Avramistan

Avramistan: a setting for Storming the Wizard's Tower

This setting was inspired by Michael Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road and other writings about the Jewish kingdom of the Khazars. And my interest in Central Asian food. And my affection for the music of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road project and a CD of Afghan Rubab music that I really like. And the fact that scimitars are cool. And the concept of Jewish Tartars swinging scimitars and riding fierce ponies under the banner of the menorah and fighting weird monsters is cool. So take the juvenile historical fiction of Geoffrey Trease out of its Anglo/Celtic setting and move it to Central Asia and you will have the feel of this setting.

The basic concept: a Turkic people who have converted to Judaism within the lifetime of the player characters' grandparents. The kingdom is only gradually moving towards a "state" structure, but is a prosperous and strong region, sandwiched between the great Christian and Muslim empires to the south, the fierce Kiev Rus to the north, Magyars and Bulgars to the west and wilder Tartar hordes to the East.

Map 1

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa253/epweissengruber/avramistan1st.jpg

Paragraph 1: What Is It Like?

Bayati Altanjin ("Rich in Gold") is a prosperous town in the centre of the land of Avramistan. It has much in common with the huge expanse of territory covered by the Tartars: a broad expanse of plain covered with grasses, with the flatness broken by hilly uplands and the occasional mountain in whose valleys the Nomads find shelter. It has a large walled-in bazaar, making it the centre of commerce for the region. It is protected by the hordes of the Bek, the military ruler of the land, who is in service to the Khagan, or spiritual king, a descendant of King David himself, and grandson of the Khan who took the name Avram on his conversion to Judaism. It is a comfortable, prosperous town, one valued by Khagan and Bek, nomad and farmer, alike.