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  1. Locations

Zerzuran Badlands

Desert

Region Map: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qe9wDa

Climate

The Zerzuran Badlands are the region west of the Alsuriea Nahr, ruled by The Mashayan Dominion. Although sunny, it is not hotter than the neighboring steppe, merely more arid. Across the continent, winds bring wind and rain from the northeast, but thanks to the many mountain ranges, little precipitation ever reaches the badlands. Further, the high-rising bedrock of slate does not hold much groundwater. There is even a settlement with no oasis where the water is supposedly conjured.

Religious Distinctions

The people of this land, the Mashaya, share an ancient solar faith with many of the other people of The Land of Six Kingdoms. The difference stems in their belief that Speed is embodied in the great river itself, while other faiths adopt the deity as a celestial body. They reject the Alsuriean Solar Schism as a deliberate heresy crafted by opportunists. 

Flora & Fauna

The chief vegetation of the land comprise of saltgrass, ironwood, thyme, and many wildflowers and spices that grow nowhere else, which Spice Rangers carefully steward in the wild.

The main fauna here are many small lizards, wasps, butterflies, and other insects. A few of these carry venom of breathtaking power, but most merely mimic them without the bother of actually having venom.

Educational Culture

The Babaljana Mountains are thought to contain mystical doorways to the Profundum, the realm of magic. Legend has it thousands of ghosts pray at a gate where fire touches the sky, somewhere deep in the badlands. It is to many occult scholars, a place of pilgrimage. They are traditionally a wandering folk. As families, they wander the badlands, the steppe, the mountains, the rivers, the valleys... They roam, and the write, and they send letters home. Every Mashaya child is raised to reading, writing, and roaming from the knee.

Mashay Chartamancy is their unique art of paper magic. Using a formula of badlands ironwood and wild saltgrass, occult scholars and tradesmen alike learn to master this practical magic. It is commonplace to see paper birds overhead carrying messages and money. The Mashaya are also thought to have old alliances - or perhaps dealings with - Elves and Demonic entities. It is at least certain that scholarship in magic is more common in these lands, if only because it is not illegal, as it is elsewhere.

Finance & Commerce

Owing to a curious rarity of ore in the region, metalwork is more of a niche skill, and metal is often imported. Though gold and silver are still held as a central store of value, most transactions are made in debts and credit on paper, aided greatly by the magical scrolls that can act as their own messengers.

By a working of enchanted ink, the magical papers themselves are able to make calculations based on values given on other pieces of paper. By this instrument, it becomes possible for well-connected men of quality to buy and sell contracts that, by their living ink, vary in value over time given changes in the real value of various assets. Such men may assert the future value of a certain commodity and position himself such that he may profit by a correct guess.

It would be trivial for such a wealthy or politically connected trader to influence the outcome of such a trade, but doing so would become a matter of honor. That is to say, any time there is suspected foul play, there is a duel or many duels and at least half the time the guilty party dies. Of course, false accusations do occur.