Zal Cavesh

Basic Info

Region: North Cavesh

Motto: Backbone of the East

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Capital: Absolum

Cities: Axis Advancement, Pitchtown, Hartenshire, and Ebermore

Ruler(Race): The Zal-Mond Consortium (various)

Government Type: Plutocracy

Languages: Common

Religion: Open Religious Views, with a STRONG Emphasis in Abadar.

Qualities: Farming and Fishing Primary Focus. Industry, Commercial, and Trade Secondary Focus. Religion, Learning, and Science Minor Focus.

Racial Breakdown: Cosmopolitan

Common Classes: Fighter and Slayer common, Champion and Cleric less common, Wizard and Bard uncommon.

Quick Description

At one point the nation of Cavesh was strong but over time their vision was lost, and now their long standing fight for unity looks soon to be drowned by bloodshed. Zal Cavesh is the vestige of an empire crumbling. Having nationalized nearly every industry, underpaying the working class, and being unwilling to adapt were factors in the splitting of Cavesh, and Zal Cavesh has yet to learn this lesson. This bureaucratic nation, with legal texts longer than a Salvan dictionary, has hung on due to the sheer pride of its people. Threatened by the growing horde of the Great Reclaimer to the east, they have delved deeper into necromancy as a solution. For if their exhausted work force cannot fight at least their dead relatives might.

History(Coming Soon)

Government

The Zal-Mond Consortium is what was left when the strongest minds of Abadar went to High Table to establish their new order the Key Council. An association built by Zalard Confectus and Monard Precell, Abadar faithful, they turned on many misinterpreted lessons of Abadar to create an incredibly productive society with little chance of growth into new fields. Holding securely onto the reigns of the country by creating an exhaustive list of infractions on the law, they slowly established a system that left more than two thirds of their population into indebted service to their country. When what would become new Ferdalag began revolting, they cracked down harder. Eventually the fragmentation of Cavesh (which the Zal-Mond claim to this day was un unjust betrayal by High Table) left the old government with a fraction of the land they once held. Now nearly every citizen is technically a member of the governing body, but as they go further and further down the chain of importance their opinions mean less and less. Those at the top, due to repeated assassination attempts (and occasional successes), keep their identities secret, but assure the Zal-Cavesh people they are doing everything they can to improve conditions and quality of life… when all employees can meet their monthly production requirements and correctly file their capital requests with the right observer departments.

Laws

Everything in society has a cost, but is Zal Cavesh that cost is overwhelming. While craftsmen, miners, shipwrights and farmers work hard to meet the demands of their culture, they find very little reward in a society with little to no financial mobility. While in most places that would depress work quality, in Zal-Cavesh falling behind means you never can stand up again. Monetary infractions and regulation, keep them meeting quota requirements or you will live the rest of your life indebt to the national bureaucracy, and even afterward your body or soul could be used to continue your work if they give out. While the nation itself is profitable, the amount of rigid workers in the national bureaucracy require the hard work of others to get by. Most laborers in Zal-Cavesh simply are doing what they have been taught to do with dreams they will one day get a job in the national bureaucracy, but these are just idle fantasies to get through another day of hard work. In New Ferdalag they feel sorry for those stuck in eternal debt-nation where even their dead cannot rest. The Key Council has sent clerics of Abadar to help get the Zal-Mond back on track without hurting their people, but they have been summarily dismissed.

Attitude

Despite the harsh nature of their government, the Zal-Cavesh people defend it vehemently. When asked why they don’t move to another land, they say that their government is turning things around and, “if it weren’t for the fracturing of Cavesh, things would be much better.” Blaming their neighboring countries for their challenges they are proud of the quality of what they have created. In each city and town the crafts they apply themselves to are of a quality close to matching imperial elven craftsmanship. In general when a fastidious Zal-Cavesh citizen sees rule breaking of any sort they instantly distrust the rule breaker. Their outrage even applies if the rule is frivolous like not to wear wide brimmed hats indoors, or what order to clean clothing.