Khuagawa Tetrarchy

Description

Centuries ago Sabara was split into many small tribes and kingdoms. In time two large empires rose up, the Empire of Seitsuki to the west, and the Empire of Azutai in the east. Everyone thought these two would face off against each other to fight over dominion of the land. But they met for a diplomatic meeting first and as it turned out, Emperor Al-Qamar of Seitsuki and Empress Iishra of Azutai fell hopelessly in love.

"The Sun and the Moon;
Empress and Emperor;
Joined once together;
And have remained ever so."

— Old text on the mythos of the Migotijam Empire.

They decided to merge their respective empires and rule together. Thus the Migotijam Empire was born and the land entered a golden age, but nothing lasts forever. After they died, the empire suffered instability and there were many opposing ideas as to what direction to take. Civil wars raged for a time, and different parts of the empire fractured and reformed numerous times.
Nowadays the Khuagawa Tetrarchy has regained much of the former Migotijam territory, covering nearly half of Sabara. But it is an empire split in four dominions, each of which independently governs roughly a quarter of the country. This was employed in advance to prevent the same fracturing happening naturally in a civil war or some such. It has allowed for the state to control the large amount of land within its borders more easily.

The Four Dominions

Kitamal (Northern Dominion) - The mountainous region of Kitamal in the north is probably the wealthiest dominion of the four. This is because they have extensive trade contracts with the Sulvari and with Middenland to the north. They trade away the plentiful minerals found in the area, as well as the salt and spices they import from the other dominions for wealth and other materials.
Azu'Raq (Eastern Dominion) - The eastern dominion of Azu'Raq is a lively region with several lakes and rivers inland, but farther near the coast there are large stretches of salt flats. These were formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes and they are covered by a few meters of salt crust. The crust serves as a source of salt, and the region derives a large amount of its wealth from the trade of this salt.
Nigharb (Western Dominion) - The western dominion of Nigharb is a vast desert landscape, dotted by three endorheic basins. The native Sabarans in this region built agricultural settlements around these basins, and over time these have evolved into oasis city-states.
Minubi (Southern Dominion) - The southern dominion of Minubi is situated in the sandy duneland just below the Coral Woods. All the settlements in the region are built along the few rivers that can be found here, leading to huge swathes of empty land. With so much space available to hide away and good terrain for ambushes, there are numerous bandits and raiders in the region. They have to be careful though, since a large portion of the population here consists of Lizardfolk who are notoriously vicious when provoked. These capable, reptilian warriors hold significant power within the region and the Fuku-Almhari of Minubi is the only non-human tetrarch in Khuagawa.

Politics

Each of the four dominions is lead by a Fuku-Almhari, which roughly translates to cardinal point emperor. These tetrarchs are appointed for a period of fifteen years, and they are elected from among the country's prominent landowners. They are usually based in cities close to the frontiers, to defend the tetrarchy against predatory wildlife and raiders. Although power is technically shared between the four dominions, they try to carefully maintain an image of a strong and unified empire.
Each of the tetrarchs can only be in a place at a time, meaning they can only lead their armies on one front at a time. Furthermore, delegating power to another general in their own absence risks insubordination and this other general being proclaimed emperor by his own troops. This has lead to several civil wars in the past. Therefore, projecting an image of strength and stability is integral to the continued prosperity of Khuagawa.

Feudalism

Even after splitting the land into a tetrarchy, leadership within Khuagawa was weak. Therefore the four Fuku-Almhari at the time decided to employ a system of feudalism. The four tetrarchs appoint the Uba-Toki, the great landholders of the region. These are generally from rich, long-standing families and the title is hereditary. These in turn hire the Nefer-Senkhi as subsidiaries and to guard the lands, paying them in land and food. The Nefer-Senkhi are in essence a hereditary military noble and officer caste that train themselves to excel in melee and ranged combat, military strategy and even certain arts. They are expected to exemplify traits of humility, obedience, self-control, strength and loyalty. In current times there has been increasing criticism from certain factions within the Nefer-Senkhi that many live too decadent a lifestyle, which goes against their ideals.
Then there are the normal citizens, or the Aljahito, who have no particular political or economic power. Lastly, there are the Jhyrhito, or 'unfree persons', serfs who are barely better off than slaves. Historically they can only be sold along with the land to which they are attached, but these laws are often broken through loopholes in the apprenticing system. With the recent industrialization, the treatment and lives of Jhyrhito in the larger cities have become worse. Fearing a large-scale revolt by the serfs, some among the Uba-Toki have begun arguing in favor of abolishing serfdom.
Social Order Tree:

• Fuku-Almhari
• Uba-Toki
• Nefer-Senkhi
• Aljahito
• Jhyrhito

Culture

(See also Sabarans for more details on cultural values.)

The people of Khuagawa have adapted to the environmental conditions well, and this can be seen in many different areas. Architecturally for example, they tend to make low, flat-topped buildings that are built into the ground. They are built to provide shade during the day, and insulation during the night. The people also change their day/night schedules around to fit the conditions. During the afternoon when the temperature is at its highest, they tend to have a break to avoid sunstroke. They then continue in the late afternoon and tend to work into the night, until it starts getting really cold.

Fashion has also adapted to these circumstances as well. People wear long, flowing robes that conceal large parts of their bodies to protect themselves from the sun, sand and wind during the day, and from the cold during the night. The rich wear clothing of thicker fabric, with a wrapped-front rather than a cross wrap, and use a sash or other accessory to hold it together. The current fashion also consists of bronzed skin and cleanly shaven heads, facial hair is exceedingly rare and a symbol that one is of a lower class. Servants of the lowest classes are often forbidden from shaving their hair off by their employers to drive home their difference in status.

Conduct and Respect

The culture of conduct within the Tetrarchy is very formal, and sabarans use an extremely polite way of speaking when talking to superiors or elders. To deviate from this is considered rude, and they maintain a strong sense of decorum in public. They also have very extensive traditions surrounding introductions and formal discussions. Usually a younger person has to introduce the person he brought in to his superior/elder before either can speak before the elder. Once the superior has acknowledged the guest, they may respond by thanking the superior for coming to meet them, and only once the superior has acknowledged their expression of gratitude properly, can the newcomer discuss what he or she came for.
Sabarans treat their dead well, believing that what they give them upon their death will help them in their afterlife. They bury their dead with jewelry, weaponry and their favorite possessions. The noble castes in particular build huge tombs for their departed family members and they spend large parts of their inherited capital on it. Interestingly enough, the large sums involved in these were part of what started banking way back when, since moving large amounts of goods to the workers and overseers was hardly feasible.

Education and Magic

Being well-learned is considered admirable and even outright expected of the noble caste. This has lead to a relatively high education level within the tetrarchy for the times, and the region excels when it comes to knowledge of mathematics and medicine. The nation also quickly picked up on the invention of steam power in the north and started employing it as well, especially within the textile industry. Khuagawa is home to the largest textile manufacturing industry in Levantis, particularly cotton textile manufacturing. The strong fibres of the cotton found in this region are uniquely suited to the coarse mechanical treatment in the newly developed spinning machinery.
In the arid desert land, even the most basic form of magic can be an absolute god-send. As such, magic and magic users are generally viewed fairly favorably, and smaller towns will do their best to try to get one or two stay around to help keep the place running.
Food within the desert largely consist of the legumes and vegetables cultivated around the river areas, often paired with couscous and rice. Common meals are rice-stuffed vegetables wrapped in the yellow crescent kihilal leaves, or a stew of chickpeas and spicy purple okra peppers. Cheese also originated from this continent, due to the heat making it easy to coagulate cheeses with acid from the sanhamid plants.

Military

The state requires that each citizen of capable age owns a set of gambeson and pike. While the noble caste is expected to provide the equipment to the citizens in their lands, maintaining the condition of this equipment is the duty of the citizens themselves. The maintenance in addition to the mandatory weekly community training creates a sense of discipline and national pride among the citizenry and guarantees a sizeable and capable fighting force is available at all times. This militia is used as a fast and fluent fighting force, able to quickly assemble and respond to threats with haste. It utilizes a relatively loose chain of command, based on experience training together, allowing them to fight effectively in the rough and varied terrain of Sabara.

Religion

The Fragment-Gods are worshiped a decent amount within the Tetrarchy, and their influence is certainly felt. Alessar in particular is commonly worshiped due to the creation myths of Sabara and the relatively large Lizardfolk population. That being said, in Sabara and the Khuagawa Tetrarchy, worship of the Gods is second to worship of the elements and the Elemental Princes. There are more myths and stories surrounding the Princes and the genies, than there are about the Gods.
Doctrine within the Tetrarchy implies that since the elements were created by the Originator just like the Fragment-Gods, the elements are of a similar level of divinity but in a (less defined and) more pure form. The elements do not respond or conform to mortal influence like the Gods do, instead they simply are what they are. Fire can be fought, but it does not listen to people, nor does it go out of its way to obtain the worship of people. This only makes it more worthy, more pure. And those beings born of the raw elements of the Chaos Wastes are in a sense semi-divine. They are not as pure or incorruptible, in fact they can be evil and this is well-recognized within the doctrine, but they are closer to the elements and thus the divine.

Assets

Salt, minerals and textiles.

After rain falls, the ground hardens.

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Training Level

Professional

Veterancy Level

Veteran

Demonym

Khuagawan

Subsidiary Organizations

• Sukama

Location

Sabara

Related Ethnicities

• Sabarans