Sitaram

**Sitaram** is a major region in West Mannea. It remains fairly undeveloped compared to the East.

The Underworld is concentrated strongest here.

## Geography

### Regions

* Ameram
* Chiandar
* Majarkana (The Droughtlands)

### Cities

* Adram
* Asmod
* Balabala
* Dantha
* Gahenadesh
* Moloccho
* Diz

### Rivers and lakes

* Phelogatha River
* Lethevathi River
* Achenab River
* Kositasi River / Lake Kosi
* Ixstys River

## Political

After the fall of Gerishna's Tetrarchy, two rival dromuts declared for the tyranny and went to war in Sitaram. Their factions became divided geographically by North and South. After the conflict subsided with more damage and no clear victor, the South splintered into independent city-states but was unconquerable by the unitary North, which had solidified under a new dromut alpha (who ruled for as long as his successor could be patient).

### North Sitaram

The North is dromut territory, savannah, plains, scarcity, and war. Warlords leading raider clans rove the plains, pillaging villages for plunder or captives to bring to their work camps. The Northern Sorjachani are beholden to the belief that mankind is inferior and must be controlled. Orthodox belief in the socraj is strong here, as are the yogara loyal to the dromut hierarchs and their fiefdoms.

Lords of the North forced demon brands on their slaves, making thrall armies who answered solely to their masters. The Northern Sorjachani wanted to crush the will of mankind through terror and force.

### South Sitaram

The Marooned demons of the South are considered more liberal or, by some standards "benevolent", settling Hephestia with the expectation of long-term, seeking not the domination of mankind, just its exploitation. The Southern demons are concerned with reaping the pleasures of their new world rather than orchestrating its enslavement. Pacts of mutual exchange with clientele are the main form of currency. Diz and Gahenadesh are located here.

Lords of South believe outright domination will alienate the mortals and backfire. As accidental residents of Hephestia, conquest must be engineered through intrigue and commerce. By manipulating and exploiting their enemies' natural vices, they can tactically subvert mankind without ostracizing or annihilating them.

## History

* Sitaram wants slaves in trade to work their plantations
* Liashan wants magic & wards in trade
* Liashan trades with the North for magic in the form of wards, which the elves copied into scrolls. They still required mana to operate the wards, though.
* [India Potato Famine] weakens Sitaram and kills off most of its population.

### [India Potato Famine]

* Sitaram begins to mono-crop [potato] as a super food for every use.
* A major famine wipes out the [potato], causing a food shortage resulting in the deaths of millions of people and animals.
* Cockatrices rise in popularity, despite their temperament, because their carnivorous diet spared them the onslaught of the famine.

### Ahhalian Empire

* The High Triune of the dromut Baltenazga seduced the desperate Ahhalians into serving them, promising them salvation from the [Famine] with the use of Blood Magic.
* Ahhalians sweep in and conquer Sitaram in the name of the tyrant.
* Liashan wants wards and magic, and has been cut off.
* The Ahhalians bask in their covenant with the demons, supplying their countless blood debts with the lives of their slaves. The demons happily exploit the natives and demand worship of their own.
* Ahhalians, emboldened by their demonic sponsors, spread across the Ritos Sea.
* Ahhalian Empire rules Sitaram for generations. One of their pillaging raids claims the life of the future King Ushar's mother, orphaning him.
* Ahhalians employ orc reavers to collect blood tithes.

### Red Harvest of DATE

With their supplies of blood low, Tyrant Irashniya ordered the immediate collection of nearly thirty-percent of his and all his followers' outstanding blood debts to replenish the blood pools. Reavers were deployed across the country to slaughter anyone with a demon brand, gathering their bleeding husks to be ripped apart, bled for the mana in their blood, and their skin tanned for leather.

The massacre left Sitaram weeping with blood for months.

### Ushar's Rebellion

– Consumed with a hatred for the Ahhalians that brutalized his mother and their insidious patrons, Ushar committed his life to slaying demons, hunting archdemons and their minions and inspiring others to revolt against them as well.

– The peoples of Sitaram collaborate with [Marooned] sorjachani and overthrow the centralized power of the High Triune, dissolving the Ahhalian dominion and slaying the reigning tyrant, leaving a vacuum of ruthlessly ambitious rivals to tear into the feudal Underworld. As Sitaram fell into chaos, Ushar despaired.

– Giving up hope on Sitaram, Ushar took his followers on four arks and a flotilla of ships and set sail away from Sitaram, vowing to return and reclaim his homeland from the demons. First, Ushar would unite all peoples of the world under a single banner. His bloodline would carry on his vow, founding the Empire of Ushanra in his name and seeding the Blood of Ushar amongst humanity's allies.

– Ushar's Rebellion toppled the Ahhalians in {area}. He settled the city of Yedanopol, a vanguard of Diabran faith.

### After-Ushar

– Sitaram still wants slaves, but [Spain] is cut off as a source, as the Ushanrans (the descendants of Ushar) blocked the slave-lines from Lugaria to Sitaram across the Ritos Sea.

– Sitaram wants slaves again, to rebuild its farming empire, as well as give the sorjachani a labor force and blood supply.

– The Hansean Shalmorate establishes trade relations with Sitaram to acquire magic & wards in the wake of Amaranth's embargo on elven goods. The Hansean enslave and sell captured Fidan elves to Sitaram, as well as begin to export indigenous crops and exotic animals to the faraway land.

– Sitaram and the Hansean elves exchange cultures and ideas; demons migrate freely between the two countries. With the Hansean's blessing, the demons begin to scour Liashan's forests for arcane treasures to present back to the Shalmoren. Their failure to uncover anything of vital magical power in Besperia convinces many of the demons to abandon their expeditions.

## Notes

Sitaram is culturally and geographically similar to Africa and India.

Congo Basin (Sitaram) vs. Amazon Basin (Besperia)

• Sitarans use shurikens and chakrams as weapons.

• Sitaram is the native homeland of mangoes.

• Sitaram is famous for its rugs.

• Peoples in Sitaram tame elephants.

### Fashion

Sari dress, henna body art, and elaborate piercings (nostril piercings in particular). Lapisan elves have adopted these.

Nostril piercings' chain connecting to earring jewelry.

### Hair

• Arawl-segan – a common hairstyle in Sitaram worn by both men and women is the mohawk (translated to "horse's mane"), shaving both sides of the head and leaving a strip of hair in the center.

• Cornrows – a hairstyle of the elite, where the hair is braided very close to the scalp into rows.

— AKA canerows, falcon claw, cockatrice claw, cockatrice tail (for rows that are tied into a fanned bun)

• Dreadlocks – a hairstyle of matted coils of hair.

## Mount culture

### Sitaran Menagerie / Corrals

— Pedigree snobbery

•  Saddles

An identifier for social and economic stratification; the quality of materials used, where it was made, who it was made by, are all important details valued by even the least shrewd Sitaran.

—— Handmade, artisan VS cheap leather / cloth

—— Some artisans' names are recognized throughout the country.

• A man's worth is defined by how he travels.

– Animal mount (donkey, horse, elephant, cockatrice)

– Animal-drawn vehicle (carriage, wagon).

– Slave-drawn vehicle (rickshaws)

– Slave-carried palanquins.

– Elephant palanquins.

— Elephants

— Rhinos

— Camels

— Hippopotami

— Cockatrices – very temperamental and loud, carnivorous and mean. Only fare well in hot temperatures due to reptilian traits. Considered a seasonal mount, and one only the aristocracy could afford to tame for safe riding; only the vibrantly feathered, vicious males are used by the upper class, and the mild-mannered and dull brown females are often used to pull carts. After the [India Potato Famine], cockatrices became the preferred mount of many Sitarans who could not afford to feed their plant-eating companions, whose corpses they would often feed to the hungry creatures.

— Horses

— Goats

— Donkeys

— Mules, etc.

—— For large herbivores (rhinos, hippos) to be domesticated in Hephestia, no vicious predators (cheetahs, crocodiles, lions, can have co-existed with them in Sitaram to make them temperamentally hostile and defensive. For an animal to be domesticated, it needs to develop in an environment where few threats exist to give the animal a constant sense of caution, like the horse, which flourished in flatlands of Asia and the Middle East and was less suspicious of human interactions. Their Hephestian counterparts are much more docile.

— Breeders brands – animal breeders each have their own ranch brand, a symbol burned into the flank of their livestock for marketing and ownership purposes.

Rickshaws

- man-powered taxi

- man's domination over man

• Races | Hippodromes | Gambling

— All citizens might have a mount (even the poorest farmer owns a mule) but slaves would be identifiable as always walking.

— Wide streets

— Tethering accommodations on every street and outpost.

— Apartment-like stables are major centers of cities.

— Nomadic / Mobile

— Requires: large, domesticated herbivores

— Requires: large, industrious agricultural sector to provide food for animals

— Requires: large slave-run plantations

— Requires: a slave caste

## Religions

### The God of Front & Back (Holuntekar / Amonturget)

— Two faces representing the future (hopeful, imaginative, generous) and the past (stark, absolute, fair). Both have separate personalities, but are of the same being.

— The future is Chaos; the past is Order. The God of the Back gives existence form and substance, cementing it into immutability—shape; the God of the Front gives existence options, opportunities to be seized or passed up—movement.

• Require ritual bathing to purify & cleanse self.

• Rulers in Sitaram wore headdresses symbolizing the Two-Faced God, with a mask covering their face and a second covering the back of their head, giving the impression that the individual had two faces, front and back.

— The front is ivory, the back is obsidian, both inlaid with gold. To put it on, the back piece must be placed first and then the front locked onto it. To take off the headpiece, you do it backwards. "To have a future, one must have a past."

— It is symbolic that the ruler is meant to look ahead for the benefit of his people, and keep in mind who they are and where they come from.

• Stepped pyramids in Sitaram and Aiaghadth.

~ Sikhat orcs

• North Janican orcs follow a polytheistic religion, including a prominent goddess of love.

— Deities more akin to Greek gods in personifications of concepts.

– Danonkira, God of Water

– Hunda, the Goddess of Love

– Woshashin, God of Hunters

– Mamuril, God of Sand

– Grev'va, God of Poetry

– Puragga, Goddess of Horses

– Biagur, Goddess of the Moon

– Farar, God of the Sun

~ Turgutoglu / Turgotoglu – an orc founder of the Ushanra Empire, or the empire that preceded it.

• Ushanran legend which tells of a giant roc which shook fruit from a holy tree down to the earth to feed the people.

• Janican accent: Mexican/Spanish

• Janica is a crossroads for Liashan-manufactured narcotics. Janican warlords, from damoka, kategahr and hamvak alike, own the drug trade. Sitaram and Gurst suffer conflict with the drug cartels.

— Due to Janican traditional matriarchalism, cartel leaders are generally women.

— The Aorun-Camun elves secretly patronize drug smuggling and producing farms to fund their military operations, which is why they have been blacklisted by the CC.

## Names

The naming conventions of Sitaram are chains of genealogical information. The system has dominated Ushanran culture and all its constituent minorities have adopted it.

Given name • Matronymic • Mother’s name • Religious particle (blessed of) • Epithet/Surname

* **Given name** – personal name given by parents.
* **Matronymic** – this shows ancestry by the mother; use mo “son of” or zo “daughter of”.
* **Religious particle** – this relates the accepted faith of the person. It translates literally to “the” and is meant as a prefix to the epithet or surname.
	+ *ai* is Diabran
	+ *i* is [Coptic]
	+ *ul* is Stephedist, [Neo-Odaist], and [Eastern Orthodox]
	+ *es* is Eladist; *bas* is Agriagasi
	+ *var* is Vederadan
	+ *ad* is Stoneborn
* **Epithet** – a description of the individual (which may become a surname).
* **Surname** – ancestors' tribe, city, country, or any other term used to show relevance. It follows a family through several generations.

#### Examples

ex. Freyhe zo Nia zo-Malin ul-Geris ai-Mareshal

* Given name – Freyhe
* Matronymic – Nia (mother’s name) Malin ul-Geris (grandmother’s name; ul-Geris meaning ‘the Stephedist Geris’; Geris is a Biascian clan.)
* Surname – ai-Mareshal (the Diabran Mareshal; Fozengi elf).

ex. Kizzar mo Ishanah zo-Shadina bas-Kechi ai-Jibrendi

* Given name – Kizzar
* Matronymic – Ishanah (mother’s name) Shadina bas-Kechi (grandmother’s name; bas-Kechi meaning ‘the Agriagasi Kechi’)
* Surname – ai-Jibrendi (the Diabran Jibrendi).

ex. Ishanah zo Shadina zo-Terris bas-Kechi ai-Jibrendi

* Given name – Ishanah
* Matronymic – Shadina (mother’s name) Terris bas-Kechi (grandmother’s name; bas-Kechi meaning ‘the Agriagasi Kechi’)
* Surname – ai-Jibrendi (the Diabran Jibrendi).

ex. Shadina zo Terris zo-Maia bas-More bas-Kechi

* Given name – Shadina
* Matronymic – Terris (mother’s name) Maia bas-Kechi (grandmother’s name; bas-Kechi meaning ‘the Agriagasi Kechi’)
* Surname – bas-Kechi (the Agriagasi Kechi).

## {Henna}

The Mannea-Janican cultures around in Sitaram place a vibrant emphasis on [henna] body art, decorating hands, feat, and other parts of the body in the elaborate, arabesque designs. Elves, lapisans, ogres, orcs, and humans alike partake in the art, each bringing a different ancestral context to their designs that make each henna unique.

[Henna] is a personality map—it is meant to preemptively and succinctly 'introduce' people from the far-reaching lands of the Mannean empires using visual aids, characteristic design motifs signifying certain things of geographic relevance (ex. fish designs show the person lived along the coasts, and wheat stalks showed the person lived among farmers, such as in the Edal Valley), personal expression, which tell something about the person, or religious inclinations. A [henna] tells a story which is meant to be easily seen and easily understood.

[Henna] is most common on the forearms, hands and feet, but also found on the face, torso, back, shoulders, and thighs. Young children will often wear a temporary form of [henna], but when they come of adult age, they will decide on permanent [henna], choosing images that best describe them.

•    Popular as a symbolic representation is footwear, as many areas are too poor to afford proper shoes.

•    Orcs prefer red [henna], tying into a rich pastoral history that venerates the color red.

•    Some people will have glyphs written in [henna] on their body for simple spellwork.