Derem
Derem is a continent of contrasts. Half the continent is harsh desert, the rest a temperate mix of forests and plains. Separating them is The Palisade, a mountain range that bears a great responsibility – keeping the civilised part of the land protected from the Niskaru. Whether those foul creatures are demons or something altogether more horrifying is a matter for academics. For those that guard the paths through the mountains, all that matters is that they are an ever present, ever evolving threat.
Derem is ruled by a lineage that stretches back thousands of years. Emperor Isim Khan (male, human) is not a particularly harsh ruler and is largely divorced from public matters. That said, the land does not need much in the way of ruling – those in the south go about their days as best they can, those at the Palisade keep watch, and those few settlements and collectives to the north do their best to survive. It's capital city is Providence.
Governance and the state
As mentioned above, Derem is a hereditary absolute monarchy, but monarchs in living memory have adopted a mostly hands-off approach when it comes to the daily life of citizens, focusing instead on appointing individuals to positions of power where they can handle whatever comes up. Each of the above factions has a leader:
Emperor Isim Khan
Isim Khan the Eternal Vanguard, son of Hari, the Sword of Justice. Isim does not seem to have much interest in the daily running of his kingdom, instead spending his time in the royal palace with his court, ruminating on philosophy and religion. That said, his choices for the positions of power in his government are popular enough, and therefore most of the population is ambivalent towards him.
Field Marshall Qasa Banai
Qasa Banai previously served as the head of the Praecursator Corps, and his magnum opus in that position was the destruction of a Niskaru nest larger than any seen before just a few dozen miles from the Palisade. If left unchecked, it is considered very likely the massive amount of Niskaru that would have attacked simultaneously would have overwhelmed the Dominion and successfully penetrated the southern lands.
General Agan Qachi
Agan Qachi was Qasa’s chief strategist when the latter was head of the Corps and was the natural choice to succeed him. In the years since he has taken charge, the Corps has grown bolder in their expeditions, travelling further north than they had dared for centuries. The results of these ambitious treks have been mixed, but if even half of what is reported is true, it has never been more important for the Dominion to remain vigilant in the face of their eternal foe.
General Farziya Kazi
Farziya Kazi is in the unfortunate situation of having been almost too successful. In truth, she is most at home leading a fearless charge directly into the heart of enemy forces, her soldiers at her side and her blades wet with the blood of the enemy. But now she finds herself in what has amounted to an almost entirely bureaucratic position, suffocated by meetings and reports with which she has little interest.
General Zhari Shakpur
Zhari Shakpur was a gifted inventor even when she was a child, constructing complex mechanical timepieces without the aid of magical components or spells. This talent led to a successful career in private enterprise, and an inevitable trajectory that resulted in her leading the nation’s infrastructure. There are those that feel Zhari unworthy of her position, not because she lacks skill, but because she spent years prioritising profit over the safety of the realm.
Dar Adal
Dar Adal is the head of the Red Right Hand, and beyond that not much is known about him. There are rumours of course but given that is rarely seen outside of the Emperor’s court, those rumours are thought to have little basis in fact, and more in imagination.
Temer Leng
Temer Leng is a skilled wizard with a charismatic personality that has served him well as he progressed through the ranks of the Medius. He is not generally thought of as the most powerful mage in the kingdom, but he is certainly one of the most popular. He is an Enchantment Wizard.
Dadia Alum
Dadia Alum Is a terrorist and has a public image to match. Under her command, the Serpent’s Hand participates in acts of vandalism, information dissemination and even brazen attacks on military installations.
Factions
The Dominion:
Leader – Field Marshall Qasa Banai (male, dwarf).
The Dominion is the combined conventional military, dedicated magical resources and infrastructure dedicated to guarding the Palisade and preventing large-scale Niskaru incursions. There are several chapters within the organisation:
The Praecursator Corps:
Conducts reconnaissance missions into the desert to survey the state of the larger Niskaru settlements and ensure the Dominion is not caught unawares by unexpected attacks.
Leader – General Agan Qachi (male, tiefling).
The Militus make up most of the ground forces, including the infantry and cavalry regiments as well as the detachment of the Medius assigned to them.
Leader – General Farziya Kazi (female, gnome).
The Machinists are responsible for the building and maintenance of the infrastructure, machinery and weapons used by the Dominion.
Leader – General Zhari Shakpur (female, human).
The Red Right Hand:
Leader – Dar Adal (male, human).
The Red Right Hand is responsible for domestic and foreign intelligence gathering and monitoring of threats to Derem that are not Niskaru in origin. Examples include foreign governments (such as the major powers in Amalur, Seheron and Alabastra) as well domestic insurrection and terrorism.
Not much is known about their methods of operation, other than a continuous and unambiguous directive from the monarchy that the Red Right Hand exists outside of the nation’s laws.
Much of what the public hears and understands of the Red Right Hand centres around their attempts to suppress the Serpent’s Hand.
The Medius:
Leader – Temer Leng (male, human).
The Medius is the organised magical community within Derem and is responsible for practical magical education of those with innate magical abilities, as well supporting the Machinists and the other elements of the state.
Groups from the Medius, known as detachments, are frequently assigned to assist specific elements of the Dominion, the Red Right Hand and other state entities, either on a temporary basis (for example, to assist with a construction project) or indefinitely (for example, the battlemages that are a permanent part of the Praecursator corps.
As a result of the ever present Niskaru threat, as well as a lack of some of the negative history with magic that other countries have had (see, the Templar Order), the Medius have a rather lackadaisical attitude to magic and magical research – no school of magic is prohibited, and magic in general is judged more in terms of the results of a mage’s actions, rather than the mechanism by which those results were brought about.
The Serpent’s Hand:
Leader – Dadia Alum (female, halfling).
The Serpent’s Hand is a terrorist organisation that seeks the usurpation of the monarchy and the government it has enacted, proposing instead an anarchist state with no forced hierarchies. The most egregious of their claims are that knowledge of the nature and threat of the Niskaru is not only misunderstood by the public, but is actively being manipulated by the Red Right Hand and the other state elements to keep the people in a state of constant fear, willing to tolerate what the Hand claims are oppressive laws and standards in the name of security.
Culture and Society
Religion:
Derem has no state religion, which means citizens are essentially free to worship whatever they wish. The main pantheon of gods is present here, as is general Fate worship (as well as Fateweaving). Derem is unusual in that demon worship (or more accurately, consorting with demons) is not as socially rejected as in other cultures – the general understanding is that the Niskaru are the enemy, and that they are either demonic in origin or are the products of demonic influence. However, that is not the same as saying that all demons are in favour of (or stand to gain from) increased Niskaru activity, which allows for situations in which a demon’s goals may align with that of the Dominion, the state or individuals.
Economics:
Derem is like jurisdictions like Tala Rane, Rathir and Mel Shenshir in its economy, with a few notable differences: As the whole of the continent comes under a single government (i.e. the whole continent is one country), cities, towns and smaller settlements do not have the kind of adversarial relationships that are common on Amalur. As this single state entity is spread out over quite a large amount of land (even discounting that north of the Palisade), a larger portion of the economy is in the primary and secondary economic sectors (I.e. agriculture and manufacturing). As an absolute hereditary monarchy, Derem’s economy (and wider culture) is more susceptible to sharp pivots in short timespans than are the bureaucratic democracies of Rathir and Tala Rane or the loose guild affiliations of Mel Shenshir. Derem is about average in presence of useful materials in the form of precious metals and naturally occurring spell components. Geography: Derem is split into two halves by the Palisade, the mountain range that separates the northern desert from the populated southern plains. The desert does appear to be naturally occurring (in that, being further north should make it colder and more like the lands in the north of Seheron, but it is incredibly hot. This is generally believed to be a consequence of whatever action(s) resulted in the Niskaru being there in the first place. Whether or not the Palisade itself is natural is still debated but is of little consequence in the sense that it does not affect the necessity of patrolling it. The lands south of the Palisade are generally temperate plains, with interspaced jungles and rainforests, and an above average annual rainfall. Flora and fauna are not notably more or less diverse than those found on other continents (with an exception in that there are things that can be found north of the Palisade that are not found in other deserts – again, understood as related to the Niskaru presence).
Culture:
Although Derem is a monarchy, larger settlements such as Providence, Bulwark, and the larger towns function autonomously, with relatively independent local governance. Unsurprisingly, those that live closer to the Palisade are more aware of the Niskaru threat, as the small amounts of them that break through to the south rarely (if ever) make it as far as the southern cities. This has resulted in a bit of a split consciousness among the public, where the wealthy merchants and nobles of the south are dismissive of the threat the north handles daily, and regularly advocate reallocating resources to other areas. This has so far been curtailed by successive monarchs placing more stock in the opinions of the high-ranking members of the Dominion than in those of southern plutocrats.
Relationships with foreign entities:
Derem is recognised as a legitimate state by the powers of Amalur, the Qun in Seheron and the independent islands (Diamos, Alabastra etc.). Trade is an important part of the economy, in Providence in particular. In the past, Derem’s monarchs have assisted foreign powers in their conflicts, but never directly – they have donated supplies and intelligence, but a Deremian navy has never sailed to conquer another sovereign land. In the early days of the Warsworn (a mercenary organisation in Amalur that was created in response to a Niskaru invasion of the continent), the Firstsworn sought assistance in the form of information and military aid from Derem. In response, the state did send small detachments to Amalur to assist in training the Warsworn in the tracking of the Niskaru, as well effective tactics to employ against them.
Map of Derem
