Odesir (/ō-dä-sir/ , "Oh-dah-sear")
When people think of the nation of Odesir, they imagine cities nestled amongst rolling sand dunes full of bustling bazaars all shadowed beneath opulent palaces. While these features are present within Odesir, there is much more to the nation. Outside the bustling cities, farmers try to eke out an existence along the various rivers or oases they might find, and trader caravans must travel great distances across harsh desert terrain to ply their wares. Both must contend with the different beasts and raiders who also call the desert home. Meanwhile, ancient secrets and mysteries call to foolhardy treasure hunters and inquisitive scholars from within great pyramids or deep beneath the sands.
The nation of Odesir is made up of four separate kingdoms; East Odesir, North Odesir, South Odesir, and West Odesir. Each of these kingdoms is ruled individually by its own king or queen, called a pharaoh, but all answer to a single high pharaoh. The kingdoms are allowed to govern themselves for the most part, with each pharaoh having full authority surpassed only by the high pharaoh. It is believed that the gods chose the pharaohs and their families to rule; thus many consider the pharaohs to be divine entities or vessels. Each of the kingdoms, at one time or another, was its own entity before the first high pharaoh, a woman named Iiljany, rose to power in what is now West Odesir and proceeded to conquer the other three kingdoms. Her dynasty continues to hold the title of high pharaoh to this day and rules from Netjaqead, located within the southern tip of the mountains that intersect at the borders of West, North, and South Odesir. Netjaqead operates as a micro kingdom located within Odesir, separate from the other four kingdoms.
The people and culture of Odesir vary significantly between each of the four kingdoms. West Odesir, also known as Sharnsyt, is considered the most civilized and has the highest population of the four kingdoms. Nearly all trade to and from the western side of the world comes through West Odesir, allowing it to control the flow of wealth and goods throughout the rest of the nation. North Odesir, or Akhesyt, is the agricultural center of the country as the mountains that make up the eastern border of the kingdom provide rivers that flow from underground springs as well as help to capture rain clouds. The people here specialize in capitalizing on the frequent floods to maximize crop yields. South Odesir, or Khetsyt, is best known for its magical glass production. With the extreme heat waves and other unnaturally hot weather patterns that can blow from across the borders of Uludôr, the mages of South Odesir have learned a process to collect and manipulate the rare magical glass that forms in the sands. The kingdom of East Odesir, also called Ramilaka, is primarily considered wild and untamed. Located in the furthest reaches of the desert, these people are nomads with very few permanent settlements. They are feared slavers and respected warriors born and raised in some of the harshest environments and pitted against gnolls and other creatures for survival.
Odesir's economy thrives on the trade of rare materials and spices to the western countries on the other side of the Bonnach Mountains. Meanwhile, their infrastructure relies heavily on the slave trade to provide most of their labor force. Most slaves are born into servitude, but prisoners of war are also often made into slaves. East Odesir is the leading supplier of captured slave labor as they are often in conflict with each other as well as the gnolls, saberfolk, and others that contend with them in the far deserts.
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