Sahil

“Funny place, Sahil. In Abo Fazeh, they’ll sell you shade like it’s gold, and up in Muzajh, they’ll sell the wind if they can figure out how to bottle it.”

—Alwin Trigs of Larova, cartographer

Sahil stretches along the northern edge of the South Kelevan coast, where the desert meets the calm waters of the Atillian Sea. The region is filled with mountain ranges. To the south, nestled between two of these ranges, lies Abo Fazeh, an oasis city that once served as a reliable stop on the surrounding salt plains. For a long time, it has been an important pitstop for caravans traveling through Southern Keleva, thanks to its wells and bustling markets. However, recently, as safer sea travel has become more common, the city's importance has gradually declined.

To the north, the city of Muzajh has been growing. Its docks are filled with ships, and its economy is driven by the Council of Pirzada. In Muzajh, life centers around the sea and trade; sailors, salt workers, and whalers form the backbone of its industry. Like Abo Fazeh, Muzajh's importance has also decreased due to the rise of other powers, leading to a slow decline in its inland sultanates and maritime trade.

Sahil and its two cities, Muzajh and Abo Fazeh

Abo Fazeh

Nestled between the bosom of two mountain ranges, a city of salt and sand rests. The windswept mountains offer little respite to travellers—teaming in perilous drops and voracious beasts—but the city itself rests on a great oasis which feeds the immediate area. It is the only place along the Salten flats that offers any arable purchase to crops and cattle, one certainly worth dying for.

Sultan of Kujh

According to legend, the city was founded by a man chosen in the heavens; he was afforded the championship of a Greater Roc—which are revered rather than reviled in these parts—which he used to convince the at-the-time small cattle herders to fall under his rule. Using his divinely-mandated abilities, he would found the city that would bear his name: Fazeh. Since his passing, the city has remained in the stead of his descendants—or at least those who claim to be—for the past seven centuries. In reality, Fazeh's blood is so diluted that most historians acknowledge that three distinct dynasties have controlled the city throughout its exuberant history.

Economy and Culture

The city itself dons many masks in both trade and importance to the greater area: supporting its local agriculture, salt and dye traders, as well as being a respite stop for those moving across Southern Keleva. Its strategic importance merits close ties with many regions, allowing its sultan to engorge himself on wealth. In turn, the city has become increasingly opulent with The Menagerie of Kujh Jcaham II encompassing an area the size of a small town and holding exotic animals from across the continent. Under the steady hands of previous sultans, this wealth was also safeguarded, which ensured continued parlay and profit.

In recent decades, however, the city has fallen on hard times. As maritime travel becomes easier and safer, fewer people cross the long-trodden roads that snake into the city. Worse still, other states—like the up-and-coming Muzajh—siphon their trade of salts and dyes to the convenience of their former clients and the peril of their citizens. What little trade they still manage is either through the heavy tariff of the Council of Pirzada or at the cost of their material landscape: the city having turned to exhuming precious jewels and metals from the sun-bleached rock. The powers of the sultan have slowly eroded as foreign influence has turned the once-proud Roc into little more than a pompous pageant bird.

Muzajh

Along the northern coasts of the South Keleva are the rugged cliffsides and open bays of Sahil, relegated to a standard regional name under the banner of Muzajh, the principal and richest city along the Atillian Sea.

Council of Pirzada

The city of Muzajh is governed by an assembly of peers, known as the Council of Pirzada, made up of individual Pirzadey; the ranks of the peers are typically made up of Muzajh’s various wealthy benefactors and patrons. These peers draw from the various maritime guilds, Gillian captaincies, and Drow artisan workshops.

Economy and Culture

The city of Muzajh is populated by the Muzajdin, a homogeneous mixture of multiple races, for example: Helivians, Gillians, Drow and Humans, but more exist. They are chiefly salt-gatherers, sailors, fishermen, and whalers, who live off the Atillian Sea and boast a great merchant marine fleet whose hulls and standards can be seen all across Keleva: from the icy harbors of Vatan, to the war-torn islands of Shinseina. Their sailors and ships are widely considered the only capable of weathering the passage through Maso’s waters, fending off the avaricious and belligerent Masoese Nakhoda.

The culture of the Muzajdin is shaped above all by the salt, wind, and tide. Much like their Deoran counterparts, found beyond the Levin Sea, the Muzajdin find that the sea is not merely their livelihood but a shared ancestor. They all claim to have come to the sea, and to the Atillian they “shall return”. A meritocratic ethos has softened ethnic boundaries amongst the distinct populations, proven over oars, salt panning, and on a ship’s deck. Their religious life is plural, centered on a nautical faith that fears torrents, whirlpools, and storms.

Demography & History

The Sahil is home to a mixed population of races from across the Kelevas, though the most prominent races are Helivians, Gillians, Orcs, Drows, and Humans, yet there are more. Each, though in many ways different, is made alike in the salt and coin they each exchange. Their various distinctions, as well as their histories, are as follows:

The Helivians of this place call themselves the Mjura, the eldest diverging lineage of their Velmorrja race. The horns characteristic of their race are unusual amongst them, more often than not growing directly upwards and with a distinct "saber" curve. A common practice of the Mjura is adorning their horns with jewelry, both along the horns themselves and on threads or strings they tie between them. They are usually seen as merchants.

The Drow are more recent additions to the Sahil, calling themselves Derathii to distinguish themselves from their outside brethren. In most respects, they’re identical to most of their kin, however, their common skintone shows a stark contrast. Most Derathii have bluer skin, rarely appearing purplish. It's unknown how this coloring came to be, some attribute it to their origins before settling in Sahil. They take all kinds of jobs, usually as guards or mercenaries.

The Mimjhit was the name bestowed on the Humans of these lands by the existing Mjura, having arrived by foot through Abo Fazeh a great time ago. Their way of life hasn't changed since their arrival in these lands, continuing the nomadic endeavors of their ancestors. Their culture is believed to date back millennia, and they've always prioritized following their traditions over changing their way of life. Some of their values include loyalty to their families, hospitality to travelers in the desert, the practice of poetry, storytelling with their young, and recognizable, decorated, layered clothing and tents suited to the unforgiving temperatures and sandstorms. They remain one of the smaller groups among the most notable races in Sahil, usually hired as advisors or serving as merchants thanks to their knowledge of the desert. It is still not uncommon to see Mimjhit in faraway lands, as it's part of their nomadic nature, as they look for a better life and continue their traditions.

The oldest race in the region is the Orcs, who call themselves Oroch-pem—the first people. They likely emerged from the South Kelevan lowlands before venturing into the desert, diverging from their common brethren as they exchanged the lowlands' sedentary lifestyle for desert civilization. Oroch-pem are characterized by their darker green and blue skin. It was these people who founded the city of Abo Fazeh and who profess that the Blood of the Roc still flows true to this day and can be commonly seen among the upper classes of Sahil, though this isn't always the case.

When it comes to maritime culture, the Gillians, outwardly called Nawfar, reign supreme. Their innate skill as sailors and whalers is renowned, and so they are often chosen for long overseas voyages, at least the ones that turn the cape of Ard Alshams or enter the torrential Levin Sea. Yet, despite their perceived worth in the center of Sahil’s coast-laying culture, most Gillians populate shantytowns and slums, perhaps more out of tradition than prejudice. As a people, they’re distinguished by a long rostrum which extends beyond their nose. This rigid structure is both serrated and durable, bearing a form similar to that of even some blades, and can be used in nose duels, known amongst the Nawfar as Melhmet, which are a frequent occurrence amongst them. Typically, character or personhood disputes are settled in these fights, ending only if a participant yields or loses an eye in the mettle.

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