Fifteen centuries ago, in the Age of Darkness, the land now known as the Vazrkših (the Sacred Land) had no name and was divided between many nations and embroiled in endless chaos. The cities of the Shakkad formed petty hegemonies that fought one another for trade dominance, only to have their small kingdoms broken by foreign invasion or civil war. The Shas'zai, their greatest rivals, had a vast maritime Empire built on decadence and slave labour. The Khaldirah worshipped bloodthirsty gods hidden within the stars, forming great warbands to invade whomever dared tread on their deserts, making life away from the shores just that much more dangerous.
All that changed 896 years ago, when the first dragon, Bagar, descended on the city of Gabārimzakrbmi, now known as Bagarnidūbmi. Revealing himself and his race to the Shakkad, the dragons enlightened the peoples of the Vazrkših, bringing them a great wealth of knowledge and power. For years, this era known as the Age of Dragons brought great prosperity to the land, for the first time peacefully uniting the lands under a single banner and propelling the nation into a new age of technological advancement and prowess. The peoples of the Vazrkših abandoned their old ways under the dragons' guidance, and worshipped their new benevolent overlords as living gods whom they served dutifully as the stewards of vast knowledge, insight, and power.
Until, on the 214th day of the 762nd year of the Age of Dragons, they vanished.
The 33 dragons of the Vazrkših left without warning or notice, and left no trace of where they went, but for 134 years (a long time even for beings that live thousands of years) they have been gone.
Still, the Vazrkših remains, and its people are steadfast in the worship of their overlords and ferverent in the search for where they might have gone. In the city of Drajhazakrbmi, seven dragon eggs sit abandoned by their mothers, which now remain under the most attentive of care by the Mūkadimdrajha (Dragonguard) as the most prized treasures of the entire nation. In Bagarnidūbmi, a scale of Bagar himself is kept as proof of their existence, in what was once a temple of pilgrimage that has since become a place of mourning and rememberance.
The Vazrkših is a large nation in central Sorras, bordered to the East by the Takhjadim Zakrj (Eastern Shield Mountains) and by sea to the North, West, and South. The nation's capital is the city of Bagārnidūbmi (Bagar's Landing), is located in the southeastern corner of the nation. The nation was until recently known for its population of dragons, who were and continue to be worshipped as the living gods of the nation - however, the dragons have vanished, leaving the nation under the brutal rule of a military dictatorship and in a state of internal confusion as heresies begin to rise and old rivalries begin to rise again.
The Vazrkših is an arid land, dominated primarily by a large central desert that makes travel and inland development difficult. Arable land is located solely on the coasts or along river banks, which are the primary cradles of civilization here. The terrain of the nation is varied, with coastal farmlands giving way to desert dunes and jagged mesas. More than half of the population is located in the Eastern half of the nation, in the Shakadi cities on the coasts and river floodplains.
During the Age of Dragons, the nation was a loose confederation led by the Mūkadjim Mkarim (Speaker of the Dragons), who was appointed by a vote by the dragons, typically from among the nation's priesthood. With the dragons gone, the Mūkadjim Mkarim has been replaced with the Mšaxik (commander) of the Mūkadimdrajha, which quickly seized power following the disappearance of the dragons to preserve order and national unity. The Mšaxik rules harshly, deriving authority primarily through their massive legions of elite warriors, called the Mūkadzāvšimj (Dragonborns), which they deploy liberally to quell unrest and make necessary shows of force. Even with the Mūkadjim Mkarim gone, though, the priesthood of the realm continues to exercise a great deal of influence. Members of the clergy often being appointed as regional governors when the post cannot be filled by a member of the Mūkadimdrajha.
Despite the dreadful reputation of Mšaxiks have gained, their leadership in the face of the loss of the Dragons has been critical to maintaining peace and order in the Vazrkših. The nation is currently led by Mšaxik Xakvān Tambdanhnak.
Dragons are worshipped as living gods in the Vazrkših, the people choosing to abandon their old gods in favour of the beings that uplifted them in the Age of Dragons. The 22 dragons of Bagar's clan are revered in temples across the nation, with many of them having massive temple-palace complexes called arraj (sing. arra) which the dragons lived in, where priests and philosophers and common worshippers alike could engage with them directly. The original 11 dragons of Bagar's time are the most universally revered, with the following 11 that were hatched during the Age of Dragons typically being more locally venerated, but as a rule were still seen as guardians of divine power and knowledge.
Rakan, 23rd dragon, was Bagar's cousin and the largest dragon ever known to the Vazrkših. Rakan was the sole opposition to Bagar's revealing himself and his clan to the Vazrkšihim, believing that the "small races" were not to be enlightened by the Dragons, but made to serve them as slaves. The two dragons fought a long and ferocious battle in the skies of Bagārnidūbmi, ending with Rakan's bitter defeat and death, his body entombed in a cave somewhere in the Takhjadim Zakrj.
Dragon worship in Vazrkših (referred to as "The Way") is equal parts religion, philosophy, lifestyle, and martial art. The Way centers around the pursuit of a theoretical state of complete ideological and spiritual purity, referred to as arminrā. Extensive training of the mind, body, and soul are integral parts of this goal, with martial arts education, daily ritual bathing, daily meditation, and extensive study of secular and religious topics all being obligations of every follower of the Way to approach this ideal state. It is written that no living being is capable of attaining and maintaining true arminrā, as their primal desires will always result in mistakes that move them away from arminrā, but that efforts still must be made to be as near to this ideal state as possible, for the sake of oneself and for the common good.
Three peoples make up the Vazrkših's native population; the Shakad, Khaldirah, and Shas'zai. The Shakad, as the most populous group and the first to receive the Dragons, have traditionally ruled the nation. Each of these ethnic groups have their own language, culture, and history, all of which are intertwined due to the many millenia in which they have inhabited the region together.
The Shakad are a human race inhabiting primarily the Eastern half of the nation, living in sprawling cities built mostly along the coasts or rivers. In ages past, the Shakadi cities formed independent city-states, worshipping a small pantheon of gods alongside their respective city's tutelary deity who was used as a symbol of the city itself as a literal entity.
Shakadi are known to have a stocky build, with dark skin and dark, curly hair often worn either in simple braided styles that are accessorized with small pieces of jewelry, or cut short and close to the head - a style considered acceptable for men and women alike.
As the nation's traditional rulers, Shakadi culture has great influence within the nation, and the Shakadi language, Bakal šakad, is used as the conventional standard. Shakadi culture values strong work ethic and humility, and is known to produce people with especially open minds.
The Khaldirah are a human race of pastoral nomads that inhabit the central deserts of the Vazrkšihim mainland. The Khaldirah live in clan-based groups, with a typical Khaldirah clan having between 5 and 20 members depending on the size of their flock. Khaldirah in the past were known to be unpredictable as a whole, in one moment being key participants of cross-desert trade and in the next raiding their neighbors on the backs of their samaryi beasts.
Khaldirah are known to have many features in common with both the Shakad and Shas'zai, leading to the belief that they are the result of ancient intermarriage between the two groups. They are of average height and have light to darker tan skin, which for some individuals has a slight natural shimmer similar to the gold skin of the Shas'zai, and wavy hair that is typically brown or black in colour but rarely can be blonde or even white, again similarly to the Shas'zai. Some Khaldirah even have a slight tip to their ears, which is considered the strongest evidence of Elven heritage in the group's collective history.
The Shas'zai are an elven race native to the islands to the southwest, with many settlements along the Vazrkših's coasts. Similar to many realms elsewhere in Sorras, the Shas'zai traditionally organize themselves into separate nations led by a feudalistic hereditary monarchy, unlike the other peoples of the region which are more autocratic. Before the Vazrkših, the Shas'zai were united under the banner of a large naval empire, ruled by a merchant-elite caste with the Lord of Elihar at the helm. This vast empire was a historical rival of the Shakad, with the fighting between Shakadi city states usually only ceasing when a Shas'zai warfleet was spotted. Prior to modern dragon-worship, they followed a complex philosophical religion based on the ideas of spiritual purity and their divine heritage, worshipping a single god, Juran, as the common ancestor and progenitor of all the Shas'zai, who with his children originally inhabited the Vazrkših's mainland, but were drove out by the humans, and so he rose the islands of the Shas'zai from the sea to give them a home. Before the Vazrkših, this was used as justification for their conquest and colonization of the mainland, and efforts to subjugate the human communities that lived there.
The Shas'zai are famed for their radiant golden skin, which sparkles in the sunlight. They average at only slightly taller than most humans, and have hair that varies in colour and texture but is typically dark and curly. Additionally, Shas'zai are known to live on average to an age of 120, slightly longer than average humans.
Shas'zai culture is known to be very strict, valuing hierarchy and social order extremely highly. These cultural values were a primary driving force for their dominance of the region in ages past, with their small maritime empire being held together almost entirely by an enforced social hierarchy and a great value placed on maintaining internal peace and order, even in times of war and hardship.
