Deismaar: Year 200 (Campaign Setting and Discussion Thread)

[Moniker]

Rashōmon




The Land
[ic]Rashōmon is the mysterious shadowland of the east, home of black basilisks and ancient mysteries. Rashōmon is nearly legendary to the average Andal, although the more easterly peoples (such as the Arhun and Pharazim) maintain considerable commerce with the kingdoms of Rashōmon.

Rashōmon's borders are ill-defined, as no other "kingdom" lies near it. The Zentish themselves mark their western boundary at the Gehennum Depths. The capitol of Old Zent marks the center of their small kingdom.

Over the centuries, the peoples of Rashōmon have merged into a homogeneous race: slender, of medium height, with parchment-yellow skin, sharp featuures and dark eyes. Some regional variation exists, but the distinctions are almost invisible to others.

Zentish behavior is wrapped in complex ceremonies. Each member of Zentish society has a place in the structure and codes of behavior which must be followed. These codes do not prevent personal initiative. The Zentish believe that those who best obey the codes will be rewarded by the gods. From this, they deduce that "the winner was right," and this success-oriented approach gives them a penchant for treachery and double-dealing which would cause an Andal noble to blanch.

One confusing aspect of these codes is the extreme politeness of the Zentish demeanor. Most western traders find this unctuousness irritating, if harmless; successful traders recognize the traps concealed in this veneer of respect.

Zentish law in the kingdom flows from the Archmagi of Old Zent. He makes the laws and often personally judges major criminal cases, although appointed jurists try and punish criminals. Fines are common, although for serious crimes or those who upset the status quo, mutilation and death are the usual punishments.

For many years in the Second Age after the collapse of the Zentish Empire, the fragmented city-states of Rashōmon bickered like crows picking at a corpse, each maintaining the fiction that it (and it alone) represented the fallen empire of the late First Age. Periodically, a powerful ruler rose and united some of the city-states, and the long-imagined empire of Rashōmon was (temporarily) established. But the huge distances involved in governing such a kingdom, combined with the demand for independence which burst forth at the time of the original slave-revolt, always brought these empires to collapse.

For some time, Rashōmon extended its hegemony over a vast area of the east - from the northern taiga forests of The Stark Vaasa to the edge of Chaldea. Its influence weakened beyond the southern satellite kingdom of Pharazon, but it claimed all the land east of the Gehennum Depths.

Rashōmon had a varied economy. The city-states were centers of manufacturing and commerce. The craftsmen doubtless produced sophisticated art-objects. There was ample food from myriad small farms and ranches. Mines produced gold, silver, other metals and precious stones. Silken textiles, rare drugs and spices were traded to the west. The people of Rashōmon were very ancient, undoubtedly flourishing during the First Age. Eventually, refugee Stygians entered Rashōmon and were promptly enslaved. Later, the Stygian rebelled and overthrew the ancient Rashōmon civilization before migrating westward.

Today, Rashōmon exists in name but its influence has diminished severely. Yet, she remains as the jewel of the once-powerful First Age Zentish Empire. [/ic]


The People
[ic]The Zentish are an ancient, decadent people, born of a culture more than fifteen hundred years older than any of their neighboring kingdoms to the west.

Dominated by ruthless despotism, the Zentish are masters of occult secrets and diabolic lore. The scholarship is legendary and their reputed mastery of the sorcerous arts is without equal anywhere in the known world. Unlike their neighbors in the Southern Empire of Pharazon, the Zentish care little for what goes on beyond their borders; while the Aradain and the Gothric measure their worth in castles and glittering armies, the scholars of Zent care nothing for such trifles. They learned long ago that true power lies in knowledge and in pacts with dark powers older than the cosmos itself.

The Zentish have a reputation for cruelty, disloyalty and greed. This reputation is only partially earned. Zentian attitudes reflect more of self-interest than of the high (but often ignored) ideals of their Pharazim neighbors. The people are insular, although the increased trade along the Silk Road has done much to increase Zentian contact with the Pharazim and Arhun.

Zentian society is divided into three rigid hereditary castes: the nobility, the aristocracy or middle caste, and the peasant caste. The noble caste is much diminished in the modern age. Unlike the lower castes, whose blood has been increasingly intermingled with Arhun stock, the Zentian noble caste is tall and dark-haired, with pale-colored skin. The middle caste comprises the Zentian aristocracy, and is the true ruling power of the realm. Tall but dusky-skinned, black-haired and hawk-nosed, the aristocracy provides the scholars and magis that run the city-states's many temples and maintain its fabled libraries. Beneath their heel lies the peasant caste, marked by their shorter stature, swarthier skin and heavier build. The aristocrats rule the peasant caste with an iron grip, steeping them in a culture of absolute subservience and fear. The peasant caste exist to serve the aristocracy and to feed the appetites of their gods, and even the merest hint of disobedience is enough to merit an agonizing death in the torture chambers of the city temples.

Zentish as a people favor cunning, intelligence and agility over brute strength. Swords and axes are the hallmarks of a barbarian, not a civilized person. For this reason, most Zentish found outside the borders of their kingdom are typically scholars or seekers of knowledge. This quest for knowledge can come in many forms, whether through the practice of sorcery, the study of the body and the healing arts, or the stealthy practice of assassination or thievery. Each pursuit is equally valid in a Zentian's eyes, because they require intellect, education and discipline; qualities they believe to be lacking in the lesser kingdoms of the Third Age.[/ic]