Ishmaic Confederacy

Lying off the West Coast of the Empire, across the unforgiving Tigrean sea, is the desert continent of Ishma – the Land of the Seven Winds – a magically charged land where the power of the Elements and Dragons rule supreme, a strange and wondrous place. The Ishmaic Confederacy is a young nation but lives in an ancient land steeped in mystery and inhabited by strange creatures strong in magic and adapted to living in a desert land. Long considered a place of death, Ishma was used for long years as a place of exile.

The Ishmaic Confederacy could be seen to be a very “young” nation, with organised “government” only taking form after a large number of Nobles and their families fled from the gaze of the Emperor when they fell into disfavour (see the Realm of Glass for further details on the Banished). The Banished, however, soon found that the lands of the Seven Winds were far from deserted, but were in fact teeming with life and forces of hitherto untapped elemental power.

History
The landmass known as Ishma had been known about for centuries, but it was known as a place of death. Not a single mission had ever returned and it had even been used for many years as a place of banishment, with that puishment being considered worse than swift execution.

One of the few things known about Ishma during this time was that it was a huge source of Elemental power. No divinations or ritual prying was able to offer insight into why this might be, but for many years opposing magiocracies south to gain enlightenment as to the exact nature of the power they could detect. Despite a great many expeditions none of them were successful – indeed, only one such expedition sent any work at all – informing their superiors that the members of the party were remaining where they were – and further than any attempts to contact them would result in the deths of the messangers employed.

When Cerus Amora formed the Empire, large groups of people who would have suffered under his regime fled the ruins of the Magiocracies in whatever ships they could scrape together and arrived upon a land whose nature was far different from the green lands from which they had been banished.

Athfash Ban Mir
Over the last few years more information has been unearthed about the mysterious and deadly Land of the Seven Winds, and it has been learned that the source of the Elemental power is known as the Athfash Ban Mir (or Great Sink), located in the centre of the landmass. Deep beneat the low mountains, the Athfash Ban Mir is said to descent to the very depths of Primus and it is said that it is from this that the loose elemental power used by the worlds mages pours. Certinaly an enormous quantity of elemental power howls from it’s depths and it is the seven prime “colours” of magic that provide the winds that gave the land its name.

Hundreds of miles of tunnels and caverns lead from the Sink, twisting and turning in maze-like ruin around the central region until the emerge out into the surrounding areas to spew their power into Primus. Above these tunnels the land is full of like – plants and trees that thrive upon the natural energies released. Beyond the area of the Sink, however, the rest of the Land of the Seven Winds is barren – mostly composed of savage desert over which the Winds stream across Primus.

Races of Ishma
The only seemingly indigenous, intelligent people who live in the area of the Athfash Ban Mir are Athfanal – wild, brutal creatures of the elements that feed upon the power that streams from the Sink. Seemingly closely related to the elves of the Empire, these Wild Elves live purely upon the mana that flows all around them. They are also known to have enslaved another race of Ishma, the lizard-like Crol – holding them enthralled with powerful magical spells.

The people of Ishma have a harder time of it even than those of the Baronies who at least enjoy a life of relative fortification against the hostility that surrounds them. Dry and arid, Ishma does not even offer the basic needs to survive that those of the central continent accept as being the norm.

''OOC: All Ishmaic characters must maintain an appropriate accent, costume and behaviour at all times. Any found not doing so will, at the least lose all Ishmaic benefits but retain all racial disadvantages. More details of the Confederacy are to be found in the Labyrinthe source book: The Land of the Seven Winds.''