Alalihat / Caliphate of Alalihat
- Government: Caliphate
- Capital: Zvelaino
- Population: 7 million (~40% human, ~40% Firstborn, ~15% Created, ~5% other; 15% urban)
- Area: 460,000 sq mi
When the Eldar created the humans, many of them found the vast, open lands of the Northeastern continent to be the perfect place to raise herds and indulge in wanderlust. The hot, well-hydrated climate of the Al'Uman lands appealed to those who found great joy in horsemanship and nomadic life.
When the Hordes began their wars against the Eldar and their children in what is now Yithi, the humans were very much on the front lines of the battle--many of them the horse-bound tribes of the Al'Uma, slashing at the flanks of Hordish armies as battles raged up and down the length of the Daws range. Nomadic life became more of a military necessity than just a cultural or lifestyle choice, and the tribes learned how keeping mobile kept enemies from destroying your livelihood when they burned crops and buildings.
As the wars ground down and the Eldar slipped away, the nomads found a certain rhythm to their life, but little in the way of larger purpose--until the emergence of the Prophet, Alalihat. His teachings brought new understanding and new meaning to the People, and before long his words were sacrosanct--if not law, then certainly with great emphasis.
When his Disciple openly questioned the Prophet's teachings, bringing a different view to bear, it bitterly divided the People, and before long what was once a single nation of nomads was divided in twain--and then thrice, when a few generations later a number of clans carved out the nation of Almalz as a holy neutral party. Al'Uman tribe battled Al'Uman tribe across a frantic cultural divide. Before long, it is said, more Al'Uman blood was spilled at Al'Uman hands than any Hordish army.
Over the following long years, the religious wars of the Caliphs came to a begrudging stalemate, as Caliphs from each side of the border came to realize that there was no easy victory to be had. Over time, the open grasslands beckoned tribes to raid--not war--across the fluid and invisible border, and in time Alalihatian and Zabalasan found there to be common cause again in battling the Hordes again, only to discover that some portion of the Hordes had moved south into what is now Tragekia (and then again, in to Dradehalia).
Today, the Caliphate of Alalihat carries on its ancient traditions, its ancient feuds with its distant kin, and dreams of a day when all of Al'Uma is united again, a vast rolling wave of robed horse warriors cresting over the hills to finally crush and eliminate the ancient Hordish enemy. But in the meantime, there are tribes across the border (as well as a few on this side) to raid, herds to tend and sell in the cities, waters to sail, horses to ride, and family to protect and expand.
Geography
Alalihat is a land of endless waves of grass, gently rolling hills, fierce nomads tending large herds as they wander from place to place (often city to distant city) in a endless cycle of seasons dating all the way back to the earliest days of humanity, long before the Fall of the Eldar.
In the south, the Daws Mountains range shelter the very southern coast of Alalihat from some of the storms that sweep down from the north, making the lands here drier. The city of Draulsin, perched on the banks of the mighty river TODO delta, sees a vast amount of agriculture grown in the region (rice and grains in particular) flow through here to other nations--particularly Liria.
North of the mountain range, however, Alalihat is an endless grassland punctuated by rolling hills, thick copses of trees that provide shade to the nomads who wander with their herds, rivers snaking their way from the western coast inland, and the odd road that aids in the transport of goods from one city to another. "The further north, hotter the days and wetter the rain", an old Al'Uman saying goes, and the landscape reflects that--it is said that in some places, the height of the grass stands fully taller than a full-grown halfling.
Government
TODO, Caliph of Alalihat, Sultan of Zvelaino, Defender of the Faith, Rightful Caliph of Al'Uma
Alalihat is a caliphate...
Political Structure: The Tribes and the Cities
Nominally, the Caliph is the undisputed ruler of Alalihat, his words as law upon any whose ears hear them. Practically, the Caliph governs Zvelaino, and gives governance of the other major cities to Sultans who each govern their city and (in theory) its surroundings. Ostensibly, collectively the Sultans hold sway over the vast grasslands that make up the bulk of Alalihatian lands; in practice, the Sultans govern their city and a roughly fifty radius around the city, and beyond that, the tribes operate independently.
Once per year, the Caliph demands the Sultans attend upon him in Court in Zvelaino, as part of a three-week festival holiday (name TODO). Six months after the festival, the Caliph returns the favor by bringing his Court to one of the Sultans' cities, again as part of a festival holiday (name TODO). The choice of city for this second festival is a hotly-debated and fiercely-argued one, and Caliphs of Alalihat have used it for centuries to balance the political powers of the Sultans against one another. Sultans will argue, cajole, wheedle, and bribe to bring the festival to their city, and more than once a well-timed scandal against a Sultan (or member of his family) has steered the Caliph away from their city--and caused blood to run in the streets shortly thereafter.
The Sultans of Alalihat
Each Sultan rules one of the major cities of Alalihat:
- Zvelaino
- Roslasil
- Nytharion
- Rechiy
- Lerinse
- Roshichin
- Adag
- Draulsin
- Mabran
- Dorenoress
- Pororys
- Selzed
- Alunenor
- Shemkanar
- Kysenor
- Torhesk
- Roskoere
- Mednohokoe
- Pukoml
- Drutk
- Hogilos
- Vyskovk
- Nyllar
- Chemyank
- Oskatin
- Brathi
- Mtishic
- Chernik
Officially, each city is subject to a provincial governor, but this is typically a figurative title carrying little to no weight, and is often passed back and forth between the Sultans within a given province as a bargaining chip used in negotiations. (One story tells of how governorship of the province of Aldaria was actually given to a tribal goat that wandered into an intoxicated meeting of the Sultans. It was five years before anyone thought to find the goat again and reclaim the title, by which time it was discovered the goat had been eaten. Many Al'Umans find this story quite amusing.)
The Tribes of Alalihat
A dominant force in the Alalihatian mindset and governing structure is that of the tribe. Often reaching into the thousands in number--but more frequently in the high-hundreds--each tribe is a
House of the Bear
The 3,000 members of the House of Dubb are primarily herders, though they do have a brisk business harvesting aromatic gums from the Realms of the Bleeding Trees near the mountains. It is said their sheik would rather be leading an army than a nomad tribe, and he spends a good deal of his time "adventuring," which leaves most administrative duties on the shoulders of tribal elders.
House of the Bull
A dwindling tribe of 1,500 in the southern ranges of Alalihat, the House of Thawr has long been losing young people to easy employment in the cities. What began as retaliatory raids against the city now have escalated into a perpetual, if low-intensity, war. Pinned between the cities and House Bakr to the north, House Thawr's sheik holds fast to a vision of a cleansing wind that will vanquish his enemies.
Clan of the Pony
The majority of House Bakr lives in the city of Adag--a fairly recent development highly criticized by the tribal elders. Those 500 or so who remain in the grasslands are fiercely conservative and believe in protecting and maintaining their customs above all else. Both the Rais (leader) of those remaining in the grasslands and his son have experienced terrible visions of a dire fate for those in the city.
Population
Alalihat's population, like that of the other two nations on the Al'Uman continent, is split between those who dwell within the cities, and those who continue the nomadic traditions of their ancestors.
Culture
Relations
Almalz: Peace. Almalz is filled with cousins and relatives of the Zabalasan tribes, and officially is the sacred Caliphate that guards the relics of the Prophet and his Disciple. Zabalasans and Alalihatians will stab each other mercilessly outside of Almalz, but within, maintain a tense and careful peace. (Of course, this in no way stops espionage and spycraft, and many's the murder in the Almalzian city that goes officially uninvestigated.)
Bagonbia: Neutral; indifferent. A distant trading partner, but little to no official contact beyond that.
Bedia: Neutral; indifferent. A distant trading partner, but little to no official contact beyond that.
Dradehalia: Cautious.
Liria: Cautious; skirmishes. Alalihat's adherence to the words of the Prophet create tensions between Liria and Alalihat, since Alilhatians believe Liria "screwed it up" by not adopting the Prophet's theology sooner. As a result, most Alalihatians believe Lirians to be ignorant at best, deliberately deceitful at worst. The two nations have been at war in the past, but not recently, and the war with the infidels to the east consumes more of the common Alalihatian's interest and passion than battles with the ignorant west.
Ulm:
Zhi: