Kedoua

The Kedouin lands are essentially huge deserts and wasteland regions controlled by the Kedouin people, who are nomadic, elusive, and difficult to deal with.
However, they serve an important function: the "Lost Continent" of Izagone rests in the sea a bit to the east of the Kedouin lands.
The Kedouins, being a fairly primitive people, but one that excels in bargaining, are the only race to date to successfully contact and trade with the Izagoni, and the spices, textiles and jewelry that they bring north to the Teljuks makes their irritating raids, refusal to submit to the authority of the Teljuks, and occasional ten-thousand-strong invasions much more tolerable.
Kedoua is a deceptively named geographic entity.
Firstly, it isn't 
solely ruled by any one entity. In fact, it isn't ruled at all. Kedoua 
is essentially a massive desert. Most of the country is water-deprived, 
sandy, and sparsely inhabited.
The Kedouins are not one tribe, 
but a whole ethnic group of linguistically similar nomads, who inhabit 
the massive wasteland, and mostly deal in trading goods from one coast 
to another. They are not densely numerous, but the sheer size of Kedoua 
makes them an enormous force to be reckoned with in war, as every man 
and woman is expected to lift a bow or blade to defend their right to 
rule the desert.
Kedouins are swarthy folk with dark hair and 
dark eyes, but lighter colorations are not unknown. For a long time, it 
was common for exiles and adventurers from Western Vosca to travel East 
to Kedoua in search of adventure. Many such warriors were adopted into 
nomadic tribes, married local women, and vanished into the sands, the 
only evidence of their passing the armor and weapons wielded by their 
descendants.
As a whole, the Kedouins are not interested in 
conquest. They love their deserts, and they are perfectly content to 
dwell in them forever, controlling the great trade routes, and living 
from oasis to oasis. From time to time, though, a warlord can convince 
the many thousands of men in the tribes under his control to sweep 
outwards and seize territory. This is a threat that the Karthacks are 
constantly aware of, and in many ways are more concerned about than of 
the Marju.
=== Culture ===
The deserts of Kedoua are huge and expansive, and very difficult to navigate. Sandstorms are frequent, and the hunting grounds of the Great Black Ones (giant scorpions) are difficult to distinguish without a trained eye. The tribes rely on their Hava and Camels to traverse the great sands quickly and to escape attacks by beasts or by rival tribes. Cooperation is utterly essential to survival there--and every man must know how to wield a bow and a sword if they are to live to a ripe old age. Even the women are expected to be able to use spears if the need arises.
Their society is built up around familial obligations within the tribe. Every family has certain rights that cannot be infringed, but also certain obligations that cannot be shirked. Every man must fight for the tribe when the chieftain commands it, and every family must receive an equal share of water at the oases before any individual enterprise begins. The families are patriarchal, with men often having several wives depending on their status (high mortality among men often makes this necessary) and a very complex network of inheritance rights that sometimes turn brothers against one another.
The result is a very close-knit but sometimes violent society that is used to infighting under controlled conditions. Despite their very martial nature, it takes a lot to actually move multiple tribes to war--the Kedouans are leery of working with other tribes for anything grander than a hunt, but occasionally foreign violence (or the promise of great plunder) can motivate tribes to unite under a War Chief for some great battle.
Of course for all this about them being nomadic peoples, that's really only the ones Voscans meet. The Kedouans do have cities. In the East, several small states have risen up to trade with the Izagoni--who for some reason have given them exclusive access to their wares, which include coffee, miraculous perfumes, ivory, magestone, and pearls. The Kedouans offer them horses, hava, cotton, slaves, and (recently) firearms. The Izagoni are reportedly very unhappy about the lattermost, but buy them anyway.
These trade cities refuse to deal with outsiders except during certain times of the year, and most of the time only sell to their nomadic kin, who then travel west to sell for higher prices in the Interior Sea at Berkhuka or (sometimes) Jenoesa.
These cities have limited influence and power, and occasionally nomadic war tribes will invade them and displace the sedentary people, but usually, that just results in a change in ownership, and business continues as usual.
The Kedouans religions are polytheistic for the most part--they don't have a unified system of beliefs, but many gods, some of whom include the sun and the moon. Sometimes missionaries from Genosian or Dessian lands succeed in converting a tribe to one or the other, but they haven't really gotten a foothold there yet.Category:Countries
Category:Tujanca