Vedaria Nation Basic Write-Up for Spirits of Eden

All this week I’ll be working on finishing that Player’s Guide for good. I’ve been motivated to do so by the Ennies even though I stand no chance in hell of winning and my renovations are probably too little too late anyway even if I could win. But still, it’s a win for you guys. Yesterday I added Sargasso, and today I added Vedaria’s write-up. Enjoy, and remember that this same information is also in the Player’s Guide now.

Vedaria

“Power is the birthright discovered only after all your enemies have fallen.”

In the Red Ash desert to the South, there existed numerous loosely affiliated tribes of nomadic peoples, Athirua, Iomadi, Setah and more, whom the Iomadi Empire forced to settle. During the intolerable war, these people knew the land and knew how to defeat their conquerors. Though they were the last to come out of the war, they were the most victorious – there was no celebratory peace treaties with Andaliel or Emderuer. There was only an instant proclamation: everything under the Sun in Vedaria belongs to the Vizier, the strongest, smartest military commander, who ruled the land after the end of the war.

Common Knowledge: Vedaria is referred to as the rogue nation, and is dreaded by its neighbors. There was and will never be a real proclamation of freedom and equality in Vedaria – no rights, no protections from the government. There is only the iron grip of the Vizier, and yet, the people flourish and thrive, the army grows, great riches and ancient power are discovered beneath the sands. There is an ugly side: slums, displaced indigenous peoples, violence committed by the army with little provocation, and the all-seeing eye of the Vizier’s Sandcloaks, who survey all of them land like chameleons upon the walls.

Yet, can the same not be said of Periterim, or Andaliel, with their own poor and downtrodden? Can the same not be said of Sargasso’s church, with their rumored inquisition teams in the dead of night? Poverty and discomfort exist everywhere, so say many Vedarians. Just because a subset of them are too weak to achieve, does not render the Nation itself weak. Vedarians for the most part are fiercely proud of themselves, of their ability to make their own lives without any safety nets, and many even claim they are the Nation with the greatest freedom, for the freedom they have is that of living under their own power.

Under the harsh desert sun, across streets of sand and soft dirt, Vedarians live their lives much like any other people, laughing, loving, sharing. And yet, a lot of the world feels they are an enemy. Their army is seen as thugs, their people seen as backstabbers flitting through dark underworlds claiming riches not their own. The reality is quite different – Vedaria has perhaps less a criminal underworld than other nations, as many activities are not illegal there.

Vedaria’s latest Vizier is Magdalena “Mell” Keehl, a beautiful, fiercely intelligent woman, some say a genius, educated in Andaliel’s Points of Light academy. 15 years ago, she put her genius intellect to its ultimate test, and engineered the overthrow of the previous Vizier. The coup was perfect, and Magdalena gained power just as she had planned. She can be no more than 30 or so years old now, and yet has control of an entire nation.

But rumors abound about Mell and her inner circle – that she made a pact with a terrifying spirit, that allows her to strike dead anyone’s who’s full name she can trace upon her own skin, that the Sandcloaks are monsters, hidden under hoods and masks to keep a dark secret under wraps. The young Vizier’s latest target, as of some years ago, is Selvage. She claims that Vedaria has a right to their territory, because Selvage is not a real Nation – only an empty plot of land with no real owner and many lowly savages living within.

Regional Features: Vedaria is for the most part a desert. Two rivers run through the center of the nation and create green places where crops can be harvested, and some mountains stretch across the southernmost reaches, but there is no mistaking Vedaria as a truly fertile land. It is predominantly red sand. The scorching heat overhead and lack of rain make Vedaria a harsh environment to live in.

Buildings in Vedaria are constructed of brick or rock, with some of the more important ones being made of concrete, or steel, tile, wood and glass. The streets are often adorned with a palm tree here or there. Vedaria has very few large cities. Those that it does have, it spends a great deal of time making as majestic as possible – and as defensible as possible. There is no one city in Vedaria that is not also a fortress with a garrison armed and ready.

Most of Vedaria is composed of villages with small brick buildings, tiny enough in scope that one can see the village end to end from practically any area. Some villages are even just loose groups of tents near Oasis or aquifers, ready to move wherever a herd of animals might be leading them.

The desert culture is one of great superstition and fear of the Gods. A misstep in the desert can lead to a slow death – this is an outlook on life most Vedarians hold. Not quick to trust any strangers and not quick to accept anybody’s value or honor until they prove or assert it, Vedarians can seem cold and distant. But at the same time their culture is intense and heated as the desert sand itself. Being too slow is a greater mistake than being brash, and boldness learns to mingle with caution and planning. Combat, dance, sexuality and cunning take center stage. Vedaria is a culture of bold actions and emotions, wild gambles and opportunities – big payoffs, great risk, undertaken with precision and care.

Most Vedarians don’t wear robes and tunics as the vast majority of Adel’s people do. They wear much smaller, looser and individual pieces clothing (rather than larger robes, coats, kilts, skirts and tunics common elsewhere) and expose much more skin. The freedom of movement, and the breeze upon skin, are both welcome in the heat. Armor heavier than leather is a rare sight in Vedaria, so much that even the army does not wear any mail unless they are absolutely certain to fight. Steel is for weapons and for accessories, not for plates burning upon the skin.

Ar Cairo: The vast capital of Vedaria, this city’s stone walls are a hundred feet tall and supported by buttresses. The massive city is arrayed around the Vizier’s palace in the center, a lavish place with flourishes of architecture, large wings, dome and bauble-ended towers, pools and gardens abounding, tiles of precious stone lining the fastest path to the Vizier’s audience room. Magdalena is rarely seen outside of her Palace.

Wide, sandy streets are flanked by clusters of two-story buildings with long alleys between. Merchants line the roads, and people walk the streets. Small plazas break up the otherwise endless streets and building blocks at various locations, within which arts performances or spectacular duels showcasing local styles are held. At night, all sorts of local bars and pubs open, with song, dance and fiery entertainment for the heartiest of hearts. In its own way, Ar Cairo can even be romantic, with its many lonely nooks, ceilings, tunnels, where romance can bloom unnoticed and in privacy.

Sandcloaks – men, or perhaps creatures, in brown cloaks and steel masks – walk among the people, keeping an eye for any that might be going out of line. To the cloaks, prostitution, gambling, black market, none of that matter. Ideas more intellect than emotion are what Sandcloaks stamp out, unless these ideas are used for the betterment of Magdalena Keehl’s Vedaria, as opposed to the establishment of Somebody Else’s Vedaria. It is said that a Sandcloak can fight three strong men at once and come out victorious.

Cutters, ships which traverse the sand, have a grand dock on the northern wall of Ar Cairo, which may be the city’s only weakness to its great walls. Both private and government-owned cutters may dock at Ar Cairo, for a fee, but with a restriction that they must be carrying something which will be sold, traded or put to public use within the city, such as large equipment or reasonable amounts of trade goods.

Abdalu: Near the border with Selvage, where the desert starts to meet the tropical jungle, is the city of Abdalu. The walls of Abdalu are doubly thick – it is Vedaria’s vanguard against the “savages” of Selvage and the fey beasts that they ally with. It serves as a staging area and is at any time populated more by soldiers than any other people. Abdalu is not a peaceful town for normal people, though it may appear that way at times. Abdalu’s people all have some skill to contribute to the war, be it company and entertainment for soldiers, supplies and management, medicine or logistical planning.

The Red Ash Desert: The vast, overwhelming majority of Vedaria is this desert, with the rivers Hatshep and Hapi running through it. Where these rivers cross, the land is greener and somewhat more fertile for some distance. But overwhelmingly it is but a waste of red sad, cactuses, lizards and jackals. It is a harsh land filled with small villages and towns ranging from a spectrum of quaint development to being just a collection of temporary huts and tents.

Spirits of fire, death and earth live in the desert, watching unfortunate travelers succumb to fate. Tribes and family groups of nomadic or indigenous settlers, removed from society except for some trade in animal products, patrol ancestral territories in search of water, game and treasure, competing the foreigners that sneak into the desert for its riches and history.

If the spirits, dragons, monsters, the ghosts and wraiths, the hunting tribes or the desert heat does not end you, a run-in with Sandcloaks or the Vedarian army may just do so. By and large they are the owners of the Red Ash, leading defensive excursions against grave robbers and dungeon delvers, or guarding teams of archaeologists who aid Vedaria in discovering the relics of a long-gone past.

•Characters from Vedaria gain training in Endurance or Nature as a bonus skill. In addition, they gain a +2 bonus to either Bluff or Intimidate.