The Satrapies

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- Main Page; Griffin Island

Nehrim Satrapies[edit]

- A collection of closely allied lands, ruled by satraps to the south west of Griffin Island

- The Red Sands Horse Archers is one of the elite units of the Nehrim Satrapy, part of the Eliem cult's specialized forces.

Satrapy of Megrib[edit]

- The most North Eastern of the Satrapies, with borders on (Harrapa?)

- Alhai Maruk is the Satrap of Megrib

Megrib[edit]

- Capital of the satrapy of the same name. A city conquered about 200 years ago in the War for Illumination. Very cosmopolitan with many different cultures represented. A Center of trade and learning.

- Cult of the Sun's Bowman and the isolated temple of Bal Azar is a mere two week's travel from the city.

- The Chosen Bright. (A unit of temple guards)

- Teachings of the prophet who gave the temple it's name (Bal Azar)

- In a distant past, many generations ago, the temple had kept a unit of giant hawk riders but the birds died out.


- "In my lands we have a long history of depicting lion hunts, kings and great warriors use spear and arrow from horseback or chariot. We have one fine mosaic in my temple, perhaps I will have the honour to show it to you one day."

Customs[edit]

- The southerner bows, arm slightly bent and to the side in the fashion of his people.

- He'd seen the nomad peoples to the south of his homeland use this method of capturing their their half-wild mounts. (Lasso)

- A vaguely Zoroastrian Arabic North Africa type of place. Sun/Fire/Light worship dominates and represents everything from martial prowess to wisdom with their opposites as the negative side of the coin.

- Moon/Darkness/Earth represent female and passive principles.

- The Eliem cult dominates almost exclusively, though there are many factions and rival groups. Priests are always male. Women can join special minor cults, dedicated to Eliem's daughters or various saints or angel like figures.

- There are secret remnants of older faiths, mostly earth and fertility cults with members of both genders. Usually these are ignored and seen as harmless, but occasionally some overly zealous priest or satrap calls for a purge.

- Foreigners are free to worship as they please as long as they do not break any laws.

- Perpetual rivals of the Harrappans, but with a lot of cultural exchange and trade.

- Fairly dark-skinned, coffee and cream.

- Death rites is have a mixture of exposure and burning, depending on religion and caste.

- Lots of throwing oneself on floors (rarely carpeted sadly) and not looking directly at various potentates. Especially potentates you want to ingratiate yourself with, and everyone wants to do that with someone higher up.

People do sit and eat where Karam comes from, on cushions and thick rugs spread out on the floor, often with small individual tables at everyone's side. Married couples sometimes share a table, it is often a sign of a happy marriage (as part of the ritual surrounding marriage, the newlyweds feed each other tasty morsels from their own bowls. This is seen as highly erotic) Servants are on hand to fill plates and cups. Chairs are almost unheard of. Women and children are welcome, but kids are expected to be quiet unless spoken to and learn from the adults. To the horror of many Promarians women can speak as they like, indeed the Satrapies encourage women to study various subjects, such as philosophy, poetry, history and similar subjects, not theology though unless they belong to one of the rare female only religious orders. Female "clergy" is generally viewed with some discomfort and embarrassment by many. Women do no not worship Eliem directly, but through one of his daughters or a number of less clearly defined saint like figures.

" 'Let the temples of your hearts always shine brighter than those of your hands' ", He quoted piously from one of the Prophet Azir's sermons. A stricture that had originally been intended to turn the listener's focus away from the worldly and to the light within. Unfortunately, many satraps and city magistrates had taken it as an excuse to build ever more lavish temples to show how great their devotion truly was. His own rather austere sect had been founded in part as a reaction to that.

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