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The May’Kar citizens that remained loyal to the Grand Alliance fled southwards, into Vandregonian lands. There, they were met with distrust from people who had heard of the betrayal of the Risen-King. With great difficulty, the leadership that remained amongst the refugees made the case that they opposed Akun’s acts, and the undead, and that they meant no harm to the rest of the Grand Alliance. Knowing the value of the Dominion’s holy warriors, and seeing the sheer number of civilians desperate for safety and shelter, Vandregonian leadership begrudgingly relented.

These refugees ended up taking on the name ‘True’ May’Kar, as they remained true to the Grand Alliance and to the ideals upon which their nation was built. The remaining True May’Kar military units were disbanded and absorbed into Grand Alliance leadership. Meanwhile, the civilians were sent further south, away from the frontlines and towards what would eventually become the evacuation fleet.

Many of these civilians would ultimately end up on Mardrun, where they struggled, as many did, to adapt to a strange new home. The coastal colonies are so unlike the desert of May’Kar that many of these people found it difficult to adapt and maintain their cultural and spiritual traditions which emerged from their relationship to the land. The diaspora of the algari often find themselves now in small, close-knit communities across Mardrun which in some ways are mirrors of the more insular settlements and regions from which many of them came.

Conversely, those from the river city-states, and especially those who were once in prominent administrative positions, have found new homes for themselves in the larger urban centers of the colonies, already used to mingling with many different peoples.

Early Origins
The area known today as May’Kar was once inhabited by a variety of peoples, who first traveled to it in search of untouched land. The region was known to be harsh, but communities were established along the Ukor River, which flowed from the northern mountains which bordered it.

The greatest of these communities developed into Prince-led city-states, which controlled the collection and distribution of water into the surrounding areas through advanced irrigation techniques and technologies developed to deal with the arid conditions of the desert. As industry and urbanization progressed, the pollution of river waters became a major concern: All the peoples of the Ukor drew and drank from the same river, and every drop of impurity in the north became a toxin for those in the south.

Tensions grew between these city-states, eventually erupting into outright war. Blood flowed into the Ukor, making the problems worse for all but the northmost cities. The situation was finally brought to a head when a coalition of forces, led by a woman named Tsimfa, laid siege to the city of Saresh. After a lengthy conflict, Tsimfa’s forces took control of the city, and she was installed as its new head.

Tsimfa’s people, being from the southern reaches of the Ukor, were long used to dealing with impure water, and had ingrained in them sophisticated rituals for water storage and purification, promulgated by its priest class. As the new Prince of Saresh, Tsimfa brought her culture and her Habbatt faith with her, and stymied the worst of the pollution that fed back into the Ukor.

Tsimfa’s successor, Prince Kosami, exerted pressure and influence upon the other Princes to make them adopt similar standards of stewardship over the river, backed by the central Habbatt church emerging in Saresh, and pitting detractors against each other by publicly accusing them of befouling the Ukor. Kosami would go on to be crowned the first Priest-King of Saresh, and by the end of his life, established Saresh as a proper kingdom.

The Saresh Kingdom
Saresh thrived under its Priest-Kings, who often lived under a symbiotic relationship with the church. The Priest-King legitimized the church, and the church supported and enforced the edicts of the monarch. Clean water was the lifeblood and the currency of the Ukor, and the church had a great deal of power over who received it.

As time went on, the Habbatt church became increasingly dogmatic. What began as ritualized practices, eventually became a deeply political and hierarchical organization which rewarded compliance and punished disobedience. This began to chafe more and more with the diverse faiths of the people of the Ukor, who shared little common ancestry, beyond that which had been forged through their time together in the desert.

Though improvements in irrigation techniques continued to allow the people of Saresh to expand further out from the river’s path, this increasing theocracy began to drive people into unknown parts of the desert in search of new homes where they might be able to practice their faiths without scrutiny or suppression.

Little could be done directly about the church, which wielded incredible power, but after the first riot in the city of Saresh, which at this point had become a shining jewel in the heart of the kingdom, the then-King Sibbid instituted the Mahsai.

The Mahsai’s purpose was simple on paper: It was a legal court, which existed to mediate matters between claimants of different faiths, to ensure no favoritism was taking place. Many Habbatt church leaders readily agreed to the establishment of the Mahsai, seeing it as another avenue to enforce their will within Saresh, but soon found themselves receiving censures and fines for their actions.

Within a generation, much of the Habbatt’s influence had been stripped away from them, and tensions were eased across the kingdom, which had expanded to encompass most of the peoples living along the Ukor. This expansion was the result of a series of successful campaigns to unify the region, which ended only upon Saresh’s encounter with the fledgling empire of Vandregon far to the south, which rebuffed their advances and retaliated with brutal efficiency.

Saresh, now, had long-outgrown the city from which it took its name. It stretched far into the desert, sprawling into areas that had centuries ago been considered too inhospitable for any life, let alone rich and bustling cities. Needing a new name to present to these great foreign powers, one that showed how thoroughly they have tamed the desert, Sibbid dubbed his kingdom: The May’Kar Dominion.

May’Kar’s economy is made up of a complex trade network connecting its central territories to its peripheral ones. Collectively, the region is very rich in valuable resources, but those resources are, more often than not, sequestered in or beyond inhospitable environments. One of the main limiting factors for accessing these resources is the infrastructure needed to extract and transport them to the Ukorate provinces.

Rather than trying to overextend into the deeper reaches of the desert, the Dominion relies on the algari, the people already living there, who are already well-adapted to these areas. The Register demands tribute from these peoples through the quotas imposed on their algarads, but the real value they offer comes from continuing trade. As a result, the yazi tend to approve of temporary economic subsidies towards various algar, in exchange for the development and maintenance of infrastructure that will facilitate future trade.

This economy requires the Dominion’s trade network to constantly expand and develop, with new sources of trade and tribute paying off the costs and debts incurred by the old. As the number of uncontacted algar decreases, there are diminishing returns on expansion and investment, and the entire system risks collapsing in on itself.

Along the river, a Ukorate’s ability to extract water for personal use, beyond the water that naturally hydrates its soil and the surrounding area, is funded by its taxes towards Saresh. Irrigation systems are controlled by sluices, operated by a Ukorate’s magistrate and their subordinates. These sluices control the rate at which water slows out from the river and into the ownership of the province’s Prince. The sluices are adjusted weekly to account for natural variations in the Ukor over time, but some magistrates have been known to occasionally ‘forget’ to adjust the sluices.

May’Kar’s major trade partners are Vandregon and Aldoria. Its major exports include salt, wine, olive oil, spices, ceramics, honey, millet, and gold. Shipments carrying these resources are typically delivered by barges floating down the Ukor, or by ships departing from Themakis. Almost all of this is produced by algar, with the Dominion acting as an intermediary. Meanwhile, the major imports include silk, cotton, iron, hardwood, and various dyes. Little of these make their way to the outer provinces except as rare luxuries. In general, algar aren’t allowed to trade with each other, though an algarad may actively facilitate such trade.

Taxes are imposed on trade, not only to further fund the Dominion, but also as a form of incentive. Higher taxes are generally imposed on non-Mahsai faiths, as well as on groups that are less cooperative towards the crown and the yazi. Conversely, taxes can be lowered through collective shows of fealty or piety, as well as through military contribution. The asymmetry through which these taxes are applied sometimes results in ‘proxy trading’, in which certain individuals conduct trade on behalf of others, sometimes traveling far and wide when the price is right. The practice is heavily frowned upon, and is even punished with fines when done egregiously.

The Register
As the Dominion continued to exert its influence and integrate more of its peripheral territories into its economy and culture, the yazi proved too cumbersome and centralized in Saresh to be able to effectively address the many needs of the May’Kar in areas of logistics, finances, and recordkeeping. In an attempt to address this, Priest-Queen Ordhah established the Register of May’Kar.

The Register is made up of politicians, merchants, scholars, priests, and more. It has little direct authority outside of its own scope, but is essential for keeping the apparatus of May’Kar moving. Register officials are tasked with the identification, operation, and maintenance of trade routes; assessing the value of an algar, determining the quota of its algarad whether or not that quota has been met; the acquisition and delivery of materials necessary for state-direct projects; the cataloguing and census of the various peoples of the Dominion and their faiths; and much more.

Even without direct authority, Register officials have a great deal of influence, as they are often the final word on what is, even if they have little say in what should be. Register officials have sometimes been caught altering records either for personal gain or on behalf of others, and have had the occasional audit and purge by the yazi.

They have a main office in Saresh, which contains a grand library of records that go back centuries. A committee of yazi members are assigned to oversee the Register, tasked with ensuring its highest offices are filled, but uninvolved in its actual operation. Additionally, smaller cells of officials and agents are deployed throughout May’Kar and hire local talent to help them carry out their duties. These cells are expected to make regular reports and often do so by utilizing the routes that they operate.

As all things flow down the river, in May’Kar, so too does all power flow down from the Priest-King, who is held by the Mahsai to be the closest living person to divinity. There are few powers beyond the Priest-King’s control- they have command of the Dominion’s military, the authority to pass laws, and a great deal of influence over the courts and the other nobility of the land.

Each Priest-King can trace their lineage back to Kosami, the first to take on the title, and upon their death the title is transferred to their heir, usually their eldest child. Though the title ‘Priest-King’ has been held by both men and women, occasionally a new monarch will designate herself a Priest-Queen instead.

The Priest-King’s primary duty is to ensure that the Ukor River flows cleanly. And that it does flow cleanly, and has done so for hundreds of years, is the basis of the legitimacy that the crown wields and the divinity that the bearer claims.

While the crown holds a great deal of religious reverence, the first Priest-Kings of Saresh also worked to ensure political loyalty with the various Princes of the Ukor. This was done largely through intermarriage of the various royal families. In fact, many Ukorate nobles can also trace their lineage back to Kosami, which is often used to argue for additional standing or favor in the eyes of the Mahsai.

The Priest-King has near-unchecked executive power, issued in the form of edicts. There is no mechanism in the Dominion for an edict to be overruled except by subsequent edicts. The only check on the crown’s power is the consequences of that power being wielded poorly. The Priest-King is expected to use a great deal of discretion when deciding how and when to issue an edict, and it is not uncommon for some to go their entire lives without doing so. The issuance of an edict is considered to be a sacred act, and so an unjust one is sacrilege and risks damaging the legitimacy of the crown.

In the event that an heir is incapable of ruling, the title either passes to another eligible relative, or else another eligible relative serves as a regent temporarily, acting in the Priest-King’s place. Those that would report directly to the Priest-King instead report to this regent, and the only power they lack is the power of edict.

Officially, the Priest-King’s faith, and therefore the state faith, is the Mahsai. This is intended to prevent favoritism among the other faiths of the Dominion. In practice, it has entrenched the Mahsai itself as an unassailable institution of divine righteousness. Additionally, unofficially, some Priest-Kings have been known to hold and express beliefs in accordance with other faiths, which has at times undermined that intended neutrality and led to schisms, one of which ultimately ended in a successful assassination. Today, Priest-Kings are expected to reaffirm their faith to the Mahsai publicly, to avoid political turmoil.

The May’Kar Dominion recognizes two types of territories within its borders: The first are the Ukorates, riverine city-states that make up the heart of the Dominion. The second are the algari, peripheral lands from beyond the river’s reaches.

Beyond the Ukor, the lands claimed by the May’Kar Dominion have been divided up into provinces, called algar. This designation began as a largely aspirational one: The Dominion really only ruled the length of the Ukor. The peoples beyond it barely recognized that the May’Kar existed, let alone that it had sovereignty over them. In some sense, the division of the lands into algar is arbitrary, done in whichever way is most convenient for the Dominion and the crown, and more than one frustration has been caused by the seasonal movements of peoples across provincial borders.

Each algar is assessed, as best as it can be, for the resources that it has to offer May’Kar, mostly in its wealth and its warriors, and then is assigned an official called an algarad, who is tasked with taking a portion of those resources yearly, as a tithe. The algarad is given a stipend, soldiers, and a staff of tax collectors and assistants, but is largely left to their own devices and able to operate however they see fit in order to meet their quotas.

As May’Kar is busy with many matters, and travel through the desert is harsh, the crown has little reason to send a proper military after these remote groups to bring them in line. Instead, algarad are expected to establish mutually beneficial arrangements between the algar and the Dominion, either through favorable trade or through diplomacy. Algarad are permitted to negotiate on behalf of the crown in a limited capacity, and canny negotiators can even personally profit from the deals they make.

Algarad who routinely fail to meet their quotas are eventually stripped of their position and then replaced by someone else. Some algar have gained a reputation for this being the norm, and have become dreaded assignments. Some algarad are remote enough that it takes multiple years for these failures to be noticed, and even longer for any corrective action to be taken. Rarely, an algarad is so successful in their task that they entrench themselves in their algar after amassing wealth and power.

The May’Kar Dominion recognizes two types of territories within its borders: The first are the Ukorates, riverine city-states that make up the heart of the Dominion. The second are the algari, peripheral lands from beyond the river’s reaches.

The Ukorates are highly developed and urbanized areas, grown by the Ukor River. Most areas that became Ukorates predate the Dominion, and even its previous iteration as the kingdom of Saresh, back from a time where independent Princes vied for control of the region. Those Princes that allowed themselves to be absorbed peacefully into Saresh during its campaigns of expansion kept their leadership and a degree of autonomy and independence, becoming vassal states. Those that resisted, however, had their leaders deposed and replaced with governors loyal to the crown.

The Prince-led Ukorates are able to maintain their own cultural and religious distinctiveness, traditions, and institutions. They’ve continued to evolve over the centuries independently of May’Kar, but also as subjects of it. Many of them are still ruled by nobility which trace their lineage back to the days of the city-states, and these nobles tend to be well-represented among the yazi, the Mahsai, and other prestigious administrative offices. The degree of autonomy to which these Ukorates enjoy varies; the southernmost Princes, by necessity due to their distance from the capital, have comparatively limited oversight over their actions.

Each Ukorate is permitted to keep its own small garrison of troops to defend itself and collect taxes, but is expected to commit the majority of its conscripts to the crown’s Army. They’re responsible for maintaining their own internal courts and enforcing their own laws, but are also obligated to leave all matters of interfaith disputes to the Mahsai, and are similarly obligated to build and maintain a Mahsai temple in their capitals so that its local judges and advocates might have a place to work from.

One major power that is expressly out of the hands of these Princes and governors is the power to manage or extract the water of the Ukor River. Instead, the crown assigns a magistrate to the region, who has the sole authority over such matters. Magistrates determine things like when and where canals, aqueducts, and water screws can be built; which areas get prioritized in times of drought; and are the only ones permitted to finalize trade agreements in which river water is bought or sold. Water is a major limiting factor in the expansion and upkeep of the Ukorates, and these matters are at the magistrates’ discretion, so most Ukorate leaders will do whatever they can to stay in their good graces.

The May’Kar Dominion is vast and complicated, and many matters are beneath the Priest-King’s attention. The Priest-King is not merely a figurehead, but few have direct access to them: only highly influential governors, heads of faith, and foreign diplomats can expect an audience. The need for a deliberative group that can address other outstanding matters has given rise to the yazi.

The yazi is a large body of state officials, which convenes almost exclusively in the capital city of Saresh, and collectively has an authority that rivals, but does not exceed, even the Priest-King’s. Each yaz is either appointed by the reigning Priest-King, and holds their position for life unless they fall from favor, or else is drawn for five year terms of service from the various May’Kar provinces, both through appointments by governors and by elections.

Informally, the yazi are broken up into various committees that focus on different matters of law and administration, but any yaz has the ability to weigh in on any issue. Despite the purpose beyond their institution, as May’Kar grows and develops, they have collectively become bogged down further and further by the burden of managing a large, complex state in constant flux. They occasionally also act as a court for those wishing to challenge the rulings of judges, and meet with special interest groups from peripheral territories who have come to advocate on behalf of their own people.

The Paladin Corps was established originally as a way of enforcing the will of the Mahsai. Men and women of faith trained as elite soldiers, so that they could carry out case judgements, as well as bring unwilling accused before the court. As they had to travel across the Dominion, to places which varied greatly in matters of law, they were granted near-immunity to these laws when in the course to carry out their duties, especially in the case of ‘known criminals’. Similarly, they had access to estates built and maintained for their purposes, to be used as staging grounds for their activities.

As they grew in number and influence, some of the members of the Corps began to act as local warlords, wielding their power as they believed it ought to be wielded in pursuit of their interpretation of the law and justice, sometimes callously or even wickedly. Though they were agents of the Mahsai, they were accountable only to the yazi, who were responsible for approving candidates brought forth to them. However, the yazi were more often than not, too slow and too divided to effectively deal with them.

When trust in the justice system had dropped to its lowest, the then-King Magurah, great granddaughter of the late Priest-King Sibbid, delivered a rare edict to those Paladins still remaining loyal and diligent in their duties: Arrest these rogue Paladins if you can, slay them if you cannot.

In return for this duty, the loyal paladins were granted holdings within various Ukorates, which embedded them within May’Kar’s systems of power, by giving them something that could be taken away from them and making them accountable to local nobility.

Afterwards, Paladins eventually regained their status as a prestigious profession, but were given administrative and religious responsibilities to discourage unrighteous or unworthy people from taking up the mantle. They’re also under ongoing scrutiny from the yazi who have subsequently been quicker to censure and discipline them, but are protected by high ranking members of the Mahsai from overreach. They are barred from membership in either the yazi or the Mahsai as well.

While they were originally recruited from the Mahsai, Paladins now participate in an ongoing tradition of apprenticeship, taking on squires and tutoring them in the martial and divine arts. These squires also assist the Paladin in carrying out their duties, which has become much more complicated and arduous as the Dominion has expanded its reach to the further fringes of the desert. Their holdings are passed down to a favored apprentice when they retire, who then inherits their title and office.

A spiritual duty of the Paladins is the cultivation and stewardship of their undead-slaying divine blades, which they use to clear the desert when reports of a lone zombie or two reach their holdings. The art of making these blades is a closely guarded secret, taught only to an apprentice on the eve of their inheritance. It’s said that it can take many years to complete the process. The death of a Paladin severs their connection with their blade and renders it impotent, but this connection can be ritualistically passed to the apprentice so that they may continue to prepare and wield it.

Paladins have been known to often travel, beyond the needs imposed by their official duties. Some believe them to be tending to various communities across the Dominion, in the form of esoteric and spiritual rituals that might not even be understood by their beneficiaries. Others believe that they venture to find undead in the more remote parts of the desert, in fear that they’ll grow in foul power if left to their own devices. Others still, say that they quest for magic power hidden in catacombs buried beneath the sands, perhaps to forge into their divine blades.

The Dominion’s military is divided up into two branches: The Army, and the Auxiliaries. These branches are independent of each other, with the head of each branch accountable only to the Priest-King.

Forces from these two branches are brought together as needed, supplementing the discipline, organization, and superior numbers of the Army with the specialized arms and tactics of one or more Auxiliary regiments. This makes them a highly adaptable military, capable of fielding the perfect counter for their enemy.

Military service in either branch is often viewed within May’Kar as a pathway to higher levels of society. The salary it provides is often an avenue to financial independence that others can’t access, and decorated officers can expect to find comfortable administrative positions for themselves once they retire.

Additionally, exceptional service within the military is sometimes rewarded with an Article of Sincere Expression, a commendation bestowed by the Mahsai, which grants the recipient the privileges associated with being a member of a legitimized Mahsai faith (and consequently, the capability to be promoted to the higher ranks of officer) even when their faith is not as a whole legitimized.

The Army
The ranks of the Army of the May’Kar Dominion are made up primarily of conscripts sourced from Ukorate city-states, supplemented by volunteers from the outer provinces, which are organized along the following divisions:

The basic unit of the Army is the harik, and contains 16 soldiers, led by one harikad. The harik is the lowest level at which soldiers are assigned roles and tasks. While 16 is the ideal number, attrition often leaves a harik with anywhere as low as 10 able soldiers.

Three harik come together to form a tselok. In addition to the 48 soldiers made up of the three harik, the tselok is accompanied by one cleric called a tselokamm, and is led by one additional tselokud, for a total of 50 soldiers. The tselokamm not only provides divine aid, but is also the spiritual center of their unit, providing counsel and wisdom, while the tselokud handles tactical and strategic matters.Tselokamm must be of a legitimized Mahsai faith, while tselokud must either be of Mahsai faith as well, or be personally endorsed by their tselokamm.

Five tselok come together to form a nadaal, lead by one nadaad, for a total of 250 soldiers. This is the level at which regional assignments are made- provincial garrisons and the like are measured in nadaal. At this level and higher, all officers are required to be of Mahsai faith.

And four nadaal come together to form a nur, lead by a nurad. This is the largest division of troops that the Dominion fields, at a total of 1000 soldiers. Each nur reports to the matar, the head of the Army in full, who also serves as the Priest-King’s chief advisor on military affairs.

Soldiers are trained at military colleges throughout the river provinces. The largest and most prestigious of these are in the city-state of Gdash, near the southern reaches of the Ukor. In times of emergency, additional conscripts can be forcibly gathered and sent down the river for rapid training and assignment.

The Auxiliaries
While the Army sources most of its troops from the river provinces, the Auxilaries are a set of irregular regiments made up almost entirely of conscripts from the algari across the Dominion, supplemented by hired mercenary companies from both foreign and domestic lands.

The Auxiliaries as a whole are led by the mabashi, who acts less as a military leader and more as a logistics and information officer, coordinating with the Army and delegating to the Auxiliary regiments.

Auxiliary regiments are usually organized by algar, and are consequently highly unique. Each regiment is headed by a bashi, assigned or selected by the mabashi, who is empowered to organize their regiment in whichever way is more effective for the martial culture of that group. Similarly, hired mercenary companies have a bashi assigned to them for the duration of their service, to act as a liaison to the mabashi and the Army.

A major duty of the bashi is to supply a regiment with what they need for their particular military specialty. As such, most tend to have a unit of non-combatants organized beneath them, responsible for establishing and maintaining supply lines. Similarly, ensuring cooperation with a group of a potentially radically different culture is of great importance, and so many bashi take on mediators or advisors from the same group from which a regiment is pulled, to smooth over possible tensions.

Auxiliary regiments vary wildly in reputation. While each has the potential to add a great deal of strategic strength and versatility to the Dominion’s overall military operations, they’re not as integrated or organized as Army regulars, and so tend to be, on the whole, unreliable. They’re carefully managed to play to their individual strengths and avoid their weaknesses, but this doesn’t always work. For two regiments that’s feared and respected, there’s one that’s seen as weak or untrustworthy, sometimes even for good reason.

One of the unshakable guarantees that the Dominion makes to its Auxiliaries is that they will never be deployed domestically against their own people. This applies to conscripts and volunteers alike, though only within the Auxiliaries. Consistent performance from a regiment is taken into consideration by the Mahsai when determining whether or not to legitimize a faith, and algar who provide the troops of such a regiment enjoyed reduced tribute to Saresh, with service itself being considered tribute.

The following are just some of the Auxiliary regiments found within the Dominion:

The Mushalee Boluk is sourced not only from the peoples of the city of Mushalee, but also from merchants, scouts, and travelers that have had dealings with them, or who are familiar with life in and around the shrubland. They’re specialized in long-term deployments in areas with weak logistical support, able to outlast opponents and overtake them through attrition and well-placed strikes. Service within the Boluk is a way for lesser nobles to improve their station through the prestige of victory.

The Tamur are elite warrior-scholars from the algar of Dindama, which sits along May’Kar’s northern foothills, sustained by one of the much smaller rivers that flows down from the mountain. There, seasoned warriors are trained at ancient academies in a wide variety of subjects like history, etiquette, philosophy, and the arts. The graduates of these academies, the Tamur, are used as diplomats and spies, both within and outside of the Dominion. They operate in autonomous cells and are specialized in assassination, infiltration, and small-scale urban warfare.

The Orats are made up exclusively of clerics, and conscripts of many faiths make up its ranks. Most of its number are of Mahsai faiths, but it also contains those of non-legitimized faiths, who have been personally evaluated for ‘correct’ demonstrations of piety, and who have been made to take oaths of service. Orats are almost never used independently. Instead, they’re organized into smaller groups which are attached to other forces. They’re used most during humanitarian efforts, when dealing with the undead, or when casualties are expected to be particularly high.

Technically a part of the Auxilaries, the Caravaneers are volunteer soldiers hired directly by influential merchants and nobles from across the Dominion, usually for the purposes of transport and escort. Caravaneers themselves are often drawn from the upper echelons of various algari, who invest their personal wealth into greater equipment and training than is available to other members of the military, and who often try to use their enlistment as opportunities to improve their contacts and station. Some Caravaneer units specialize in tactics that would be prohibitively expensive to others, like polearm fighting or a reliance on heavy armor. On paper, the yazi is able to commandeer the Caraveneers to fold them back into Auxiliary forces, but their volunteer nature makes such a prospect largely pointless outside of times of true crisis.