The Empire of Suakien

Fear not the dark for it will comfort you.
Give praise to the lady of the night, for she will protect you.
Fear not death, for with it comes release.
Give praise to the lady of the night, for she will protect you.
Fear not hunger, for Eloéle will provide.
Give praise to the lady of the night for she will protect you.

A small part of hymn in praise of Eloéle.

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Status: Recommended

Provinces/Holdings: Once nothing more than a scattered collection of towns and farms Suakien is slowly growing into a true nation under the influence of the priests of Eloéle. This relatively new empire is ruled by the high priestess of the temple of Eloéle from Mieres, currently the young Sarae Somellin who has recently taken the throne after her mother was killed while abroad in Aduria. Some in the palace even say that Sarae hired the assassins that killed her.

* Fortified Holding/Province.
 
Abbreviations: EOM = Eloéle of Mieres (Sarae Somellin); SS = Sarae Somellin (Suakien); GS = Gael Somellin (Suakien Outfitters); STA = Suakien temple of Azrai (Lativus the blind).

• Law: Both Sarae and her sister Gael seek to control the law. In the province of Qabbii the Suakien temple of Azrai has total control, and often defies the Empress.
• Temples: The Eloéle of Mieres has been the state religion of this land ever since Sarae's mother Danniene conquered the land nearly twelve years ago. The Suakien temple of Azrai was driven from many of the provinces but still has influence based around its monastery in Qabbii province.
• Guilds: The Empress's sister Gael controls most of the guilds of this kingdom, although she gains little support from her older sister. She is shrewd merchant who one day hopes to control guilds up and down the east coast of Aduria.
• Sources: No wizards have ventured south into Suakien yet, although Mieres is not too far to the north and Mhistecai, the wizard of that land may one day venture south to take control of Suakien's sources.

Regency Generated/Accumulated: 28/79
With a reasonably strong bloodline Sarae has a great advantage over unblooded regent, but currently lacks the income to make use of that advantage.

Treasury: Suakien currently has over 20 GB's saved up and generates about 20 GB's each turn before maintenance. Sarae hopes to build up her treasury until it is strong enough to hire mercenaries to invade Mieres to the north. She does not like the Governor there and hope to replace him and make Mieres part of Suakien sometime soon.

Army: Suakien's small army consists of 3 units of Infantry and a unit of cavalry. The empire also owns an Anuirean Caravel and an Adurian war galley. Most of these solders and ships are kept at the capital, although the cavalry is occasionally used to maintain order in the outer provinces.

Regent: The current regent is Sarae Somellin (FA; Pr 4, Eloéle; An, minor, 28) who took the throne recently after her mother was assassinated while on a diplomatic mission to the great city of Aduria. For the past eleven year the high priestess of the temple of Eloéle has ruled this land. Her time is divided though between her lands in Suakien and the large number of EOM holdings in the Anuirean colony of Mieres which lies only a short distance over the mountains to the north
Sarae only recently joined the priesthood after her mother insisted that at least one of her daughters follow her in worshipping Eloéle. Although she is not always a particularly faithful priestess, breaking her vows on several occasions, Sarae is an excellent ruler. In the two years since she has taken over the empire has expanded to take in three new provinces while still maintaining its holdings in Mieres.
Sarae is know as a careful planner and never makes a move without first thinking about its consequences. She also behaves similar to the way she rules and is careful to always think before she speaks. In meetings with other rulers she also appears very intelligent, and has never been known to lose her temper. She always travels with a large personal guard, so what happened to her mother will never happen to her.

Lieutenants: Sarae doesn't often rely on others to do her work and has few lieutenants or advisors. In fact the only person she depends on at all is Lord Elam Greggor (MAd; F5; Unblooded), general of Suakien's army. He has a lot of power in the less civilized provinces where often his cavalry is the only law to be found. He is totally loyal to the Empress though and would never betray her.
The same could not be said for Sarae's sister Gael (FA; T3; An, minor 14)  who still blames her for the death of their mother. Although in public the two appear to be friends in private Gael has nothing to do with her older sister, and can not bear being near her. As a result she spends much of her time outside Suakien or in the southern city of Morel, where she has a large estate.

Important NPCs: There are two important NPC apart from those mentioned above.
One is Lativus the blind (MAd; Pr, Azrai; Unblooded) an exile from the Aduria, the great southern city which the entire continent is named after. It is thought that he was once a centurion in the emperor's army but attempted to kill his superior. He is said to have been blinded for his crimes and left for dead in the desert. What happened to him after this is not known but he claimed to have been saved by Azrai himself and sent north to establish a new temple. This he did and he now controls a fair portion of Suakien's temples. The church he founded over thirty years ago is based in Qabbii province in an old fort that Lativus has converted for his own use. From this base of power he control much of the surrounding lands, often levying his own taxes and tariffs on the people of Qabbii. The province is still controlled by the Empress, but so far she has been unable to remove Lativus from his position of power.
The second important NPC is Acrius Justivist (MAd; F12; Az, tainted 3). As one of the few blooded Adurians he has the potential to wield a fair bit of power within Suakien. Once he was a mercenary general fighting in the never ending wars between the empires of Aduria and Nehalim, the two great powers of the south. He grew weary of the constant fighting though and feeling a strange urging in his blood he set out for the north to seek his fortune. After several years he has made his way north to Suakien and is currently seeking passage further north to Cerilia. Trained in the tactics of the south he hopes to gain employment with one of the Cerilian rulers. His skills would be of great use to any Cerilian ruler who employed him as he knows things that have never been seen before in Cerilia.

Description: Suakien is a small realm right at the top of what is known as Aduria. After the Skissshar invasion of Aduria was defeated it was an outpost of the Adurian Empire, but corruption and civil war at home forced the Adurian troops to leave. Since then the small town of Suakien has just survived, farming what usable land could be found and fishing the seas for food. Until recently Suakien and the smaller Port Murel had both been claimed by the empire of Bir-Warqu to the south, although the southern empire did little to place its claim on the land except send the occasional tax collector.
The people of Suakien are mainly Adurians, although many Anuireans have moved there recently following the invasion by the Eloéle of Mieres. As there is little suitable land for farming the people of Suakien exist mainly on fish and livestock. Locals trade leather, meat, and other animal products as their principle source of income, although recently there has been a move by the Empress to encourage mining in the mountains to the north (Known as the Northern Fangs by Suakien). This has provided another source of income for Suakien, gold. Large deposits have recently been found in Korogo province, just over the border from Brenlie in Mieres and if the Anuirean nation find out about it there would be trouble. The province of Farwood is also now being exploited for its lumber and Farwood trees have recently been used to construct the new Galley that now sits in the harbour of Suakien City.
As Eloéle is the major goddess of the people thieves are well established in Suakien and every most towns and even the villages have a small thieves guild or organisation. Thievery is not the only aspect of the religion however and for the people of Suakien the night is a special time. Most festivals and celebrations take place after dark with the streets of the cities magically lit up thanks to the priests of Eloéle and several magicians that live in Suakien city.

Provinces: Suakien is made up of 9 provinces, arranged in a roughly square formation from the mountains in the north to the deserts in the west and south.

• Korogo (0/5): This northern province is just over the border from Mieres in the hills south-west of Brenlie province. It is made up mainly of rough hills and the land rises as it heads north towards the mountains of the Northern Fangs. The province is almost uninhabited, although a small mine with about 400 miners has recently been set up in the province. These miners have discovered large deposits of gold and the Empress is currently deciding if she should announce the find, leading to a rush of prospectors to the province, or keep it a secret and keep its income to herself.
  
  
• Majenta (1/5): This hilly province is also covered with large areas of forest, from the woods that run south from Mieres then west though Farwood province into Majenta. Small streams leading down from the Northern Fangs make this province one of the best places to live in all of Suakien. Currently however only a few small settlement have been founded in the province. Farmers in this province provide food to the southern provinces and the mines in Korogo to the west.
  
  
• Farwood (1/6): This forested province is the only large source of timber in Suakien. With much of the rest of the kingdom being grassland or desert, Majenta is very important to Suakien. It lies south-west of the Mieres province of Dhalier and a rough track leads through the forest north to Mieres. The road is used little however as the two lands do not trade much with each other. Several streams from the Northern Fangs combine here to create Suakien's only river the Sarae which then heads south towards Suakien province.
  
  
• Gambela (0/5): South of Korogo this province is inhabited by only a few herders and little else. It is claimed by Suakien because of an important feature. Once long, long ago Suakien was the northern outpost of the Vos tribe and the remains of one of their settlements remains to this day in Gambela. The ruined city is thought to be haunted and avoided by all sensible people. Adventurers have reported large amounts of treasure and gold can be found in the city, at least those who return report this.
  
  
• Bagusta (1/4): This province is situated in the centre of the other eight Suakien provinces. It is used as a cross-roads by travelers from the other provinces and several taverns and inns can be found in the small town of Nogustyt. Roads lead from the province to Suakien to the east, Majenta to the north and Qabbii to the south.
  
  
• Suakien (3/4): This is the largest province in the empire. It is also one of the most habitable and holds the capital, Suakien City. A small port city Suakien has grown considerably over recent years since the EOM have taken control of it and the rest of the empire. Before it was little more that a fishing village, but now ships leave for Mieres to the north and Bir-Warqu and Lindos to the south. It has the potential to become one of the great cities of northern Aduria as a cross-roads between Anuire and Aduria. This has not happened so far however because the rulers of Anuire seem suspicious of any traveler from the south for some unknown reason. A large palace and temple to Eloéle is currently under construction. to be called the Palace of the Moonless Night it will be the seat of the Suakien government as well as the main temple of Eloéle in the empire. With the night goddess now the main goddess of the people, many celebrations and festivals take place after dark. The most popular of these is the Dusk of Winter festival, which is held once a year. During this time the temple of Eloéle is lit up with hundreds of multicoloured light spells and free food and wine is handed out to the people. The city is built at the point where the Sarae river reaches the sea and the some in the province are now drawing up plans to use the short river to irrigate the rest of the province and provide food for the people of Suakien. Roads lead out of the province to Farwood in the north, Bagusta in the west and Murel in the south.
  
  
• Desert's Edge (0/5): In the far south west of the empire is this desolate province. Uninhabited except for a small fort that is used by Suakien to fight off the occasional raiders out of the Adurian Wastes to the west of the empire. In times of trouble the fortress is manned with two units of infantry and are careful watch is kept on the western border.
  
  
• (Qabbii (1/4): In the far south of the empire this province has only one important feature in the middle of desert and grasslands that dominate much of south-western Suakien. It is the small town of Qabbii, built around one of the few hills to be found south of the Northern Fangs. On the hill is built an ancient fortress, one that some even say was built by the Vos before they fled north. Whoever build it, this fortress has now been claimed by the Suakien temple of Azrai who rule over the surrounding lands and the town below. The town is mainly made up of followers of Azrai and their families and has grown recently as the religion has gained acceptance in southern Suakien and Bir-Warqu to the south.
  
  
• Murel (2/4): The most southerly of Suakien province Murel is a province that has almost doubled in size over recent years. The sister of the Empress, Gael has an estate here and also owns a large number of winery's and vineyards in the province. Over recent time Murel has become famous as a wine producing area with Murel wines sold as far south as Aduria itself. A small port, called Port Murel is the province's only large town and home of several small trade ships that carry barrels of wine south to Lindos which is the closest large port to Suakien.

Allies: Suakien has few true allies. Only Lindos to the south could be called any sort of an ally, although the high priestess retains a good relationship with the governor of Mieres.

Enemies: Just as it has few allies, Suakien also has little in the way of enemies. Perhaps the only real threat comes from Bir-Warqu to the south. Bir-Warqu once claimed the city of Suakien and are still a little upset about the priestesses of Eloéle claiming it. Another enemy, one which threatens all of the east coast of Aduria is the Adurian Wastes to the west. This vast realm of desert and badlands is home to many monsters, humanoids and bandits. Occasionally raiders from the wastes move into Suakien, but never in living memory has a large force come out of the desert. All in the Northlands know the story of the Skissshar though, and many live in fear of the Snakemen invading once more, despite the fact they have not been seen for centuries.

By Ian Hoskins