Kosinbia

Oriental Sarba's land is divided into twelve principalities, all governed by princes vassals to the kahonuan pyromancers. Each principality contains a capital with the same name. They have differing customs, but some common points remain: hundreds of tribes submit to their respective prince; the local architecture is dominated by adobe and wood, with palaces and fortresses made of stone and terracotta; most tribes have a specialty, from glass blowing to fighting, from growing millet to building ships; it's rare to marry outside one's tribe, usually the result of treaties and alliances; tribes subdivide themselves into clans, each one with its ancestral totem venerated as a protector spirit; "Good" is what contributes for the well-being and happiness of the many, ensuring good relations between people and the community's prosperity. The "Evil" is what threatens social harmony, sociopath behavior and inhuman things; scarification is used to beautify, show affiliations and social status; every district of a capital keeps a great fire day and night, producing a column of colorful and flavored smoke. Kosinbians are proud to say that even "blind and deaf foreigners" never get lost in their cities, one only having to follow the characteristic smell of each district. Finally, Kahonua's pyromancers have the most political, legal and religious power. Every temple or monastery is charged with keeping pieces of oral lore, a valuable secret used only if necessary. Things like Kahonua's Ascension, details over the Dead Gods, techniques of heat and fire manipulation, how to commune with the spirit world. In particular, the measures of balance between sacrifices, related taboos and analysis of corresponding gains and losses are the basis of kosinbian laws. For example, inprinsonment is seen as the prisioner making a sacrifice which benefits the community, but there must be an equilibrium between the privation suffered and the gains of the many.

Danxome - The most militarized nation, due to having a frontier with the Orcoid Belt. Even a hungry peasant won't sell the spear he carries, ready to defend the principalities from orc migrations. It also has the largest and most famous cannon foundries of all Sarba, designing advancements such as composite cannons. A principality famous for its elite troops, the Ahosi amazons.

Wadai - Dominated by savannas and arid terrains. The local culture mixes Kosinbia and Khejal, going as far as worshipping gods other than Kahonua. Having one of the ends of the Ivory Route makes the wadaians natural merchants, reselling foreign goods to the other principalities. Both factors makes oher kosinbians distrustful of the wadaians' honesty and adhesion to customs. On the other hand, they don't quite follow khejali customs, for they hunt elephants, keeping the meat and selling the scrimshawed ivory.

 

Masaesyli - The best eland riders of all Kosinbia. Every year, thousands of nomads hunt tens of thousands of wildebeests, a time marked by festivals and dangers. It is traditional for the masaesylian princess to lead this great hunt which also serves as martial training for the riders. In this land, one's wealth is measured by the number of elands one has.

Kanem - Charged by the pyromancers of defending kosinbian waters, Bafongo's peoples build ships with powerful bow cannons to pursue pirates. This allows them to not contribute with troops to the Sacrifice Bastions, although there are always volunteers. The surplus of warriors and ships made them establish colonies and outposts as far as the south of Kavaja and even in certain points of Drakazin. The crews of kosinbian galleys are good at making the cannonballs bounce on the water, increasing the range, lethality and sometimes hitting several ships.

 

Urewe - Has more mines than any other principality, extracting from earth iron, quartz, coal etc. They're also expert smiths, forging ingots and items of carbon steel. It's the only principality which raises termites for eating as well for the hive's clay, which has refractory properties excellent for forges. The other local craft is glass blowing. The combination of the two results in luxury goods, with no equal in the continent: glasses and telescopes.

  

Chagga - Being near the Ashen Bay makes it so the region is specially rich in spirits, from beneficial intermediaries between mortals and Kahonua, to spirits which are evil fragments of the Dead Gods. This results in a great number of shamans which partially replace the pyromancers in the principality's bureaucracy and divine matters. They also can contact the ancestral totems of kosinbian clans. Even the common people can have relations with one or another spirit and some even acquire powers in the process. All this also makes the chaggians very superstitious, something reasonable in their region but almost unnecessary outside of it. This land also contains a great number of cultists which worship the Dead Gods, trying to revive them with sacrifices and profane rituals.

Koya - The mines here produce a third of the world's gold. The local princess is so rich that she avoids to buy things, not due to being stingy, but because she doesn't want to destabilize the kosinbian economy as her father did. She also borrows money at modest interest rates, financing public and private projects in all Kosinbia and beyond. She calls herself "the richest person in the world", what might well be the truth. Her fortune is such that she affords the existence of the "Knights of the Essence-Flame", a group of warriors which ride hybrids of horse and zebra, wielding spears and swords whose blades are made of fire capable of cutting steel as if it was butter.

Mgonde - It's an open secret that the current mgondian prince is a puppet of the local arcane aristocracy. Not only pyromancers, but wizards and sorcerers of all specializations exist here. One can also find arcane colleges, magical varieties of gunpowder and powerful fetishes. Many mgondian tribes specialize in the making of masks. But such items aren't only decorative: the mask of a pyromancer is a symbol of authority such as the hammer of an imperial judge. Other masks serve for one to become the host of the spirit invoked for testimony during a judgment. Tribal masks can also be equivalent to arcane wands and symbols of pacts with supernatural forces, either good or evil. Take care as to not offend the spirit which lives in your mask or fetish, or it might refuse to borrow its power.

Khoikhoi - The humid jungle prevents this principality's urbanization from growing. Besides the capital, there is a handful of towns and countless fortified villages facing the dangers of the bush. Snakes, diseases, witches, fairies, vampires... For some, "bush" is synonym of "chaos" and "hell". Few trails are safe and most move through the rivers in canoes. Many believe that one or more evil powers strive to keep this state of affairs. Some explore the bush to find out if it is true, finding ruined temples, fey enclaves and millenary necropolises in the process. The heat and humidity makes the local folk dress in little more than kilts of intertwined leaves and prefer weapons of brass or bronze instead of iron.

Alodia - The kosinbian granary. Fields of sorghum, yam, cocoa and baobab orchards go as far as the horizon in some places, irrigated by terracotta aqueducts. Perhaps the most peaceful, populous and urbanized principality. The numerous ceramic roads show a local specialty: many say that pyromantic artisans from here can create ceramic armors, and obsidian blades, which don't break easily.

Lunda - Contrasting with the nearby Khoikhoi, the lundian jungle is almost gentle. Even the fires are intentional and administered by the local druids, which understand how the biomes they guard depend of fire. Many exotic pigments are collected by the locals, making this principality the one with the most diverse and showy colors. The easiness to collect medicinal plants also favors a great number of alchemists and healers. The deep woods hide a great number of elven peoples, from an unknown ethnicity.

Bafongo - A volcanic region highly hostile to life, full of salt flats, wells of liquid sulphur, fissures spewing toxic gas and acid lakes. The pyromancers train here at the same time that benefit the local economy: at the active volcanic calderas, they learn to manipulate the lava in such a way that can extract valuable things such as copper, granite, lead, diamonds and asbestos from incandescent and viscous lakes, ingredients used by the local artisans. The people from here have barbarian customs: they live as hunter-gatherers, walk in hot coals and mark themselves with hot irons. The heat of battle and things such as flaming arrows whip them into a frenzy. Throw themselves against the enemy with throwing clubs and wooden swords inlaid with obsidian, skin glistening from sweat and so wild that they pass out from heatstroke later. Many kosinbians are ashamed from these tribes, for they represent the worst of the pre-unification Kosinbia.

Kahonuterasi - Not a principality, but the kosinbian holy land. Here reside the pyromancer leaders of the Kahonuan cult, inside a mountain which combines five volcanos with varying levels of activity, thermal lakes constrasting with lava pits.The ashen plains are highly fertile: the mountain slopes are rice terraces, producing a surplus reserved to regions suffering from famine. Many say that Kahonua herself lives in the most active volcano, the "Shira". There are many monasteries full of pyromantic monks discussing the minutiae of the kosinbian oral folklore, songs, fables and prayers considered both too valuable to be written as well as to be forgotten. There are many sages, the Miungu 'Midomo, whose divine mission is to be living libraries, keeping and transmitting knowledge said by the prophetess Amanirena herself. So they can better preserve what they know, these men and women go into voluntary comas, being awakened only when needed. These people are guarded very closely against mundane and supernatural threats.






Kubadilishana - Considered a part of Kosinbia, despite being a city in the Island of Ashen Ghosts. A paradise of pirate and corsairs coming from "here, there and thither", as the locals say. This places has everything a pirate needs, ships, weapons, maps, risky and valuable rumors, crews and even reputations (they can spread stories over the world faster than anyone else). There are dozens of languages spoken here, being fashionable to speak things others don't understand, to curse enemies in incomprehensible but offensive ways, and saying things which sound well even if they actually sound as a choking hyena.

• Amani - Religion, war and peace in harmony
• Sacrificial Bastions
• Elands
• Principal harems
• Nyokakuba
• Origins of Kahonua e Kosinbia
• Wagadu, the wonderful city