Aksaray

## The Thanocracy of Aksaray

The Black Road into Aksaray. Image by Lok Du.

Formed in the early years after the fall of the Shogunate and before the rise of the Scarlet Empress, the Thanocracy of Aksaray evolved from the death cults of the Flamepeak jungles. Long had the Aksaran peoples venerated their ancestors, and it was from three high priestesses that the nation arose: Chao Rani **Ketsana**, Priestess of the Flame; **Withered Aconite**, Virago of the Yellow Springs, and **Indradevi**, She Who Brought Peace.

Banding their tribes together, they formed an empire that - while reduced under the influence of the Realm and the immaculate order - still retains ancient majesty and tradition.

#### Geography & Economy

Aksaray is a landlocked nation of high mountain meadows surrounded by lowland swamps and forests. Trade routes into and out of the mountain kingdom are extremely limited, leaving visitors with caravans only two major modes of entry: **The Black Road**, between Aksaray and Hyrcania, or the secondary **Road of Worn Coins** stretching toward The Lap and An-Teng. While the Road of Long Coins is a more direct route to civilization outside the Flamepeaks, the constant jungle growth and heavy rains make the un-cobbled road hazardous. As such, the kingdom maintains regular trade relations with Hyrcania despite tariffs, due to Hyrcania's maintenance of The Black Road's stonework.

The capital city of Aksaray is perched on a cliffside high above the orchards and rice fields of the lowlands; a city of black stone, tall towers, and residents that never sleep. As day shifts to night and the shops would normally close, the living leave to take their leisure as their ghostly relatives take over, cooking and entertaining for long-dead nobility seeking earthly pleasures denied them outside of a shadowland such as Aksaray. At any hour of night or day, the city bustles and entertainment can be found - though often the entertainments have a morbid bend not to the liking of outsiders.

Much of the city-state's territories are minor Shadowlands, allowing the living and dead to transit between Creation and the Underworld during night or day. The Creation-facing parts of Aksaray are known as **Sunlit Aksaray**, while the underworld portions are referred to as **Shadowed Aksaray.**

Aksaray's primary export is **Aksaran Clay**, a subtance found only in the city-state and its surrounding villages. When properly treated and fired - a process known only to the Aksarans, despite The Guild's best efforts to the contrary - the clay becomes as hard as steel yet as light as cork. It is highly sought after for weapons, armor, and high-durability parts for ships such as machine gears and metal-bottoming on ships known to ply worm-infested waters. Aksaray's other exports are funerary services and goods, such as spirit money, incense, and exorcists. Mundane goods include paper-making, weaving, and mundane pottery.

#### Customs and Traditions

Aksaray is, as the name suggests, ruled jointly by the living and the dead. Their central institution is the **Conclave of Gaunts**, made of 100 elected individuals both living and dead. While elections are free and open, in practice most of the Conclave is chosen by the influence of the **High Necromancers**, the five most powerful sorcerers in the nation, who serve as adjudicators and executives over the decisions reached by the Conclave.

Aksarans are an insular people by nature, owing to the limited routes into and out of the mountain kingdom. Their humor tends toward the wild or the bleak, acknowledging either the futility of life or exhorting the living to enjoy themselves while they can, for death is certain.

#### Notable Laws and Superstitions:

* Slavery of the living is allowed, but not the dead; the dead are considered to have paid their dues.
* Those who feast with their doors open are signalling that all who pass by are welcome to come and eat. This is an especially common tradition during Calibration.
* It is bad luck to speak the names of those who have died and become Hungry Ghosts, as they may hear you and come to devour you. Intelligent ghosts have been known to curse their relatives who have lost their minds.
* Camellia flower tea is a common drink in the evening; a bitter tea made from the bark of local trees is most commonly consumed in the morning.
* White rice is not eaten in Aksaray, as the people believe it to be a food fit only for the dead. They eat brown rice or millet instead.