Omula'al'Shafir

Omula'al'Shafir served as Grand Consul of the Consulate of Raqqos from 574-554. Under his term as Grand Consul, the consulate ended its policy of "Samat Niqosirat" - "Repel the Centrelanders".

## Consulship

### Grand Consul

Omula is generally perceived in contemporary literature as a stoic but fairly un-notable grand consul at the start of his term.

### Contact with Pem

In 568 BGE the Consulate became aware that explorers from the Centrelands (an archaeological expedition sent from the University of Pembleton's Woleseat College) had allegedly discovered the Neb'Qudar, a legendary gemstone from Ancient Ankh, among the ruins of Ankhos' palace. Whilst the Consulate had been aware of the presence of Centrelanders in the region for a number of years, their activities had done little to draw attention and had been ultimately tolerated.

Upon hearing that the gem had been uncovered, there was uproar in the consulate. Many Raqqosians felt this was "Niqqosi (*Easterners)* plundering Ankhos once again", just as they had over 400 years prior, whilst others felt it was degrading the Consulate's heritage and sovereignty.

Grand Consul Omula was initially slow to act and the Neb'Qudar nearly made its way out of Ankh, however he was eventually pushed to action by public opinion and other consuls in the Star Chamber, who made it clear his position would be untenable if he failed to retrieve the gemstone.

In a fashion later referred to as historians as "overtly dramatic", the Pemblish exploratory team was boarding their ship on the eastern Burnt Coast when the Raqqosian party pursuing them caught up and ordered them to surrender themselves to the consulate. The team surrendered without a struggle and were ordered to sail into port at Raqqos whilst under guard.

Omula summoned the expedition's leader, Roderick ???s, to the Consulate Palace. ???s was put before the Star Chamber to explain himself and his expedition's purpose, as well as why they had plundered the ancient palace at Ankhos and its artefacts. ???s' interpreter struggled to make sense of his thick accent and ???s was dismissed after a fruitless few hours.

???s, a seasoned academic, requested books to enable him to learn the Raqqosian language and parley himself with the consulate. Omula was sceptical that ???s could learn the language in such a short space of time and somewhat embarrassed by the failure of ???'s appearance in the Star Chamber, which had done to address the concerns of his fellow consuls regarding the Ankhos expeditions, admonish ???s or gain any information about the outside world. As a result, Omula summoned ???s for a private audience to see the results of the academic's studies after just two weeks.

Omula was astounded that ???s had become reasonable proficient in their language in such a short space of time. Furthermore, he found ???'s to be a fascinating conversationalist and he was entranced by his tales of the Centrelands. ???s also explained the nature of the University of Pembleton's expeditions to Ankhos. Omula agreed with him that, if ???'s could cease further expeditions, return all artefacts taken from Ankh and publicly apologise for his actions and those of his colleagues, then he and his colleagues would be allowed to return.

However, the consuls would not allow him to leave for fear of retaliation