Khayyam
The Federated Sultanates of
The Federated Sultanates of Khayyam are a massive, arid, continent-sized floodplain spanning much of the Beta Quadrant of the remote plane Waking Materia.
The continent is almost wholly populated along the upland, Voidward extents; the rest of the continent slopes gently downward from there, until its haunted deserts, floodplains and ruins disappear into the the Sunken Expanse. The Khayyamites call these cursed wastes the Duidain.
The vast majority of Khayyam's populace is divided into several major, well-defended, independent city-states, usually called Sultanates or Cantons. Any humanoid settlements are almost invariably surrounded by cliffs or walls, natural or man-made. Though individual Sultanates can be strongly divergent in culture and philosophy and bickering is common, outright war between the city-states is almost unheard of as the monstrous dangers of the haunted continent deserve their unidivided attention.Geography
See also: Khayyam Image Gallery (External)Khayyam is more or less a collossal fan of fine sediments, rocks, broken ruins and artifacts, radiating outward from the the Sunken Expanse. The continent consistently slopes upward as one moves Coreward to Voidward, culminating in the prosperous uplands dotting the far Voidward reaches. With the exception of these uplands, much of the massive floodplain seems to be created by The Deluge.
Some geomorphologists differentiate between the original, rocky continent of "Ur-Khayyam" and the sands, silts and debris that have blanketed it. Ur-Khayyam can be recognized in the rocky, Voidward uplands, as well as occasional mountain-like outcroppings scattered about the landmass. While all continents on Materia experienced some washing-up of sediments, the Khayyamite floodplains are so disproportionately vast that scholars believe Materia's underlying geography funneled more tsunamis than normal across the Beta Quadrant during the Deluge.The Duidain
The Duidain are the haunted wastes that cover nearly three quarters of the continent, save for the Voidward uplands. While Khayyam's water table can sometimes be high, the water is a demon-infested brine that is both undrinkable and, in large enough volume, acts as a gateway through the Veil, making dunes, caves and ruins of Khayyam the most haunted on the plane. Foolhardy treasure hunters can expect ghosts, qlippoth, chimerae, fae or other things besides. Perhaps the most dangerous of all are the colossal sandwurms, who bear a remarkable resemblance to some ocean kaiju, except adapted to the murky solidus of Khayyam's floodplains.
Nobility, merchants and some wealthier treasure hunters traverse the dunes by way of sandgliders: clever vehicles that use winds and lift to rapidly "skim" their way across the floodplains. Some sandgliders are the size of small ships and can crew multiple people, typically shaped like catamarans.Bayelon, the Heavensgate
Khayyam is also noteworthy for having the closest terrestrial landmass to the outer edge of the plane, where it begins to be eaten by the Void: it is a penninsula known as Heaven's Path, which reaches outward to within 30-40 km of the planar perimeter depending on the ebbing of the Void and the amount of landmass above sea level. One of the final islands, about 50 km from the planar perimeter, is larger than average and historically chosen as a final camping site for those studying or traveling to the planar edge. There are ruined outposts of hundreds of generations of civilization here, dating back to the First Age of Man. The island's name is Bayelon, "the Heavensgate".
Some sections of the penninsula are only above water during winter years: as celestial bodies (and therefore tides) do not exist in the Known Universe, sea level is mainly determined by season, where winter years lock away more water into glacial ice, exposing more landmass. Additionally, the Sunken Expanse seems to be receding for other mysterious reasons in recent years, further exposing the penninsula and making it easier to traverse.Maraxas Mons
An utter marvel of geology, Maraxas Mons is not quite the tallest mountain on Waking Materia, however it is orders of magnitude the most massive. This uncanny formation toys with the mind: due to its enormous width and gentle slope, it more bears the image of a humble hill or dune, which fools observers into thinking it's closer than it is, but make some attempt to approach it and its colossal size becomes clear.
Some mineral layers of Maraxas Mons can be quite soluble, resulting in sometimes enormous regions that have weathered into complex cave systems over the millennia. Of course, these caves are as haunted as the ruins and oases of the Duidain, so the mountain is shunned by the Khayyamites. In the deeper reaches of these caves, the Veil's strength falls to nearly zero, meaning these areas exist on Waking Materia and the Duskscape more or less simultaneously.
Tomes remain in the most ancient pre-Khayyamite libraries which detail First Age attempts to map out these labyrinthine cave systems; even by the Late Second Millennium I.M., most scholars seemed to agree they weren't even half way finished. What's also interesting about these texts is that they don't describe the caves as haunted at all, suggesting they either weren't haunted at the time or the journals were silent about encounters with the monsters. The latter is seen as unlikely as the journals would discuss encounters with more mundane threats like cave bears, electric aspid salamanders or gemeater wurms.
The journals also mention attacks by drow Tarielites who seemed to view the mountain as a holy place: they called the enormous formation Hagswomb, considering it a part of Tariel's body, either literally or figuratively. Interestingly, this puts Tariel's existence on Materia earlier than the first Ascendant Demigods, making Tariel either primordial or extraplanar.Sultanates and Cantons
Despite the many dangers of the haunted, alluvial continent, humanoids are nothing if not adaptable. The Sultanates of Voidward Khayyam make due in their walled cities, thanks to the bravery of their resource hunters and ingenuity of their botanists and hydrologists. The Khayyamites have also accrued an impressive collection of treasures and artefacts from the flooded wastes, and maintain a bustling trade culture which has come to include the nearby continent of Marai as the dangers of the world's oceans subside. There, they are known as the Khayyamite Trade Council, and are based in the great city state of Emeralda.
The population of Khayyam takes the form of a few scattered and largely independent city-states, walled or hidden as best they can from the haunted wastes that surround them.
- Emeralda — Port Canton closest to Marai, now the second largest city-state as trade with the Maraians increases and nautical exploration grows less dangerous. The ancient name 'Emeralda' combined with surrounding fields of petrified wood suggest the region may once have been connected to the Antediluvian Emerald Expanse;
- Typha — Largest and most populous of the Sultanates, typical seat of government during periods when Khayyam was united under one Sultan;
- Isperia — Gateway city to the penninsula of Bayelon-Heavensgate, often considered the religious capital of Khayyam and third largest city-state;
- Furia — Most isolated of the Cantons, largely a set of small, craggy islands off the Voideast mainland. A starkly contrasting culture: one part is the roughest group of smugglers, trasure hunters and miners in the Quadrant, one part the solemn, hooded monks of Urmaazd. It is quietly ruled by the only known Lichlord to survive The Deluge, Lakodalmas. He is an uninvolved leader whose goals are obscure.
- Volta
- Rhea
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