Merenaz Caliphate

[Merenaz Caliphate]

Hadrallah, Capital of Merenaz Caliphate,
Administration District,
Emerald Jade Palace.



The interior of the Emerald Jade Palace is riddled with wondrous architectural designs that showcase the craftsmanship of Aremians engineers. The pillars and walls are filled with intricate Aremish calligraphy that seems to tell the history of the Aremians people as a whole and yet still the palace is renovated each time a new grand caliph was installed to power. The current grand caliph, Khaleed is an intellectual person who values the knowledge of the past and the present to dictate the course of their nation for the future, it was his idea to renovate the interior design of the palace to that which reflects the past history of their people.

A man in his thirties, wearing brown noble robe is standing at the courtyard of the palace. His brown eyes scans the 10 foot statue that stood before him, it is the statue of Addib Ibn Merena, founder of the Merenaz Caliphate and a hero to his people. It has been nearly 40 years since he took it upon himself to rebuilt the Aremians battered civilization and although the pain of the war still lingers, the caliphate has done well in this four decades. Suddenly the man took something from his pocket, a pendant of a sort. It's grotesque features somehow exudes a malevolent aura an as the man grip the pendant in his hand he could almost sense the presence of another in his vicinity.

"Ahh there you are brother!", suddenly a female voice from behind him, snapped him back to reality and the man quickly tucked the pendant back in his robe's pocket. Turning around the newcomer, he saw a woman in her mid thirties but blushes, natural makeups and her brown dyed hair makes this beautiful woman appears in her twenties. "Iraa, it's good see you back, how's your trip?"

"It was boring, Khaleed...", lady Iraa walked behind his back and take a look at the statue of the national hero, "...I know what it is that you've hidden from me little brother, and I also know enough that, the thing you have in your hand would bring you harm". Her sudden change of tone suggests that she's worried about Khaleed and Khaleed, being the supreme ruler of the caliphate, values his sister's advice as a sibling as well as information broker of the caliphate.

Then she turns her attention to caliph, "did Mirzinna know about that 'thing'?", Khaleed responded with a smile as he turns his gaze back to the bronze statue, "no, she did not and do not worry sister, once I have found a safe place and secure place, I shall put this away for good". With that the caliph turns around and started walking towards one of the nearby benches and tables before taking out a scroll from underneath his cloak. He unfurled it and put it onto the table so that he and his sister could take a look at this.

"Map of the known world?", she said from behind him as Lady Iraa took her position next to Khaleed to take a good look at the map. Khaleed nodded in response and pointed his finger to one of the location just north of the 'cursed lands'. "Do you know what lies here, dear sister?"

It took Iraa quite awhile before she finally nodded, "the land of the elves, the Sith'ari, why?", she looked at her brother curiously. Khaleed smiles and stood up straight, "It is time to finally open locks of our nation that barred the caliphate from the outside world, we've recovered well but now it is time to acquire foreign resources in order to better build the caliphate, don't you agree?". Lady Iraa smiles and nodded, finally she understood why Khaleed had called her here. "I agree and yes, I shall take on this endeavor".


* * *

Aremian Deserts,
70 miles south of Ishtafar



The company of a hundred prospectors had been walking away from the city of Ishtafar for days now. They are all garbed in light desert robe that prevents sands from entering their eyes or ears or even their nose and mouth during powerful gust of desert winds. Becoming a prospectors in such a dry and desert kingdom as the caliphate is never easy but once the had hit a gold mine, each of these prospectors is going to become much more richer in life. This company of prospectors are led by Captain As-Salim or Salim as his comrades would call him. A tall man in his forties with grizzly appearance and a scar over his right cheek. He was a soldier serving the caliphate until he retires about a year ago and now leads expedition such as these into the deep deserts.

The company of prospectors are also guarded by 30 armed caravan guards who have been wary since they passed the borders of Ishtafar, watching over the horizon for any signs of bandits or desert marauders. The three days journey had been uneventful so far, there was an incident when the overcautious guards almost spook an innocent merchant tradesmen on their way to Ishtafar but after careful inspection, the tradesmen poses no threat whatsoever.

"Salim!", the shout came from one of the prospectors nearby, as he calls on to Salim who is currently leading the expedition at the front, "...I think there's going to be another desert storm soon", the man walks up to Salim and pointed to the east of their location. Salim, who is currently garbed from head to toe in the desert robe with just a small opening at where his eyes could be, looked over to where the man had pointed and saw dark clouds over the desert dunes.

"Tch! mule's piss!", he curses at the winds over the cloth that covers his mouth, "this is not good, we need to keep moving as fast as we can and find some hills where there is sure to be cave or underground tunnels". The man from before nodded before replying, "I happen to know just the place, further west of here there's a ruins of a village, centered around a dry oasis, there's still a couple of dwellings that have stood the test of time, we could take shelter there". Salim did not even think of refuting his guide and gently pushed aside the man and looked behind to the rest of his prospectors company.

"We are going to seek shelter until the desert storm abates, there's a ruined village nearby to the west, follow me!", with that order, he turns to the west and started walking towards the direction his guide had pointed before, he could only hope they they could arrive to the ruins in time.

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Summary:-
-Lady Iraa began preparing for her diplomatic trip to the elven kingdom of Sith'ari

-Meanwhile, a group of explorers and prospectors are searching the deep deserts for more uncovered resources

[Merenaz Caliphate]

Ishtafar,
Slums District,
Headquarter of the Crimson Dagger


Throughout the history of the Aremians, stories have been told, mostly to scare children into obedience. The stories of a group of murderers who are half men, and half desert monsters, or of a creature of shapeshifting nature that preys on little boys or girls who misbehave and eat them alive, more often than not, this story has a grain of truth about it. The story of the desert demons that snatches those who misbehaved and ripped them apart were based upon an ancient order whose existence were paralleled to that of the Ammarid Sultanate, thankfully however the Ammarid's fall did not affect this ancient order, in fact it merely found a new master to served, the grand caliphs of the Merennians.

Its ancient fortress were once situated in the harshest depths of the desert, in an abandoned fort. Since the invasion of Varinus's undead hordes, this ancient order had to abandoned their headquarters and now seek refuge with the caliphate, in return for their service. And what is this service? espionage, subterfuge and assassination. The Hashashins are the caliphate's agents of death. Whenever the caliphate deems that a threat may be neutralize with one single blade on the right person, the Hashashins will be the ones to do it.

There are three Hashashin's guilds in the city of Ishtafar where these hired murderers feel most at home, but the largest and the most powerful of the three guilds is the order of the Crimson Dagger, currently being led by one Zaeed Aswad. Zaeed is an influential man who has had history dealings with the caliphate itself, in fact they were also instrumentals in Addib's struggle to free the Aremians from the Ammarid Sultanate. Zaeed is describe as a man in his fourties with the height of five foot ten inches of with a surprisingly pale complexion as opposed to the brown complexion of desert dwellers. A deep scar on his left eye, now blinded and deep blue eye on the right. He is always seen within the Crimson's Dagger compound, hooded and cloaked and only very few of these Hashashins and the caliph himself has seen his face.

Currently Zaeed is standing over the balcony of the interior guild house, looking down upon the training grounds. A couple of neophytes were having mock battles with daggers, scimitars and all manner of strange and exotic weaponry with a couple of instructors watching over them, making sure that no permanent harm were done in the process of their training. Suddenly, a shadow emerge from behind Zaeed, it crept up slowly at him, seemingly trying to caught the old guildmaster by surprise.

"I see you have returned Aisha", a smile crept up slowly across his face but instead of turning to meet the person behind him, he was fine with watching over the training ground down below. "...did you accomplish your mission?"

From the dark corner emerge a woman, cloaked and hooded as well. She wore a leather cuirass with long overflown mantle. Some part of the cloak and mantle were a bit torn off either as a fashion sense of the Hashashins or merely because she had been into so many fights that she did not even bother to repair her wardrobe malfunction. Either way, her outfit reveals a curvacious figure perhaps meant to lure or distract her opponents and such but beneath that long and see-through black nylon sleeve is a 1 foot long hidden blades on each side of her arm, a katar as the Hashashins called it is a popular weapons amongst Hashashins.

Her voluptuous lips smile coyly at Zaeed's question as she took her place beside him and observe the training of the neophyte's below. "That merchant won't cause our client anymore problem, that you can be assured off".

Zaeed nodded before turning his attention away and started walking down the corridor with Aisha following her. "Time are changing Aisha, I have received words that our good caliph, Khaleed has decided to open our borders to foreign trade. This presents us with many more opportunity", suddenly, the guildmaster stops dead in his track and produces a scroll from beneath his cloak and gives it to Aisha.

"What's this? another mission? and I had only gotten back?", Aisha said with a sulking tone in her voice, obviously disappointed that she wasn't allowed the break she deserves, "No, not really a mission, more of an observation I give you this scroll together with your new identity as well as some money to spend, you may enjoy yourself on this well deserved holiday of yours, but I want your eyes and ears in this place". His cold tone suggests that he won't accepts no for an answer, not that any of the Hashashins would since they'll be pay more of the commission than the guild would get.

She sighed before furling the scroll and tucking the pouch of gold on her waist belt, "fine, I'll do it, but this is too easy an assignment, what exactly would you like me to look for anyway?", she asked. A black raven flew in and perched itself upon the railings of the balcony next to Zaeed, and as if distracted by its presence he stare at the raven for awhile before responding to her.

"Did you know that ravens are bearers of war and calamity? at the very least, that is what our people believed in...", he smirked at such notion and turn his attention back to the corridor up ahead, "...you'll know what to look for when you found it". He said as he walked down the corridor leaving the confused Hashashin behind.
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Summary:-

-Introduction to the order of the Crimson Dagger

-Aisha, top agent of the Hashashins serving the caliphate was sent to a secret mission with its location classified

[Tribes of Kurgan]

The Road to Sithari; edges of the Dead Land's:
It struck without warning. Captain Azim didn't even see the animal, just a flash of mangy, matted, black fur as the creature charged the lead horse. There was the scream of horses as the creature lunged forward, teeth sinking into the haunches of the animal. The animal toppled over, pinning it's rider beneath the screaming mount. The moonlight briefly illuminated the wolf, fresh blood coating his snout, or at least that's what Azim thought it was.

Azim realized that the fur of the wolf was writhing as maggots crawled across it's skin. The animal had long since died, the stench that came off the beast made Azim nearly retch. Only it's eyes held the mockery of life that lurked within them as the undead wolf turned its attention towards the pinned rider after ripping the throat out of the horse. Quickly the soldiers scream's were intensified to blood curdling as the wolf pounced, biting down onto his belly to rip forth the ropey entrails that dwelt within. The wolf wasn't alone as the rest of the pack pounced. Despite the fact that the riders were not directly within the Dead Land's, it was obvious that the minions of Varinius had left their familiar hunting grounds for new prey.

'' Protect the Lady! '' He roared to the rest of the company as bloody combat exploded around the edges of the carriage that housed her. It would be twenty minutes before the beasts had been driven off, four more of the escort having fallen victim to the massive jaws of the animals for the price of two of the wolves. They had seemed indestructible, taking blow upon blow that would have felled any normal creature. Poor Yusef had been dragged off into the depths of the darkness, his screams continuing as the creatures devoured him out of sight.

'' What do we do? '' Asked one of Azim's men, listening to Yusef's cries for mercy and aid.

'' We push on while they are distracted with him. Move! '' It was a hard choice but one that had to be made nonetheless. The party had chosen to move at night specifically so that they would not have to waste time being so close to such an evil place. But still they had been scarred by the dead wizard's madness. The party continued onwards throughout the night and for most of the next day. Barely pausing to stop and water the horses before they were back in the saddle. Before long they had arrived at the vast edges of the Sith'ari forest. It wouldn't be long before one of the rangers picked up on the party and allowed Lady Irra to proceed with her negotiations.


Summary:
Despite being attacked on the roads from creatures belonging to the Dead Land's, the party holding Lady Irra reaches the safety of the Sithari Woods.

[Merenaz Caliphate]

Telmatalhamar,
Residential District,
Marketplace


The marketplace of Telmatalhamar has always provided the city with abundance of resources to the common folks, particularly cooking materials, luxury and common goods, reading materials as well as furniture and such. It didn't come as a surprise that the marketplace has become a place for the city's inhabitants to socialize and catch up on the news from all over the caliphate, be it from their neighbors living down the blocks or from merchants who have seen parts of the world , bring with them wondrous tales from abroad.

Marwan and Yazeed are two young boys in their nineteenth years of age this year, and just like everyone else's their own age, they dream of grandeur or making a name for themselves and while not really slums rat themselves, they have been known to cause mischief in their neighborhood. Marwan is older two months than Yazeed and while they have no blood relation whatsoever, they have this uncanny resemblance to each other which makes it almost difficult to believe that they're not twins or at least siblings.

The two walked down the middle paved road of the marketplace as their eyes scan the busy area. People of all walks of life came here especially in the morning to buy groceries and whatnot. "So, have you decided to join caliphate guardsmen?", Marwan asked as he pushed back his short straight hair to the back of his head as some of it has begun to get into his eyes due to the strong winds billowing today.

"Yes...", Yazeed said as he suddenly turns to one corner of the marketplace towards a stall nearby selling fruits. He took one an apple from the table of the stall and looked at it carefully. "You're going to buy that?", a burly of a man greets them impolitely, probably the stall owner thinking that Yazeed might wants to steal he apple and given their mischievous reputation as a teenager, the stall owner is probably right in being cautious. But Yazeed knew better and he is older now, so he took a coin from the pouch attached to his belt and flip it to the stall owner who catches it instantaneously before it dropped to the ground.

"Why? don't we have a good life here anyway?", Marwan continues to ask his friend regarding his decision to join the guardsmen. "your father is a merchant and mine is a craftsmen and now owning his own pottery, we're living a good life and before long we're going to inherit our father's business". Once Yazeed had taken a bite or two, he turned his attention to Marwan and smirked.

"No, my friend, I do not want to become a merchant, I wanted to travel the world, I wanted a life of adventure, not to be locked up in a study room counting profits and losses everyday", Yazeed answered before taking another bite of the apple. They were walking down the marketplace in what seem to be mindlessly roaming around but in truth Yazeed was the one leading the way, "after all, as I recall, last year during your own birthday, you said you don't want to become a potter"

"That was then, when we were younger but now-" before Marwan could finished his sentence, yazeed stopped dead in his track, his eyes fixated upon the building in front of him where people as young as they are lining up at the entrance. A military officer of the caliphate guardsmen is sitting at the bench and the table in front of him is filled with papers.

"Here we are, my friend, time to make your decision, would you follow me and join the guardsmen or led that dull and boring life as a potter?", It would seem that Yazeed had purposely led the way to the city's barracks, and now is the recruitment season for the caliphate guardsmen. Marwan sighed and shook his head, as it seems his friend doesn't even give him a choice knowing full well that he'll follow Yazeed just so to make sure he won't get himself into any trouble. "Fine, I'll join but only because I promise your sister awhile ago to make sure you won't get into any trouble".

"Great!", with that mischevious smile of his, Yazeed carefreely walks to the entrance of the barracks and signed his name on one of the paper form. Marwan watched in disappointment at his lack of resolve and then followed suit.

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Summary:-
-A brief introduction to Marwan and Yazeed, soon to play a major role in caliphate's history

-The two youths join the caliphate guardsmen, hoping for an adventurous life