Ninety years ago, the Sisters of Old forged the kingdom of Arawiya and ruled justly. Now, the sands bleed black, snow blankets an oasis, and minds grow dull as a forest sweeps close, threatening to engulf everything in darkness.
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Map art by Virginia Allyn
Ruled by the iron-fisted Sultan Ghameq, the kingdom of Arawiya is made up of five caliphates, each state ruled by its own caliph or calipha.
During the golden age that lasted centuries, Arawiya flourished. Now, after the loss of magic nearly a century ago, the kingdom suffers.
The lands became untamable beasts, walls rose between the caliphates, and a dark forest creeps closer with each passing day, separating the people from the sea they once loved.
Once a prosperous city humming with promise, the streets now idle in apprehension since the sultana—the immortal safi who had saved Arawiya from collapsing after magic disappeared—died of a mysterious illness.
Now, the extravagance is shadowed by dark secrets, as the autocratic Sultan Ghameq rules with an iron fist, dispatching the Prince of Death at his whim.
Lineage of Current Ruler: Sarasin
“Sarasins, she had been told all her life, were born without a shred of good in their hearts.”
Ancestral home of Arawiya’s ruling sultan and the crown prince, Sarasin is home to Arawiya’s greatest army, where the sands bleed black. Perhaps worst of all is the recent murder of the state’s caliph, leaving their future just as bleak as the sands.
Colors: Silver and Black
Home to: Nasir Ghameq and Altair al-Badawi
“Sunlight was always faint in the caliphate of Demenhur, because the sun didn’t know what to do with the snow that should be sand.”
Home to the legendary Demenhune Hunter, this oasis caliphate has been riddled with snow ever since magic disappeared. Perhaps worst of all is the elderly caliph’s bias against women, causing Zafira Iskandar to masquerade as a boy, or risk her every accomplishment being twisted into some cause for blame.
Colors: Navy and Gray
Home to: Zafira Iskandar
The caliphate as advanced in mechanics as in farming, Pelusia’s fertile lands that once sustained all of Arawiya now suffer since magic disappeared. Divided into three, equally-powerful sectors, the caliphate is ruled by a mighty calipha, guarded by her Nine Elite.
Colors: Red and Purple
Home to: Kifah Darwish
Home to the brutal Zaramese, where arenas hosting fights to the death are common and the people suffer greatest from the loss of the sea. The Zaramese loved the sea, sailing its pristine waters and bringing back delectables from the depths of saltwater.
Colors: Green and Gold
Home to: Jinan
Very little is known of the Wastes, except that it’s a wasteland stretching across the west of the kingdom. The occasional caravan can be spotted traveling across the arid lands, carrying weary humans and safin alike.
An island of evil.
A place warned of in the dead of night beneath the flicker of a lantern.
A fear just out of reach because it lived beyond the Arz.
Once a prison fortress before it had stolen the Sisters and magic, the island of Sharr now rests wild and untamed, with oases run rampant, reaching for Arawiya with the dark forest known as the Arz, each tree another sentinel in its army.
“The caliphate of dreams. Of everything everywhere else was not.”
Home of the immortal safin, Alderamin is the one caliphate that did not suffer the demise of magic. Safin, Arawiya’s equivalent of elves, are faster and wiser than humans, with heightened abilities that tend to inflate their pride. Vanity is their constant, and nothing in Alderamin is done without excess.
Colors: Burgundy and Cream
Home to: Benyamin Haadi
The Six Sisters of Old rose from chaos and disruption.
They wielded magic from the unimaginable power housed in their hearts and brought Arawiya together, forging caliphates and ruling justly through the council seated in the place now called Sultan’s Keep.
They gifted the people their good hearts, imbuing the royal minarets with their magic, amplifying their powers so that magic extended to human- and safinkind. Giving the people of Arawiya a greater purpose—and a reliance that ultimately became the kingdom’s downfall when the Sisters disappeared, taking magic with them.