Furia
The Sultanate of Furia refers to an expansive, fortified city-state Voidward of Khayyam, as well as thirteen surrounding islands in its possession. It is one of six such sultanates—also called cantons—and the only one to be located off the continent. At approximately 40,000 people, it is the fifth most populous of the six, ahead of only Volta.
Furia's is a starkly contrasting culture: one part is the roughest group of smugglers, trasure hunters and miners in Khayyam, one part the solemn, hooded monks of Urmaazd. These two core cultures are complimented by a modest but bustling market for trade, mercenary work and shipping, fueled mostly by the presence of intact First Age artefacts within the islands' myriad catacombs. Furia is quietly ruled by the only known Lichlord to survive the Deluge, Lakodalmas. He is an uninvolved leader whose goals are obscure, though he brooks no harrassment of his people by outside powers. He is especially protective of the monks of the Voidfather, whose research he reads with great hunger and barely-hidden nostalgia.Culture
The Furian bodhisattvas of Uhrmaazd are scholars as well as clergy. To the rough and often troubled mercenaries and treasure hunters they are preachers of simple, ordered lives, free of greed and materialism; in their ranks they count many former rogues and sellswords who grew tired of the avarice and gang warfare. In addition, monks of the Voidfather are great scholars of Material history: the treasures they seek are tomes, inscriptions and other items of culture rather than power. Though Furia is well-haunted like the rest of Khayyam, the spirits here are often more coherent and less insane than the roving ghasts of the Duidain floodplains, and the bodhisattvas are excellent listeners. Some elders spend days or even weeks at a time in a trance, piecing together the ramblings of these ancient spirits and surviving on little more than force-fed water from their juniors.The Gate of Furia
In Lakodalmas's possession is an ancient artefact known as the Gate of Furia, one of only a small handful of such gates which lower the strength of the Veil between Waking Materia and the Duskscape to near nothing. This allows for easier travel not only to the Shadowlands but also to destinations on our Material side: by taking advantage of the Duskscape's odd spacial behaviour, one can travel much more "rapidly" (or along a contracted distance) as well as avoiding the need for dangerous sailing across Materia's haunted seas. Even an ancient wizard of Lakodalmas's immensity would not risk an encounter with a kaiju if given the choice.
Most of the intact gates are in the possession of the Stargrave-based Dragon Knights of Tallarax, however even the powerful and cunning Knight-Sages appear unable or unwilling to penetrate the Lichlord's defenses and seize control of it, much as they would like to.
Profile: The Gate of Furia (illus. Finnian MacManus).
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