Holy Flock of Sakesh (Sah-Kesh)

All across Southern Samvara, one can spot the symbol of the white rose over the black sun, as well as the golden shepherd's crook. These are marks of the authority of Sakesh, the Holy Flock of all Sumoxan faithful. The Flock projects power over many realms, their merchants dominate the Southern sea trade routes and their representatives guide many a foreign court. The Grand Shepherd, they say, is the wisest person alive and the fiercest defender of Sumoxan virtue; they marshal the armies of Sumoxa against any who would attack the faith. But the Flock's power is not what it once was. While they are currently prospering, they no longer lead great armies, nor does the Shepherd ever leave the capital. Rather, the Flock is a symbol of Sumoxan unity, a symbol with wealth and connections but still a symbol. 
Visiting the land, it is clear that the people here still see themselves as guardians of Sumoxa. Dhampires and Open Palm monks march in the streets ringing bells; common people labor in community kitchens and give sacrifices to Moxima Sutia; people take give earnestly and piously to spiritually support Sumoxans abroad. Despite the moment of prosperity, the land is also a mess in some ways. The nobles and the sanctified middle-class-caste feud openly for power (despite Pratasa castes having been formally dissolved centuries ago). Professional assassins, known as Furies, operate in the shadows with few attempts to stop them by the government. Paladins of Theia the Liberator lead cults of resistance in the Southern mountains. And yet, despite all these potential points of conflict, the place just works; violence is minimal, people eat and make merry, and all the markets bustle with activity. Perhaps things aren't so bad after all, perhaps Sakesh can rise again. Time will tell; not all things are in the hands of people.

Structure

The technical ruler of the Flock is the Grand Shepherd, the supreme military-political leader of the Sumoxan religion. But the Shepherd is a figurehead when it comes to the actual mechanisms of government. Instead, power is concentrated in the Grand Abbott, the high cleric of the empire. Over the last century, this position has become hereditary, and may soon become a naked monarchy. 
Beneath the Grand Abbott is the Council of Eight, a group of nobles, priests, and monks chosen to lead the country's affairs. Each has a specific task: two are generals, then there are the chancellor, steward, secretary, spymaster, diplomat, and chief justice. Each member of the Council has their own bureau, which helps shape policy and enact the orders of their councilor. 
Beneath the upper administration is a complex web of local feudal lords and feudally-empowered monasteries. But feudalism does not reign uncontested; currently the Primarsa, or a special class of tribes and small-landholders with military responsibilities, are ascendant in the bureaucracy and are gaining access to more and more power. 

Individuals

The current reigning Grand Abbess is Mother Anapara Rashdepi, daughter of the last Abbess. Mother Anapara is an old woman who has reigned for over fifty years, and she is ready to finally retire. She has done an amazing job as a monarch during her reign - she has de-escalated conflicts, reformed laws, stamped out corruption, averted a civil war, and kept Sakesh in place as the supreme power of the Southern sea (despite the rise of the new Kingdom of Bilgaza to the North). Her patience has kept despite all tests to it, and the nobility fear and respect her - they know that she has an iron will and a long memory. She is perhaps the greatest diplomat of all reigning Samvaran monarchs, and has done an excellent job expanding Sakesh's influence without making any enemies she couldn't immediately crush. Of course, she is not perfect, and despite what you'd hear from her priests she is no saint. While kind to her people, she has struggled to raise a child while governing. Her daughter, Mija Rashpedi, was caught embezzling funds and associating with shady characters, leading to a whole elaborate scandal that disrupted succession. Anapara has instead decided that her granddaughter, Nebja, should be the next Grand Abbess. This whole process has made the hereditary nature of the Abbott title extremely obvious, and Anapara seems to be considering just crowning Nebja Queen instead of Abbess. Unfortunately, Mija and Nebja are on terrible terms, and Mija seems to be building a political faction to claim the throne for herself. 
Complicating matters is the current Grand Shepherd, Prilaya Daprapeti, a charismatic young Dhampire with a popular following. Prilaya is an ascetic who enjoys performing the part of the monk: she walks the streets and rooftops in humble black robes, chanting hymns and basically daring assassins or partisans to strike at her. People have tried, too, but they all end the same public reminder of why she is the Shepherd - being one of the greatest dhampires makes her a very effective symbol. When it comes to combat, only one soul has ever bested her - Kaiza the Exorcist, the greatest living dhampire, who she is eager to face in a rematch. She is quite a populist, who often panders to the crowds of the capital. And she has great ambition to be more than a figurehead, which makes her dangerous to public stability.

Culture

Discipline and Ritual

One side of Sakeshan culture is the constant lionization of discipline and asceticism. People avoid ostentatious decorations, physical fitness is considered extremely important, and self-control is a cardinal virtue. Martial arts are considered very prestigious for this reason, particularly magical ones. Military aesthetics are adopted by many people, and are seen as a sign of class advancement. Family duty is considered gravely important, but can be moderated using ritual: there are ritual paths to rejecting a family's proposed suitor, rebuking a parent, or leaving a family entirely. This is all typically done by appealing to one's ancestors, the Gods, and the universe - "sorry, I can't marry them, I fasted for several days and the currents of the Dark Sun said I must be unwed for another year, and that is a duty I must fulfill". There is always an angle of sacrifice, which can lead civil disputes into some downright self-destructive behavior, as parties try to out-sacrifice one another for social dominance. 
There is a great emphasis on martyrs and sacrifice in tales and media. Goodness requires sacrifice and effort, and can be measured in these things. Self-poisoning or ritual self-stabbing is glamorized in media as well, a romantic end to doomed warriors or separated lovers. While these extreme examples are understood as exaggerations for stories, they do demonstrate ideals nonetheless. Many people voluntarily adopt vegetarianism, for all of the year of just for parts; others take on other vows of self-denial. 
Rituals of purification that are focused on the body are also big. Ritual washing, ritual hair/leaf cuts, ritual manicures. Trimming in particular is very important; hair and leaves contains memories and traces of things done while it was growing. Exposure to acts of wickedness can be purged by cutting the hair/leaves completely. Cutting the hair/leaves correctly is important, to ensure that the events are resolved. Done right, this can be an extended process that helps people process trauma or move through phases of their life. 

Hierarchies, Everyday Life

First off, society in Sakesh is fairly stratified. There are the nobles, the commoners, and the Pirmarsa - the tribes and families allowed to be sort-of-nobles, a kind of consecrated middle class. While the lines between classes are not religiously sanctioned cosmic truths, they are accepted as necessary evils. Class divisions can be climbed through sustained sacrifice and devotion (or so the social myth goes - one also needs luck). Species-wise, society tends to cater towards humans, dryads, and half-dryads; small prism populations in the South are also present, but most keep to the higher mountains. 
As for everyday life, Sakesh loves its in-between specialists; those truly committed to a pursuit in action and body. Monks, hermits, cloistered artisan-specialists, martial-artists, all are living their best truth as people who are also actions. This can extend to light-hearted pursuits as well. Travelling entertainers who are totally devoted to their craft are beloved in Sakesh, particularly comedians. Comedy in Sakesh - especially professional comedy - tends to lean heavily on humorous impersonation. Comic theater, especially theater where too few actors play too many roles in a comedic fashion, is considered a delight for all classes. 
Sports tend to be high contact sports; wrestling, rugby, and tackle kickball are all Sakeshan favorites. Ram fighting is big in the countryside. In terms of food, one can expect sambar soups, yoghurt rice, battered rice cakes, and spicy rasam soup.

History

Early History (-200 to 530)

Sakesh's history prior to urbanization is a string of hundreds of small, local stories. Agriculture spread here in the early divine era, but writing and city-building simply did not; large states did not form, and local tribes and collectives ruled the land. Most farming and trade was along the coasts - it is said that cinnamon was first domesticated here, and exported in the mid Divine Era to the rest of Samvara. Cities then began to arise in the late -100s through 100s ME, with the strengthening of trade networks and the arrival of new Pratasa missionaries. 
According to legendary histories, the history of Sakesh began in the late Divine Era with the arrival of one Prince Yaraja, a Pratasa prince and druid who marched with twelve hundred followers to Sakesh after being banished from his home kingdom for misconduct - once arriving, he found the land ruled by wild and debauched demons and witches. Prince Yaraja led his followers to wage war with the witches, who outnumbered him five-to-one, but Halcyon sent an eagle from heaven carrying a white rose. This rose protected Yaraja from harm and allowed his soldiers to terrify the demons back to Hell. The witches were turned into trees to live tormented eternities, except for the witch queen who was converted to Pratasa by the beauty of the white rose and wed Yaraja on the spot. Legend says that the white rose blessed Yaraja and his descendents for five generations before falling into the waters of the Dasaran sea - from which it will one day emerge, to bless a new dynasty beloved of Halcyon. These legendary histories also speak of wise immortal snake people ruling the islands before turning into rocks to bless the age of mortals, another big folkloric symbol here that is probably not literally true.

The Age of Lily (530 to 930)

Sakesh's society transformed radically over the course of the Modern Era, and was a boiling political landscape of rising and falling states and tribes. Every change adapted Sakesh more to the broader international landscape, though, with more intensive agriculture, cash crops, and a growing literate priest class. In the 530s ME, Sakesh was pulled into the continental chaos more directly when Lunar Cults driven from the land of Bilgaza to the North brought the Lunar Crisis to Sakesh. Bilgaza was a Lunar warzone, trapped in perpetual civil war between Jade, Lily of Red, and a team of Emesh and Ishkibal. Lily of Red's followers, driven out of Bilgaza in the 610s, set up base in Northern Sakesh. Meanwhile, the Western interior was mostly led by cultists of Hiku, and the Southeast was taken by Theians.  When the Lunar alliances shifted in the early-mid 600s, the Theians and Hiku cultists went from being allies to arch-enemies; while they were distracted, the Lily cultists marched Southward, tearing these Lunar interlopers out by the roots. The Hikans fled to the mountains and joined the Kima Cities; the Theians fought bitterly for centuries, but ultimately died out for the most part by the mid 700s. 
Lily's cults built an empire of common devotion, but this empire collapsed when Lily shifted her attention elsewhere (and when the Pratasa withdrew their support) in the mid 700s. A terrible civil war ensued, where the empire split into ten. The Lily cults crumbled, except for in one state in the Northeast kingdom known as Habadir, the Southern kingdom of Lily's devotion. Habadir took in many other Lily cults that were displaced by the end of the Lunar Crisis (including the royal family of Invara). From 800 to 900, Sakesh was caught between the zealous power of Habidir and a rising secular power that was putting down roots in Sakesh: The Shekotan Healing Church, which found Sakesh to be a wonderland of healing herbs. Habidir wanted full control over local trade, and the chance to manipulate local healing potion production and sale; this made the Church want a stronger ally in the region, ideally a puppet. The stakes for Sakeshan victory were rising - there was a developing trade route to Sonev in neighboring Tianar, which Sakesh played a major part in, so the victor would reap great spoils indeed. Over the 800s, Habadir seemed to win this handily, as they had a far stronger local presence. 
In the end though, the Healing Church could be said to have won this round through sheer persistence. In 901, Habadir broke into a civil war that set the region ablaze - many local powers aligned with Habadiri political factions fought for dominance. One warlord, a general known as Gosmi Mashapet not only took over the former Habadiri lands, but conquered all of the Sakeshan coast. Gosmi united almost all of what is now known as Sakesh, and built a lasting empire there for the first time in history. He invited the Healing Church into government, and made Sakesh into a reliable regional headquarters for them; to protect and explore the trade route into Sonev, he was even able to negotiate the creation of a joint military group of Dhampires. This was one of the few Dhampiric military regiments approved by the Church, and certainly one of the only ones directly supported by it. But it should be noted that this wasn't quite an absolute victory for the alchemists of Shekota - the Pratasa temple was still enshrined with great political power, and Sakesh continued to be Lily's most loyal defender in the Southern sea area for centuries. 

The Imperial Order (930 to 1205)

Gosmi's state became known as the Empire of Sakesh, and it essentially crystallized Sakesh as a united geographical area in politics. The empire lasted from 930 ME to 1550, though there are multiple phases to this period of rule. The first was the original Mashapeti dynasty, which lasted from 930 to 1200. This original empire struggled with numerous competing internal factions, but used conquest and war-loot as mechanisms to turn these internal pressures outwards. The merchant fleet of the inland sea was turned towards empire, conquering the many islands of the Dasaran sea and launching many small invasions and raids. Sakesh periodically seized land in Tianar, Eshima, and Invara, and often crossed blades with the kingdoms of Bilgaza. But before Sakesh could put down roots and set to work incorporating these acquisitions, a new threat in the West emerged: the Kima Cities of the Southwest. The empire of all-Kimas, the Grand Ekedum, was disintegrating and releasing many ambitious underground kingdoms, many of whom looked to conquer the surface world to get a leg up over the other Kima states. This process started in 915, but didn't really explode into violence until the 1030s. The first major invasion of Sakesh was in 1077, but it was devastating. War after war broke out, all of which revealed that Sakesh was poorly prepared for attacks from further inland - they had taken the mountains for granted as a wall of safety for too long. Sakesh began fully pivoting away from coastal empire and towards prism containment in the 1090s - right as the Healing Church was decentralizing. The old Dhampiric trade-guard enthusiastically volunteered to help the Empire, despite being sworn to not interfere in politics; they swelled from a small group to a fully fledged army over the course of decades.  
The first prism wars raged several times of the next century, but finally ended in 1180. Over that century, Sakesh changed dramatically. Aside from the rise of Dhampiric warriors, Sakesh also mobilized local tribes and small landowners as warriors. In a heretical act (that drew no condemnation at the time), the Empress of Sakesh created a new category of pseudo-nobility known as the Primarsa, or "Beloved Peoples" - not quite esteemed nobility, but certainly not commoners. These Primarsa could lead local communities in small-scale raid responses, and could help mobilize large numbers of rural people the nobility struggled to directly govern. The Primarsa began as a limited emergency measure, but soon became a dominant power in interior Sakesh, and spread as a category into some coastal lands. The idea of a consecrated middle class also helped bring the small-merchants into the war; it was a very appealing heresy. When the war ended, the Esteemed wished to disband the Primarsa and restore the old order of things; many Primarsa were willing to fight for their privileges. Periodic civil wars became the norm from 1180 to 1200; in 1205, the Dhampiric regiments seized direct control of the government. 

The Empire Continues (1205 to 1552)

The Dhampiric government was led by a man named Sannar Moxapet, a charismatic dhampire and Pratasa heretic who claimed to have discovered secret writings that proved that Moxima Sutia was a Pratasa saint and that dhampirism was a form of "bodily druidism". From 1205 to 1292, Sannar's Dhampires ruled Sakesh in what is now known as the Moxapeti dynastic period. Sannar compromised with the Primarsa, allowing some of them to keep their status while banning the creation of any new Primarsan families. He tried to centralize and bureaucratize the country, to run it as the Healing Church ran their operations - bringing some Primarsans in as clerks, while fashioning the nobles into administrators seemed like a fine idea to him (though he never fully accomplished this). His radical reforms and heresy made him many enemies, though, and he responded by assembling a secret police of sorts. Sannar gathered assassins from across the country and paid them well to teach others the art - these would be the Furies of Moxapet, the government enforcers. The Furies did not remain loyal to the regime after Sannar's death, and eventually helped oust the Moxapet dynasty from the throne. 
The Healing Church, while slow and decentralized, had been working closely with the Pratasa and the Aretan temples to monitor and resolve this situation. In 1292, they gave a large sum to a mercenary-captain from Shenerem named Yodamra Sevalri to intervene in Sakeshan politics. Yodamra built a coalition of Pratasa and Aretan allies, and overthrew the Dhampiric regime in 1292 - Moxapet's Furies beside her. Yodamra's regime and dynasty was controversial in that it made Areto the state religion of Sakesh, but civil war was averted by the arrival of an outside threat in 1305: the Kimas, led by a new warlord with an even more extreme agenda. Decades of brutal war followed, from 1305 to 1350. Again, the peace after the war released the many built up internal tensions within Sakesh; in 1366, the country entered another civil war, which ended with a Pratasa lord, Noratali Isaret, seizing the throne. Noratali's regime was very Pratasa; its symbol was the white rose of Yaraja, and it had no room for dissenting religions. The Isaret dynasty was very focused on internal dissent, switching between fights with Aretans, Primarsa, and Kimas. This dragged on from 1366 to 1550. The religious wars and rebellions of the Isarets tired many, and both temples became corrupt in the public eyes. The hyper-feudalism that they enforced was also somewhat dysfunctional at times. Popular sentiment against the Isarets became downright hostile in the mid 1500s, when they seemed more focused on internal disputes than on the growing threat of the Apankarta - the extremist prism regime that was gathering more power every year. A religious civil war broke out in 1547; in 1550, the Apankarta launched a massive invasion that took all of Bilgaza. Too late, the Empire tried to rally against them. Sakesh was able to barely survive the onslaught, but at the cost of almost all internal stability. A palace coup in 1552 threatened civil war. And then, out of the blue, a massive army appeared: the Sumoxan armies, a new religion ready to conquer. Sakesh fell quickly. 

The First Shepherds (1530 to 1744)

From 1552 to 1630, Sakesh was a province of the Empire of the Grand Shepherd of Sumoxa, a religious state that was supposed to liberate all the world from the shackles of false ignorance. Sumoxa is a religion that elevates mystery, local traditions, and the unknowable; while it reveres the White Sun, Aysha, as a beacon of truth, its primary symbol is the Black Sun, which symbolizes acceptance of all that we cannot know. Sumoxa preached a universal truth based on plurality - everyone could keep on doing what they were doing, as long as they incorporated some of the prophet's (Virtue Saraja's) teachings into it. Sakesh's people embraced this new religion with great enthusiasm - it seemed to answer their anxieties about religious conflict, it violently rebuked the Kima prisms, and it embraced the local cult of Moxima Sutia (who is considered the holy figure in Sumoxa). The Shepherd's Empire was defined by its mobility in its early days; the original shepherd, Barinaya, moved around frequently. A lot of governing power was handed off to the Apostles, the ten most trusted companions of Barinaya. Barinaya's top general, Daprama the Scarlet Apostle, was placed in charge of administrating the Western half of the conquered inland sea - and Daprama rooted much of their administration in Sakesh, given its great wealth and numerous converts. It wasn't a surprise when the new Grand Shepherd, Tiseela the Bald, formally made Sakesh's capital, Perimra, the capital of the Flock in 1630. 
The lack of expansion after 1600, combined with Barinaya's legacy of decentralized rule, caused the flock to start to drift apart. In 1650, Tiseela granted enhanced formal powers to rulers in the rest of the Flock. And yet, the trappings of unity remained in place for almost a century. And while the greater empire was weak, it still greatly empowered Sakesh as a trading power - Sakeshan outposts cropped up across Southern Samvara, and Sakeshan merchants became critical to regional trade. This regional dominance annoyed many of the other kingdoms, which felt that they were losing money and influence to an increasingly distant and vestigial authority. In 1735, a massive civil war broke out after Tianaran monks rebelled against the Shepherd's authority. This escalated into a broader war of succession, where different factions within Sumoxa fought for control of the Shepherdic title. In 1744, the monks and feudal lords of Sakesh finally won - and the Shepherd elections were taken over by local Sakeshan elites.

Modern History

Instability, rebellions, and coups plagued the realm for another century after the civil war; many factions seized control of the Shepherd's elections and empire from 1744 to 1880. Finally, in 1880, the last civil war ended. While the Shepherd did not change, they lost all political power in the process - the Grand Abbott of Sakesh seized control of the realm's government. But this Abbott, Father Rashdi, did not march in with just monks and feudal lords; he was a black horse candidate, whose primary allies were the old Primarsa families. Now, the Primarsa have ascended into government, which has become somewhat more bureaucratic in the process.  
The reforms of Father Rashdi brought stability and centralized power for the first time in centuries. His successors began experimenting with the idea of restoring the true Empire of the Shepherd in the 1900s: they invaded West Tianar, Invara, Southern Bilgaza, and temporarily vassalized Eshima from 1900 to 1950. These military expeditions were costly and ultimately only brought instability; when Mother Nebja Rashdepi took the throne in 1947, she began withdrawing back into Sakesh's core. To further prevent what seemed like a looming civil war, she also made the Abbott position de-facto hereditary. Her daughter, Mother Anapara Rashdepi, has ruled since Nebja's death - a staggeringly long 52-year rule. Anapara has been a model monarch; the threats of civil war that loomed at the start of her reign are now distant memories. Sakesh has been free from war, has boomed economically, and has generally held together very well. Now, at the end of Anapara's reign, there are some challenges: her daughter, who she skipped over in succession, demands the throne; the Grand Shepherd, who wants to be more than a figurehead, has begun rallying support among the commoners. All Anapara wants is a clean transfer of power and another peaceful and prosperous reign for her grand-daughter - unfortunately for her, she is retiring at the end of the world.

Demography and Population

Around 17 to 20 million humanoids live in Sakesh. Demographically, they are: 40% Dryad, 30% human, 20% Half-dryad, and 10% Prism.

Territories

Sakesh extends 330 miles North-South and 330 miles West-East. The climate is mostly humid subtropical forest, with patches of arid plains/savannah and tropical jungle. Sakesh divides itself into ten regions administratively:

• Hullapar, in the North, is a land of arid plains and some subtropical forest. This is a generally rural region, with lots of wheat farming, ranching, and mining. Much of the population is concentrated in a small area in the center, where many small lakes provide great irrigation for farming. 
• Habadir is densely forested and rather swampy in places. The coast is covered in islands, known for their mangrove trees and alligators. Habadir is famous for its boating culture, and for its not-insignificant Pratasa population
• Yaratha is the "heartland of Sakesh", that has been developed by many governments over many centuries. Lush and urban in the East, Yaratha is densely populated and wealthy. The West is militarized against Kima incursions. 
• Hiramtha is the land of lakes and spice plantations, swampy and forested to the extreme. Mostly dryads live here; dense populations of humans tend to get sick. 
• Denatha is hilly and populist, a land ruled by Primarsan tribes. Very Sumoxan, rather rural.
• Sarumata is a coastal fringe of tropical-to-subtropical forest, that becomes hilly jungle terrain the further South you go. A land of rich mines and feudal-monastic enclaves.
• Netetha is a wealthy and cosmopolitan region, very culturally and economically tied to Yaratha. The military and merchants tend to rule here, rather than feudal lords. Subtropical for the most part.
• Sirzapa is tropical, feudal, and rather wll-developed - the economic feeder to Netetha's commercial core. 
• Theyakem is tropical, hilly, and conflict-prone. Supposedly a land of assassins and paladins of Theia the Liberator, Theyakem is ruled by very distant feudal lords and is prone to local rebellions.
• Yalapa is the border-region between Tianar and Sakesh - and it tends to reflect much of Tianari culture. 

Military

The Flock's military is divided into two parts: grant levies and salaried divisions. Grant levies are forces provided during times of need in exchange for feudal land grants to specific lordly families. Salaried divisions are soldiers paid a wage directly from a general - typically a small standing army that swells during times of war. The salaried divisions tend to be organized and led by the Primarsa (landed middle class), and have become the dominant wing of the army in recent years. Two small standing armies exist during peacetime, led by the two marshals of arms. These armies can take contracts during peacetime as well, and often are used to escort merchant caravans, hunt bandits, or even act as mercenaries in foreign wars.  
The Flock's actual forces were once all about cavalry (back when the Flock was an army of religiously motivated desert nomads). Nowadays, though, it is all about infantry with ranged support. Swordsmen, spearmen, and archers working together is considered a winning combination. Sakeshan martial training often emphasizes guerilla warfare as well as massed formations, to better adjust to tropical or hilly terrain. Both infantry and cavalry are divided into two classes: Shiledar and subalterns. Shiledar are those who bring their own equipment, and they are generally understood to have some level of veterancy or importance; subalterns must be armed by the army.
Sakeshan warriors often use broadswords, khandas (large, wide swords, sometimes with serrated edges), and aruvals (billhook swords). An unusual number of martial artists, including Way of the Open Palm users and Dhampires are also present in the Sakeshan warrior class. Sakesh's druidic schools and connections to Alkatora also provide the army with plenty of druids. Given the army's focus on flexibility and terrain, artillery tends to be an afterthought.

Religion

Sakesh is extremely Sumoxan. Some regions have substantial Pratasa minorities, and some cities have Areto communities, and these communities are allowed to practice freely (though are sometimes subject to taxes, tariffs, or regulations than Sumoxans are not). 
Sakesh's long history of Pratasa religion has left it with religious class divisions between the elites (the Esteemed), the middle class landowners and clerks (the Primarsa), and the commonfolk. These divisions are no longer policed and have blended somewhat, but they remain. Religion both reinforces these divisions and helps bridge them - all three classes practice similar forms of asceticism, and one's public virtue can help one ascend the class hierarchy.  
Among the upper classes, Sumoxan zeal is performed through ascetic militarism; much hay is made of the Flock's role in protecting all Sumoxan peoples, and the need for the country's leaders to be tough. Elite Sumoxa is all about strictness: one's ability with a sword, one's physical fitness, one's public discipline, and one's ability to perfectly perform traditional rituals. The symbol of the elite traditions is Daprama, the Scarlet Apostle, the warrior-prince of the first Flock who humbly kneeled before a common shepherd and gave his sword to liberate the world. 
Among the common classes, Sumoxa is performed by ascetic devotion. It is all about sacrifice, physical and metaphorical. By giving when one has nothing, and giving with great emotional force, one can transcend like Moxima Sutia. Unsurprisingly, Moxima cult is huge in the popular sphere. Rather than train with blades and learn rituals to help ensure rainfall, common Sumoxans often work at community kitchens and other charity projects - labors of charity are a really big part of public worship here. The Primarsa blend the elite and common Sumoxas, varying from town to town. 
Ritual and folklore here is about cycles of push and pull, wet and dry, good and bad. One fasts, and then one celebrates. The rain is summoned, with the understanding that it will leave a void of particular dryness. Everything comes at a cost, and the goal is to master oneself to be able to endure that cost without strain. Sakeshan Sumoxa can be quite fixated on the dogma of Virtue as well, the ideas of self-mastery and total acceptance of the world.

Foreign Relations

Sakesh is a diplomat powerhouse with influence across Southern Samvara. All around the Dasaran sea, Sakesh dominates trade and politics; Sakeshan actors hold sway in the courts of Bilgaza and Eshima (the other two notable countries in the Dasaran area), and most of the major powers in Invara are Sakesh-aligned. The Western power in Tianar, the kingdom of Tilahm, is also an ally of Sakesh. 
But this doesn't mean that Sakesh is without enemies. There are many political and military actors in Bilgaza who resent Sakeshan influence and are trying to remove it. Plenty of merchants from around the sea smuggle around Sakeshan trade agreements and pirate Sakeshan trade convoys. And, of course, the Kima Cities to Sakesh's West are historic rivals that would love to conquer some territory. But, at the moment, Sakesh's enemies are biding their time and waiting for the Flock to slip up.

Agriculture & Industry

Sakesh is a rather agrarian country. Rice, wheat, yams, and sorghum are all grown. Many farmers also grow cash crops, to be able to advance their place in society into the Primarsa (middle class): coconuts, palm oil, cinnamon, betel leaves (for chewing tobacco), tobacco, sugar, ginger, turmeric, and chay root (for red dye) are all common. Many feudal lords have also begun shifting towards cash crops and cash rents in some places; there has been a shift all across the coast towards using coins even in the rural hinterlands. Gold is also mined from the hills in the South. The cities and towns of the coast and rivers are centers of trade and small-scale artisan work.

Trade & Transport

Guilds organize artisans, but tend to be politically disorganized. Many guilds tend to orbit temples or monasteries, which in turn host monks of the craft. A monk or nun of the craft is someone who shows some promise in a trade and is willing to leave their families behind to devote their lives to it (sometimes they are specifically seeking to leave behind a restrictive family or bad economic conditions, but it is always nonetheless framed as a sacrifice). Some temples or monasteries ritually marry or adopt the devotee to the craft itself, establishing a "new family" with the divine. Crafts that involve restricted knowledge or a very specific technique tend to be kept by monks of the craft. When a temple adds their seal of approval to a good's quality, they are assuring the touch of a true specialist. 
As for the sale and exchange of goods, the Sakeshan government subsidizes trade commissions (often tied to noble families or Primarsa tribes) and maintains a network of mercantile outposts across South Samvara. Merchants tied to a commission can escape most tariffs and have a great supporting infrastructure; needless to say, Sakeshan merchants or Sakeshan allies operate at a rather unfair advantage.

"We Keep the Path of Virtue"

Founding Date

1880

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Alternative Names

Sakesh

Demonym

Sakeshan

Government System

Theocracy

Power Structure

Feudal state

Currency

Ekedian Gold Suns, Silver Moons, and Copper Bats

Major Exports

Dyes, coconuts, palm oil, turmeric, ginger, sugar, tobacco, betel leaves, gold

Major Imports

Steel, silk, tar, textiles, horses

Official State Religion

Sumoxa

Location

Samvara

Official Languages

• Dasaran Language