R'hundalla is area to the East of the Ugarite Valley and the Cancer. It is populated almost entirely by Vaikun.
geography
Its topography is varied; fertile river valleys, and sandy coasts in the south drying out into a massive sandy desert in the North. This desert area, called Lanthanos, is of particular interest as the atmosphere has been burned away, creating an irradiated wasteland of intense sun. The Vaikun emerged out of this wasteland, naturally resistant to UV radiation and particularly adept at shaping sand into glass.
Regions
Major Cities:
history
R'hundalla's history dates back to prehistoric times when the Dolotai, figured in R'hunic mythology as the 149 angels of R'hun, uplifted the Vaikun from savage desert going nomads into delicate and refined civilized creatures. Originally there were seven tribes of R'hunallese, spread over the whole of the Eastern part of the continent, reaching as far west as the Ugarite Valley and as far north as the Forgotten lands. By about 9,000 BA these tribes had consolidated into three seperate ethnic groups, the Hrat'azi, Ustaphar, and K'iolaa.
Quadeshi Kingdoms
Used to the easy living of the Quadeshi plains, the peaceful, relatively psychically underdeveloped K'iolaa had built major settlements along the coast, including the walled city that would become Ir'al'Quadesh and the first rude settlements in what would later be termed Sitamabad. This Qudeshi Kingdom lasted until about 3,000 BA when Hrat'azi invaders from Lanthanos sacked Sitamabad and subjugated the K'iolaa. This New Quadeshi kingdom would last until nearly the 8th century PA, largely under the dynastic rule of al-Fatalas family.
A New Faith
The Hrat'azi and K'iolaa had always been polytheistic, worshiping gods of sea and sun and sand. The Ustaphar, who came from the arid wastelands of central Lanthanos, however were a different story. In the low atmosphere of central Lanthanos, the prophet Harad al-Bim had led his people to the faith of R'hun a warlike god of the sun who created all that was good in the universe. Harad al-bim led the Ustaphar to the Quadeshi kingdoms, to spread R'hun's message to all of the chosen people. The Ustaphar were the most psychically adept of all the Vaikun and, through threat of war, mental manipulation of their lesser bretheren and the power of their faith, the tiny Ustaphar people converted the whole of the Vaikun to the Faith of the Sun in 768 PA.
R'hundalla United
Lanthanos and the Quadeshi plains were renamed R'hundalla (land of R'hun) collectively and the task building and empire was set to. The al-Fatalas family was exiled as purveyors of heathen gods while al-Bim himself wandered quietly into the wastes after his conversion, never to return. Large number of Hrat'azi especially those from the original Tulla'hitos tribe became the most vehement defenders of the faith and proclaimed themselves the holiest of Vaikun. Having originally come from Lanthanos themselves, they moved back to the blazing deserts and set about constructing the fabeled Istankos (city of sand) on the spot where al-Bim had spoken to the archangel Jhalia and learned about the power of R'hun. The K'iolaa and those Hrat'azi tribes who remained on the Queshi plains continued to build small kingdoms ruled by various Caliphs and beholden to the newly created Sultan Zare al-Tulla, who ruled from Istankos. The Ustaphar quietly shrank back into obscurity.
modern government
R'hundalla is a powerful theocracy, ruled by the Sultan Muqqudas al-Aftab who serves as both temporal and spiritual leader. Beneath him are the Caliphs of numerous kingdoms which function like city-states with outlying lands. These Caliphs are secular leaders, though they certainly all share the same faith and as a result numerous Hojatoler'hun and their attendant clerics watch over the Caliphates and are the Sultans eyes and ears.
society
Under the strict dictates of the Faith of the Sun, R'hundallese society looks very repressed to the outsider. Within the society however, there is a great open debate, scholarly reformation of society and understanding of the strictures of R'hun mostly conducted through the r'hunhaz'al-fad, the nexus of psychic communication which all non-slaves in R'hundalla take part in. Theirs is a society based first and foremost on religious observance, but secondarily on scholarly traditions which encourage, if not the questioning of R'hun, the questioning of the laws made which support R'hun's will. In this way, what appears to be unchanging religious domination, is actually a very mutable system which is in a consant state of flux and revision. Various Sultans have been more or less kind to this kind of academic work, however and at times these rights have been suspended.
Slavery is an important part of Vaikun society and dates back to long before the Faith of the Sun was integrated into society. Once, Vaikun enslaved one another, but R'hun forbids the subjugation of any of the chosen people so slavery has become raced since the 8th century, drawing mostly from humans in Arcadia and the Ugarite Valley. These slaves do not have the rights of R'hundallese citizens, but the Faith of the Sun encourages s'al-hed or compassion, and most slaves are not beaten or mistreated. During the Wars on the Trianguarde, many Sevillans were taken as slaves and a large community of Sevillan R'hundallese now exists in the numerous slave markets of Ir'al'Quadesh, Sitamabad and elsewhere.
The R'hundallese are very adept at mercantile endeavors and port cities such as Ir'al'Quadesh are among the largest and wealthiest in the circle. R'hundallese are great manufacturers of luxury goods: silk (both luxury and martial grade), incense, glass instruments and jewelry, gold jewelry, spices such as cinamon and vanilla, hashish, opium and numerous exotic fruits (oranges, pears, persimmons etc). Trade with Sevilla, Arcadia and the Ugarite Valley has made the Vaikun more wordly and even necesitated that humans and other races live as resident aliens in their cities. This has brought up a series of moral quandries such as interacial marriage, the status of education among non-Vaikun and the relative moral imperatives Vaikun should bear towards free non-Vaikun versus slave non-Vaikun.
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