Hidden Empire of Shar

Shar is ruled by a military-theocratic hierarchy, with the Scarlet Order at its apex. The Order is both government and priesthood, organized into strict castes:

• The Exarchs – High generals and arcanists, who speak as one voice through the Grand Strategos, Shar’s supreme ruler.
• The Votari – Zealous citizens trained from birth to serve in war, labor, or sorcery.
• The Oathborn – Elite enforcers and inquisitors, trained to root out dissent and ensure total ideological purity.
• The Subjugati – Conquered peoples and their descendants, used for menial labor and sacrificial rites.

Education is rigid and propagandized. Citizens are taught that Shar is the last true flame of Suloise glory, destined to reclaim and purify the Flanaess.

Shar lies hidden in a mountain-ringed basin, its borders sealed by magical illusions, ancient wards, and ruthless border patrols. The land is humid, fertile, and shaped by arcane geomancy to suit the Order’s vision—dense jungle surrounds pristine roads and fields of regimented crops. Rivers are redirected by enchanted canals; wild beasts are driven away or enslaved as war-beasts.

Foreigners rarely reach Shar. Those who do—explorers, adventurers, or traders—are either executed, mind-wiped, or quietly absorbed into the state as tools for research or breeding. Few return to tell of it.

To most of the Flanaess, Shar is a myth, whispered in old Suloise texts or described in the fevered ramblings of jungle survivors. But to scholars of history and planar sages, Shar is a ticking blade, unseen yet razor-sharp. Few comprehend its full potential, and fewer still realize how close it may be to awakening.

Shar’s military doctrine fuses arcane warfare, divine supremacy, and fanatical discipline. Sorcerer-generals lead legions of spell-bound soldiers, and warpriests channel deific energy drawn from obscure or forgotten Suloise powers. Battle-mages command weather and flame as readily as sword and shield.

Key elements include:

• Crimson Sentinels – Enchanted guardians of Shar’s borders, bound by blood to the Order.
• Sky-Monoliths – Floating arcane towers that serve as signal beacons and strike platforms.
• The Vault of Blood – A secret research citadel where magical experiments in purity, resurrection, and war-magic unfold far from scrutiny.

The Scarlet Order—a splinter sect of Suloise extremists—traces its lineage to the survivors of the Rain of Colorless Fire, a cataclysm that destroyed the ancient Suloise Imperium. Where others sought peace, rebuilding, or diplomacy, the Scarlet Order preserved the militarism, arcane elitism, and racial purity doctrines of the Imperium, refining them into an even more fanatical ideology.

Generations ago, they vanished from common knowledge, traveling far beyond known lands into the Amedio Jungle’s uncharted depths, where they carved Shar from blood, stone, and sorcery.

Shar's doctrine is insular and supremacist. The Order teaches that all outsiders are tainted, and that only through conquest or annihilation can they be redeemed. Still, they watch the world—secretly—and prepare.

Spies and agents of Shar occasionally surface in distant lands, often disguised or magically altered. Their missions involve gathering magical knowledge, scouting ancient Suloise ruins, or weakening perceived enemies through sabotage and corruption.