The Southern Caliphate (Dominaria Supplement)

Capital

Karnak

Language(s)

Caliphi

Government

Caliphate

Leader

Grand Caliph Nurah al'Din

Population

XXXX

Races

Human, XXXX

History

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Country

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The vast swath of land between the Otarian Plateau and Selucian Gap in the west and the Cimmerian Penninsula in the east is the heart of the Eastlands. While most western observers note little but the sand, there is a cultural and geographic diversity in the East that puts any casual analysis to shame. The Southern Caliphate for example, most people's first thought when they hear "Eastlands", has three or four distinct regions stretching across more than a thousand miles. Karnak, the city of Kings, and the nearby "Cities of the Heart" form the center of the great realm. To their east, the "Cities of the Pearl" line the Bay of Pearls and live out their thousand year drama as they dive for the beautiful gems. The "Trade Cities" sit on the high desert roads, sprawling across several wadi and oases and guarding the Caliph's influence. Several sultanates and emirates fill in the spaces in this vast mosaic to complete the Caliphate. Due to the peculiar circumstances of living in the East, each city is separated from the next by great distance, and each city is massive. With the exception of the rivers that bracket the heartland, any meaningful amount of water will spawn massive cities as people naturally flocked there over the centuries. Many of these cities were independent Caliphates before the first "Grand Caliph" of Karnak, Qudra, and Rog'osto unified the south; and many have been since, on and off. Each one has its own culture and life to it, determined by position, geography, and which clans, houses, and societies moved in.

The immense realm of the Grand Caliph, and the center of eastern culture. The people of Suran and Kwazarmia technically pay homage to the Grand Caliph's divine right to rule, but in practice his authority extends to the emirates, sultanates, and houses of the area denoted on the map. The Golden City of Luxor - City of the Gods, a city within the metropolis of Karnak, is his realm and from there he reigns. For nearly 2000 years, ever since the reign of the Grand Caliph Suzerain, the Caliph who sits in Karnak has ruled with the authority and by the grace of the eastern Gods. His word is theirs and he acts according to their wishes.

Each of the cities of the Caliph's dominion are ruled by an Emir or Sultan (or Sultana) who speaks in the Caliph's name and rules at his pleasure. Due to the nature of a desert realm, each of the cities are greatly separated; but the largest are larger than western cities. Each of these Emirates or Sultanates have their own feel and culture. There are the Pearl Cities of the easternmost coasts and the Caravan Cities along the ancient highway west. In practice these rulers rule nearly as Kings themselves, but in time of great war they answer to the Caliph's iron rule. The Malmuks are the ultimate expression of the Caliph's rule in most cities. These knight-slaves are devoted to the divine rule of the Caliph and seve as a constant reminder of the Caliph's reach to the Enlightened. The priests too, in the grand temples of the Easterlings, serve the Grand Caliph. Many will never see him, but they preach him and believe in his image as the mouthpiece of the many Gods above. The Gods are primarily preached, but each service will at least mention or pay homage to the Caliph.

Government: Words words words

The Voice: When the Southern Caliph dies, his body is brought to the Great Necropolis that wraps around the north of Karnak. There, within the great temple complex that winds between the largest of the pyramids, his body will be embalmed, and mummified according to the old ways. Then, a curious thing happens: the doctors and alchemists who perform the embalming leave, as do the lower priests given the task of performing the arduous incantations and enchantments that surround all mummification. After they have processed out the high priests of the Southern Caliphate, gathered from each of the grand temples of the realm, process in with a cloaked figure. This figure is the previous Voice. It is a complex hybrid of a lich and a mummy, and it contains to memories of all of the Caliphs of Karnak that have passed before. This figure has acted as the shadow advisor to the Caliph and his court through the Caliph's life, and its unique consciousness will now preside over the final rituals on the dead Caliph's body and then accept its new form, allowing the body of the previous Caliph to finally be laid to rest.

Once in the new form the mummy will rise and take up the ancient, venerable, and quite unremarkable cloak of office and take up its role as the adviser of the Caliph and Voice of Karnak in the world. The Caliph will never know who this figure is, and will never know his destiny until he lies close to death for only then will the figure reveal his duty in death. Throughout a Caliph's life the Voice will advise him carefully, always allowing the Caliph to make his own decisions but sharing the knowledge of his predecessors. The original enchantment and phylactery lay down the precise instructions and relationship, but the clearest directive is to advise, not lead, and to inform, not make all-knowing. The ancient founders of Karnak knew the power of knowledge, but after conquering the Necropolis they also knew the power and inhuman evil of the undead and power unchecked by the advance of time.

Several obvious weak points in this tradition exist. Two times the Voice has been killed, and two times have the high priests retrieved the body of the Caliph before that and married it with the profane power of one of the original phylacteries to recreate it. One of the original three phylacteries has been lost to the sands of time and passed out of knowledge. Three times the body of a Caliph has been too completely destroyed to use, and a Voice has advised two Caliphs. Once, the Voice refused to use the body of a Caliph or absorb his hideous knowledge and abilities. Grand Caliph Suzerain the 2nd thus remains in repose under the pyramid he built, his memories unaccepted.

The Voice resides in the Inner Sanctum, only accessible to the Caliph (and the High Priests upon "birth" and "death" of the Voice). He sits in decrepit meditation, only awakening to answer to the Caliph.

Military:

Judicial System:

Locations

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• Caliphi Cities
• Karnak
• Luxor
• Tarkhan
• Abu Neferet
• Ghurab Busir
• Saqqara
• Zawiyet
• Tajar
• Numadian Client Cities
• Although internally seen as the Sultanate of Numadia, ruled from Rog'gosto, Kom Ibrim and Burdabi were conquered by the Southern Caliph many decades ago.
• Kom Ibrim
• Burdabi
• XXX

Houses

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