Omyr

Introduction

Situated between Dorikva, Vralla, and the four countries that once made up Vulmian, Omyr is a large, mostly desert country. Despite the climate, the country thrives through commerce. Rare minerals, metals, and gemstones are mined all over the country; pots and statues made of rare Omyrian clay are sold as exotic gifts; skins, feathers, bones, and scales from Omyrian serpents and rocs are collected for discerning jewelry makers around the world; and the most valuable of all: information and experiments regarding the art of necromancy.

Necromancy is banned across most of Aurora due to the moral ambiguity of the practice, but Omyr is unique in that it was granted sanctions by the ICMEA to continue their work. Necromancers of Omyr work closely with necromancers from the Eastern Isles, who have yet to join the ICMEA, to continue research into the art.

Known Cities Include: Yayda, Al Ralahk, Omuslu, El Gamayana, Deidad, Jirohreza, Shafalla, Mhawrah, Al Tawayah, Haimnat, Al Hasta, Khuzig, Az Baria, Waziwi, Tel Hariya, Maratra, and Baijaf 

National Symbols

Capital: Yayda

National Animal: Omyrian Wolf

National Bird: Osprey

National Currency: Norans

National Food: Dates

National Language: Sornish

National Religion: Omyrism

Racial Demographics

Human: 50.2%
Werebeasts: 29.2%
High Elf: 11.7%
Dark Elf: 6.8%
Other: 2.1%

Culture

Omyrian culture hasn’t changed much over the many centuries it has been inhabited. Interactions are all based on how well an individual knows another: skin-to-skin contact is exclusively reserved for friends and family, while strangers and acquaintances bow, wave, and make hand motions to each other. In terms of who decides how close they are, women and elders have the priority. Elder women have priority over younger women, younger women have priority over elder men, and elder men have priority over younger men. Traditionally, children should not be touched by anyone other than other children and their family, until they are fourteen.

Due to the desert terrain, Omyrian clothing is minimal to the point that other cultures may consider it scandalous. Clothing is almost exclusively made from silk, as other materials are hard to grow in the desertlands. They wear a thin, gauzy veil over their heads and arms to protect from sunburn, and light-colored pants made of silk. Women also wear a sash of silk over their chests.

Omyrian people put a lot of emphases on tattoos, piercings, and jewelry. Since a lot of bare skin shows, it is considered beautiful to have scars and tattoos. In fact, many adjust their clothing style to reveal them. As a show of status, many Omyrian people wear chains of gold, silver, or platinum around their midriff – the more chains, the more money, and power they have. They often have many ear, nose, and lip piercings as well, made of bone or metal studded with gems.

Government

The Omyrian government is a monarchy with an Emperor (currently Empress Nasrin Blackrose), but the people of each city elects certain representatives who aid the oversight of the country.

In a city, there is a senator over every sector of the city. Senators are responsible for making sure funding is sufficient for public projects, adjusting tax rates, and ensuring crime is under control. The male citizens of a sector will vote for their senator every three years, ensuring the senator doesn’t abuse his power if he wishes to remain in office.

The senators of a city will meet every five years to vote on a tribune, which will act as a representative of the city in the Emperor’s Council. The tribunes ensure their cities are taken care of by the Emperor and don’t fall into disrepair.

Geography

Omyr is primarily desertland, with dry plains bordering the Kenos Ocean to the east and a range of mountains to the north that separates Omyr from Vralla and Dorikva.

As with most deserts, the overall climate of the Omyrian deserts is dry, though the coastal region does get precipitation in the form of dew or fog in the early morning. During winter seasons, the desert gets storms that last for about three hours and drops around five to ten inches of rain. In the spring and autumn, duststorms can rage across the desert and cause mass devastation, and in the summer the temperature rarely drops below 115° F.

The Omyrian desert is home to a variety of reptiles and birds, including the vicious rocs and wyverns, but also has an assortment of mammals such as the Omyrian wolf, sand cat, oryx, fennec fox, and camel. Many of these animals live in harmony with the Omyrian people – in fact, many traders crossing the desert will rest at night with herds of oryx, who spook when bandits are nearby.

There are seventeen large oases scattered across Omyr. These oases, being the only places where there is enough water to sustain a functioning town, were the foundations for the seventeen cities that Omyr currently possesses. Due to the rampant hurricanes and tsunamis of the Kenos Ocean, port cities have never managed to stay continually inhabited. Instead, seasonal cities that are bunkered into the sand itself. They are only inhabited during the “calm” seasons between the hurricane and tsunami seasons for the explicit purpose of trade.

Architecture

Omyrian architecture is distinctively geometric, lacking organic shapes or curves. Buildings are made of clay bricks and reinforced with metal, usually in decorative ways, and are only one floor tall. The interior of a house lacks hallways, meaning one must travel through other rooms to reach their destination. Some buildings have lounge-like rooms that act as both a hallway and a living room, as it stretches much of the building and most of the other rooms branch off of it.

Most houses start as a single room that acts as a kitchen and bedroom, along with an outhouse. As the family grows, it’s a tradition to add more rooms and expand the house. Basic expansions include more bedrooms and a kitchen, but for the higher classes studies, private baths, libraries, dining rooms, sunrooms, and greenhouses are also desirable.

Indoor plumbing is usually reserved for the more affluent, but in most neighborhoods, there is a public bath that acts both as a place for hygiene and social interaction. Private baths do the same for families and their guests. Baths are highly decorated with carvings and sculptures and are heated from below by a furnace in the hollow floor. Because of the heat of the desert, baths are the only places where furnaces exist.

Society

The Omyrian people have a patriarchal society based around a single man with many wives. Depending on his wealth, a man will have a primary wife who handles finances and praise of the gods; a secondary wife who cooks, cleans, and takes care of children; and many concubines. Women retain their surnames but are referred to by their husband in formal settings (eg. Miksa Bleaksand’s primary wife, Sefa).

Children receive the prefix of their father’s surname, but not the suffix unless they are picked as the heir. Female children are given a suffix at birth by their mothers, and male children will be given a suffix on their sixteenth birthday if they are not picked as an heir (eg. Miksa Bleaksand’s children would be named Shadha Bleakwind and Dymek Bleak at birth. Later, Dymek would be named Dymek Bleaksky). Only the primary and secondary wife can produce an heir unless both fail to have sons. If that happens, the man of the family can choose a favored concubine’s son.

The man of the family, along with any sons over twelve, are expected to find work (usually the elders will have jobs that require education, like being a teacher or doctor, and the younger will find jobs as physical laborers). Women are expected to tend to the home life, build skills that could attract a husband, and establish social connections with other families. These connections are useful for pairing children in marriage as well as helping with potential future politics. Women often also make money for themselves by selling the crafts they make, usually pottery or jewelry. It’s considered shameful if a man takes this money from a woman, and thus she can spend it however she wants to.

While political positions can only be held and voted on by men, women play an active role in politics. They gossip freely with other women and merchants, spreading information between households. They also instill a political alignment in their own children.

Children themselves are expected to do nothing but attend school and build their skills. From six to twelve, all children attend school for twelve hours. During this time, they learn basic mathematics, reading and writing, and history. After they turn twelve, children only go to school for six hours. Boys will go in the morning to learn politics, business, and civil law. In the afternoon, they will go to their day jobs, which are usually running errands for their fathers or male relatives. Teenagers will instead go to their apprenticeships. In the mornings, girls will assist their mothers or female relatives in setting up their craft shops, helping bakers prepare their wares, or tend to the younger children in their family. In the afternoon, they will return to school and learn culinary arts, financial mathematics, and first aid.

The lowest ranking members of society are slaves. Prior to the Arcane Age, anyone could be captured as a slave if they weren’t an Omyrian citizen of substantial rank. However, Emperor Xavier Blacksoul reformed the system into a punishment for criminals. Those who are convicted of a crime are sentenced to a period of slavery equal to their crime committed. Wealthy patrons can buy the contracts of the criminals, which provides funds for the city, and use the criminal for whatever purpose they have. Some criminals, such as murderers and traffickers, have life sentences. There are very few rules regarding slaves and those who have life sentences (marked by a black iron collar) do not have any laws applied to them. For this reason, they are often used in mines or, if they are unusually pretty, pleasure slaves.

History

The Age of Carnage 

Before Omyr was formally introduced as a nation, nomadic tribes roamed the expanses of desert. They were mostly bandits, attacking and killing the unfortunate passerby. Instead of cities, the oases were points of interest for warring tribes and they were often fought over.

The arcane arts were considered evil and those that practiced any form of magic were hunted down and killed. Due to this, the inhabitants had no respite from the intense barren environment as other desert countries had during the time. They relied on primitive methods of obtaining water, creating clay jars to carry the precious resource across the desert with them – this is where the art of Omyrian pottery started.

Over many years, the combination of continual warfare, an inhospitable environment, and year-long droughts caused the population to dwindle to less than a hundred individuals. One tribe leader, Omar Thornfox, decided to gather the scattered remnants of the desert people and unite them. Retreating to the one oasis unaffected by the drought, Thornfox built the first Omyrian town and brought his people into the Age of Unity.

The Age of Unity 

After Thornfox united his people, they quickly began exploring new ways to sustain life in their desert. Elemental casters under the guise of “rainmakers” allowed the city to flourish, even when droughts hit, though many people still despised the arcane arts. Pottery and jewelry-making became a popular pastime for women, who eventually began trading for other commodities.

After three generations, the population became too big for the city to hold. Ekram Thornfox, grandson to Omar Thornfox and the ruler of the time, sent his younger brother Azhar Thornblade with a selection of men, women, and children to the nearest oasis. To distinguish the two oases, E. Thornfox named his city Yayda and his brother’s city Al Ralahk.

Over three centuries, the Omyrian country grew until is spanned the entire desert. They encouraged commerce, offering their precious metals and rare animals in exchange for valuable resources like seeds and silkworms. Though there were petty squabbles over the throne from time to time, the people remained relatively peaceful.

The Thornfox Family and the Redfox Family 

Though the Thornfox name ruled for close to three hundred years, they were wiped out and replaced with the Redfox family. King Khaleel Thornfox’s favored concubine, Rabia, secretly eloped with the royal physician, Haydar Redbird, and produced a son, Labib. Unbenowest to Khaleel, Rabia and Haydar plotted to install Labib on the throne.

After years of careful planning, Haydar and Rabia managed to either chase away or kill any prospecting heirs, leaving Labib as the best choice for the throne. When Labib became the heir, Redbird poisoned Khaleel. When Rabia and Labib were at the king’s side on his deathbed, Rabia revealed Labib’s true lineage. If she expected Labib to gloat with her, she was mistaken.

Labib drew his foster father’s sword and slayed his mother without another word. Then he called in the waiting servants and knelt beside Khaleel’s bed and begged for forgivness, asking the king to kill him to atone for the deaths of all the princes.

Khaleel announced to everyone in the room that, despite Labib not being of his own blood, Labib was his chosen heir. He gave Labib the surname Redfox as a testement both to Labib’s blood family and the family he was chosen to lead.

The Age of Ruin 

Although the Omyrian people had been mostly at peace, they had nothing but an absolute monarch for a government. They had been lucky in history up to this point.

At the age of twenty-six, a young man named Zaki Redfox took the throne. He cared very little for the well-being of his people and was exceptionally vain – he was well known for killing anyone who offended him even the slightest, and would forcibly wed the wives of other men. Z. Redfox quickly became one of the most hated kings in the history of Omyr, but he was a powerful elemental user and could summon devastating sandstorms and punish anyone who spoke negatively of him.

Using terror as his weapon, Z. Redfox gathered like-minded individuals and placed them as overseers of the cities. They would tax the citizens of Omyr exorbitant fees to visit the baths or temples and pay the king a tithe to stay in power. When Z. Redfox died, his son Saif Redfox came into power. S. Redfox inherited his father’s magic abilities as well as his excessive pride. He began to tax imports and exports in order to halt what he declared as “dependency” on other nations, which destroyed the commercial foundation of the country. The economy fell into ruin.

The third king, Tariq Redfox, declared himself Emperor rather than a king. Unlike his father and grandfather, his magic power was weak. However, he was cunning beyond measure. He surrounded himself with powerful allies who could help him maintain the facade of power and used his children as spies and assassins, telling them that whoever served him best would be his heir. He would keep tabs on the well-liked people of Omyr and, if he deemed them a potential problem, have them killed under mysterious circumstances.

It was this that caused the downfall of the Redfox household. One such man, a merchant named Xavier Farkas, was well versed in necromancy. He sold medicines and food to the public at low prices but had the aristocrats pay a premium for his wares. This drew the ire of T. Redfox, who dispatched his daughter Zakiya to get close to Farkas and assassinate him.

Zakiya spent three years becoming Farkas’s wife before she attempted to kill him. She failed and Farkas killed her before fleeing the country.

Four years later, Farkas returned as a revenant, leading an army of the undead. The sheer amount of vicious shades and sentient liches under his command was unprecedented. No amount of magic or well-trained assassins could stop them. In less than three months, Farkas had conquered the entirety of Omyr. No civilian had been hurt, as the undead were only interested in attacking those who posed a threat.

Though his intention was to turn the country over to a trained individual, Farkas was still loved by the people. He agreed to become their emperor but changed his name to reflect his chosen country. Renaming himself Xavier Blacksoul, he took the mantle of the emperor and brought Omyr into the Arcane Age.

The Arcane Age

Xavier Blacksoul, being undead, rules for centuries. In the first few years of his reign, he reestablished trade connections as well as overhauled the overseer system that Z. Redfox had introduced, turning it into the modern democratic style it is now.

After many years of debating with his Counsel, Blacksoul also managed to replace the system of slavery with one that both punished criminals and earned money for the state. The introduction was rocky, as several law enforcers were bribed to frame people for crimes, but after amendments to laws and removal of corrupt officials, the transition became smoother.

The Formation of the International Council of Magical Ethics and Affairs 

Despite the love the Omyrian people had for Blacksoul, other countries were less accepting of his use of necromancy. The neighboring country Vulmia declared that Blacksoul must step down as emperor or they would invade. In response, Blacksoul sent his army into Vulmia and subjugated it, turning it into a vassal state. This enraged many magic users, who turned against both Omyr and Dorikva’s College of Magic, who had trained Blacksoul in necromancy.

To aknowledge the problem, Blacksoul announced a meeting for magic casters across Aurora so they could come to a peaceful solution. The conference lasted for three months, as many countries could not come to an agreement, but finally they settled on the International Council of Magical Ethics and Affairs (ICMEA).

Although Blacksoul helped create the ICMEA himself, he refused to comply to the laws they wished to enforce. Alongside Kai of Belain, Blacksoul vied for immunity. He would offer support to other countries in ICMEA and would no longer weaponize necromancy against other countries, but he would not stop the practice in his country. After a year of debate, the ICMEA finally relented and agreed to the demands.

Blacksoul helped the country rebuild and improve for five hundred years before his apparent death. Despite the fact that he had a son, Nazmi, Blacksoul had no viable heirs. Nazmi was born lame and this was taken as a sign of the gods’ disappointment in the boy. However, Blacksoul had a daughter – Nasrin Blackrose. She was picked as the next ruler.

This caused an uproar with many aristocrats, but the people had come to love Nasrin as much as they did her father. She was kind and just and had inherited her father’s sense of strategy. After furious debate, Nasrin was finally accepted as the new empress.

The Modern Age 

When Nasrin became empress, she began to make changes to the country. Per the request of the ICMEA, she relinquished Omyr’s hold over Vulmia, with the condition that it split into two nations in order to cripple the power of the country. Vulmia ended up splitting into four countries – New Vulmia, Scurask, Uramora, and Liavan.

Additionally, Nasrin instituted modern laws against child slavery. Those under the age of sixteen weren’t enslaved but instead rehabilitated. This was popular among the people, and many schools began to implement rehabilitation methods for these children.