Orosca

“The Oroscan cities are rare and lovely as precious stones; the desert shines golden in the sunlight, and gleams like silver at night. Little wonder that we Dhavashrin like Orosca so much! The question is: what do they see in us?”

— excerpt from a Dhavashrin travelogue

Much of the Orosca Desert is at the very least inhospitable, if not outright inimical, to life. All through the night, the fires of the Burning Sea paint the eastern horizon with false dawn-glow, and even the parts of the desert’s interior that are not perpetually aflame are a deathtrap for the unwary traveler.
The River Ari cuts through all this sterile death, a green thread winding from the southern highlands all the way to the sea in the north. In the fertile soil of the Ari’s river valley, an unassuming seed of a nation has flowered into greatness, and now the Resplendent Queendom of Orosca’s control over the region is near absolute.
This was not always the case. Orosca was once a weak and troubled country, divided by power struggles and trapped in a hopeless war against its neighbor in the east, Khalassar. However, the Oroscan people rallied around a powerful new regent, and eventually prevailed over the armies of Khalassar. Now Orosca is a rich and powerful nation in the midst of a golden age of art, science, and arcana. It is s known across Orphan as a beacon of elegance and civility.
Of Khalassar, only a charred wasteland remains.

The Sun War

Once, the Queendom of Orosca was the Sultanate of Orosca. The last sultan was a weak and venal ruler, who preferred pleasure and sport to the minutiae of rule; his vassals squabbled amongst themselves rather than band together for the good of the country. With the news of Khalassar’s declaration of war, it seemed as though the Sultanate’s days were numbered.
Orosca’s fortunes changed, suddenly and unexpectedly, when the mysterious Sun Queen slew the sultan and claimed his throne for herself. A warrior, magician, scholar, and consummate leader, the Sun Queen was able to win over the sultan’s quarreling vassals and unite the country under her banner. For the first time since the beginning of the war, Orosca had a fighting chance.
Khalassar did not. Before the war, it was a verdant and populous realm. By the end, the Sun Queen’s sorcery had reduced it to a glassed hellscape. The region that used to be Khalassar is now called the Burning Sea; any traveler reckless enough to venture into its interior can still find the ruins of the great Khalassan cities.

Wisdom and Power

The Sun Queen has ruled Orosca for two centuries now; although apparently human, she does not appear to have aged at all since her accession. She has proved an able peacetime ruler as well, and Orosca has flourished under her rule. These days, Orosca is a proud and dignified nation of warriors, merchants, and scholars. Scholars especially—in Oroscan culture, science and learning are highly regarded, and the renown of Orosca’s academic institutions is such that people travel from all over Orphan to attend them.
The wealth of knowledge contained in the grand libraries of the Oroscan capital is matched only by a handful of other places in the world, and scarcely outmatched by any. The city of Iacathra is a bastion of erudition—a city of schools and libraries, of workshops and laboratories. It is rich and gorgeous, a place of beautiful, beautifully-decorated architecture, all of it surmounted by the enormous, gilt-domed palace of the Sun Queen.
Oroscan engineering is world-famous. It is a synthesis of magic and technology, of science and art. Its watchwords are beauty, elegance, and ingenuity. One can hardly miss the effect it’s had on Oroscan society; the Oroscan cities are guarded by many-armed mechanical sentinels, and watched over by soldiers mounted on great clockwork birds.

An Era of Diplomacy

The history of Orosca is fraught with conflict. Its sultans were belligerent sorts, at various times making war with Ashaara, Khalassar, and the nomadic tribes of the desert. Presumably the only reason they didn’t provoke Dhavashri into armed conflict as well was that they knew that was one fight they could never hope to survive.
The Sun Queen, upon her ascension to the throne, ushered in a new era of Oroscan diplomacy. Both Dhavashri and Ashaara are now Orosca’s valued trade partners; at the same time, Orosca has leveraged its newfound power and wealth to avoid becoming Dhavashri’s pawn in the Celestial War. In fact, Orosca’s position of resolute neutrality in the conflict between Belhacint and Dhavashri has allowed it to do brisk trade with both sides. As a result, it has grown wealthy and powerful—a mercantile powerhouse as well as a martial one, rich in territory and resources.
The only neighboring state with which Orosca’s relations are somewhat strained is Nocturne. The reasons for this are unknown, but given that both countries’ rulers are unnaturally long-lived, it seems likely that the strain stems from a long-held grudge over some past slight.

Burning Hatred

Life in Orosca, for the most part, is peaceful and comfortable. But it is not perfect. Peace comes at the cost of freedom; under the Sun Queen’s rule, repression has increased and the rule of law has gotten stricter. Also, since the total destruction of Khalassar, Orosca’s eastern border has been beset by vengeful fire-ghosts. In a way, the war continues to this day.
The fire-ghosts of the Burning Sea are not coordinated, but they are very powerful. Some are beings of pure fury, incapable of thought; others have the thoughts and memories of Khalassan citizens. All of them, however, are united in their blind hatred for Orosca and its queen. The Oroscan army has set up garrisons along the border to defend against these marauding spirits, but it’s a costly business in both resources and lives.
The fire-ghosts are a problem to say the least, but Oroscan arcanists have invented a method to turn even this problem to their country’s advantage. It goes like this: a ritual is performed in which a captive fire-ghost is bound to an Oroscan warrior’s soul. If the warrior can manage to bend the fire-spirit to their will, they take its power into themself. The warrior who survives this ritual is both celebrated and feared; the fire-ghost is not consumed, merely subjugated, and there is always the chance that it will break free of its shackles. If the host is not disciplined and vigilant, they might erupt without warning into a pillar of fire; it is for this reason that the very people who honor them also hold them at arm’s length.

THE RESPLENDENT QUEENDOM OF OROSCA

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Capital city: Iacathra
Head of state: The Sun Queen, Mayahansa Amar
Languages: Oroscan
Currency: Oroscan tawar

Oroscan is an elegant, lively language which dances on the tongue like a candle’s flame.
Example names: Almir, Ana, Ariq, Barani, Hadarai, Haleya, Khayan, Mahaya, Mira, Sairi, Serina, Sineya, Sumir, Tanah, Tawar, Thaliya, Umir, Yamina, Yantri, Zelani.