Emirate of the Winds

Furthest to the south, beyond the City-States, beyond Taldameer and Golnir and the Cloudbreaker Mountains, lay the great deserts of Quel'Ahma. Some say it was an ancient battle between gods that scorched the land and reduced it to waste - but whatever the case might be, the hills descend into a great sea of sand that stretches as far as the eye can see, so vast and barren that not even the Caravan People have charted it all. At the heart of the desert, nothing grows. The sun itself is enough to kill a man in the heat of the day, and at night, the cold winds can chill travelers to the bone. Water is scarce, and the bones of entire caravans lay buried beneath the sands.

And yet, Quel'Ahma is one of the wealthiest and most esteemed of all the lands. Its people are a proud folk, known throughout the world as learned scholars and philosophers who devote their lives to mastering the knowledge of the world. They control trade routes across the Great South Sea, supplying silks, spices, incense, and gold through the City-States and beyond, and their reach even goes as far as the distant lands of eastern Wulin - their merchant dynasties know the routes to get there, and that is a secret they will protect with their lives.

To those of the north, the Quel'Ahmans are an inscrutable people. They know no gods - instead, their worship is directed toward the land itself, paying homage to the four elements. Yet they do not worship natural forces through spirits and shamans in the same way as followers of the Old Faith. Their religion is based on a complex and codified system of logic that aims to understand the natural world and live in balance with it, as the mysterious cosmic forces that move the universe intend. The Quel'Ahmans regard Northerners as foolish, superstitious barbarians who know not the finer things in life, though they are still happy to trade with them.

Quel'Ahma is ruled by the genies - beings of magic shaped by and with power over the elements. The land is divided into four emirates, each corresponding to an element and a cardinal direction. To the west is Al-Riyah, the Emirate of the Winds, which encompasses much of Quel'Ahma's coastline along the Great South Sea, and as such is perhaps the most settled of the Quel'Ahman lands.

Whether it is due to its position on the coast, or the highlands that follow the shoreline, Al-Riyah is blessed with a relatively mild climate, making it the center of Quel'Ahman agriculture. Its settlements hug the coast, with great cities supplied by the trade winds across the sea and the fertile fields fed by the rivers that run down from the hills. It is also among the most cosmopolitan regions of Quel'Ahma - owing to its status as a hotbed of trade, many travelers and merchants have made their homes in the Western Emirate, and this has given rise to thriving foreign quarters in its cities today. Though xenophobia still exists, northerners in Al-Riyah perhaps have the best chance of making their fortune among the traders that ply the coast.

But that is not to say the Emirate of the Winds is a paradise on earth. Within the cities of the Emirate, intrigue prevails. With wealth comes power, and with power comes ambition. Some cities have broken away from the rule of the genies, some even managing to carve out kingdoms of their own, and the dynasties that rule over lucrative trade routes compete fiercely with one another for influence. Beyond the fertile coast, the desert is still a harsh mistress. And even older things lay buried beneath the sands - things perhaps better forgotten...