers, bandits, thieves, and supernatural creatures alike. This is the faith of the Nasrifaq, entrenched in the Sultanate's northern sheikdoms after centuries of intermittent raids and semi-permanent settlement by the Hooved Folk.

While they primarily revere the sun, the moon also holds a place in Qariqism, as a representation of the day's slow march towards victory over the night. Worshippers believe it is destiny that they help bring about an eternal day, and that the moon's light is a reflection of the sun slowly piercing through the inky black night sky. They use pyramidal, prism-like gems as the centerpieces of their temples, which are constructed with great glass domes. Their temple walls are scrawled with scripts from their holy book, also called the Qariq, and their religious leaders often interpret the meanings of omens by reading which scripts are illuminated by the scattered light and deciphering the scattered scriptures.

Qariqism is the lone monotheistic religion in the Sultanate, and is today confined mainly to the northern provinces where it is still not a majority faith. Even so, their temples are often among the most beautiful structures in a city, all of them built of pristine white stone which brightly reflects sunlight.

Adherents are fanatical in spreading their religion, and missionaries can be found in all corners of the Sultanate. They are largely tolerated, but have recently begun spreading doomsday prophesies and demanding the Sultanate's citizens convert to save their nation from being swallowed by the Living Waste. In turn, the Sultan has cracked down harshly on Qariqist congregations in some cities.

Zealousness, passion, strength at arms, and charisma are considered high virtues among Qariqists. Followers often undertake at least one pilgrimage of the Sultanate in their lifetime, with the goal of converting non-believers to their faith.

The holiest men of the faith are those prophets who train themselves to "read" omens in the sun's rays. These followers blind themselves as they stare into the sun, but are said to be granted supernatural sight and knowledge of future events as a result.

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A Growing Cult | The Daughter of the Sands

Little is known about the figure that some of the Sultan's Sand Striders have taken to referring to as "The Daughter of the Sands," but encounters with her seem to be growing as time presses on. Some skeptics claim she is simply a wild woman who survives by traveling from oasis to oasis in the Living Waste, and occasionally travels back towards the Sultanate's border. Many Sand Striders have taken to the belief that she is an earth-bound goddess, claiming that they have seen her shifting the dunes with nothing but waves of her hand, and even turning into sand herself and sinking into the ground.

The soldiers' accounts also vary on what she looks like, but the two common descriptions stand out. The first describes a woman whose body is completely made of sand, as if she had become one with the Living Waste. The second is of a woman whose complexion matches the color of the dunes, wearing a stark white cloak and hijab which covers much of her face. She is said to have eyes with no irises, and the whites are the color of the moon. It's also been reported that her eyes faintly glow at night, with Sand Striders claiming they've been able to spot her in the distance due to the dim light.

The Sand Striders began worshipping her after some soldiers claimed she saved them during combat with the Hooved Folk, or from being lost in the intense sand storms that frequently occur on the Sultanate's border with the Living Waste. Those who revere her say she is a moon spirit, while others go as far as to claim she is a reincarnation of the Lunar Mantle.

While her existence is questionable, the growing number of Sand Striders who praise her is very real. Some border outposts have erected shrines to the mysterious being, while others have been harshly reprimanded and even expelled from the army for converting to a devilish heresy.

Magic in the Sultanate is tied heavily to government service, wealth and religion. It is essentially unheard of that a lowborn magus is ever able to channel their power into anything truly useful, and rarely will those born outside of the Sultanate's elite -- whether by way of royal blood or being born to wealthy merchants -- be granted entry to the country's magical institutions.

Those instances are only rare, though, and not unheard of.

The specific mechanics of magic are fairly well understood by the Sultan's Magi, as they have been studied it for centuries. It's unknown how exactly it is determined, but some magically capable mortals are naturally gifted in Solar magic or Lunar magic. In the early stages, they are only able to channel their magic during certain times of the day, Solar magic users, naturally, from sunrise to sunset, and Lunar magic users from sunset to sunrise. It is possible for someone to learn the magic type opposite their natural abilities, but they are often never able to achieve mastery.

In order to channel their power into anything beyond the simplest applications (such as lighting a candle or manipulating small amounts of water), magic users must have a vessel to channel their energies through. Most often magi prefer a staff or wand, but the vessel can be anything one can carry -- a sword, a book, and anything in between, though it is preferable for the item to be sturdy in order to avoid destruction. Any mundane item can serve as a vessel, given the user learns to perform specific rituals.

Moon magic vessels require the user to take their preferred item to a river (or any running body of water) immediately after sunset, fully submerge it, and allow droplets of their blood to drip into the water until sunrise. This bloodletting has resulted in serious injury and death, though the Sun magic method is not much safer. These magic users carry their implements into the dunes, and bury it. They shed their clothing and meditate on their burial spot, exposed to the sun's rays, from sunrise to sunset.

While more dangerous, it has proven beneficial for magic users to create their vessels in the appropriate season when the days or nights are longer, allowing them to channel greater powers. Magic users are able to create more than one vessel. It has been observed that creating a vessel near population centers has the ability to backfire and muddle the intended user's life energies with others, so most will avoid the risk by journeying into the wilderness to create their vessel.

Lunar magic typically allows its users to manipulate water, air, and ice. It allows users to see glimpses of the future, though these visions are often shrouded in mystic symbolism and metaphor. Moon magic users are, naturally, far more capable at night.

Solar magic is far less understood, but is known to allow users to manipulate earth and fire. It allows users to channel their magical power into raw energy, invigorating users with seemingly superhuman strength and speed. They are of course more powerful during the day. Due to the common stigma around Sun magic, it is extremely rare for anyone to achieve mastery. The Sultanate only entrusts its knowledge on Sun magic to a select few of its Magi, but in recent years has expanded that pool as many believe Sun magic may be crucial to understanding and stopping the Living Waste.

Magic is known to greatly harm the body with overuse, especially if great feats are attempted without a proper vessel. It is possible for a vessel to be destroyed while attempting a feat beyond a Magus's current capabilities. There is a sub-field of magical study which focuses on hunting down flora, fauna, and other ingredients which may expand one's magical abilities, but this primitive alchemy has only recently been established as the race to stop the Living Waste has intensified.

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Jazallay, the Island of Sultans

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A rich island filled with lush flora and abundant fauna, Jazallay's climate ranges from tropical in the south to sub-tropical in the central and northern regions. Jazallay is home to the most elite of the Sultanate's families, with those that aren't permanent residents often having summer manors there. It is considered the cultural heartland of the Sultanate. The Jalema family is one of the oldest on the island, and the first to unite the sheikdoms under one banner. The island's sprawling cities are extremely dense and well-developed, as a stranglehold on trade to the mainland -- in high-value goods like native fruits, spices, and precious metals -- has allowed the island's families to profit from transactions with the mainland for centuries.

Aside from an abundance of indoor and outdoor theater spaces (where shadow puppetry is currently extremely popular, even more so than traditional stage drama), the most notable cultural landmark in Tawira Mundh is the Titan of Triumph. The 300-foot monument is carved from strange, stark-white stone, believed to have originally been a piece of the moon. The Titan depicts the Sultan brandishing his saber east towards the mainland, commemorating the Sultan's total conquest of the mainland sheikdoms.

Jazallay also boasts the highest concentration of recorded knowledge in all of the Sultanate. The island hosts the largest of the three Magi academies, the House of the Royal Magi. The Moustadqah is perched upon an isolated island at the center of the inland Full Moon Lake, securely housing the ancient library of the Mourahkin, a sect of Tabalist scholars.


Rat Alshiq, the Sister Island

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Rat Alshiq is the sub-tropical island directly to the north of Jazallay. It is one of the sheikdoms that has historically retained a high degree of autonomy due to its military contributions to the Sultanate. While it is not as wealthy as Jazzalay, its people have long accepted the protection of the Sultanate in a mutually beneficial arrangement wherein they provide the Sultan with excellent ships and men to sail them, and the Sultan levies only minimal taxes. The most influential family on the island, the al-Rashads, also appoints its own magisters and ocal leaders rather than these appointments being handled by the Sultan.

An overwhelming portion of the Sultan's sailors hail from Rat Alshiq, and it is home to the largest dockyard in the Sultanate. The island possesses an abundance of Steeltrunk Trees, towering plants which grow to be on average 180 feet tall and 50 feet wide. The trees are famed for their endurance, hence their nickname, and a ship constructed entirely of Steeltrunks is a vessel considered nearly unsinkable in combat. The majority of the trees are clustered in forests near the center of the island, surrounding the Sultanate's only volcano, locally known as the Sleeping Djinn.

The city of Maladjaz is home to the famous dockyard, and every full moon, fishermen and other boat-owners gather here to race on the strong wind that typically blows in from the Saber Sea during this moon phase. The winner of the race, a circuit around the entirety of the island, is considered a greatly blessed individual. However, there is no material prize outside of potential business from those who may seek the winner out for assistance in building their own boats or trying to secure the champion's endorsement of their shipwright business. Since local sailors often offer the winner their services as deck hands, first mates, and to pledge their swords for journeys across the sea, the prestige that accompanies victory is usually enough of a boon to make up for the lack of a monetary reward.

It is suspected among historians that the River Drake, leader of the Jai-Annar who spent years shipwrecked in an uncharted foreign land, was born in Maladjaz. The city is also notable as one of three which contains a Magi academy, with the Academy of the Lunar Mantle located near the city's dockyard.


Alqarn, Respite for the Downtrodden

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The first of the mainland sheikdoms to be absorbed into the Sultanate some 800 years before present, Alqarn has changed drastically in recent decades and swiftly become one of the most metropolitan regions in the entire Sultanate. Its climate is primarily dry, dusty badlands in the west and more fertile farmland in the eastern floodplains along the Makharaa River. While it previously served as a choice landing point for the Sultan's armies during early wars for the mainland, it has since been fairly neglected by top-level leaders.

Its rapid growth after conquest -- and the sudden loss of income when the army stopped using it as a valuable foothold -- meant that it soon devolved into squalor, as many newly-destitute citizens turned to crime to make ends meet. This is still true today, and has only been compounded by the arrival of families from Mekhallah and Mekhalga seeking to escape the grasp of the Living Waste. Alqarn's city of Tawira Rat became a desirable destination due to affordable travel to its ports, and cheap living in the city proper.

The influx of immigrants has turned Tawira Rat into a melting pot of human culture from across all of the sheikdoms, and it is particularly notable for its sprawling street markets offering expensive foods, jewelry, armor, and weapons from all corners of the Sultanate. Tawira Rat is also the only city in the Sultanate to feature a place of worship dedicated to every major religion. The city is home to the third and last Magus academy in the Sultanate, The House of the Horn.

Misardun, The Great Grass Sea

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Before the vast jungles of Ji-Alsim transition into the rocky badlands of Mekhallah, Misardun serves as a go-between. Miles upon miles of grassy steppe define the largest of the Sultanate's sheikhdoms, and it's here where the Sultanate's armies suffered some of their most humbling defeats at the hands of the area's previous rulers, the warriors of the Zalabelkh Confederation.

Those disparate tribes are now all but extinct, put to the sword when the Sultan's armies finally managed to subdue Misardun for good. Tens of thousands of the Zalabelkh were killed, and those that still live are often quiet about their heritage. The Sultan has a long memory, and the numerous humiliating battles - resulting in hundreds of thousands of Sultanate men killed - are a sore point for the empire's rulers.

Today, Misardun serves as the closest thing to a breadbasket region for the Sultanate. Largely rural and with little more to see than sprawling plains, it's largely overlooked by the Sultanate's leadership, at least as far as investment in anything besides agriculture is concerned. Still, some of the army's finest horsemen are raised and trained here to this day, and many eventually become Sand Striders.

Ji-Alsim, An Alien Land

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Ji-Alsim is perhaps the most foreign of the Sultanate's sheikdoms, at least to citizens of the western and northern reaches of the country. Familiar coastal plains and deserts make up its northern shoreline, but thick and endless rainforest stretch far to the south and east. The Sultan's armies are still in the process of properly mapping the difficult terrtain of Ji-Alsim, having only officially taken its capital, Ahadoud, roughly fifty years before the beginning of this tale. The unfamiliar landscape has made travel a difficult task for explorers and soldiers, and some guerilla warfare continues to be waged deep in the jungles by the now-deposed former ruling family, the Ahmads.

This sheikdom is known primarily for its exotic fauna. Giant poisonous snails slowly slink through the underbrush, 15-foot river serpents glide in the waters of the Kafayin River, naked monkeys swing themselves about the canopy, and lanky apes standing as high as two men scrape for survival in the most isolated areas of jungle. Most of these beasts have become prized as pets and hunting trophies across the Sultanate.

Ahadoud, as such, is known a popular stop for those suffering wander lust to experience some of the strangest sights their corner of the world has to offer. Rather than dried mud bricks or sandstone, houses here are constructed from a strange dark wood and with thatched roofs, many on stilts to survive the frequent flooding. It is also known as a cursed city to some of the Sultanate's more superstitious. Some believe Ahadoud's legendary destruction by flooding over a thousand years ago, and the more well-documented floods 300 years ago, are a result of an ancient curse still maintained by the disparate tribes which are believed to lurk in the rainforests. Outside of Ahadoud, the independent sheikdom and the Sultanate have both had trouble maintaining order. The jungles have always been a favored hideout for the Sultanate's worst criminals, and infamous pirates take refuge in hidden coves along the Kafayin River.

Ahadoud's most notable landmark is the Earthspire, a beautiful spire of painted rock which juts up from the rainforests outside the city. At its peak is a Tabalist shrine, considered an especially holy site which many pilgrims visit yearly.

Mekhallah, A Decaying Gem

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Once a fruitful land of commerce, crops and caravans, the continued encroachment of the Living Waste has made travel and daily life in Mekhallah increasingly difficult. Food shortages are increasingly common, caravans and trade along the river are often intercepted by brigands, and severe sandstorms buffet the sheikhdom's capital city of Alkhafat more and more each year. The decline began around 30 years ago, 14 years after the Sultanate conquered Mekhallah, its final sheikhdom.

Mekhallah is the original home of the Alrifaq, whose ancient cities adorn the valleys and cliff faces of the Earthspine Mountains. Human settlers and the Alrifaq have rarely clashed in the past, and integration of the Alrifaq, despite their religious differences, has been generally peaceful in the occasions that the Horned Folk have chosen to live among the Sultanate's majority race. Many still opt to stay in their species' native lands, though.

The increasing danger of traveling down Mekhallah's Qaara river has severely impacted its citizens' livelihoods. In the past, the river served as a quick inland route for traders to reach Alkhafat and send their goods beyond the Earthspine Mountains and to even farther corners of the globe, making the city a lively trading capital. Now, with fewer and fewer caravans returning from such dangerous journeys, merchants have opted to use their limited resources on less risky ventures.

While not so grand as the cities of the south, Mekhallah's high stone walls, the arching bridges that cross the Qaara River to the south and west, and the great blue-domed mosque in the middle of the city are still sights to behold so far from the seat of the Sultan's power. Its dockyards were once as illustrious, with sails from all corners of the Sultanate gathered along the wide river, but now sit mostly empty.


Mekhalga, A Harsh Frontier

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Mekhalga was the second-to-last sheikdom to fall during the Sultan's conquest. The northern reaches of Mekhalga are sometimes referred to as "The Sanguine Desert" due to the history of bloodshed that plagues the region. Mekhalga has seen centuries of Nasrifaq raids and internal strife bleed its populace, who survive in the rocky, dry foothills of the Earthspine Mountains primarily as herders. Recently, some of the Alrifaq who chose to flee Mekhallah have attempted to settle in Mekhalga, but violence has erupted between Alrifaq refugees and the Fitaar people, a human, semi-nomadic herder society who have long considered themselves independent from the Sultanate.

Mekhalga is home to the tallest mountain in the Sultanate, which the Sultan's scholars call the Qamar Iisbae, or the Moon Finger. It is referred to as the Sun Spire by the Fitaar, who adopted Qariqism from the Nasrifaq after centuries of conflict brought the two cultures into close contact. This religious difference is one reason the Fitaar consider themselves a separate people, but even among those who live outside of Fitaar society, Qariqism is a common faith in Mekhalga.

In fact, Almaqa is the only city in the Sultanate with more Qariqists houses of worship than Tabalist temples. Missionaries have been known to be attacked in Almaqa, its citizens willing to tolerate Tabalist neighbors, but infuriated by men preaching on street corners and aggressively pushing their doctrines.

Mekhalga is home to the largest observatory in the Sultanate, perched on a peak neighboring the Qamar Iisbae. The scholars who man the observatory are called upon by the Sultan himself often, for expertise on predicting eclipses and other potentially irregular movements in the heavens.
The Qamar Iisbae itself is beautifully etched and painted with Fitaar poetry and representations of their history, as it is considered the birthplace of their people.

Non-Fitaar adventurers who attempt to scale the mountain often disappear or are chased from the slopes by ferocious protectors, who some say are ancestor spirits of the Fitaar. Scholars suspect the culprits are actually living Fitaar warriors in ceremonial dress.

Epic poetry in the Fitaar style is fairly popular in Mekhalaga and Mekhallah, as musicians along the frontier adapt the stories into songs. The Fitaar do not traditionally write anywhere outside of their sacred peak, however, leading some foolhardy minstrels to give their lives in order to sneak to the mountain and attempt to transcribe some of the stories into their notebooks. Another cultural export of Mekhalga is Shaas, a grappling martial art which was developed for use specifically against the Nasrifaq. Due to their common conflicts with the Nasrifaq, the Fitaar and other fighters in Mekhalga often favor cavalry and are excellent horsemen.


Character Sheet

(Please excuse my lack of fancy coding, I didn't find a cool fantasy template that fit the tone and I'm terrible at making my own right now :p)

Name:
Race:
Description/Image:
Age:
Personality:
Flaws:
Bio/Backstory:
Skills and profession:
Additional information (any quirks, oddities, equipment, or distinguishing characteristics/mannerisms that make them themselves):
 
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Name: Mubarak Alani Jaffer, "The Sultan's Spear"

Race: Human

Description/Image: One of the rare children blessed by the Shayamun after the Lunar Mantle's ascent to immortality, the first thing people notice about Mubarak without fail is his skin. His complexion is of rich ivory, or perhaps the full moon, a stark white layered over top of skin that is showing signs of age in its wrinkles and blemishes. His eyes and hair are of the same hue, his facial features robust and stern. Almond-shaped eyes pierce those around him with a commanding confidence that is apparent, even in the absence of irises and pupils, his lips are drawn slightly downward into a steely frown, his nose and brow solid, as if chiseled from marble. A full beard fashioned into two distinct braids completes the man's regal personage.

Mubarak dresses as one would expect from the Sultan's personal magus. His djellaba is a pale blue, almost indistinguishable from white at a distance. Across his chest, Mubarak wears the plumed leather badges which indicate his mastery of various pursuits at the House of the Royal Magi, the greens, reds, and oranges of various exotic birds from Ji-Alsim vividly painting his torso. His turban is thickly wrapped, consisting of the same pale cloth comprising his djellaba, with a lengthy tail which he often keeps wrapped around his shoulders or covering his mouth and nose.

Mubarak is a fairly tall man, standing at 6'2, but his posture has started to give with age.

Age: 70

Personality: While many men of Mubarak's title and age may have been worn into bitter cruelty by the life he has led, the Sultan's magus has always relished in the challenge attached to his position. Even in his advanced age Mubarak is energetic, and often dominates the room with his gravitas. Never known to pussyfoot around an issue, Mubarak is an unerringly honest man. Even if the tendency upsets those around him, he would rather speak harsh truths than white lies. Others such as him may have already found themselves kneeling beneath the headsman's ax at the whim of an easily insulted nobleman, but Mubarak has avoided that fate thus far, and now commands such power that it is out of the question.

A holdover from his education, Mubarak has an eye for efficiency in his tasks, more than willing to disregard traditions and best-laid plans provided he is able to deduce a more cost-effective or timely method to complete his assignments. Those truly close to the man, which in his old age mostly consist of past apprentices and some senior court members, can safely say that he is one of the kindest men to grace the earth, when kindness does not interfere with his duties.

Flaws: Those that invoke his ire in ways that could weaken his public perception are rarely around long, however. While it is rare now that he uses his magic to combat a foe, as a young magus he was sometimes called on to quell rebellion and quash particularly dastardly criminals. He is ruthless in his persecution of misdeeds, and especially so if the unfortunate individual has happened to personally cross the magus. Some say that Mubarak has a history of employing torture, dismemberment, and borderline-terroristic tactics to discourage future unrest. Whatever the truth of that is, Mubarak himself acknowledges he has no mercy for the outlaw, and his fiery magic may be an extension of his temper when riled.

Mubarak is uncommonly reckless for a man of his age and experience, or perhaps because of his age and experience he is reckless -- this, paired with the immense power he wields and his legendary deeds, impart a sense of invulnerability.

Bio/Backstory:
Born into obscurity in the world's far reaches, the boy who would become Mubarak Alani Jaffer was first a faceless farmer's son on the outskirts of Ahadoud, near the edges of Ji-Alsim's boundless rainforests. The farmer's boy grew, yet the pigment that was present in his skin, hair, and eyes at birth faded away, leaving behind a thin ghost of a child. His parents, first fearing their son had fallen ill, soon realized what this meant for the boy. At the time, he was six years old.

Soon enough, word began to spread of the Ghost Boy outside Ahadoud. Inevitably, the merchants soon carried these stories back to Tawira Mundh, where guardsmen floated the tale to the ears of the Sultanate's highest authorities. Two cloaked magi sailed into Ahadoud within the month, and the farmer's boy was surrendered to the Sultan.

The child with skin like moonlight would, surprisingly, tap into the power of the sun, casting him into the Royal Magi's specialized training for Solar magic apprentices. The lessons were heavily skewed to Tabalist teachings and parables explaining a magus's duty to the Sultan, an archaic holdover from a time when Solar magic was widely feared for its association with demons and bad omens. The boy, now renamed Mubarak, was frustrated and terribly bored with his educational trajectory. He reluctantly slogged through his early studies, however. The first explorations of his magical potential lit a fiery desire for power under the boy.

It was not a simple path, despite his expectation. Some today accuse the Magi of deliberately stunting the growth of Solar magic students, and in previous decades the allegation was only more easily made. The very structure of Mubarak's education seemed dedicated more to loyalty, honesty, and ethics than application of his abilities.

When he was 11, Mubarak had already developed a reputation at the House of the Royal Magi as a troublesome student. His exploits ranged from regularly starting fires around the academy while attempting to harness his powers to toppling a decades-old statue of the then-Sultan while attempting to perfect his control of the earth outside of training periods. The inadvertent destruction often plagued both his environment and his own body. The latter scandal landed him in front of the Sultan himself, when various instructors and other students decried the antic as an intentional ploy by a demon-possessed, mad child to disrespect the Sultan's authority.

The charge was serious. Mubarak would ultimately face a public flogging for his transgression, his status as a blessed of the Lunar Mantle granting him some leniency. Mubarak was placed under the near-constant surveillance of a guardsman for a year as he continued his education, and during that time, his usual renegade approach was replaced by an even-keeled, yet passionate dedication to perfection of technique.

By age 14 Mubarak had achieved proficiency in all the basic skills expected of magical students, able to create fire from his hands and use it as an effective self-defense tool, and soon after he demonstrated his ability to shift the earth beneath his feet and rip stones from the dirt using his magic, hurling them across the yard. His swift progress, he felt, came in spite of the academics' best attempts to stifle his growth. Mubarak accepted his plumed badges, though he loathed to receive them from those he felt stood in the way of power. Since the academies offered him no further education in the use of his Solar magic, Mubarak began to study Lunar magic. Though he is certainly skilled in its use, his abilities are still only average compared to those naturally gifted in it.

At 16, his life took a significant turn. The then-Sultan's son, who would go on to become the current Sultan and the first to conquer all of the surrounding sheikdoms, called on him in his academy quarters one night. The Sultanate's heir, a boy four years Mubarak's junior, snuck across the palace that night after discovering earlier that day he had an ancestor who had been able to tap into Solar magic. Then a naive, yet imaginative prince, the future Sultan asked Mubarak if he would help him unleash what he declared was hidden potential.

Mubarak initially refused, still insulted by the public humiliation the prince's father had forced upon him. Upon further consideration, Mubarak took the challenge upon himself -- not to train this mundane boy to tap into power he certainly didn't have, but to ensure no talented magi would ever be held back by foolish superstitions again.

Mubarak's fruitless lessons eventually blossomed into a legitimate friendship with the Sultan-to-be, the young boys spending more and more time together as their teenage years went on. By the time he'd officially completed his education at 23, Mubarak and the prince were steadfast companions, who spent many free evenings drinking together, sharpening their swordplay, and dreaming of the beautiful girls who visited the court from distant sheikdoms. Most importantly, Mubarak challenged the Sultan's son to strive for a legacy even beyond his father's -- a drive that Mubarak himself eventually felt responsible for helping his childhood friend achieve.

Mubarak was 26 when the prince's father eventually passed. After a few short years serving local lords in magical affairs, the unproven Solar magus was named the Magus al-Qamar, or the Sultan's personal magi.

This caused substantial uproar among the Sultanate's magical community, but the opposition was short lived when the Sultan sent Mubarak on conquest. He took Ji-Alsin in half a year.

Misardun fell in a series of wars lasting 10 years, and 10 years after, a short campaign was launched to subdue Mekhalga, lasting three years. Mekhallah was perhaps the harshest campaign, with the already-expanding Living Waste making supplying the Sultan's invading armies a nearly impossible task. Mubarak was instrumental in ensuring it happened, with the Sultan giving him the directive that it be done, regardless of the cost. The invasion began twenty years before this tale, when Mubarak was 50 years old, and eight of those years were spent with men bleeding for every inch of Mekhallah. It was before the invasion of Mekhallah that Mubarak became the first documented Sultanate magus to allow the power of the sun to flow freely into his body, rather than using it externally, granting him inhuman speed and brawn after hours of meditation, incantations, and ritual he'd learned of from the native Alrifaq.

His conquests earned him the bloody moniker he bears today, "The Sultan's Spear."

Still, he also feels he has done his part to see the realm prosper. The Qaraqist faith has never been stronger in the Sultanate, now free of petty superstitions -- at least among the government's highest offices. Solar magi are being recruited and educated at record numbers, and among many of the new generation of magi, they are welcomed with open arms. Mubarak believes they may be key in understanding and stopping the Living Waste from swallowing the mainland.

Regrets from a lifetime spent chasing glory and waging war, however great his accomplishments, do still plague him. Now entering his 70th year as another full moon appears over the Sultanate, the elder magus hopes that he will be remembered as a savior before his death comes.

The Sultan has dispatched his trusted friend to Mekhallah to finally put an end to the Waste's expansion, or at least, save Alkhafat's citizens if all else fails.

Skills and profession: Mubarak is the Sultan's personal magus, a title known in the court as the Magus al-Qamar. He has achieved a mastery of Solar magic historic among the Sultanate's magi, and is an averagely skilled Lunar magic user. Beyond this, Mubarak was once a decent swordsman, but old age has degraded his skill unless aided by magic. His mind remains as sharp as ever, and his eye for strategy and creativity in the field remain top-notch.

Additional information: Mubarak is missing his pinky and ring fingers on his left hand, a result of magic overuse during his boyhood. His magical implement is a beautiful silver saber given to him by the Sultan after their conquest of Mekhallah, its hilt featuring an engraving of a blazing sun. The centerpiece of the weapon's crossguard is a brilliant orange jewel. Mubarak loves fishing during his free time, a favorite pastime alongside sailing. He has an awful tendency to pull at his beard when speaking or thinking.
 
Name: Risika

Race: Human

Description/Image:
She has the exotic beauty of her mother. Slender in figure with skin the shade of light toffee. Long dark brown that fell to her waist in soft waves. Elegant features with almond shaped eyes the color of cocoa.
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Age: 21

Personality:
Courageous, free spirited, flirtatious. Manipulative to those she wants to manipulate and loyal to the rare few she calls friend. Risika has a soft spot for the children and the down trodden.

While she is a thief, Risika is an honest thief and has her own creed that she lives by.
- Never steal from children and beggars, for she was once one of them.
- Never steal from the poor. Instead steal a purse from those that can afford it.
- Never steal from a friend.

Flaws:
- Old habits die hard to someone who grew up as a thief. If she sees something shiny or interesting it's likely to disappear.


Bio/Backstory:
Risika was born in the port city of Tawira Rat, the daughter of a pleasure woman who lived and made her trade in one of the inns. She never knew her father, but her mother had often spoke of him with great fondness. A handsome sailor from far away lands that had promised to return to make Risika's mother his bride. Though it was seemingly not to be as her mother succumbed to a fierce fever, leaving Risika orphaned at five years of age.

Not wanting the burden of caring for a dead prostitute's child, the owner of the inn turned Risika out. Risika had to learn quick in order to survive on the streets on her own. She learned how to move quickly and without notice, becoming a very adept thief. She learned which merchants to avoid and which were easy to steal from as well as which might take a rat or pigeon for a warm honeyed roll.

Risika also quickly learned that knowledge is a very precious commodity. No one pays mind to a beggar child hanging around for a scrap of food or coin. The more she was patient and listened, the more information she collected to sell to someone who was willing to pay for it. And the wealthier or more important the dispenser of the gossip, the higher the value.

As the years went by Risika honed her skill as a thief, earning a relatively comfortable living. As she neared the blossoming of her womanhood and her body started to change, Risika began to notice that the menfolk were growing more attracted to her. Risika decided to use this to her advantage, using her feminine charms to lull the men into letting down their guard so that she could get close enough to rid them of their purse. And if they got too close, her sharp dagger would threaten rid them of their family jewels as well.

As she grew older, Risika began to watch some of the ladies from higher born houses. Copying their mannerisms and practicing the eloquent way they moved and spoke, even to the point of learning to pour tea and how to dance. Perfecting her womanly charms so one would think that she was a lady of high breeding, rather than the low born commoner that she was.


Skills and profession:
- An adept thief, Risika is very good at slight of hand.
- Skilled with a dagger and knows how to defend herself.
- Quick and silent, Risika knows how to avoid detection.

Additional information:
- Risika wears a pendent around her neck that had belonged to her mother. It was the only thing of her mother's that Risika had managed to snatch up before she was put out on the street.
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- At some point, Risika managed to steal herself a silver hilted dagger for protection. She always carries this on her person and knows how to use it very well.
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Click Jewels and Scroll
  • Rasheed Al-Tariq,
    Chosen of the Sands
    BIRTH
    Born of the desert, into the light, I'll keep charging forth 'til I've proven my might.
    Born of the sands, under the sky, I'll keep charging forth 'til my body takes flight.
    BASICS
    Name: Rasheed Al-Tariq
    Age: Twenty-six
    Race: Human

    Description: With his short stature, pale skin, hair the color of a burnt sunset, and eyes like lapis lazuli stones, Rasheed definitely stands out among his tall, dark-haired and dark-skinned fellow Fitaari. He learned to embrace his differences at a young age however, using them as strengths, and accessorizing accordingly whenever and wherever he can.
    IN THE BEGINNING
    It's obvious at a glance that Rasheed is not native to, well, anywhere in the Sultanate, really. In fact, his parents were merchants who came to this land from across the Saber Sea (in truth, they were pirates, but passed for merchants when in respectable ports). They lived and traded out of Rat Alshiq for quite a few years, until they managed foolishly to get on the wrong side of the Al-Rashads, at which point they made the wise decision to skip town.

    They hopped across the channel to Almaqa and began to do business there, becoming about as close to actual respectable merchants (and occasional mercenaries) as they were going to get. Rasheed (the entire family changed their names to fit in better, as their original name of Torvald was not all that welcome) had been on boats since before he was born, and could probably sail one with his eyes closed and hands tied behind his back, but when it came to getting along with the sure-footed and cavalry-heavy youths of Mekhalga, it wasn't just his looks that made him stand out.

    He would often be ridiculed for his initial duck-footed walk as he got used to life on dry land, and his comical inability to ride horses. This humiliation caused him to endure a very angry childhood, and he got good at scrapping and street-fighting in a hurry (though continued to remain hopeless with horses). And then one day, after yet another round of taunts, he became so distraught that he did the unthinkable and ran out of Almaqa straight into the Mekhalga desert.

    The desert was harsh- hot unlike anything he'd ever experienced, with nearly no water to rely on. He got himself quickly lost, and wandered desperately for days, trying to find his way back. Before he could return to civilisation, he collapsed onto the sand, unable to take another step. He might have died there if it weren't for what some might call divine intervention.
 
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WIP

Name: Rahima
Race: Human
Description/Image:
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((fc: Hend Sabry))
Age: 35
Personality: Rahima is callous. Growing up in a household without much care for her own feelings made her quickly realize that feelings just get in the way. She's blunt, brutal, and usually rubs people the wrong way. Though hard to get along with, her apathy makes her sharp and quick. She prioritizes solutions to problems and calculates situations as soon as she comes upon them. Because of growing up as a merchant's daughter, she has an aura of efficiency. She knows how to keep things correct in order to keep business moving. She can tell you how much an item might be worth just be glancing at it, and will cut a deal or relationship short if she knows it won't be worth her time
Flaws: She trusts very few except those in her immediate circle. She's abrasive which causes others to make decisions about her immediately. Along with being abrasive, she's stubborn, her way is the right way.
Bio/Backstory: Rahima grew up among wealthy merchant families in Maladjaz. The families there were more liberal with how they raised their children, and Rahim was taught from a very early age how to run her father's business with ruthless efficiency. Any tear shed because of a missed calculation or loss in shipment was reprimanded brutally. She quickly learned to shove the failures to the side and the feelings that came with them.

She grew to become dangerously good at her job eventually taking over as head of her father's trading company at 20. Her family's name skyrocketed to popularity and reknown. If you wanted merchandise moved across the sea to faraway lands, no matter what it was, Rahima could move it.

As the Waste expanded, Rahima was called north, to Mekhallah, to see how fast she could get the goods out of the region before money and goods were lost.

Skills and profession: Rahima is a merchant, very good at math and negotiations. She was taught to carry her own blade and knows how to defend herself in close hand to hand combat.
Additional information (any quirks, oddities, equipment, or distinguishing characteristics/mannerisms that make them themselves): She carries a non-descript curved dagger under her clothes at all times to protect herself. It was a gift from a tradesman who had fallen for her, but she had not loved him.
 
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Click Jewels and Scroll
  • Rasheed Al-Tariq,
    Chosen of the Sands
    BIRTH
    Born of the desert, into the light, I'll keep charging forth 'til I've proven my might.
    Born of the sands, under the sky, I'll keep charging forth 'til my body takes flight.
    BASICS
    Name: Rasheed Al-Tariq
    Age: Twenty-six
    Race: Human

    Description: With his short stature, pale skin, hair the color of a burnt sunset, and eyes like lapis lazuli stones, Rasheed definitely stands out among his tall, dark-haired and dark-skinned fellow Fitaari. He learned to embrace his differences at a young age however, using them as strengths, and accessorizing accordingly whenever and wherever he can.
    IN THE BEGINNING
    It's obvious at a glance that Rasheed is not native to, well, anywhere in the Sultanate, really. In fact, his parents were merchants who came to this land from across the Saber Sea (in truth, they were pirates, but passed for merchants when in respectable ports). They lived and traded out of Rat Alshiq for quite a few years, until they managed foolishly to get on the wrong side of the Al-Rashads, at which point they made the wise decision to skip town.

    They hopped across the channel to Almaqa and began to do business there, becoming about as close to actual respectable merchants (and occasional mercenaries) as they were going to get. Rasheed (the entire family changed their names to fit in better, as their original name of Torvald was not all that welcome) had been on boats since before he was born, and could probably sail one with his eyes closed and hands tied behind his back, but when it came to getting along with the sure-footed and cavalry-heavy youths of Mekhalga, it wasn't just his looks that made him stand out.

    He would often be ridiculed for his initial duck-footed walk as he got used to life on dry land, and his comical inability to ride horses. This humiliation caused him to endure a very angry childhood, and he got good at scrapping and street-fighting in a hurry (though continued to remain hopeless with horses). And then one day, after yet another round of taunts, he became so distraught that he did the unthinkable and ran out of Almaqa straight into the Mekhalga desert.

    The desert was harsh- hot unlike anything he'd ever experienced, with nearly no water to rely on. He got himself quickly lost, and wandered desperately for days, trying to find his way back. Before he could return to civilisation, he collapsed onto the sand, unable to take another step. He might have died there if it weren't for what some might call divine intervention.
I love it — welcome!
 







scroll








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I’m not everything I want to be. But I am more than I was, and I am still learning.





Charlotte Eriksson
















Foreigner



Nina







full name

Nina Simone Rivera






nicknames

none






age

25






d.o.b.

February 12th






Briggs type

INFP






sexuality

Bisexual (masc. pref)

































Pretty Little Birds


SZA




















01.



visage

















appearance

Nina is one of those people who naturally looks kind. Nina’s shorter than most and her build is very soft. From the features on her face, to her frame. She’s curvy, but she isn’t thin or toned and most of her weight goes to her thighs and hips. Her skin is a deep bronze color that is more often than not, tanned a bit darker by the sun. Her skin is soft and dotted with freckles.

Nina’s eyes are the most prominent feature of her face, they’re large and downturned, as if she’s perpetually pleading for something. But there’s a certain brightness in her expression that makes her appear less like a pleading puppy. Nina's eyes are a cool gray color, highlighted with a warm green. Nina’s nose is small and slightly upturned. Her lips are plump and doll-like, her mouth seems to naturally be pulled in a smile.
Her image is soft, and easily puts one at ease.

Nina’s hair is long and well taken care of. Her hair collects itself into a bed of dark brown coils that sway along with her when she walks. Nina has curly bangs that obscure her forehead and frame her face. She rarely has her hair up. Sometimes she’ll push back the longer parts of her bangs that obscure her ears so her earrings can be visible. Nina is a frequent wearer of jewelry. She’s usually dressed in loose fitting clothing.






weight

115 lbs






height

5’1






scars

There are burn scars trailing along Nina’s entire back in intricate floral patterns orbiting around a sun. The scars have been there for years and have healed, but have not faded.






piercings

Multiple piercings in each ear.























02.



psyche









Nina is a deeply flawed individual. And she’s much more flawed than she lets on. Nina tries her best to play the part of a sweet, kind girl. She’s doting, sweet, and empathetic. She is endlessly giving and charming. Nina comes off very saint-like, and people find themselves drawn to her beauty. It’s a facade. This was her way of protecting herself, to hide the weakest and more fearful pets of herself. She fears vulnerability above all else and believes that she is far too broken to be cherished– or even tolerated. She has been convinced by her own insecurity that her existence is meaningless, so she has opted to pretend to be someone else. She holds herself to an unreasonable standard and doesn’t allow herself to trust other people. She tries to be someone that people would look at. She wants people to appreciate the fact that she exists, even if it’s a fake version of herself.

Nina lies to the people closest to her constantly, convincing herself that she is sparing them from having to know the true her. She’s quite relentless in her hatred of herself, justifying her self sabotage as some kind of martyrdom. Nina frequently stews in her suffering, finding her own misery to be more comforting than that of happiness. Her pain is familiar to her, it is deserved. And by not fighting it, Nina can convince herself that the terrible things that happened to her were in her control. She chose misery for herself.
Additionally, she is stubborn and a little manipulative, willing to ignore the thoughts of others if she’s sure what she’s doing will help them. Sometimes ignoring what they truly want in favor for what she thinks they want. But, she is a genuinely kind person (despite convincing herself otherwise). She puts up her facade the way she does so others feel comfortable around her. She wants people to be happy. She tries to manipulate situations so everyone involved can reach the best outcome.

She’s selfless in a twisted way, and she’s very thoughtful and considerate to those she holds dear. Though this often means she will get herself hurt if it benefits people she cares about. Nina cannot understand how this may affect the people who love her. She doesn’t understand concern for her well-being. No one cares about her in her mind, no one would be hurt if she died. So it doesn’t matter if she gets hurt trying to help someone else. She’s willing to do a lot to ensure the safety and happiness of the people she loves. She’s willing to do the things that most people can’t, however morally corrupt they may be. Because Nina doesn’t and never has cared about people as a whole. So if you manage to become someone Nina actually likes, she's willing to do much to ensure their happiness. Even if it means compromising her own. Perhaps that’s where Nina’s ambitious nature truly shows itself. Nina’s dedication and loyalty also feed into her workaholic tendencies, as Nina tends to throw herself into productivity as much as she possibly can. This is an excuse to ignore her problems and keep her mind as occupied as she can, with little care for her physical or mental state. Nina gets antsy when she’s not doing anything.

If you can’t tell by now, Nina is an insecure person. But she’s also quite envious of others. She gets jealous of other people’s happiness, then immediately hates herself for feeling that way. Despite not trusting people in general and believing she isn’t worthy of anything good; Nina still seeks the approval and praise of other people. She bases her entire self-worth on how helpful she is to the people around her. She’s given up on being happy with herself. So, she decided to dedicate her entire being to making other people happier, hoping to find her own contentment in the joy of others. She wants to be trusted, but refuses to trust others. She thinks she’s undeserving of love, yet seeks people’s praise. In Nina’s head, she thinks this makes her selfish. But it just makes her a hypocrite.






likes

Above all, Nina loved her homeland of the jungle. She adored the humidity and the trees. The bountifulness of the land and the culture of her people. Nina enjoys art and artists, despite not being an artist, she likes to admire the talent and passion that others put into their practice. It is an admirable thing. She enjoys frequent festivals in her homeland. Her family would say that she was above the rabble of the common folk, but her only act of rebellion in her youth was to sneak out to these events without them knowing. Nina likes bright warm colors like yellow and orange, she finds them comforting. Pink is also another color she enjoys. Nina liked jewelry and fashion, when she was a kid, she would watch all the noblewomen in their expensive and colorful clothing with awe. Nina liked to listen to the sound of running water when she could. In her freetime, she enjoyed stomping in creeks and catching salamanders under the rocks with her friends when they were children. Nina loves the things that remind her of when she was a child. When things were simple and easy. Nina likes a lot of things, and they are all very kind.






dislikes

Despite loving the sounds of rain, Nina was afraid of thunder and storms in general. Even though she’s grown out of the fear for the most part, she still dislikes them at her age. Nina dislikes change. She also hates conflict quite a bit and goes out of her way to avoid it. Nina dislikes mud and people who litter or throw out unfinished food, she hates waste. Nina dislikes hot days or feeling stuffy, she has a very bad fever once and feeling hot reminds her of it. Nina doesn't like people who yell meaningless things or people who prey on the weak just because they can. Nina doesn’t like being left alone.






skills and profession

Nina is the best of the Mages from her homeland. She has dedicated her entire life to the pursuit of improving her abilities. Nina uses Solar magic and has shown a prodigal-like talent with her magic, despite her youth. She was raised by a long line of solar mages, the magic is practically in her veins. She has been sent to Alkhafat for cultural exchange reasons. Her people have taught her all they could, they believe there is more to be learned around the world. She is to return to her homeland after a while and share what she learns.






flaws

Nina has trained her body to withstand long travels and to be sturdy enough to handle her magic and the harsh rituals of her tribe. But she is by no means an experienced fighter. Nina’s only advantage in a purely physical fight is her enhanced strength and speed gifted to her by her solar magic. Both of which she is inexperienced with using in combative settings. Nina also deals with a great deal of mental turmoil and refuses to acknowledge when she needs a break. She hasn’t hurt herself yet, but something is inevitably going to go very wrong with Nina if she continues down this path. Nina is hesitant in battles and does not enjoy violence against people. Nina is not used to traveling in the sand and struggles to find her fitting in such places. She also is not very well read by sultanate standards. She can speak the language but she cannot read their language yet.


















03.



history tw: child abuse









Born to the Soma-koan people, the worship of the sun was very common among Nina’s peers. Solar magic was not commonly mastered amongst her people, the majority of her people prioritized survival and culture. There were many who knew small forms of solar magic. Lighting candles or producing a few small flames for festival dances was common among the Soma-koan (The use of Lunar magic was similarly treated, but Lunar magic was not as useful in the jungle kingdom. It is not as revered). However, only a few families were authorized to fully practice the mastering of Solar magic and they were usually priests or family of the king. Nina was born into such a family, part of a great experiment by the upper class. Nina was basically bred by the nobility to see if magical prowess could be inherited. Her mother and father both came from a line of Solar mages(who were also similarly bred) and were dedicated to said practice. Nina was the culmination of this experiment. There was an immense amount of pressure placed upon Nina since her birth. Her higher ups spent years cultivating her birth. Her failure would mean generations of time would have been wasted on a hypothesis. Nina’s parents were not nurturing to her, they treated her like they would an apprentice. Her relationship with her parents was professional at best and demeaning at its worst. But Nina was a child who was starved of love and searched for it with her every action. When she did well, she would be praised. She mistook this for love and would relentlessly push herself to improve her abilities.

Nina focused much of her powers on the earth aspects of solar magic. She was given a piece of land that she was able to cultivate during the day. She would spend her days plowing the land underneath the blistering sun while repeating prayers and chants of gratitude. When she finished that, the land was given to farmers and Nina would be given another task that was similarly physically punishing and intertwined with Solar worship. Her adolescence continued like this until she reached the age of adulthood, she was given a ceremony of her own due to her rapid improvement with magic. After the festivities, Nina was to take part in her inscribing ceremony. Every officially recognized mage of the kingdom would, at some point, be given the choice of taking part in a ceremony where they would have a unique pattern branded on a part of their body as a ceremony of worship and was believed to enhance their powers.

Nina’s ceremony took place at dawn, and a floral like pattern surrounding an image of the sun was seared into her back. Her brand symbolized the potency of her powers and her specialization with manipulating the earth. Nina became a source of pride at that moment, she gained the favor of the people she had tried so hard to impress. It felt hollow to her, but pretended it didn’t. She felt almost nothing when she was sent to the Sultanate a few years later as the pride of her people. She found herself more moved by the warm farewell given to her by the underclass citizens than her own parents' goodbyes. She would miss her culture more than her biological mother.


















04.



gallery


































05.



connections

















character name



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character name



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character name



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06.



miscellaneous

















Vessel

Nina channels her magic through a shepards hook; her tribe has an altar in the sun, specifically made for creating vessels for mages to use magic through. Nina carved her vessel under the sun. It took three days(she had to stop when the sun went down) and she fasted until it was complete.






Religion

The Soma-koan tribe believes that the sun is the mother of the earth and the moon. The ocean is the father. The earth was able to bear life such as animals, humans, and plants and was favored by the sun. The moon was unable to do so, and was scorned by the sun. The ocean felt pity for their scorned child and reached out for the moon everyday. The ocean favors those who worship the moon, lending them the power to manipulate water, ice, and wind. The sun favors those who worship her and her favored child, their powers of fire and earth are awarded to them accordingly. There are many natural phenomena that are explained using this familial dynamic between these celestial bodies. Certain ways of life are also awarded to different bodies. The sun is credited as the mother and nurturer of all life, hunters, leaders, and mothers pray to her alike. Artists, bards, and outcasts alike, pray to the moon. They find the moon's constant search for the warmth of the sun to be moving and melancholic. Protectors and warriors look to the ocean deity to provide them with the ability to be powerful when necessary, but also stress the equal importance of stillness and tranquility. The earth is worshiped by most, but it’s especially worshiped by doctors and artisans. Anyone who regularly reaps the benefits of what she provides. The worship of the celestial bodies heavily interlap. There is not a single person in the majority who only worships one deity. Some believe only worshiping one may anger the others and result in misfortune.






Nina’s religious beliefs

Nina considers her mother to be the sun. The sun will always be with her no matter where she goes. It is a piece of home that follows her wherever she goes. She is deeply devoted to her worship of the sun, even though it has caused her harm. She worships the other celestial bodies as well; she finds a sense of understanding with the moon, she has a fond feeling of envy for the earth, and she longs attain some form of the love the ocean has for their children. But Nina will always prioritize her worship of the sun, her attachment to her borderline trauma-bonding.






family secrets TW: child death

Nina is unaware of this, but she has two siblings before her who were unable to withstand the training that Nina was subjected to and died. They knew each other, since they were alive at the same time, unlike Nina, who never learned of their existences. Natasha was the first daughter. She began her training at 10 and was making good progress until she severely overused her abilities at 15 and succumbed to the damages against her body. Markus Lee was her little brother and he was six when she died. Natasha gave her parents the idea of starting his training earlier so he’d be able to withstand more by the time he reached Natasha’s age, so he started at the age of six and died at 10. The training itself being the reason behind his passing. Both of their deaths were swept under the rug and Nina would probably snap if she learned of them.





















♡coded by uxie♡


Name: Nina Inithia Hasana

Race: Human

Description/Image: Nina is one of those people who naturally looks kind. Nina’s shorter than most and her build is very soft. From the features on her face, to her frame. She’s curvy, but she isn’t thin or toned and most of her weight goes to her thighs and hips. Her skin is a deep bronze color that is more often than not, tanned a bit darker by the sun. Her skin is soft and dotted with freckles.
Nina’s eyes are the most prominent feature of her face, they’re large and downturned, as if she’s perpetually pleading for something. But there’s a certain brightness in her expression that makes her appear less like a pleading puppy. Nina's eyes are a cool gray color, highlighted with a warm green. Nina’s nose is small and slightly upturned. Her lips are plump and doll-like, her mouth seems to naturally be pulled in a smile.
Her image is soft, and easily puts one at ease. Nina’s hair is long and well taken care of. Her hair collects itself into a bed of dark brown coils that sway along with her when she walks. Nina has curly bangs that obscure her forehead and frame her face. She rarely has her hair up. Sometimes she’ll push back the longer parts of her bangs that obscure her ears so her earrings can be visible. Nina is a frequent wearer of jewelry. She’s usually dressed in loose fitting clothing.

Age: 25

Personality: Nina is a deeply flawed individual. And she’s much more flawed than she lets on. Nina tries her best to play the part of a sweet, kind girl. She’s doting, sweet, and empathetic. She is endlessly giving and charming. Nina comes off very saint-like, and people find themselves drawn to her beauty. It’s a facade. This was her way of protecting herself, to hide the weakest and more fearful pets of herself. She fears vulnerability above all else and believes that she is far too broken to be cherished– or even tolerated. She has been convinced by her own insecurity that her existence is meaningless, so she has opted to pretend to be someone else. She holds herself to an unreasonable standard and doesn’t allow herself to trust other people. She tries to be someone that people would look at. She wants people to appreciate the fact that she exists, even if it’s a fake version of herself.
Nina lies to the people closest to her constantly, convincing herself that she is sparing them from having to know the true her. She’s quite relentless in her hatred of herself, justifying her self sabotage as some kind of martyrdom. Nina frequently stews in her suffering, finding her own misery to be more comforting than that of happiness. Her pain is familiar to her, it is deserved. And by not fighting it, Nina can convince herself that the terrible things that happened to her were in her control. She chose misery for herself.
Additionally, she is stubborn and a little manipulative, willing to ignore the thoughts of others if she’s sure what she’s doing will help them. Sometimes ignoring what they truly want in favor for what she thinks they want. But, she is a genuinely kind person (despite convincing herself otherwise). She puts up her facade the way she does so others feel comfortable around her. She wants people to be happy. She tries to manipulate situations so everyone involved can reach the best outcome. She’s selfless in a twisted way, and she’s very thoughtful and considerate to those she holds dear. Though this often means she will get herself hurt if it benefits people she cares about. Nina cannot understand how this may affect the people who love her. She doesn’t understand concern for her well-being. No one cares about her in her mind, no one would be hurt if she died. So it doesn’t matter if she gets hurt trying to help someone else. She’s willing to do a lot to ensure the safety and happiness of the people she loves. She’s willing to do the things that most people can’t, however morally corrupt they may be. Because Nina doesn’t and never has cared about people as a whole. So if you manage to become someone Nina actually likes, she's willing to do much to ensure their happiness. Even if it means compromising her own. Perhaps that’s where Nina’s ambitious nature truly shows itself. Nina’s dedication and loyalty also feed into her workaholic tendencies, as Nina tends to throw herself into productivity as much as she possibly can. This is an excuse to ignore her problems and keep her mind as occupied as she can, with little care for her physical or mental state. Nina gets antsy when she’s not doing anything.
If you can’t tell by now, Nina is an insecure person. But she’s also quite envious of others. She gets jealous of other people’s happiness, then immediately hates herself for feeling that way. Despite not trusting people in general and believing she isn’t worthy of anything good; Nina still seeks the approval and praise of other people. She bases her entire self-worth on how helpful she is to the people around her. She’s given up on being happy with herself. So, she decided to dedicate her entire being to making other people happier, hoping to find her own contentment in the joy of others. She wants to be trusted, but refuses to trust others. She thinks she’s undeserving of love, yet seeks people’s praise. In Nina’s head, she thinks this makes her selfish. But it just makes her a hypocrite.

Flaws: Nina has trained her body to withstand long travels and to be sturdy enough to handle her magic and the harsh rituals of her tribe. But she is by no means an experienced fighter. Nina’s only advantage in a purely physical fight is her enhanced strength and speed gifted to her by her solar magic. Both of which she is inexperienced with using in combative settings. Nina also deals with a great deal of mental turmoil and refuses to acknowledge when she needs a break. She hasn’t hurt herself yet, but something is inevitably going to go very wrong with Nina if she continues down this path. Nina is hesitant in battles and does not enjoy violence against people. Nina is not used to traveling in the sand and struggles to find her fitting in such places. She also is not very well read by sultanate standards. She can speak the language but she cannot read their language yet.

Bio/Backstory: Born to the Soma-koan people, the worship of the sun was very common among Nina’s peers. Solar magic was not commonly mastered amongst her people, the majority of her people prioritized survival and culture. There were many who knew small forms of solar magic. Lighting candles or producing a few small flames for festival dances was common among the Soma-koan (The use of Lunar magic was similarly treated, but Lunar magic was not as useful in the jungle kingdom. It is not as revered). However, only a few families were authorized to fully practice the mastering of Solar magic and they were usually priests or family of the king. Nina was born into such a family, part of a great experiment by the upper class. Nina was basically bred by the nobility to see if magical prowess could be inherited. Her mother and father both came from a line of Solar mages(who were also similarly bred) and were dedicated to said practice. Nina was the culmination of this experiment. There was an immense amount of pressure placed upon Nina since her birth. Her higher ups spent years cultivating her birth. Hee failure would mena generations of time would have been wasted on a hypothesis. Nina’s parents were not nurturing to her, they treated her like they would an apprentice. Her relationship with her parents was professional at best and demeaning at its worst. But Nina was a child who was starved of love and searched for it with her every action. When she did well, she would be praised. She mistook this for love and would relentlessly push herself to improve her abilities. Nina focused much of her powers on the earth aspects of solar magic. She was given a piece of land that she was able to cultivate during the day. She would spend her days plowing the land underneath the blistering sun while repeating prayers and chants of gratitude. When she finished that, the land was given to farmers and Nina would be given another task that was similarly physically punishing and intertwined with Solar worship. Her adolescence continued like this until she reached the age of adulthood, she was given a ceremony of her own due to her rapid improvement with magic. After the festivities, Nina was to take part in her inscribing ceremony. Every officially recognized mage of the kingdom would, at some point, be given the choice of taking part in a ceremony where they would have a unique pattern branded on a part of their body as a ceremony of worship and was believed to enhance their powers. Nina’s ceremony took place at dawn, and a floral like pattern surrounding an image of the sun was seared into her back. Her brand symbolized the potency of her powers and her specialization with manipulating the earth. Nina became a source of pride at that moment, she gained the favor of the people she had tried so hard to impress. It felt hollow to her, but pretended it didn’t. She felt almost nothing when she was sent to the Sultanate a few years later as the pride of her people. She found herself more moved by the warm farewell given to her by the underclass citizens than her own parents' goodbyes. She would miss her culture more than her biological mother.

Skills and profession: Nina is the best of the Mages from her homeland. She has dedicated her entire life to the pursuit of improving her abilities. Nina uses Solar magic and has shown a prodigal-like talent with her magic, despite her youth. She was raised by a long line of solar mages, the magic is practically in her veins. She has been sent to Alkhafat for cultural exchange reasons. Her people have taught her all they could, they believe there is more to be learned around the world. She is to return to her homeland after a while and share what she learns.

Additional information:
Nina channels her magic through a shepards hook; her tribe has an altar in the sun, specifically made for creating vessels for mages to use magic through. Nina carved her vessel under the sun. It took three days(she had to stop when the sun went down) and she fasted until it was complete.
Nina considers her mother to be the sun. The sun will always be with her no matter where she goes. It is a piece of home that follows her wherever she goes.
The Soma-koan tribe believes that the sun is the mother of the earth and the moon. The ocean is the father. The earth was able to bear life such as animals, humans, and plants and was favored by the sun. The moon was unable to do so, and was scorned by the sun. The ocean felt pity for their scorned child and reached out for the moon everyday. The ocean favors those who worship the moon, lending them the power to manipulate water, ice, and wind. The sun favors those who worship her and her favored child, their powers of fire and earth are awarded to them accordingly. There are many natural phenomena that are explained using this familial dynamic between these celestial bodies. Certain ways of life are also awarded to different bodies. The sun is credited as the mother and nurturer of all life, hunters, leaders, and mothers pray to her alike. Artists, bards, and outcasts alike, pray to the moon. They find the moon's constant search for the warmth of the sun to be moving and melancholic. Protectors and warriors look to the ocean deity to provide them with the ability to be powerful when necessary, but also stress the equal importance of stillness and tranquility. The earth is worshiped by most, but it’s especially worshiped by doctors and artisans. Anyone who regularly reaps the benefits of what she provides. The worship of the celestial bodies heavily interlap. There is not a single person in the majority who only worships one deity. Some believe only worshiping one may anger the others and result in misfortune.
Nina is unaware of this, but she has two siblings before her who were unable to withstand the training that Nina was subjected to and died. They knew each other, since they were alive at the same time, unlike Nina, who never learned of their existences. Natasha was the first daughter. She began her training at 10 and was making good progress until she severely overused her abilities at 15 and succumbed to the damages against her body. Markus Lee was her little brother and he was six when she died. Natasha gave her parents the idea of starting his training earlier so he’d be able to withstand more by the time he reached Natasha’s age, so he started at the age of six and died at 10. The training itself being the reason behind his passing. Both of their deaths were swept under the rug and Nina would probably snap if she learned of them.
 
Last edited:
I love her, welcome welcome!

All these great concepts are motivating me to finish my secondary character, so thank you all :p
 
Name: Almasa bin Maghrid

Race: Human

Character Description/Image: unnamed.jpg

Personality: Almasa's drive and determination are second to none. The brewer's son has been willful since a young age, bending words into his father's ear to wiggle his way out of any number of potential arranged pairings.

His success in retaining his independence has allowed him to forgo the domestic expectations that accompany marriage, and he has continued to doggedly pursue fortune in Mekhallah using what he knows: music, charisma and guile.

While his motivations are primarily selfish, Almasa legitimately enjoys the nuanced game of forming relationships in Mekhallah's countrysides and streets. Conversation with the right people, as he sees it, is his one ladder to both personal wealth and immortalization as a true rags-to-riches hero of the common folk. Even if a conversation doesn't lead to such personal gain, the minstrel will never turn down good company.

Flaws: Almasa has always viewed himself as the hero of the world's tale, and has never stopped seeking out opportunities to prove it. He incessantly inserts himself into dangerous situations seeking glory and recognition, which drove him to join the Jai-Annar. Whether it's a simple street brawl or a more complex power play, Almasa chooses the side he thinks is right and runs with it, without much more thought than this superficial analysis.

At his core, he is a selfish glory hound. It's not that he bears any ill will towards the people around him -- in fact, he revels in good company and close friends -- it is more that he is so unaccustomed to considering the needs and desires of others that he often disregards them entirely. If something benefits him, Almasa is almost certain to do it.

Bio: Almasa was born 22 years ago to an Alkhafat brewer and his wife. A family of lowly, but livable means, Almasa was always just comfortable enough to dream of more while never truly needing to fight for his survival. His childhood was spent with four older siblings, three brothers and a sister, all lending a hand in their father's brewing. Araq, beers, and palm wines remain some of Almasa's favorite smells to this day, reminders of a pleasant home life before he became old enough for his parents to consider arranging a marriage which would, they hoped, raise the family's station.

Almasa spent his free time exploring Alkhafat with his siblings, the children often finding themselves listening to traveling minstrels sing songs of the Sultan's conquests, colossal river serpents in Ji-Alsim, and vengeful djinn. Almasa's favorites by far were the haunting melodies of the traditional Alrifaq singers, called Yagh'dzut in their language, but known as Nightlarks to the Sultanate's common folk.

Songs of tragic heroes, doomed cities, and forbidden love encapsulated the young boy as much as the bards' melancholy voices. He befriended a Nightlark named Mouzat, who often visited Alkhafat from the Alrifaq villages carved into cliff faces in the Earthspine mountain range. His visits eventually turned into lessons to hone Almasa's voice and his skills on the oud. While he learned to play, he also fell in love with the lifestyle the Nightlarks led. Traveling from city to city on their own merits, with only instruments and the road for company much of the time, appealed to the growing boy. He vowed to do whatever it took to earn this life for himself, and become a hero who would be sung about.

His youthful enthusiasm lasted through his teenage years. As the youngest child, Almasa had always been able to wrap his parents around his finger. The time he'd spent with Mouzat only sharpened that personable nature, though Mouzat likely never intended for his young student to become a manipulative schemer. Knowing full well the prospect of marriage and domesticity threatened his goals, Almasa broke off the first potential marriage at 16 by leaving home unannounced. Only his siblings knew, and they each held their tongues, though they spent the weeks before his planned departure trying to convince him otherwise.

He left behind only a note explaining that he would be back to visit. For nine years he's experienced the rugged freedom of a life on the road, but it has only served to harden his resolve. His travels have taken him over land and sea to every sheikdom except Alqarn and Ji-Alsim, and with roads growing more dangerous in recent years, he took up swordsmanship six years ago in Mekhalga, training with a sellsword and temporary lover to use the sickle-sword native to the region.

When tales of the expanding Living Waste, banditry, and the River Drake began to circulate out of Mekhallah, Almasa decided it was the perfect time to return. He promised his sword and voice to the Jai-Annar nine months ago, and has since been sailing the Qaara River with the vigilante sellswords, slaying criminals and becoming more proficient with his hooked blade. He is by no means a warrior, however, and still spends most of his time thinking up ballads about his exploits with the river warriors to recount when he returns to Alkhafat.

Skills and profession: A skilled minstrel, Almasa has a finely honed singing voice and is a talented oud player. His skill with the hooked blade he carries is not exceptional, but some years of practice and the occasional live combat has made him proficient at the least. Still, he often relies on more unconventional trickery to best his opponents. He still remembers the ins and outs of brewing palm wines and araq, and given enough time and proper storage, can produce a fine alcohol, even on the road.

Additional information: His oud is carved with an intertwined sun and moon to honor his Alrifaq teacher and as a symbol of his faith/ Almasa took up a Dzho'Drakt shortly after leaving home. He paints his body regularly and dresses in the Alrifaq style as another religious practice. He often spends much of the night plucking at his oud or drinking, as he has regular trouble sleeping. When he does sleep, he insists on having his instrument next to her, and becomes concerned when separated from it due to its sentimental value.
 
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