Yasamaq (YAH-sah-maq)

Yasamaq (demonym: Yasamaqi) is the eastern continent of Aj'kar. Most people there live underground, for the surface is a massive, uninhabitable desert called Laenatan.

Current events

The Yasamaqi are stuck in a permanent state of trying to expand their territory against the monsters to the north and the south, while trying to keep their families fed and happy. Thus, few things ever happen to the continent as a whole; mostly, a family or the other makes a breakthrough or the other, and such news spread through word-of-mouth.   However, recently, two things of importance are starting to influence the continent as a whole. With Siarvald struggling to keep their stability, they have had to reduce the amount of wood and cattle they export to Yasamaq. This, in turn, has caused a shortage of food, as the cattle was generally killed in Mundegap and the meat sold on the market for Yasamaqi to buy. With their supply lowered, vicious rumors have spread throughout Yasamaq to explain this dearth, and hostility against Siarvald has risen as a result. Some clans and families are uniting once again, planning to wage war upon the western continent should they continue to short them in this way. So far, the diplomats of King Vah'dis have managed to hold these families at bay.   To make matters worse, there have been reports of strange phenomenon happening at the very edges of Yasamaqi civilization; people have been falling terribly ill for seemingly no reason, though they never seem to quite reach the point of death. Some have twisted this strange illness as the effect of Siarvald's policies, further exacerbating the problem.

Geography

Yasamaq is a particular continent. Its surface is a massive desert, constantly wracked by both sandstorms and thunderstorms. Since the surface cannot be lived on, the Yasamaqi live in the underground of the continent; it is this underground that is actually referred to as «Yasamaq» by most people. In order to accommodate their passage through the hard rock and gem-encrusted stone, as well as to allow them to live in an environment where there is very little light, the Yasamaqi, for as long as history can remember, have manually dug tunnels that snake through a good part of the subterranean land mass. Over hundreds of years, a thousand tiny tunnels have turned into large, well-carved tunnels.   By virtue of being underground, the Yasamaqi have had to fight two major inconveniences: the temperature, and the darkness. Aside from the use of magic, they have solved the former problem by digging deeper into the ground; this is easily noticeable as Mundegap is on sea level, and the tunnels leading to Wasatnuq go further and further down until they reach the settlement. As for the latter, the Yasamaqi have mastered the art of enchanting special crystals that can be affixed to walls to shed bright light around them, allowing people without darkvision to at least move through unimpeded.   To aggravate those difficulties, there are two other factors that regularly interfere with the life of the Yasamaqi: the monsters, and a phenomenon known as Ökenhadari. The underground continent is crawling with monsters of various kinds, though mostly burrowers and ambush predators, that make travel extremely dangerous and forces entire families or clans to move as one, as solitary travel is nigh suicidal. To top it all off, wherever Ökenhadari strikes, the monsters get more aggressive and obtain strange, lightning-based powers.   Sometimes, the entirety of the continent rumbles gently. Because of the structural integrity of the massive tunnels that were reinforced over time, these small earthquakes never cause any structural damage to them nor to the very few cities hidden below; but some people have reported that monsters sometimes seem distracted when they happen.

Culture

Yasamaqi legends say that the people born on the continent were originally all children of the gods, and therefore one big, large family. As time went on, however, discontentment grew over the way internal affairs were handled, and large conflicts erupted over often petty reasons. Thus did the people of Yasamaq begin to split off, so that they may lead their own lives free of constraints but those of their own, smaller, insular family. This belief shapes a lot of the current culture of the Yasamaqi. Aside from Mundegap, there are no cities on the entirety of the continent - some would even say that Wasatnuq barely even counts as a village, making the underground continent almost entirely free of any large conglomeration of people. Instead, the Yasamaqi opt to gather in small groups, often their own families or clans, and either settle somewhere quiet or keep on the move, trying to further the borders of their own continent and digging their own tunnels.   The main advantage of his way of life is that the Yasamaqi are free to do exactly as they will. They don't have to worry about money, as a clan is (generally) entirely self-sufficient; they only have to worry about keeping their family fed and happy. They have fully free, which keeps the population, despite the harsh environment they live in, content if not happy.   However, the main disadvantage is that they have no central form of government. This means that they have no standing army nor guards; they have no way to call for help should they fall on hard times, aside from relying on the generosity of other clans; and nobody to call should a clan commit a grievous crime, aside from taking matters in their own hands. Often, clans and families of similar values do decide to stick together for their own safety, but others take great pleasure in doing exactly what they want, and the rest be damned.   Because of the example set by their gods, the Yasamaqi form very strong bonds with members of their family / clan, and would often do anything to see to their well being, even at the cost of their own lives. Many clans have agreements, or "alliances", with neighbouring families in order to make sure that they and theirs are kept safe and fed. Otherwise, they often leave other Yasamaqi alone to do their own thing, content to live life the way they want to.   As may be expected of a people that live underground, most clans opt to live in large houses that are made out of stone. Those houses are often big enough to welcome the entirety of the clan at once. Those that can afford it reinforce or decorate their homesteads with the wood imported from Siarvald.   When a young Yasamaqi comes of age, they take the journey to Kreelenvolb and, using a specially-taught meditation method (Locate Arven's Gem) pick out one of the gems of the holy cavern. This gem is called their Arvenhelmi.  

Fashion

The people of Yasamaq love to coordinate their clothes with their Arvenhelmi, especially color wise. They typically wear clothing that is a bit on the heavier side, as it is often cold in the sunless caverns, even deep underground and even in Summer. However, they will often opt for more muted colors over grandiose displays, as the tunnels are rife with all sorts of monsters. While most can see in the dark and therefore the hue of one's clothes would matter little, a typical inhabitant of the underground continent would rather avoid tempting fate. By virtue of this and the abundance of sapphires, dark blue is the most common color there. Some go as far as to wear makeup that obscures the typically pale skin tone of the Yasamaqi, and a rare few even wear colored fundation that matches their Gem.   Typically, colors are not associated a particular meaning; the Arvenhelmi matters far more for that. However, those who DO choose to wear brilliant clothes are often thought of as foolish or reckless. The derogative term of "city-dweller" is sometimes used to designate such people; in Yasamaq, they mean people from Siarvald or those that are from Mundegap and never went anywhere but there.   Usually, a clan will have a symbol that calls to mind some feat from their past, or their most well known member. For instance, those who still hail from Qarah's clan claim her likeness as a symbol. This means that they are prone to change over time, but this is often a slow process. Such signs are displayed prominently for those that are proud of their clan, and discreetly for those that aren't. Typically, such symbols are also carved on whatever piece of jewelry is used to contain the Arvenhelmi, and some even wear their symbol as a tabard or as part of the stitching on their clothes.  

Travel

It is very difficult to get horses to behave in the dark tunnels of Yasamaq, and therefore many prefer other methods of transportation. Some kobolds prefer to use guard drakes as they travel through the underground continent. A rare few are lucky enough to mount gray renders, but they are very rare and require luck to tame. Steeders are common as an alternate mount to horses, and kruthik are prized for their use as burrowing mounts, though they are considered fairly exotic and require special training to ride.   Renting a steeder costs one gold piece per day. They are usually trained to go back to their breeder should they be left alone for too long.  

Death

When a Yasamaqi dies, their clan usually makes sure that their body is buried and that their Gem is taken back to Kreelenvolb. Should that particular Yasamaqi have died somewhere where their clan can't reach them, it is considered customary to bring the corpse back to the clan's home if possible. This sometimes cannot be achieved, as some monsters are loathe to let go of their prey; in such cases, most Yasamaqi will still try their best to get the Gem back, for it is considered religiously critical to get it back to the Cavern of Souls so that it may reincarnate. In particularly dangerous cases, the direct descendants of Qarah, or monster hunters, can be asked to go retrieve the Arvenhelmi.   It is especially important to make sure that any body that is bereft of its Gem is properly buried. Otherwise, it may rise as a special type of undead known as a Soulless, which hunt for their lost gems until they are destroyed.

Economy

As may be expected of a continent that is entirely underground, Yasamaq is very rich in ores of all kinds. Their premier export is gold, silver, electrum, and platinum; the Yasamaqi were the first to use minted coins to pay for transactions, and one of Qarah's contributions to the Everlasting Peace Treaty was to extend this currency system to the entirety of Aj'kar. Coins are now minted on Qarah's Dream, for ease of transport; but all of the ore to produce them still comes from Yasamaq.   In comparison, the prime import of the continent is wood, and meat. Wood is used on Yasamaq to reinforce their tunnels and build houses, tents, and other constructions that would normally be unavailable to them without it. Meat, however, is critical to the people of Yasamaq: aside from fish, which spoils very quickly, and mushrooms, which are very difficult to cultivate, their only source of food would be the meat harvested from monsters, which is not only incredibly foul-tasting but also often dangerous to both obtain and eat. Therefore, meat from Siarvald is considered a luxury good and very highly sought after. This explains their anger over the currently reduced flow of such goods into their land.   Of particular note is the fact that the gem trade is very highly regulated; this is to make sure that nothing from Kreelenvolb is accidentally exported. All other gems are fair trade, but those from the Cavern of Souls are considered illegal to both sell and trade; just having one on one's person while not being from Yasamaq would be cause for an international incident.

Jobs of Importance

While all citizens of Yasamaq are free to take on any job they like the best, there are a few professions which are considered to be of great importance in Yasamaq. In fact, they are so important that they are the only ones to have some amount of regulation to them, if only by limiting the people that have access to the tools and/or knowledge that makes these professions so important.

Chef

Because the Yasamaqi rely on the consumption of meat harvested from monsters so much, it is critical that people know how to prepare such meat correctly. Indeed, even forgetting the tiniest of venom sacs, or forgetting that the left rib fourth from the top just so happens to be poisonous for a particular monster, could cause people to die.   Yasmar, in Mundegap, has taught many chefs how to properly prepare such dishes. He does not tolerate failure or hesitation, and for a very good reason: the man realises the importance of his own role, and does not want any unnecessary deaths associated to his name.

Monster Hunter

If chefs are required to make sure that people are able to feed themselves, monster hunters are necessary to make sure that the Yasamaqi survive. Only the strongest (and, some would say, suicidal) take on the dire task of hunting monsters around the continent of Yasamaq. Their foremost role is to ensure the safety of all, but they must also bring back enough meat so that the chefs can do their job. Monster hunters are so critical that they must be officially approved and tested, before being granted a colored, leather sash. The color of the sash indicates how many monsters the hunter has officially killed.  

Travel times

The times written here are calculated assuming the shortest route possible is taken. It assumes the travelling speeds detailled on page 182 of the PHB, which assumes travel on foot.

Journey	Distance (km)	Distance (miles)	Time needed (hours, slow/normal/fast)	Time needed (days, slow/normal/fast)
Wasatnuq <=> Objevbuha	~231	~143	64/48/36	8/6/4.5
Wasatnuq <=> Mundegap	~130	~81	36/26/21	4.5/3.3/2.7
Wasatnuq <=> Mutafabuha (left branch)	~320	~200	88/64/52	11/8/6.5
Wasatnuq <=> Alsubuha	~145	~90	40/30/24	5/3.5/3
Mundegap <=> Kreelenvolb	~80	~48	20/16/12	2.5/2/1.5
Mundegap <=> Mundebuha	~24	~15	7.5/5/3.5	0.9/0.6/0.3