Sofel
Sofel is a mysterious and terribly powerful magocratic nation in North-Eastern Rakion, that was destroyed by Erins and reeastabilished again. Though there are 8 council members that control the nation, the one that they fear the most, is Erins The Silent Death, and they are supported by a near-endless chain of bureaucrats and local tharchions. The true nature of Sofel laid in the endless pursuit of arcane knowledge and power by the country's elite, a dynamic that is fueled by rampant slavery. This driving force permeated the country's dark history.
Undead
Beginning in the 10th century, Thay maintain a vast "population" of undead zombies, who are enthralled as laborers and porters, moving goods between ships docked in Sofel's numerous waterways. The number of undead grew exponentially during the decades under Erin's rule.Government
For centuries, Sofel was ruled by a council of eight powerful mages known as Kagiams, each of whom specializes in a different school of magic. This Council of Kagiams appointed the nation's tharchions and tharchionesses, civil governors of the realm who ruled over the vast provinces of Sofel, known as "Archonite". Each Archonite choose their own "Oras", who acted as mayors, military commanders and magistrates, to enact their will over their lands and take blame as a scapegoat, should the need arise. Their enclaves is led by "Oris", who hold approximately the same authority as the autharchs, albeit in strongholds located in foreign countries. Each governing official is indebted to their superior, which created a sense of suspicion and fear among the nation's bureaucrats. Various rival factions and competing interests arose as a result of this dynamic, and the nation was not able to unite under a single vision for many years. There is heavy turnover among the lesser bureaucrats, as each authority can assign blame in descending order of importance. While only the Dark Rune Wizards act with real independence, their ranksarewere afflicted by similar scheming and in-fighting. This lack of unification continued for many years, until Erins destroyed and reestablished and ruled as regent and supreme ruler of Sofel.Ruling bodies
- Dark Rune Wizards: The Dark Rune Wizards serve as a quasi-military organization within the hierarchy of Sofel. They are independently-operating agents who answer only to their own superiors, a stature often denoted by the wizard's own personal power and influence. They are under the protection and authority of the eight reigning Kagiams. They are protected by the "knights" of Thay, martial enforcers who would readily lay down their lives to save those of the Dark Rune Wizards. This structure was built as an example of the wizards of Arasil, as Erins saw that this is most crucial.
- Council of Kagiams: Chosen from among the most powerful of the Dark Rune Wizards, this loosely-structured council is comprised of eight magocratic rulers, each of which specialize in one of the schools of magic.
Bureaucracies
- Guild of Foreign Trade: This administrative organization oversee the purchase of magical items, from the private arcane workshops owned by Sofel's reigning zulkirs, and facilitate their export and sale via the nation's enclaves. The guild is a driving force of Sofel's foreign economy.
- Guild of Portages: Prior to the 10th century AB, this group was responsible for the conveyance of goods between the borders of Sofel. They are known for charging exorbitant rates for their portage, but are replaced by the undead slaves.
Military
The nation of Sofel possessed what is likely the strongest non-elven military in North Eastern Theras ever seen. However they are rarely, if ever, led effectively in thanks to the competitive bickering that permeated the Sofelian ruling class - Unless directed by Erins. Each Kagiam and Archonite are empowered to raise their own legion, limited only to their own personal capital. Many Dark Rune Wizards supplement their forces with magical beasts. Dark Rune Wizards always fight alongside their legions in every military engagement, if only to preserve order among the mixed and often-chaotic armies. The armies of Sofel are largely comprised of ruthless undead, including skeletons, ghouls, boneclaws, wraiths and liches under the command of Erins if needed. The Dread Legions are regiments of particularly cunning skeletal and zombified warriors who fight without fear of death or destruction. They supplement these undead legions with many monstrous creatures including tieflings, ash giants and Abyssal myrmidons.Infantry
Infantry legions ranged in size anywhere from 800 to 2,000 soldiers and are comprised of a wide range of forces, from armored knights, human slaves, goblins, gnolls, undead warriors and even fiends from the Outer Planes. The Sofelian army is notorious for their use of monstrous giant-kin such as trolls, ogres and hill giants. In fact, one of Sofel's finely-trained, deadliest regiments is Gruumsh's Legion, a unit comprised entirely of orcs and orogs. Sofelian breeding experiments led to the creation of neo-orogs, and both the black and red breeds are found within its borders in significant numbers. The humanoid soldiers of Sofel often wore armor of mirror-bright silver that gave off blinding reflections. Beneath the armor they wear white cloth slipcovers to prevent over-heating and betraying their location. Slaves are typically given sandal-boots, spears, headscarves, loincloths, and—if they are lucky—a baldric hung with waterskins.Cavalry
The riders of Sofel are an even more diverse group of nearly-unarmored lancers, mounted archers and heavy knights who ride a wide variety of mounts ranging from giant cats, manticores, leucrotta, hippogriffs, giant beetles and very seldom, dragons. The Griffon Legion is the most famous of Sofel's aerial squadrons, as is the infamous black unicorn cavalry, a regiment of all-female riders that are widely-feared throughout the World.Navy and Seafaring
The nation of Sofel keeps a small, but highly-efficient navy based out of a naval base. They are much more regimented than the infantry and cavalry, as they all fall under the authority of Archonite personaaly chosen by Erins. As of the 11th century, the navy is comprised of several hundred magically-aided ships led by the great and terrifying metallic vessel called the Dark Runed Scourge. Sofelian vessels are named using magic-related themes such as spells, schools of magic, or wizards, such as Alkammar, Black Tentacle, Enchanter, or Lightning Bolt.
Religion
The hierarchy of worship in Sofel was abundantly clear to everyone within its borders: magic os revered first, religion was a distant second. Despite the common misconception, The Wizards of Thay do not worship fiends nor did they consider the Tanar'ri or Baatezu as gods. They see demons as dangerous allies, servants or for the extremely arrogant, tools that can be manipulated to accomplish their goals. In fact, the the Wizards simply do not have time that could be devoted to worship, and merely offer hollow words of worship to their patron deities, and only truly value the power of the arcane.
Many of the evil-aligned deities of the pantheons have devoted sects in Sofel, including Baisha, Ella'li, Menas, Nyx, Merabyss, Vaprak and even Lolth. The church of Khaziba is extremely popular for many reasons.
Foreign Relations
Sofelians are considerably prejudiced towards non-human races, particularly dwarves and gnomes, who are regularly the subject of racial epithets and provocations to violence. Elves are also held in low regard, though typically avoided and shunned rather than provoked. Orcs and half-orcs are well-tolerated within the badlands, as they are commonly found as enforcers and soldiers within Sofelian legions. Centaurs are often kept as guards on Sofelian slave plantations.
Laws
The ownership, sale and creation of slaves is legal within the borders of Sofel.
While it os illegal for anyone from Sofel to sell items of military value outside the nation, this law is often individually ignored, and loosely enforced nation's famous enclaves found across the World.
In addition to operating under the laws of their home nation, the Dark Rune Wizard compounds are regulated by the Three Laws of the Enclave. These laws provided diplomatic immunity to the Dark Rune Wizards serving within an enclave and are required to be agreed upon by foreign city officials.
- The Law of Sovereignty states that any enclave located outside of Sofel's borders is still considered Sofelian soil, and is subject to Sofel's laws and regulations.
- The Law of Trade dictates that they sell their goods for 10% less than the standard rate and could both sell and accept slaves as payment (however their sale was impractical due to local laws outside the enclave).
- The Law of Crafting regulated which goods the Dark Rune Wizards would, and would not, sell to the general public.
Trade & Transport
Considering that the slave trade carries such weight in the Sofelian economy, a practice that is heavily frowned upon throughout the rest of Theras, is no surprise that the nation is predominantly agrarian. The lush plantations of the Sofelian plateau are rich with fields of wheat, oat and barley and its orchards produce a variety of fruits, such as apples, citron, pears and figs. Enough food is harvested that the nation can feed those citizens it deemed worthy, with enough goods leftover that can be exported in trade.
Trade
Sofel exported a variety of goods to other nations, as they regularly have an excess of grain and other foodstuffs to feed their own people. Both Nova Terra (or previously Octoland) and Albiril are dependent on Sofelian exports to feed their people. Other exports include uniquely crafted furniture, sculptures, household items and jewelry crafted by slave craftspeople. These fine goods are often made from gold, silver or platinum, all of which are readily available from Sofel's plentiful mines, as well as jade and lapis.Enclaves
Sofel was famous throughout the World for the trade of magical items, an industry sponsored by the Dark Rune Wizards, who sell their crafted goods in the major cities of Rakion. In addition to acquiring wealth from the sale of arcane curios that are manufactured in Sofel, these enclaves are used to gather intelligence, another valuable commodity, for the Dark Rune Wizards and Council of Kagiams. Among the Rakion counties known to have enclaves are Abaisgar, Balikhan, Buqmat, Nars Duchies, the Grand Duchy Albiril, among others.Slavery
Slavery is a common practice in Sofel, a tradition that continued on from the ancient empire of Menedynn. Somewhat ironically, the slaves themselves are the nation's most important resource, and are never to be needlessly destroyed. Slave markets are restocked with war prisoners, conquered Hexadominir, or people who are sold into slavery. While folk of Sofel descent removed all body hair, at least on the head, and Hexadomonir freemen at least clipped their hair short, slaves are not allowed to cut their hair at all. They can be easily distinguished by the heavy and filthy mass of hair they wear. The Kagiams and other prominent Dark Rune Wizards Grow rich beyond imagination by means of this sinister trade. From within their strongholds and estates, they use this wealth to constantly scheme and plot for mercantile and military domination of neighboring nations. In addition to the export of slaves themselves, Thay earn its wealth from a number of vast, slave-harvested timber plantations. Due to their readily-available work force, Sofel is able to ship out great amounts of lumber cut from pine, maple and regional Sofelian blackwood trees.
Founding Date
125 AB
Government System
Magocracy
Power Structure
Federation
Economic System
Barter system
Official State Religion
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Manufactured Items
Notable Members
Related Ethnicities
Comments