Khamsin

The republic of Khamsin is placed north of the Empire's holdings in the Land, hosting the main forces of the Black Powder Rebels. Khamsin is currently ruled by a Council of Merchants. Khamsin was one of the first city-states to break from the Empire after the assassination of the Prophet-Magus, but was then torn apart by a civil war. The guild covets the Khamsin state, and will go to nearly any length to reabsorb this seccessionist republic back into the larger Empire.

Khamsin had ovenlike streets and many taverns. It was a town of baked brick, an odd, yellowish-gray stuff that seemed to reflect sunlight onto the streets until the pavements became hot enough to cook on. It was rare to see any greenery out on the streets. Outside of the city, the nearby settlements were protected from Mage Spawn by Huntsmen.

## Culture

The Khamsin peoples care little for the Empire, and value their freedom above all else. Khamsin kids see the Empire's soldiers as some sort of exotic Mage Spawn. The older folk have all sorts of derogatory jokes and tales of the Imperials - one, for example, tells of a mechanic who built a she-Golem, what he did to her and what she did to him - Atlanteans hate that one.

The citizens of Khamsin drank very thin, bitter beer. The local wine was so acid, it would serve better on Khamsin salads than on drinkers’ palates. The taverns of Khamsin were all much like the other - their patrons almost always divided into several categories - some were old men who had nothing better to do of an afternoon than sit in front of a beer mug. Others were career drinkers, already half-sodden. Several were younger men out of work for one reason or another.

Although healing potions are commonly administered by hedge witches and apprentice healers throughout the Land, the unique consistency of the leech Potions of Vitality brewed by the healers of Khamsin would gag even the most loathsome Orc.

A dispute between two parties, or two men, is usually decide by a pistol duel in open terrain, with the duelists standing exactly 20 paces apart - the honor of both men lies on the outcome of the duel and whether they agree to it or not. The duelists follow the Khamsin Dueling Code, a Code that makes the killing of a rival perfectly legal as long as the Gunslinger pays a death tax to the local township.

### Names

Khamsin bear names such as these:

* *Male:* Farell, Vanek.
* *Female:*

### Religion

While the Old Gods make some difference to the "outcasts of the Empire", only the goddess Sharise has maintained any real followers amongst the beleaguered warriors of Khamsin and the Northlands. As a goddess whose sole purpose is to guide dead warriors to the Underworld, sighting this beautiful, veiled goddess dressed in black silks and lace is a sure sign that a warrior is soon doomed to die. During the Khamsin Civil War, she was seen constantly by members of the varied armies fighting for the Throne of Khamsin, and those members that saw her died shortly thereafter like fail.

While Sharise is not seen as a bringer of death, but only as a messenger who guides the dead on the long and treacherous journey to the Underworld, the peoples of Khamsin and the Northlands often call upon her, or swear by her name when the need is great. There is a common saying in Khamsin : "Only Sharise knows the dark path and what lies beyond the light, and Sharise only shows her secrets to those who will never again return to tell them".

## History

### Age of Princes

In -162 Tz, Civil war erupts among the Kos. In the early spring, after a series of Warlords decided they wanted their own chance to rule the world, the Kosian Empire is torn apart from within. Territories that will one day become Prieska, Khamsin and the northern territories secede. Temanor is beheaded by his rivals, and his royal line is ritually sacrificed one after the other in a day-long ceremony. Temanor’s body is spirited out of the city by his faithful Draconum wizard, and interred in the depths of the Black Pyramid. By the end of the year, the western Kosian Empire has shattered into a hundred warring states.

In -149 Tz, Khamsin founded by King Khamita. While at first thought a lunatic for building his castle so close to the Blasted Lands, when the first balloons filled with ore from the Kuttar Depths descended onto his lands Khamita’s neighbors realized he was crazy as a fox. By taking advantage of the summer trade winds blowing down from the mountains, Khamita was able to supply valuable gold and ore to the western half of the Land without needing to pay extortionate prices to the robbers and mercenaries that frequently ambushed caravans coming down from the Kuttar Depths. His new kingdom suddenly flourished with financial wealth, at the expense of its distant trade neighbor, Venetia. King Khamita wielded the Raider's Bane for seven years against seven Orc armies. Many historians link the early survival of Khamsin with this powerful weapon.

143 Tz marks the creation of the Crown Jewels of Khamsin - the Blood of Khamsin. In order to prevent discord and false claims in coming years, King Khamita has his finest Dwarven craftsman create the crown jewels of Khamsin―a beautiful necklace. Khamita’s wizards enchant the object so the necklace glows when it is being worn or held by a true heir of Khamsin.

In -91 Tz, King Khamita dies. Dying peacefully after living a long and prosperous life, Khamita left heirs who took up the job of ensuring the financial and military security of Khamsin through the coming years. When King Khamita died in –91 Tz, Khamsin had grown into a country profiting on trade, craftsmanship, and a military determined to keep invaders and Mage Spawn at bay. The region to the southwest of Khamsin, the Principality of Three, thrived on Khamsin’s rich trade and fair tax policies.

### Age of Chaos

Before it's eventual conversion into a Magestone quarry, the village of Linzfarne was part of Khamsin's territory.

The Atlantean siege of Khamsin ended somewhere during the year of 119 Tz, when Tezla’s troops marched into the city. The folk of Khamsin revile the Guild for it to this day. Ever since Tezla's armies put King Khamita's entire lineage to the sword, no warrior has been able to lay claim to the throne of Khamsin. For the warlord lucky enough to bear the revered crown of rule, the Crown of Khamsin inspires fervor among allies and blind hatred among jealous rivals.

One of the warehouses of Khamsin was the base of operations of Black Powder Rebels in years before the Revolution, overseen by the dwarf Eginhard - sometimes, people came there for prizefights.

#### Rebellion

In 419 Tz, it took only one bullet and an eagle-eyed Revolutionary named Snow to begin a new era in the history of The Land. The assassination of the Atlantis Guild’s leading wizard, Prophet-Magus Karrudan, signaled the rise of a new power in the Land. The years of war and chaos that followed that first gunshot do not exactly tip the scales in the favor of the Rebels, meanwhile frequent, bloody battles between the Guild and the free folk of Khamsin have marked the courage and determination of an entire generation of warriors.

Khamsin was one of the first kingdom-states freed from the Atlantis Guild after the Prophet's assassination. Unfortunately, multiple heirs to the old crown immediately asserted their own right to rule, each backed by various splinter factions within the Black Powder Rebel forces. Khamsin was plunged into five years of bloody civil war. This war and the competition for the gun-trained infantry eventually led to the arming of almost every man of fighting age and made serious inroads into the population of young women as well.

After the destruction of Khamsin's throne-city and the death of most major claimants to the crown, the kingdom disintegrated into anarchy - a well-armed anarchy. Even the Guild, with its eye toward reclaiming lost territories, has mostly avoided Khamsin. This anarchy led to the creation of a caste of mercenary warriors, such as Khamsin Freelancers and Khamsin Fusers.

Just recently, with Khamsin having survived destruction at the hands of the combined Atlantean and High Elven armies, and the Northlands secured under the auspice of Warlord Blackwyn’s well-trained Northlander armies, a new era begins for the fighters of the Revolution, with the Council of Merchants solidly in control of Khamsin.

The sudden surge of the Dark Crusade to the east and the bizarre arrangement between the free-willed Galeshi and Kzar Nabar's Orc Raiders has many free folk worried about the battles to come. Adding to that, Darq the Corrupt's incredible conquering of the Galeshi desert territories leaves many of the Revolutionary leaders worried. While the Council of Merchants in Khamsin warned the Galeshi against their plan to make deals with the Orcs – and were ultimately unable to send aid to the Galeshi due to the siege of the Revolutionary capitol – many Galeshi have a bone to pick with their "so-called allies" in Khamsin and the Northlands.

Duke Skala's victory in the Grange Valley – which connected the Northlander and Amazon territories with his native land of Khamsin – stands as a turning point of the war. However, few people even suspect that Skala's victory over Captain Sarjhet – only recently executed on the Bloody Square of Khamsin – was actually brought about through a secret deal that Skala made with a mysterious agent of the Solonavi.

## Districts

A favorite place of caravan guards passing by is the Street of Brothels - for obvious reasons.

### Khamita Castle

A typical Atlantean fortress, with a few atypical features. This was originally the old shahria, or royal palace, for Family Khamita. It was built on the highest piece of land in the city, and the center was the Great Tower. The tower was a definite non-Atlantean touch, ten stories of shiny blackness rising above the thirty-foot curtain walls of dressed sandstone. It would make the perfect lookout point to spot an oncoming caravan - or an Orc army boiling across the plains.

The free space around Khamita Castle was the Grand Market of Khamsin. Merchants came from all over the North to trade during the market month. The Atlanteans took four times as much room as the castle and decreed that the surrounding land must always be bare - now the market takes place outside the city.

The Atlanteans created their own town in there - so to say. Barracks, a training ring for cavalry, granaries, even their own bathhouse. The ramparts of the fort followed the contours of the hill, enclosing a shape like a gigantic kidney. Four gateways appeared at the cardinal points of the compass, offering arched entrances in forty-foot-tall fortified gatehouses. On the battlemented walls the square towers jutted out at intervals to allow the legionary defenders to catch assault forces in crossfire.

### Street of Metalworkers

In the Street of Metalworkers there is an old bronze statue of one of the Khamita kings—or rather, the remains of a statue. Folk hereabouts have a tradition of touching the statue’s toes for good luck. Magus Gamelon made a small addition to it. By touching the statue's toes, then giving two taps to the left heel of this statue  activated a Technomantic device, which let Gamelon know that someone required private audience with him and/or safe entrance to the Khamita Castle.

### Great Square

The Great Square had the statue of Emperor Nujarek, likely erected there when Atlanteans took over Khamsin. Indeed, it was just the remains of a statue, a pair of legs cut off at the knees, two bronze stubs arising from a battered stone plinth that had been knocked down and then restored at a slightly drunken angle.

### Warrens

The Warrens housed another Rebel base in Khamsin. The stairway leading to the Warrens had a set of groaning, treacherous boards that barely deserved to be called stairs. The way into was a remarkably sturdy door, considering the shoddy construction of all the parts leading up there. It opened into a corridor that looked more like a mine adit. Wooden pillars rose every ten feet, supporting cross-beams that arched under the low ceilings. Low for humans, that is - it was an excellent height for Dwarves.

Traversing several blocks of Dwarf-made caverns, the Warrens ended in a rather cozy human-scale basement. If the upstairs alleys were a maze, the underground Warrens’ webwork was even more confusing. Oil lamps hung on reflectors along the walls. The Warrens also had a stair leading to a bake shop on the surface. The smell of baked goods there was very strong. An aproned, black-haired Dwarven woman named Bruna ran the bakery.

### Dwarven Quarter

It was not an area where Imperial troopers were very welcome. Folk connected them more with slave-takers than law and order. The neighborhood had as much law as the inhabitants could back up. There are a lot of people there just moving through the city - drovers, muleteers, camel-drivers, petty merchants coming for fairs. This is where Eginhard's family moved in when they first came to the town and where Sigwold established his jewelry workshop.

***Black Powder Rebels***
 Major characters

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mage Knight Rebellion Trading Card Game
2. ↑ https://www.mageknight.net/wp-content/uploads/Mage-Knight-Lore-Expansion-Lancers.pdf
3. ↑ Rebel Thunder (Bill McCay), Chapter 5
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Rebel Thunder (Bill McCay), Chapter 3
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://www.mageknight.net/wp-content/uploads/Mage-Knight-2.0-Card-Set-Items.pdf
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://www.mageknight.net/wp-content/uploads/Mage-Knight-2.0-Card-Set-Domains.pdf
7. ↑ https://www.mageknight.net/wp-content/uploads/Mage-Knight-2.0-Card-Set-Relics.pdf
8. ↑ https://www.mageknight.net/wp-content/uploads/Mage-Knight-Lore-The-Ages-Longer-History-of-The-Land-From-the-Third-Bookshelf-in-Old-Scrying-Chamber.pdf
9. ↑ https://www.mageknight.net/wp-content/uploads/Mage-Knight-2.0-Card-Set-Relics.pdf
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Rebel Thunder (Bill McCay), Chapter 4
11. ↑ Rebel Thunder (Bill McCay), Chapter 6
12. ↑ Rebel Thunder (Bill McCay), Chapter 5
13. ↑ Rebel Thunder (Bill McCay), Chapter 11