Zazimar

Zazimar has been the Empire of Trynser’s implacable enemy on the southern continent of Dantenna. The chief causes of dispute between the two nations were the concept and use of slavery.
== Geography ==
Zazimar is located at the far northwest of the continent of Dantenna. It is mostly a sub-tropical country, lying from 34o north to18o north, and from 337o to 351o latitude Trynsern reckoning, or 23 to 9 degrees east of Trynser City.
The majority of the country is located on a plateau that extends from Zazimar, south and west of the Trynsern kingdoms to southern Sapoth and extends all the way down to the southern borders of Kathaad. Fed from the peaks of Askark’s Bones, the Rizamissar River slices through the plateau from the southeastern corner of the nation through to the coastal plains to the northwest. For much of the passage, the river has cleft mighty canyons through the sandstone of the plateau. At Assadra, the river cascades down a great fissure and flows briskly underground for about eighty miles until it springs forth at Sangshoin.
Aside from the dramatic passage of the Rizamissar River, the rest of the plateau is a hot, dry, stony inhospitable wasteland devoid of human life aside from the isolated towers of wizards and sorcerers, remote monasteries, hermit’s hovels, and hellish mines. Aside from this, there is a road overland from Sangshoin to Assadra, a much more sane route than attempting to flow with the underground passage of the Rizamissar.
The plateau drops abruptly down to coastal lowlands about a hundred miles from the sea on the western side of the coast, though at the northeastern coast, the highlands extend much closer, at some points dropping several hundred feet straight into the Intamerack Sea. These highlands mark the border between Zazimar and Casterria, and they are scarred with forts, trenches, cemeteries and the craters, wall and fissures made by powerful magic. The cities along the northeastern frontier are fortresses from which assaults on the Empire of Trynser are launched.
The coastal lowlands are barely more hospitable than the plateau. The vegetation that grows along the coast and the Rizamissar River valley can not be considered lush, but it is more than adequate to support Zazimar’s population when combined with the haul of fish from the seas and river. It is here that the vast city-states of the nation are located. At the foot of the plateau, the lowlands are generally rocky and sandy desert.
The highest peaks of Zazimar are at the southeastern corner, along the border of the mountainous territory known only as Askark’s Bones.
== Government ==
The head of Zazimaran government is a person known as the hashama, who is an executive elected by a council of electors, the identities of whom are not all generally known. The hashama is voted in every four years and rules with absolute authority. There are only restrictions against taking direct action against electors. However, he is subject to annual votes of confidence from the electors to keep his position. Often not surviving a vote of confidence means not surviving in general.
Upon election, the hashama is freed from any prior enslavement, but is then duly enslaved to the nation.
Important posts such as generals and admirals, governors of cities, and others are given and held at the pleasure of the hashama.
== People ==
There are several native peoples of Zazimar who have distinct ethnic features. Less than half can be considered pureblood anymore, plus there are slaves from all around the world spilling their bodily fluids into the gene pool. There is no correlation between ethnicity and social level, and the ethnicities are now spread throughout the nation with a slight predominance in their home territories. Still the cultures of the people who came from a particular area prevail still in that area.
*The Masaabra have deep reddish brown skin and white or light blue hair. Furthermore they are marked by a dark brown or black pattern along their spines and around the tops of their heads. They are native to the foothills of the mountains to the southeast.
*The Gazkii developed along the coast; they have red skin with small nasal bridges and pronounced epicanthic folds and blonde hair. They are rarely over five feet tall. They are also found in Casterria.
*The Sheefili have tan colored skin and tend towards red and orange hair. They are descended from nomads of the plateau.
== Culture ==
The first thing many foreigners think of when they think about Zazimar culture is slavery. The institution is deeply ingrained at all levels of Zazimar culture, with even many of those sitting in council in the government or leading their armies or fleets against their enemies being slaves. Indeed, the wealthiest individuals living in this nation are slaves, being owned by a coalition of others to run their joint business, a situation not too dissimilar from a ridiculously wealthy CEO being beholden to his shareholders.
Still, the vast majority of the slaves that make up 84% of Zazimar’s population are mere chattel, busting their tails working in the fields, orchards, ships, mines, and homes of their owners. There are no civil rights guaranteed to the slaves, or indeed the free citizens as well. Masters have the absolute freedom to buy, sell, breed, batter, rape, humiliate, or murder their slaves at whim without penalty whatsoever. As noted in an above example, a slave may be owned by multiple owners; for example, a corporation; a temple; or the nation as a whole, such as is the case with the Zazimaran military.
Children of slaves are born slaves, and children of free people are born free, though it is possible for one to go from one status to the other. It is, of course, much easier for a free man to become a slave than vice versa. One may be enslaved for crimes or debt, one may buy or sell their own freedom or that of those he or she is responsible for, or one may voluntarily surrender their freedom to become slaves of the temples or the state to serve in the military, a route that may have more opportunities for the desperate.
For all of Trynser’s scorn about the miserable condition of Zazimar’s masses, there is actually more opportunity for advancement and greatness for any one individual in Zazimar than in Trynser, as long as one is none too particular about how many heads you have trod upon to get to the top or the things you do to please your master. A slave that proves him or herself valuable may well soon find themselves out of the fields and into the decidedly more comfortable homes of their masters. Of course, one could fall down just as easy or easier than one could rise. Still, a slave’s hope that he could advance to greater rewards drives him or her to perform better and often discourages escape.
Slaves have value. The cruelty that masters are free to inflict upon them is tempered by the common sense that their treatment will affect their performance. If you break all your tools, it’s harder to get work done. The threat of punishment is more effective than the punishment itself. And the promise of reward could incite better performance. Slaves are traded among their masters like other valuable commodities. An owner may have no use for a good house slave, but he’ll realize that he could get two good field slaves in exchange from his neighbor. Slaves themselves may own other slaves, and many do, though their owners may take those slaves for themselves with a simple declaration.
There is a lot more to Zazimaran culture than slavery, of course. Culture is affected by local conditions, and the local conditions are that the sun is almost always burning down from the sky and searing the ground below one’s feet. Rain is a rare treat except for during the infrequent but ferocious late summer monsoons. So the people have adapted to the desert much like they always do. They keep to the shade if they can help it, whether inside a building, under a parasol carried by slaves, or under their own garments. The lack of humidity brings out mud as a useful construction material. Zazimaran architecture is airy, spacious, and shady, with rooms connected by yawning portals instead of being shut behind doors. Water is precious, and overindulgence in hard spirits, which are dehydrating, is avoided.Zazimar is an ancient culture that has developed rich traditions of faith and magic over thousands of years.
The primary language of Zazimar is Zazimaran. It is a distinct tongue with different roots than the other major languages of Edyleine.
Cities
*Sangshoin
*Assadra
*Kellusk
*Zephamegren
*Daklitzi
*Vagratchl
Category:lands
Category:Zazimar