Kashfa:
Kashfa: A world with a strong sword & sorcery tradition. It recently became a GCST kingdom and is ruled by a son of Brand, Rinaldo.
Commentary on the KRD card of the Lighthouse of Hiemnal
The Lighthouse of Hiemnal is a very traditional feature on the coast of Kashfra. A recent signatory of a Golden Circle Signatory Treaty, they received Random's agreement that no place trump would directly deposit travelers inside the gates of the capital city of Jidrash. Perhaps they are not quite ready to trust their new allies.
Kashfra and Begma are traditional enemies, fighting over a border region called Eregonar. The king of Kashfra is Rinnaldo, the son of Brand of Amber and Jasra of Sawall. The actions of these people were prominent in Merlin's semi-fictionalized novels. A tall, red-headed, fast talker who can sell law books to Chaosians, Rinnaldo, also called Luke, is a friendly and gregarious fellow. His mother is a mean cuss and I have told her so to her face. Of course, I've boinked her too. After many years of usurpation, political wrangling, assassinations and negotiations, a GCST was finalized despite the rabid, even frantic objections of the Begman nation, people, and royal family. Having an Amberite sitting the throne goes a long way to smoothing over political difficulties, especially when the son prefers Amber and the mother is an advocate of chaos. Rinnaldo turned down the offer of a Black Zone Pact Instrument from none less then the old Swayvill himself.
This world is a Sword & Sorcery age. Flora once described it a 'Barbaric Splendour" and that pretty much covers it. They trade in furs, exotic spices, unusual jewels, and a wide variety of minor novelty magic.
There is a very minor, yet extremely interesting, brand of sorcerers in Kashfra. They create very minor, and extremely useful, magic items that work in Amber. They work there because they use miniscule spells based in full sorcery. These items replicate the nearly ubiquitous "Continualist Items" such as heat stones, cold stones, fire stones, and freeze stones, amongst a wide variety of others. These items will flood into Amber, changing the way homes are heated, streets are lit, food is cooked and stored, drinks are cooled, a ice is created. Rinnaldo really sold us a bill of goods convincing our king this makes up for the frolicsome state of affairs in Kasfra
Part of the agreement in the GCST is that the Council of Wizards, led by Jasra, will be joining the Royal Academy of Sorcerers at Fantalin. Jasra herself receiving a newly endowed Professorial chair; the Kashfran Chair of Temporary Magic. The Council of Wizards, being poor country kin and only partly trained in true sorcery has a lot of ground to catch up. But Jasra, as Queen of the Keep of the Four Worlds, has control over a rather nice power source despite being reluctant in the extreme to allow its use. To gain admittance to it one will have to bargain well, and remember that Jasra is chaosian by birth who snared, and wed, a prince of Amber.
The rumor is that Rinnaldo told her that she could play nice or go home to Chaos. She blinked.
