Cherkessia
A powerful nation-state located in the central Caucasus Mountains?, far to the southeast of the Russian lands. Cherkessia has for many centuries been ruled by mighty sorcerer-kings. Sorcerous bloodlines are common, especially in the nobility, and magic is widely applied for military and civilian use.
History
The Cherkess are an old culture, advanced far beyond most of the societies in the Slavic lands. Tradition holds that the Cherkess people are descended from an ancient race of demigods and giants called the Narts?, some of whom are venerated as divine ancestors and gods even today.
Ruled by powerful sorcerer-kings, the Cherkess have taken the study of magic to levels that lesser nations cannot imagine. In the Ivory Citadel, the immense, magnificent palace that stands in the center of Cherkessia’s capital city, the King and his advisors delve into arcane secrets so powerful as princes and demons alike would give all their possessions even to glimpse. The lush forests which cover the Cherkess mountains are patrolled by archers who wield bows and spells with equal ease. Yet despite such power, the Cherkess are held together by a concept of honor that dates back countless generations.
And even such a powerful society almost came crashing down four decades ago. The Mongol Horde, with their fearsome elemental and demonic allies, swept over the mountain lands of Cherkessia, occupying the capital and forcing the royal court to flee for their lives. Only through the tireless efforts of Hasan the Great, exiled leader of the Cherkess people, his alliance with the extraplanar djinn, and the help of a heroic band of adventurers (one of whom, Amir, became Cherkessia’s next, and current, ruler), were the Mongols eventually driven out.
But the invasion scarred Cherkessia deeply. Virtually no family survived without losing sons or daughters, mothers, fathers, and brothers; and entire towns were obliterated in the path of the Mongol onslaught. Cherkessia, as a nation, has not yet recovered from the blow it was dealt. Even the royal court these days has a darker atmosphere. Old-timers tell of a time when any subject of the King could freely enter and seek an audience, if not with His Highness then at least with a high-placed minister; this is the case no longer.
Some Cherkess say that the wound inflicted by the Mongols was a mortal one. They fear that Cherkessia has passed the peak of its power; and that the invasion has sealed their nation’s fate. Others are more hopeful, dismissing the views of their neighbors as defeatism. Yet though few speak of it, none can deny that in recent years, more and more young Cherkess are striking out to see the world, deciding that their homeland is no longer enough.
Religion
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Current Events
Succession
Amir, ruler of Cherkessia, is in ill health and not expected to last long past winter, if that. He has no legitimate children, and has not named a successor.
The Cherkess court swarms with rumors about succession; the consensus is that no good candidate is known. What will happen if no new ruler can be chosen by the time of Amir’s death is unclear; a situation like this is almost unprecedented in the history of modern Cherkessia. The Ivory Citadel, and the nation as a whole, is gripped with apprehension and dark whispers that the days of Cherkessia’s glory have come to an end as its long line of mighty sorcerer-kings dies with Amir.
A conclave of elders is the body whose task it will be to approve (and select, if need be) the next king, and the formal decision is theirs, but great de facto influence lies with five “kingmakers”—influential figures in the Cherkess court, whose support any candidate for the throne will need if he hopes for the elders’ approval:
- Old and powerful Kasim, commander of the battle-mages;
- Minister Narek, overseer of trade, still grief-stricken over his daughter’s plight at the hands of Jahan Mirza;
- young, energetic, and ambitious Djansarai, commander of the Citadel Mage-Guards and trusted advisor to King Amir;
- the aloof but highly respected high priestess Saikhat, servant of the Cherkess goddess of magic;
- and the djinni General Aziz ibn Kamal;
—these are the people expected to have the most say in who will be the next ruler of Cherkessia.
Geopolitics
Foreign Relations
Cherkessia has become increasingly insular lately, with internal concerns taking precedence over involvement in the wider world beyond the Caucasus Mountains. The nation has no formal diplomatic ties or trade relations with any of the Russian principalities (nor any other European nation or land, for that matter, save the Byzantine Empire). Cherkessia does trade with Byzantium, and with the lands to the south and east, but does not involve itself in any other way in the affairs of those lands.
Two special cases bear mentioning: Kiev and Novgorod.
Cherkessia and Kiev
The people of Kiev, and of the other Russian principalities, have thought for years that Cherkessia and Kiev are allies (or at least on friendly terms), thanks to the presence in Kiev of Ambassador Said. This is false, of course: “Ambassador” Said is a fraud—a sorcerer formerly of the Cherkess court, but with no official standing or position in Cherkessia. His title is a fabrication; he conspired with the City Council of Kiev to thus give the impression that Cherkessia is allied with Kiev (which makes the Kievan people confident in their principality’s prosperity, lends the City Council? an air of authority, and makes Kiev’s enemies think twice before opposing it).
Thanks to the player characters, the situation was made known to the Cherkess court. Plans were made to send a delegation to Kiev, to investigate the situation and decide what (if anything) to do about Said, whether to establish real diplomatic relations, etc. However, those plans were put on hold indefinitely by more pressing concerns—the “monster invasion” (that is, the string of monster attacks and strange disturbances that began when the player characters unwittingly released the many bizarre and horrible creatures imprisoned in the spell weaver dungeon in Mount Elbrus) being the most serious one. Though that problem is now dealt with (in part thanks to the PCs), the issue of succession, among other current events, means that sorting out Kiev and Said takes a distant back seat.
Meanwhile, Said has been used as a pawn in geopolitical games. (See “Key NPCs”, below, for more on Said’s current status.) Rumors in Kiev and Novgorod tell that Ambassador Said has been recalled to Cherkessia; this is apparently confirmed by Said’s absence from the recent victory celebration (celebrating the victory of Kievan forces over the goblins and undead of the southern forests). Emboldened by this (apparently) clear sign that Kiev no longer enjoys Cherkessia’s support, Prince Vladimir of Novgorod has declared war on Kiev. (See “Key NPCs”, below, and this thread, for more information on these events.)
Cherkessia and Novgorod
While Novgorod still lacks formal relations with Cherkessia, Prince Vladimir recently had dealings with emissaries of the Cherkess court in the course of a highly unusual situation. After a small delegation of diplomats, warriors, and battle-mages arrived in Novgorod seeking an audience with the prince, he formally ceded to Cherkessia a small plot of land in the Valdai Highlands?. The Cherkess emissaries immediately traveled to that place—and destroyed it, using powerful destructive magic to turn an (apparently) innocuous hill into a smoking crater. The Cherkess have not been back to Novgorod since, and the event remains a mystery to the public. (See this session log for more information on that event.)
As this place (an otherwise insignificant spot in the wilderness of Novgorod) was known to Prince Vladimir as a lair of known Kievan spies (those being the player characters, who had been slandered in this way thanks to the machinations of Isidor), its destruction was cited by Polish? agent Rudolf Sikorsky? as evidence that Cherkessia had turned on Kiev, and that Kiev no longer had Cherkess support; this, combined with Said’s apparent recall from Kiev (see above), convinced the prince that Kiev was ripe for invasion, prompting him to declare war. (In truth, of course, the Cherkess mission had nothing to do with politics; it was motivated by Cherkess spellcasters' awareness of the activation of the Key?, and the opening of paths to Deep Shadow—an effect whose origin they pinpointed as the base of the Cult of Loki, located in the Valdai Highlands? of Novgorod. But Prince Vladimir doesn't know that...)
Planar Affairs
Allies: the Djinn
Cherkessia has long been allied with the djinn, genies who dwell in the Realm of Air?. That alliance proved vital four decades ago, when the Mongol invasion forced most of the Cherkess court into exile; the djinn sheltered Hasan? and his followers, and later provided magical and military assistance to the Cherkess' battle to retake their homeland. This aid saved Cherkessia, but it did not come free; the debt that the Cherkess nation owes to the Caliph of the djinn is measured in such sums of wealth as most kings never dream of, and the slow struggle to repay that debt has placed a burden on the Cherkess economy in the decades since the Mongols?' defeat. Some say that it is this same debt that allows the djinn a greater say in Cherkess affairs than creatures from other realms of existence should rightly have.
Enemies: the Efreet
Cherkessia’s alliance with the djinn also makes enemies of the efreet?, the evil genies of the Realm of Fire?, who have warred with the djinn for ages. (In the dystopian future which the player characters visited, war had broken out between the two genie races, and had spilled out onto the Material Plane, spreading ruin across Cherkessia. In that timeline, the involvement of Zmei Gromovoi, who had been resurrected and had entered the war on the efreet’s side, sealed Cherkessia’s fate: the entire nation was wiped out, and the land left devastated. Zmei Gromovoi’s return has been averted for good, but there is no guarantee that the war will not still take place, and Cherkessia may suffer as a consequence.)
Economics
Though Cherkessia has always been a wealthy land, and it would be an exaggeration to say that it’s fallen on hard times, the Cherkess economy has been strained by decades of paying out the debt to the djinn—incurred when the genies of air devoted substantial resources to helping Hasan? and the exiled Cherkess court to liberate their homeland from the Mongols?. (The Mongol invasion had already ravaged the Cherkess countryside, leaving many people dead, crops burned, and towns razed; that, too, dealt a serious blow to Cherkessia’s wealth and prosperity.)
The recent monster invasion, which caused the deaths of many Cherkess sorcerers (the monsters seemed to preferentially target spellcasters, and many of them seemed to have been bred or created to fight mages), put a further strain on the nation’s wealth, in lost spellcasting potential, resurrection costs (for those who could be successfully raised), and resources expended in combating the threat. What’s more, the monsters (and the aftereffects of their presence) caused damage to Cherkessia’s natural environment—crops have suffered, some wineries in the highlands were irreparably damaged, and some say that the full effect of the monster invasion on the forests of the Caucasus will turn out to be even more dire, as its extent becomes clear in the months and years to come.
Locations
The Capital
Heart of the Cherkess nation and seat of its rulers.
Maikop
Trading city in the Caucasus lowlands.
Makhachkala
Province of great natural wealth.
Mount Elbrus
Mighty peak of the Caucasus Mountains.
Key NPCs
King Amir
Ruler of the Cherkess nation.
“Ambassador” Said
Pretender to a nonexistent post, and all-around shady character.
Jahan Mirza
Former archmage of the court, now a wanted criminal in exile.
Ruslan, Arsen, Samira
Adventurers of great skill and pure heart.
Salim
Crafter and dealer in magical goods.
Malik
Conjurer who deals with dark magic.
Minister Narek
High official of the Cherkess court.
Plot Threads
Fugitive Archmage
Hoping to dispatch Jahan Mirza without having to spend time and effort on the matter personally, the player characters decided to arrange for all available information on the archmage to be passed on to the Cherkess court: news of Mirza’s involvement in the plan to kill Siegfried Schtauffen, and the fact that he is being sheltered by the efreet? (though at an unknown location). Juliane has passed a message with this info to Djansarai, the Commander of the Citadel Mage-Guards; it is thus assured that Amir will hear of it, and immdiately. What will come of this, is unknown...
[NEW] In the meantime, Juliane has uncovered evidence that (confirming the suspicions of Minister Narek’s sister, Yasmin?) Jahan Mirza’s experiments were approved by someone at the Cherkess court. It seems unlikely that the king himself was behind this, but Juliane cannot be sure; it could have been only a very few others. Fearing retribution, Juliane has not informed anyone else of what she’s found.
The Price of Wishes
Juliane had been told to arrange an introduction to the djinn, so that Albrecht can negotiate for several wishes to be used on his behalf (to raise his ability scores). She has made inquiries, and reports of two promising options—djinn of unimpeachably noble blood (and thus the ability to grant wishes) who are interested in meeting with you, and (according to what rumors Juliane has been able to gather) are probably amenable to trading for use of their magic. One is Sanjak-bey Alisher, an officer in the service of General Aziz; it is said that his creativity and daring in battle is exceeded only by his ambition and desire to rise through the ranks. The other is an ancient djinni named Rashid ibn al-Musayyib?, a scholar of the esoteric and (some say) a mystic of great power, who has a particular academic interest in mortals. Juliane tells you that Alisher is most likely interested in you for your combat prowess, while the nature of Rashid’s interest is difficult to gauge.
Divine Avatar?
The player characters met Vahan?, a blacksmith and priest of Tlepsh? (Cherkess god of the forge), when they asked him to use the heart of a fire weird to enchant Albrecht’s Iron Mask Shield. This Vahan did, and he also (apparently) used the heart’s magic to gain powers over fire and iron. Now he has come to Cherkessia (having been living in the Byzantine Empire until now), announced himself as an avatar of Tlepsh, and is demanding that the Cherkess people follow him as a prophet and leader. Neither Amir nor any member of his court, nor any religious authority, has made any public statement about this (they are, apparently, still deciding what to do).
Party status
The player characters are known to officials of the royal court at the Ivory Citadel, though they have never met Amir or any of his high advisors or ministers in person. Having provided their services in helping to defeat some of the worst of the invading monsters (and been generously rewarded for their efforts), the PCs are known as powerful, respected “freelancers”—independent adventurers who have worked productively with the Cherkess government. (Of course, no one in Cherkessia knows that the PCs were the ones who—inadvertently—had caused the “monster invasion” in the first place.)
Albrecht’s cohort Juliane is a fixture at the Cherkess court, having established friendly working relationships with many court officials, and impressed even the king with her talents of performance, and her worldliness and charm. That Juliane works for the player characters is not widely known at the court, but it is not a secret from the most savvy and well-informed of Amir’s courtiers.
The PCs have also dealt directly with the authorities in the Cherkess city of Maikop, where they worked with the city guard to track down one of the invading monsters—a vampire who had been modified by the spell weavers in bizarre ways. There, too, they are viewed as both formidable and honorable.
The PCs were involved, in absentia, in a legal dispute with Anton Saratov?, in which the cleric appealed to Cherkess law that would permit him to take legal vengeance upon them, for the murder of his son. The decision went against Anton, in part because he himself had already committed several crimes (including the violent invasion of the home of an innocent and respected citizen) in pursuit of his revenge. Legally, this affair does not reflect negatively on the PCs, but it does mean that both the elders of Maikop, and the king’s court, are aware that the PCs' past includes activities of a morally questionable nature.
Further muddling matters is the fact that the PCs kidnapped two young metallic dragons from their lair (that is, the lair they inherited from their mother, the great dragon Mzistvala?) in Mount Elbrus in Cherkessia. In doing so, the PCs killed the ranger Arsen—a friend and ally of Anton Saratov—who had been watching over the dragons. Arsen was later resurrected, and thus the PCs' crime is known to his allies; it is not clear whether this information ever made its way to the Cherkess court (but it’s safest to assume that it did). The dragons are still prisoners of the PCs, in their extraplanar base in Acheron; they are being held in case any further parts of the Journal of Zmei Gromovoi? requires a true dragon in order to convey its information (note that any dragon of sufficient intelligence will work for this).
Miscellaneous
Cult agents
Not counting Juliane, the Cult of Loki has other agents in Cherkessia—the bard, Julius Gorn? (and several henchmen). He serves Ileana? (and will likely hear of her destruction soon), but worked as an informant on Cherkessian goings-on for the Cult in general.
Future knowledge
In the dark future to which the PCs inadvertently traveled, Cherkess civilization had ended—the Capital and other major cities destroyed, the people largely wiped out—as a result of the so-called War of Air and Fire. That great extraplanar conflict, between the djinn and the efreet?, had spilled out into Midgard due to the Cherkess alliance with the djinn; and at the height of the war, Zmei Gromovoi, the Demon of Fire and Storm, reborn thanks to the efforts of his children, entered the war on the side of the efreet, and struck at Cherkessia. This turned the tide of the conflict and sealed Cherkessia’s fate.