Lassam

Originally a series of interlocking four Peninsulas, the first of the rahee philosophers who uncovered the secrets of the Elemental Fonts and raised the seafloor into a small continent. What was supposed to be a massive increase in territory has had mixed results. While the Eastern Catchment has thrived, the rest of the Lassam has been consigned to desert or scrubland. The raising of seafloor has since become a cautionary tale among the rahee.

Geography

Eastern Catchment

The majority of the population lives in the Eastern Catchment with its regular rainfall. Since being raised from the sea, most of the salinity has been washed from the soil leaving fertile sediments. The uncultivated land is covered with tropical forests

Central Desert

The majority Lassam is desert. It was once seafloor so sections of it are sedimentary and will reveal fossils of oceanic megafauna and even now the remains of large reefs still exist. The ground is still salty and without regular rainfall it has not been washed out as it has been in the Eastern Catchment. But with the revelation of the seafloor, mineral nodules came to the surface. Since then the Central Desert has become the mining core of Lassam

Core Range

What was once a long peninsula of mountains, they were nearly doubled in height by the early rahee philosophers. On the eastern side the mountains became a rainbreak, blocking the water laden clouds and directing them south. What had been low valleys on the west side became high desert.

Western Rim

Far from the Core Range the weather is driven by patterns on the Great Western Ocean. Without the heavy rains on the Eastern Catchment, the weather of the Western Rim is calmer and more consistent. It provides a vibrant break between the Central Desert and the Great Western Ocean. It would be less populated without the Golden Path to Broken Plains

Southeast Peninsula

The mountains of the Southeast Peninsula trail off into the Western Spur. Other than trade outposts, the Southeast Peninsula is mostly uninhabited and turned over to the wilds.

Southwest Peninsula

They are considered the hinterland as there is few resources of interest beyond the few shrines built around Elemental Fonts .

Politics

Outside of the Central Desert, most of the territories are controlled by Sultans, leaders elected by the Familial Tribes. Before contact with the Protectorate the Sultanates were independent of each other, their allegiances shifting over time through political and military conflicts. After contact, a singular Sultan was raised to Mukarrib over the entire Sultanate creating a unified government. However, this control only extends to Sultanate territories, lands without a Sultan are administered by the Familial Tribes. While these tribes work with the Sultanate, they fiercely retain their independence.

Sultanate

Made up of multiple Sultanates under the Mukarrib the political structure of the Sultanate is contentious. At the top, the Mukarrib is affirmed by the rest of the Sultans, so the Mukarrib has to balance their pronouncements against the desires of their subordinates. While there have been some who have tried to take and maintain the Mukarrib crown through force of arms, they rarely are successful as the rest of the Sultanates can interdict them, cutting them from vital resources. The sultanate is titled by the Familial Tribe name of the current Mukarrib. In the late Nexus Era the Sultanate is the 5th Khalasham Sultanate, being the fifth time a Khalasham sultan has been the Mukarrib.

The inheritance of a Sultan is not based on Primogeniture or Beneficiary, but by who can take the crown. As such, civil wars within a Sultanate are common at an abdication or death of a Sultan. Sultans can declare and heir, abdicate, and throw their resources behind their chosen child, but that does not guarantee their chosen heir the crown.

Familial Tribes

The basic political unit of the people of Lassam. Typically led by the eldest member of a central family, they can hand off leadership to their chosen heir. However, the people in the Familial Tribe will kill or abandon a leader that doesn't serve their interests. A Familial Tribe's power is determined by the amount of followers they can attract more than the territory they can control. While they are not democracies, the followers have more implicit power than other tribal governments.

History

Unlike other cultures there was no unified overthrow of the Dragon Tyrants, but the Curse of the Sea overtook the land. When the last of the Dragon Tyrannies sank beneath the waves the people of Lassam took to the heights of the Core Range. There the Elemental Fonts were discovered.

The Rahee Philosophers

Over time the Elemental Fonts were deciphered and their magics understood. As the rahee learned the formulas necessary to bend the Fonts to their will they also discovered mathematical and geometric concepts that underpin creation. Those who discovered this knowledge initially guarded it jealously, but the mundane knowledge they discovered was shared to create bureaucracies, develop architecture, and build irrigation systems. With access to elemental power the rahee were able to become leaders of the people, creating a magocracy. As the Rahee began to emulate the Dragon Tyrants they competed with feats of creation.

Raising Lassam

An alliance of Earth Rahee — who were kept out of power by their flashy colleagues — decided that the only way they would have their own territory they would have to make it. Through a great coordinated ritual they threw open the Earth Fonts and raised the seafloor around the Core Mountains. With the creation of new land and the rising tyranny of the other rahee, the people of Lassam burst out across the new land, carving out territories in opposition to the rahee. This explosion was organized by the Familial Tribes.

Forming the Sultanates

As the new territories were carved out, the rahee lost their political primacy. The spread of their knowledge through other works led to a highly educated populace who could, with access to elemental fonts, reverse-engineer elemental wizardry. Rahee became common among the people and with that diffusion of power led to new leaders who didn;t bend arcane forces to their will, but commanded those who did. These remarkable individuals became leaders of Familial Tribes. Eventually, as the tribes banded together a Sultan would emerge leading them. The leaders of the Familial Tribes would become the Baig or Begum of the Sultans' courts.

Independent Tribes

Not all of the Familial Tribes give allegiance to a Sultan or Sultana. Many remain independent, especially those of the Central Desert. These tribes will trade their temporary loyalty for trade considerations, advantageous marriages, and privileges.

Forging the a Unified Sultanate

The various coastal sultanates had maritime fleets to trade with the Hal'uka'awe Islands and into the Bastinari Archipelago for centuries before the coming of the Protectorate. They had little interest beyond their shores beyond the economic. However as the Protectorate expanded across the Bastinari Archipelago, the risk of being subsumed by this growing alliance became a clear threat to the sultanates as more Bastinari kingdoms left the sultanates' spheres of influence. Banding together they raised one of their own to Mukarrib to coordinate their response. Since then the Sultanate has expanded their sphere of influence into the Hal'uka'awe islands, bringing some under their influence through diplomacy, and others through military conquest. Over the past few decades they have become more expansionsitic as the Protectorate has extended into the Hal'uka'awe inslands.