Qina Sultanate

### Origin

Thousands of years ago, two groups of desert peoples fought for hegemony over the Daraan Desert, a desert in the South-Central of Lochwind. The peoples that worshipped the Sun called themselves the Al’Sham, while those who worshipped the Moon called themselves the Al’Qam.

One night in 1752 BC, a massive sand wyrm attacked an Al’Qam settlement and killed their high priest, the Diviner Rulman. With Rulman gone, the Al’Qam lost morale and over the next few months the Al’Sham clans would push further into their territory. Determined to end the Al’Qam for good, the Al’Sham prepared for a massive coordinated assault.

A young Al’Qam captain, Darius Nisba, heard of the planned offensive and, worried, consulted a number of elders. A particularly grizzled ex-priest advised him to seek knowledge in oases, from nature, and thus he set out alone.

In the meditation by the waters of the oases, Darius discovered that they somehow captured the rawness of the emotions and struggles of the past, as well as of the desert creatures that had come and gone. In studying the ways of the desert and its creatures, he came to learn them inside and out. He learned that the desert wyrm that had killed the Diviner Rulman was scared itself, and that it only wanted and end to the constant battles at the surface.

With this in mind, he tracked down the wyrm and struck a deal with it, to help him defend the Al’Qam lands in exchange for an end to the constant warring.

The wyrm kept up its end of the promise, tearing through Al’Sham forces and halting the offensive after only an hour. Puzzled, the new Diviner Aziz learned of Darius’ deal and cheered him on as a hero. The Al’Qam called a meeting with the Al’Sham and threatened to command the Wyrm to destroy them entirely unless they agreed to come together. The Al’Sham had no choice to agree.

Thus, Darius Nisba was married to Laila Mai, the princess of the Al’Sham’s largest clan, and the two civilizations together built the beautiful settlement of Qina, the City of Unity. Qina became capital of the new Qina Sultanate, which Darius would lead as Sultan.

### Expansion

The Qina Sultanate would expand to encompass a large portion of Southern Lochwind, coming across little resistance. Qina itself would build a “School of Talent” and come to be known as a center of arts and learning. The Sultanate’s architecture evolved and the Qina School was the first to develop sanitation systems. Additionally, the Sultanate developed aqueducts and roads to connect their territories.

### Fall

Largely keeping to itself, the Qina Sultanate would last until 1734 AC. When Lochwind itself fell under an undead curse in 1047 AC, the Qina Sultanate remained as the only major civilization that successfully kept public order and could consistently fend off the hordes, though their territory slowly shrunk over the years. The Daraan Desert itself was so well-known to the Sultanate that they won every battle with the undead there.

In 1726 AC, general resentment at decades-long corruption in the Sultanate and a clampdown on religious freedom sparked a multi-faction civil war, which historians call the War of the Fractures. The war ended in 1734 AC, with the burning of Qina, and left the Sultanate’s territory in the hands of many different family clans. These clans would constantly war with each other until the Kadarsi Sultanate conquered the Daraan Desert in 1815 AC.