Ghalais

Overview Gameplay and Locations Ecology
**Ghalais,** referred to as **Alz Madinat** by the natives, is a terrestrial planet located in the far south of Alaniae, located south of the intersection of the Path of Kings and the Path of the Coalition. It is the largest moon of a gas giant, with its orbit is within the habitable zones of both its parent star and the planet it orbits, barring radiation from the gas giant itself during the nights of the world. It is dominated by a single supercontinent that covers nearly half of the world’s surface, with the vast interior of the continent's completely covered by either flat rolling deserts, strange grasslands or mountainous plateaus, all of which bearing a unique and strange ecology adapted to survive against the heat, dehydration, and nightly radiation bombardment.

Settled and isolated under several different attempts by both the Abzuan Empire and local Trillic interests, only a few minor pastoral and tribal settlements remained when the world was discovered again in 12 NE, with the majority of peoples on the world being the natives, a local species known by the settlers as the *Medineers*. While the settled population is around a million around the coasts of the continent, it is believed that the desert-predominant Medineers may exceed seventy million in a number of nomadic tribes, kingdoms and other statelets that hold no official claim over the world as a whole. Their outlooks towards the colonists or the outside galaxy is unknown.

While not the most hospitable world, Ghalais has shown the capacity to be a profitable colonial effort; beyond the potential development found in much of its ecology, recovered surveys have concluded that the interior of the continent is a resource-rich zone of countless precious metals, hydrocarbons, and potential Abzuan artifacts from their various missions and expeditions to the planet. While still a backwater planet and relatively isolated, it has been noted that spacers in the region have been making more and more contact with the locals of the world, often using the planet as a stopping point for their operations. The colonist settlements, although regressed to more primitive technologies, are often aware of the presence of the galaxy at large, making them somewhat pliable to outside interference.

## Culture and Politics

Besides what little is known of the Medineers, information from spacer locals has uncovered that several culture-groups have formed and diverged from one another within the various "colonial natives"- the descendants of the various colonial efforts sent by numerous organizations such as the Aoshanti Empire or the Trillic Khaganate. Most of the city-states and other communities found in Ghalais are monotypical in their species, with significant exceptions being nexuses of trade and commerce such as Zef Arrim.

Of the cultures, three are most predominant:

* The **Ecledi** are the most prominent of the three major cultures, found across the eastern coast and across the various islands of the eastern seaboard. Known for their domination of the seas and of general commerce, the Ecledi are descended from the Trillic who first settled the world around twenty thousand years hence. An unimaginable amount of cultural and genetic drift has occurred since their split with the more southerly Daichin, believed to have occurred around five millennia ago, and even further so from the earliest Trillic settlements. One explanation that has been commonly shared between Ecledi peoples is a loose origin story of their culture, describing a messianic figure known as *Buri* leading a chosen slave people up the coast and away from the mires of their oppressors.
Examples of Ecledi settlements include:
	+ Zef Arrim, a major city-state and preeminent maritime power in the eastern seas.
* The **Daichin** are another dominantly-Trillic culture, but has found increasing popularity and integration among local Aoshanti communities within the southern territories within which they are found, most especially within the marshlands of the Vas Namag region. They are often organized into clan-based confederations and monarchies similar to traditional Trillic societies, usually lead by a khagan or warlord. They are well-known for their agricultural traditions, with the clan nobility maintaining vast plantations ran by a mixture of local clansmen, indentured servants, and slaves. While not unified by any means, they are a solid coalition with mutual interests, making up for their lack of a maritime tradition against their opponents with the vast number of trained warriors that they are capable of fielding.
Examples of Daichin settlements include:
	+ Maligol, capital of the Bamirian Khaganate.
* Least prominent and least involved with the colonial native politics of Ghalais, the **Janarians** are the dominant Aoshanti culture of the world, and most resemble their ancestors in practice and culture. Despite the Abzuan ruins that many of the cities are built upon, Janarian Aoshanti are believed to be descended from Makhairan colonists that arrived on the planet approximately during the fall of the Makhairan Empire. Spread across the vast plains of the western coast in feudal polities and minor city-states, a majority of the Janarian culture is constituted in the Vadian Empire, a disorganized coalition of various kingdoms, republics, and other entities whose attempts and interests in influencing the region in their respective ways have caused the empire to struggle to maintain itself, having collapsed or suffered schisms at least three times prior to the modern era. However, their continued use and practice of adept psionic techniques and training have ensured that their small populations can continue to survive without being subjected to conquest by other peoples.
Examples of Janarian settlements include:
	+ Apicemia, de-facto capital of the Vadian Empire.

While rumors and myths have circulated throughout the ages about a Tesari attempt at settlement or conquest of Ghalais, no evidence has emerged that confirms these claims.

### Currency

While all three cultures use generally separate forms of economies, a generally accepted currency has been used between the peoples for as long as any can remember, allowing for simple commerce between the three radically distinct regions without conversion. **Unets** (տ) are copper, silver, or gold coins with a hole punched into their centers to allow for them to be easily carried on rope or metal rings at one’s waist. In history, more exotic materials were used in unet minting, though their rarity in the modern day has raised the prices of those coins.

### Abzuan Artifacts

Ghalais is said by spacers to be "chocked to the brim" with all sorts of artifacts and remains of Abzuan presences on the world, with some of the recovered artifacts believed to have come from as early as the the Early Empire itself. Why Abzu was so interested in the deserted planet was unknown, but their legacy has lasted for countless millennia, with some of the most notable cities of the colonial natives having been founded on or near ancient Aoshanti structures and temples.

## Ecology

*For more information: Ecology of Ghalais*
Despite the various waves of invasive species brought to the planet by Trillic and Aoshanti settlers, along with those recently introduced by spacers in the last decade, the native life of Ghalais has done well to accommodate these into the extremely diverse biosphere found on the exterior of the continent. While atmospheric scans of the interior of the continent reveal that the majority of it is arid desert and rocky, it is still believed to be just as flourishing with strange as the rest of the planet.

From native species such as the diminutive Dirt Rabbits to the powerful Karkadon, to life from other worlds that has since adapted to Ghalaian ecosystems, there are many different species of fauna for one to document and study. With regard to flora as well, many different kinds of flowering plants and fungi have been found to be exceptionally potent medicinal properties that have made them notably sought after by local doctors and medicinal practitioners.

### "Magic" life

Among the most peculiar of the groups of organisms found on Ghalais are a strange clade of microscopic organisms colloquially referred to as **"Magic"** due to their innate psionic properties and abilities to conduct various forms of psiotypes to manipulate their environment. Magics are regarded with spiritual significance among the various Trillic peoples, who believe them to be divine forces.

## Trivia

* Ghalais is an explorable and colonizable setting. Please speak to Tenorice if interested!