Zultai Empire

The Zultai Empire's ziggurauts

> *"You think ya big? We be da Zultai! Ain't nobody bigga den us! We gonna kill ya motha, ya fatha, ya whole bloodline! Then ain't nobody gonna remember ya!"*
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> —Emperor Jakra'zal to unknown rebel
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The **Zultai Empire** takes up the entirety of Ascaria's southwestern coast. Against all known laws of probability, the Empire has not only survived for untold centuries, but has even thrived in the harsh jungles that make up virtually all of their territory. This feat is one may attribute to their tenacity, intelligence, and unswerving tendency towards brutality.

## The Founding

While commonly referred to as a singular entity, the Zultai Empire is technically comprised of two empires who chose to join their lands and pool their resources. The various naga dynasties and troll tribes warred against each other (and amongst themselves) over territory and old grudges, until one dynasty and one tribe found themselves sick of the constant warfare.

Their leaders conspired together, rallying all of the dynasties and tribes behind two individual banners, preparing for a final, all-out battle to determine who would rule the jungle. However, even with their combined forces, the pair could not successfully guarantee a true victory. Their spies scoured the jungle, looking for anything that might grant an edge over the competition, and eventually stumbled upon what would become the true source of the Zultai's power: the spawning pools of the saurian race. This would allow the empire that would become the Zultai to create an army capable of properly fighting their first, bloodiest battle.

When the fateful day arrived and the battle reached its zenith, both sides had beaten each other senseless. The singular Zultai entity seized the initiative, mounting a tremendous ambush. The saurians rolled over the weary troops, cutting them down like wheat before a scythe. Those who would not surrender were massacred, and those who surrendered were offered as sacrifices to further fuel the spawning pools. The empire was finally anointed in blood, and has consistently remained the bloodiest kingdom in Ascaria by a wide margin.

## Zultai Races

To this day, the Zultai Empire's population is dominated by the original two races of the founding, namely the trolls and the naga. To this end, the Zultai nobility is made up exclusively by the two, although such a partnership comes with a great amount of friction. At the dawn of the Empire, a third race was introduced: the saurians, enigmatic lizardfolk with little in the way of independent thought or complex culture, but who make up the majority of the Zultai's military force.

### The Naga: Cunning, but Savage

The naga of the Zultai Empire are vastly different from their cousins in Arakujii. Claiming a lineage to a race of dragons who ruled the world when it was still in its infancy, the Zultai naga believe that all they see is theirs by birthright. To this end, they have aligned their destiny with that of the Zultai trolls in an effort to further expand the reach of their (currently) joint empire.

Power-hungry and deceitful, the Zultai naga are always seeking for an edge over the Zultai trolls, eager to rid themselves of what they consider to be a vastly inferior race. However, one of the greatest obstacles to achieving this mass subjugation would have to be the naga's inherent desire to also subjugate their peers. As a result, while the naga tend to be virtually immortal, very few have actually managed to live long enough to enjoy a long life, meeting their death at the hands of a political rival or a once-trusted friend. The oldest naga often live in a state of near-constant paranoia, refusing to even let their closest family members near out of fear of a potential assassination attempt.

The Zultai naga care a great deal about public appearances, and therefore will take meticulous care of keeping their dynasties intact. While the Empress's dynasty is obviously the most powerful, both in terms of influence and sheer military might, the rest of the naga will vie for political positions of varying degrees of power under her. That being said, the ruling dynasty is also known for a high level of nepotism, so the highest positions in the Empire on the naga side are outright given to the Empress's family.

### The Trolls: Savage, but Cunning

The Zultai trolls have made little effort to change their ways from those of their barbaric ancestors, but they have also been given little incentive to do so. As one of the oldest races in Ascaria, they often view the other, younger races with a level of contempt. They claim that, at one point, a single troll empire had dominated all of the continent, but had broken apart when their emperor was assassinated. Today, the Zultai trolls have aligned themselves with the naga, another ancient race that they view with the ever-so-slightly lesser level of contempt that they save for the rest of the world.

The trolls hope one day to achieve true global domination, but, unlike the naga, believe that the quickest, most direct way, is through raw strength. This philosophy has colored virtually all aspects of troll life, even affecting their evolution. The trolls would war with each other and sustain mortal wounds so often that their biology reacted accordingly, affording the Zultai trolls with impressive regenerative capabilities. The regenerative powers of the oldest trolls has allowed them to not only regain lost limbs, but even stave off the effects of old age. Such instances are exceedingly rare, though, as the frequent battles to the death between two (or more) rivals means that very few trolls ever truly know their potential for healing.

The trolls of Zultai follow a simple rule: the strong survive, and the strongest rule. As a result, trolls will seek to amass as much strength as possible, beating down as many rivals as they can. When a troll of great stature falls, there is often a mob of their royal guards and any trolls passing by that rush in to obtain their gear and eat the flesh of the fallen in the hopes of becoming strong enough to beat back the rest of the mob, thereby hoarding all the strength for themselves. Following this philosophy, the current Emperor of the Zultai trolls has never fallen in battle, and is far and away the strongest of his kind.

### The Saurians: Savage, Cunning, and Cold-Blooded

The saurians' origins are a closely-guarded secret for the Zultai ruling class, for in many ways they are the bedrock upon which the Zultai Empire has been built. When the Zultai Empire was in its infancy, the spies of both the naga dynasties and the troll tribes searched the jungle for anything that might give their fledgling partnership an edge over their myriad rivals. Eventually, on an island off the coast of Ascaria, they found the weapon they needed.

Nestled away at the lowest floor of a time-forgotten temple, they discovered a pool which, when fueled by magic, would spawn saurians. The Zultai quickly found that blood magic, particularly ritual sacrifices, could amplify the spawn rate by dozen times what regular magic could produce. With the saurians at their backs, the Zultai Empire washed over their foes, and they have been one of the core features of the Empire ever since.

The saurians come in many different shapes and sizes, but all bear similar characteristics. Saurians are universally cold-blooded and lack genitalia of any sort. The only way for saurians to reproduce is via the spawning pools. When saurians spawn, they have immediate knowledge of common speech, but will very rarely speak it, preferring their own language of reptilian hisses and chirps. The saurians are also always loyal to those who spawned them, and seem to have an instinct for recognizing hierarchies in leadership. As a result, the saurians will fight to the death in the name of the Emperor and Empress, although they will also take orders from those who they recognize as servants of the Emperor and Empress. While most saurians are physically hardy, their greatest weakness is their inability to survive outside of the hot, humid environments of their native jungle.

#### The Itzel

The itzel are the smallest, and most physically fragile of the saurian race. Standing at a mere three feet tall, what they may lack in sheer strength, they make up for in agility and numbers. A saurian itzel will never hunt alone; where there is one, there will always be a dozen more, scampering over walls and drifting through the jungle canopy. The itzel also have a predilection towards ranged combat, and will often create blowguns and poisonous darts if afforded the proper materials. The itzel have also actively demonstrated the highest level of genetic diversity among all saurians, with new subspecies being spawned constantly. Some itzel have an innate ability to change the color of their scales, allowing them to blend in with their surroundings. Others can internally generate the poison they use for their darts.

#### The Nuhoch

The most common of all saurians are the nuhoch. Standing anywhere between six to eight feet tall, they are the backbone of a saurian force, with prodigious strength to match their size. An individual nuhoch may have a preference towards a specific kind of weapon, but said weapons are almost universally meant for close combat, and all nuhoch are proficient with nearly any weapon they get their claws on. Even when not armed with a weapon, a bite from a nuhoch is capable of shredding armor, and their long tails can be swung with enough force to stagger even the most steadfast of foes.

#### The Hylek

Perhaps the most mysterious of all saurians are the hylek. The rarest of all saurian types, the hylek are the leaders of saurian society. They may appear as corpulent grippli borne aloft by levitating thrones, but the hylek are unique in that they are the only saurians capable of actively performing magic. While the specific school of magic may vary from hylek to hylek, their minds are just as deadly as any soldier's blade, as they are all capable of tremendous psychic feats, from simple telekinesis to completely subsuming an enemy's will with their own. In this modern age, however, no saurian hylek have been spawned by the Zultai Empire, and everything that is known about them is gathered from their ancient remains, scattered in temples across the Zultai Jungle, or otherwise taught by the saurian nuhoch and itzel.

### Other Races

The Zultai Empire does not shy away from slavery; in truth, it has remained one of the core institutions since the Empire's inception.

The Empress has always had grand visions of increasingly grandiose structures and ambitious (or profane) artistic endeavors, the kind that can only be achieved by the hard work of a thousand laborers against their collective wills.

The Emperor, on the other hand, chooses to use his slaves as entertainment in the gladiator pits, offering them freedom if they can best his greatest warriors, who are in turn promised all manner of rewards if they are victorious over the slaves. The crowds (and blood) from such events are always spilling onto the streets.

Both the Emperor and the Empress recognize the most dire need for slaves, however. With a steady supply of slaves as blood sacrifices, the pair can create a saurian army, limited only by how many throats they are willing to cut.

## Government

Technically, virtually all aspects of the Zultai Empire are owned by either the Emperor or the Empress. Very few things are actually jointly owned by the two. As a result, both keep separate courts, separate military hierarchies, even separate wings of their palatial fortress at Gudul'Aman. Their marriage is a largely loveless affair, though both will occasionally send assassins after the other's lovers (an act more out of spite than jealousy). Occasionally the two will have fits of passion, and one might almost think that they care for each other, but the reality is one always sees the other as an instrument to further their goals.

### Empress Sidisi, the Brood Tyrant

> *"Shallow graves make light work."*
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> —Empress Sidisi
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The current Empress of the Zultai naga is Sidisi, although some refer to her as the Brood Tyrant (but not to her face). Sidisi is endlessly vain, preferring a life of ultimate luxury as opposed to micromanaging her people. To avoid such a burden of leadership, Sidisi relies on the rest of her dynasty, all of whom conveniently have positions of power in her court. However, a fatal misstep her foes have made in the past is mistaking her laziness for weakness. When on the warpath, Sidisi is incredibly driven, destroying foe and unlucky friend alike in a storm of death and decay.

Sidisi has little respect for the dead, and even less patience for diplomatic entreaties. As an accomplished necromancer, she is constantly attended by an entourage of zombies that perform all manner of tasks, ranging from direct combat to bearing Sidisi aloft on her palanquin when she needs to make a public appearance. In cases where the average undead simply won't do, Sidisi has demonstrated several times over that she is not above defiling the dead to grant them new forms to properly carry out her whims. One such experiment was a spirit bound to a floating, hollowed skull, which now bears Sidisi's most powerful spellcasting scrolls.

Sidisi is also an adept summoner, calling on entities beyond the material plane in search of knowledge or favors. The most common of these beings are rakshasas, who are occasionally permitted to remain in Sidisi's private sanctum. There have been multiple instances where Sidisi has taken note of a potential rival within her ranks, and she will plant the instructions necessary to summon a rakshasa within their reach, but it won't be until after the summoning is complete that they realize Sidisi neglected to include certain protective guidelines. The rakshasa will then devour the novice summoner gruesomely, meaning that one more rival of Sidisi is no more, and that one more rakshasa technically owes the Empress a favor for the meal.

### Emperor Jakra'zal, the Hand of Hakkar

> *"Treading on the Emperor's shadow."*
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> —Zultai saying meaning "to make a fatal mistake."
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The current Emperor of the trolls of Zultai is Jakra'zal, a massive brute who has kept his position through intimidation and sheer strength of body and will. As per troll law, Jakra'zal is also the chiefest of priests of the blood god, Hakkar, a position that the Emperor carries out with grim satisfaction. His effectiveness in carrying out the dark deity's will has earned him the title of the Hand of Hakkar, although Jakra'zal hopes one day to usurp Hakkar from his throne and devouring his still-beating heart, that he may acquire the strength of the divine.

Given that the Zultai Empire has long since ceased its expansion, Jakra'zal fights his greatest foe on a daily basis: boredom. How the Emperor chooses to entertain himself often depends on his mood, but his methods usually involve some form of violence, either against others or himself. Occasionally, Jakra'zal will act through one of his underlings, providing information about his whereabouts and goings-on, that an assassin may attempt to strike when the Emperor is at his most vulnerable. The end result has always resulted in the assassin's gut being split open and hug aloft in the throne room for all to witness, but Jakra'zal is growing old, and he wins his victories by ever-narrowing margins.

In an attempt to stave off what may be his impending demise, Jakra'zal is relentless in his training. He regularly faces a contingent of slaves in his personal arena, stacking odds against him in ways that one would almost deem creative if the spectacles weren't so gruesome. Sometimes he releases the slaves into a maze, and he stalks them as though he were the minotaur of another world's myth. Other times, he pits himself, alone and unarmed, against a foe who wields the Emperor's own arms and armor. Even so, nothing yet has managed to give Jakra'zal the rush he craves, the adrenaline-fueled frenzy that some question even exists. Perhaps the Emperor may yet live forever, but such an eternal life will be filled with eternal tedium.

### Perky

One of the few things that is shared between Empress Sidisi and Emperor Jakra'zal is Perky, a pig of unknown origin. The pig is consistently given a royal escort, comprised of both naga and trolls, and is permitted to wander the palace freely. Surely, if anything were to happen to this most precious of pigs, there would be a grave price to pay.

## Religion

The Zultai Empire is dominated by two primary religions, namely the various rakshasa cults as well as the Cult of Hakkar.

### Rakshasa Cults

The Zultai naga, in various bids to acquire more power over each other and their troll rivals, regularly employ rakshasas, cat-headed demons from realms outside of the material plane. Such a summoning is costly, regardless of the favor in question, not to mention the risk of the demon turning on the summoner to wreak a terrible vengeance.

Some rakshasas have attained a status of fame (or infamy) among the naga nobility, leading to cults of personality surrounding the demons. While not necessarily directly worshipped, these rakshasas have attained popularity for one reason or another. Some are known for devouring the bones of one's foes, while others will whisper forbidden knowledge in one's ear.

Some notable rakshasas include:

* Hides-in-Ashes: this particular rakshasa is a master assassin, capable of breezing through magical wards as though they weren't there, and slaying foes as if they were never alive in the first place.
* Grin-Hoarder: lazy and lackadaisical, Grin-Hoarder is best known for his lavish parties and fine wine.
* Mind-of-Eyes: Mind-of-Eyes is a regular adviser of Empress Sidisi, and seems to know everything that everyone wants to know.

### Cult of Hakkar

Before the formation of the Zultai Empire, the trolls worshipped at the feet of a pantheon of animal gods. While the gods would occasionally provide blessings, they were capricious at even the best of times, and owed allegiance to none. Most vicious of them all was the Soulflayer, Hakkar, a massive winged serpent with a voracious appetite for slaughter. He would court worshipers and provide blessings of strength only to have them sacrifice each other in a frenzy of bloodletting. The allure of power was too great, though, and the trolls would always return to gain an edge over the naga or rival troll tribes.

At the dawn of the Empire, Hakkar found a desire for something beyond mindless carnage and simple sacrifice. To the trolls, he gave a forbidden secret: the power to bind all of their gods (save himself), that the trolls may take the power they desire from them. In return, Hakkar would be hailed as chief among all the gods, and would therefore receive the lion's share of the sacrifices and devotion.

With Hakkar's wisdom, the trolls bound the gods in their temples. Today, they are afforded a modicum of respect, but are bled nearly dry on a daily basis, that the trolls may drink the blood and acquire supernatural strength. The priests of the individual gods are careful to prevent the gods from dying from excessive exsanguination, but act more as prison wardens than actual mouthpieces. Hakkar himself has his own temple, but very rarely dwells there for long, preferring the cheers of the masses as he slithers through the streets and the screams of those who he deems worthy of being his next meal. As chief god, the only priest he truly recognizes is the troll's own Emperor Jakra'zal.

### Saurian Ancestors

The saurians do not attend any sort of religion with regularity, but will occasionally make references to specific noteworthy ancestors. Some ancient saurian shrines and tombs dedicated to specific saurians have been found throughout the Zultai jungle, but today's saurians regard these sites with little more than a passing interest.