Summary
The Mürad Empire is a sultanate currently ruled by Padishah Kapadia (SithMaverick). Ruling in the northern desert of Enniare, and controlling the provinces of Northern Lancelong, the Mürad Empire is a very open land where anyone is allowed to enter or leave. Founded after a large migration away from a cult regime, the Mürad Empire was founded by Mürö. Claiming the Müdro was a false prophet, reportedly quoting, "He is a man of lies, and a disgrace to our heritage."
Rulership
The ruler is Padishah Kapadia, the latest in a hereditary sultanate. The Sultan creates all new laws and decisions, however, if a majority of the population rejects the concept, then the idea is denied. The military leader is appointed by the Sultan, and is typically in some way related to the Sultan himself.
The heir to the Sultan is referred to as the Shahzada, and that place is currently held by nobody. The Shahzada has no official power until he takes over as Sultan, but he is considered noble and is respected as such.
The leaders of Mülranian Provinces are known as Subahdars. They have control over their respective province, and are only controlled by the Sultan (who can reject any law the Subahdar enacts). The only Subahdar is Abdul Hai of Northern Lancelong.
Culture
The culture of the Mürad is a melting pot between the native goblins and their Concordian heritage. Many of the concepts from each's culture were adopted when the Mürad migrated to the Áterac Desert.
Traditions
Many traditions have place in the Mürad culture. One of the many traditions is a game called Ghazal. Its page can be found here[1].
Another tradition is the Migration Festival, which celebrates the day Mürö and his followers migrated to the Áterac Desert. The festival is a large march, where floats are pulled along to symbolize the many people that fled to the desert. Along the road, many booths are set up with activities, food, or other goods. This is a day where all of the people in the Mürad Empire come together and enjoy themselves.
Religion
The main religion of the Mürad Empire is Müradi'i, a sub-sect of Müdamiri. However, all religions are tolerated within the Áterac Desert.
(I'll post a link one day to the Müradi'i, if I ever make a page)
Architecture
The architecture of the Mürad Empire is very open, as very few buildings have roofs. Instead, they have tarps for the total of around 5 times a year it rains. The general design of the buildings are a combination of Concordian design and Goblin aesthetic.
Most buildings are made of some sort of brick, and are painted white afterwards. If the house is for a significant figure, then gold adornments are added to the buildings. Most buildings also have basements, as to hide items from possible sandstorms.
Language
The language is curious combination of Concordian and Goblin dialects, along with a few regional changes.
History
Founding (203 BBB)
In 204 BBB, the Müdro (Claiming he was a descendant of the powerful god Müdamir) lead a cult to conquer the land of Concordia. A man named Mürö (Along with many other civilians) believed that the Müdro was a liar, an insane cult leader, and an extremeist.
Following the foundation of the Concordian Empire, Mürö lead his followers to the northern desert in 203 BBB. After claiming the land for themselves, they declare themselves the Mürad, and their land the Áterac Desert.
The Goblin Era (203 BBB)
When Mürö (Being crowned the first sultan by his followers) first claimed the Áterac Desert, he did not expect people to already have inhabited it. Much less goblins.
The desert goblins had a large nomadic civilization called Illronica. When Mürö first discovered the goblins, he thought that they would be everywhere. That was, until he ventured further into the desert. There were no other goblins, only the small colony from Illronic.
After some discussion equivalent to charades, Mürö and the goblins agreed on a compromise. The goblins would be allowed a city in the Mürad Empire, and they would be allowed to run it however they wished. However, the goblins in the city agreed to stay within their bounds.
Following this, several men from the Mürad Empire learned the goblin language. And after that, the goblins taught the Mürad how to traverse in the new, treacherous land. For their services, the goblins were rewarded with gold, which is oddly abundant in the desert.
By the year 196 BBB, the Mürad had traversed the entire desert, and had claimed it all as Mülrania.
The Building (196 BBB)
After the perimeter of the desert had been traversed, Mürö ordered the construction of several new cities. The first to be made would be the capital, Mülrania. The city of Mülrania was completed in 190 BBB, after six years of construction.
Over the next 10 years, many other cities were made, including Bulípa (The city of the river), Murån (The city of the market), Cästän (The city of gold), Swirvmiá (The city of enjoyment), and Grünmeria (The city of battle).
The Reign of the Second Sultan (179 BBB)
Unfortunately, in 179 BBB, Mürö died after a fatal scorpion sting. He left no heir to the throne, thus his followers chose a new sultan. A young man named Âlim was chosen as their new sultan, as he had worked closely with the Sultan.
At the age of 20, Âlim took control of the empire, and he kept control of it for the next 50 years. During his rule, Âlim did very little outside of the Mürad Empire. He modernize the cities that Mürö built, and he paved new roads to connect the cities. By 150 BBB, all of the main cities were connected, and trade was abundant between them.
During this time, the city of Illronica (The goblin city) was protected from the large scale goblin enslavement, likely either due to the fact that dwarves didn't want to have to suffer through miles upon miles of desert to reach a small city of goblins or because the dwarves didn't want war with the Mürad.
By the time of Âlim's death in 129 BBB, his accomplishments had discredited him. The lore of the land confused his work as that of Mürö before him. The new generation of people longed for a more active ruler. However, he did nothing incredibly terrible.
The Reign of the Third Sultan (129 BBB)
This sultan much unlike his predecessor, left not one heir, but five. Their names were Müra, Âlim II, Gämi, Kiläm, and the new sultan, Grünt.
At age 25, Grünt was what the land wanted. A calm and reasonable Sultan, who also lead the Mürad Empire into a Golden Age. Literally.
He commissioned the mining of as much gold as possible, as it was abundant and apparently very valuable outside the empire. He claimed the islands near the Áterac Desert, and creatively named them New Áterac. He then used the islands trading depots, stimulating trade with the other kingdoms, importing many much needed items, such as foodstuffs, boats, and weapons.
This was the way the Mürad Empire functioned, along with further modernizing the major cities. However, in 100 BBB, Illronic discovered that the Mürad Empire had taken islands too near to their land, and attempted to take them over.
The Mür-onic War (100 BBB)
After nearly a century of peace with the goblins, a war between Illronic and the Mürad had been started. After taking their first island, Grünt was angered by the goblins' conquest. He rallied his armies and invaded the goblin homeland.
Now, Grünt had an unconventional idea. He would send his ships through the narrow river in Illronic, and he would drop off men at each major city near the river. After that, he would send his ships back....and do it again.
His first assault was on Sreebes. This first attack was a major success, as the goblins were surprised by the large number of ships assaulting the base. Every goblin at the base was killed.
The next assault was on Delshur, one of the two biggest cities in Illronic. However, Grünt wasn't expecting what the goblins had in store. The goblins all had flaming arrows. Nearly 23 ships were sunk by the barrage of arrows, and 13 were sunk by goblins jumping in the ship and stabbing holes in the floorboards.
After this, the Mürad attempted to retreat. However, Grünt's original plan backfired, as troops were sent to Sreebes to defend it from the return of the Mürad. When they did return, the goblins sunk all but 2 ships. Unfortunately, the Sultan was in one of the sunken ships.
With the crowning of his brother, Gämi, the war officially ended as Gämi surrendered the islands to Illronic. The war had lasted nearly a year, but even then all but two of the Mürad Empire's great fleet had been destroyed.
The Fourth Sultan (99 BBB)
At 49, Gämi didn't have a very long to reign. However, his main purpose was to help rebuild the Mürad's morale. A purpose which he accomplished. He had a son, Müün, who became the sultan a mere 2 years after his father was crowned. At 51, Gämi was killed by a carriage accident.
The Fifth Sultan (97 BBB)
At age 30, Müün became the new sultan. Müün was egotistical, to say the least. He demanded many obelisks in his honor, and an incredibly large city for him (Accordingly named Müünla).
However, this garnered suspicion from Concordia, as they wanted to cement their place as the dominant power in the North, and Müün's actions were hindering the plans.
Therefore, in 77 BBB, Concordia attacked the city of Müünla. This assault destroyed the 2 decades of long work the Mürad had to do, and they were outraged. And one particular man was going to lead the civilians to victory.
The Mürad Revolution (76 BBB)
It has been a few months after the assault on Müünla, and the citizens were tired of Müün's incredibly large ego (Arguably bigger than the city dedicated to him). A man named Ali Kapadia would start a revolution to overthrow the Sultan.
After bribing the guards at the Sultan's palace, Ali and his junta stormed the palace, breaking into Müün's room and capturing him. After executing Müün and his supporters, Ali declared himself the new Sultan of the Mürad Empire.
The Sixth Sultan (75 BBB)
Ali's first action as Sultan was to destroy any remnants of Müün's reign. He destroyed the multitude of monuments dedicated to him, and used the pieces left from Müünla's ruins to rebuild the mainland.
After the two wars in recent history, the Mürad were reluctant to get into foreign relations. For all of Ali's reign, the Mürad Empire would be isolationist, never interacting with Concordia, Illronic, or any other kingdom.
But, in 55 BBB, Ali was killed by a fatal wound in the abdomen. Not having any suitable children, the Mürad would have to figure out who the next Sultan would be.
The Internal War (55 BBB)
After the death of Ali, the empire was split on who the next Sultan would be. It was either his 2 year old son, Yéaha, the military general, Gräm, or the recently surfaced grandson of Müün, Súlmate.
Súlmate had gathered an army who felt that Müün's line of succession was the true Sultanate. Yéaha's followers were revolutionaries who now felt that Ali was the beginning of the succession. And Gräm's followers were the less extreme revolutionaries who felt that Ali was the Sultan, but that Yéaha was too young to rule.
This conflict lasted the next 3 decades, as the three armies fought over the throne as Sultan. The war only ended after Gräm died in a battle in 35 BBB, and Súlmate drowned in a river. Therefore, Yéaha was the new Sultan at age 32.
The Seventh Sultan (25 BBB)
Finally, the land was unified. However, Yéaha had a lot of work to do to rebuild his land. He still had small groups of revolutionaries trying to cement themselves as the Sultan, and he still had to rebuild Bulípa, Cästän, and Grünmeria.
For the next 25 years, Yéaha would have to work with his incredibly little resources (As there were still people who denied his rule as Sultan) to rebuild the cities. And by his death in 0 ABB, the cities were nearly as grand as they were before the Internal War.
The New Era (0 BBB)
The empire was rebuilt. The citizens were complacent, and the grand cities where restored to their former glory.
However, Yéaha had died that same year, and he had to be succeeded. The public had not heard of any children, as they would pose a threat to Yéaha's reign. They could have been used as blackmailing, kidnapping, etc. But since he was dead, the children came out. There was but one problem. They were twins.
Only one could be sultan, and there was no way to choose. The two children, Kílyah and Gåm, were forced to fight each other to the death in an arena. But, the tides were turned when the children agreed to a joint leadership. Gåm would be the military commander, and Kílyah would be the religious leader. They would work together to lead the empire. Although unconventional, the Mürad agreed to this leadership. Little did they know that this would spark a golden age in discovery.
Gåm was a military genius, and invented new tactics and weapons. One of which was the Yïyicha (Saw Launch), a weapon placed on ships that launched sharp saw blades into enemy ships. However, when infused with a special elixir, the blades would easily slide through wood. Therefore, when the blade would hit the ship, it would sink into the ocean, opening holes in the enemy ship.
On the other hand, Kïlyah was a scientist. She believed that the human body was the perfect creation of Müdamir, and that it's secrets held a near infinite level of knowledge.
This led to an anatomical gold mine, discovering many parts of the body (And their functions) long before the Mürad's contemporaries. They placed special focus on the vocal cords, the heart, and the brain.
A rather odd discovery from this period was the identification of the Golden Ratio, which further proved to Kílyah that the human body was perfect.
Contrary to popular belief, this did not cause xenophobia for most of the citizens of Mülrania. Only a few extremist clans took to this route, and most were ended after a wild murderous rampage committed by the most popular of the clans, the Pįran Mürad. This near-genocidal attack was lead against the goblin colony, where the Pįran stormed into the city, killed nearly all of the men and enslaved the rest of the city's populace.
This tragedy allied the extremist clans and the sultanate against a common foe. This went onto one of the biggest battles in Mülrania's history.
The Assault of Pįraq (21 ABB)
The Pįran expanded enough to build themselves a fortress. This base was large enough to be a city, which it became! The city was deemed Pįraq, and was protected by thousands of troops.
The sultanate and the extremists allied to lead an assault on Pįraq, and they gathered a monumental support from the citizens. Gåm was gifted with an incredible idea, where he and his men would climb up the walls of the city and onto the roof (Which was unique compared to most buildings). There, they would destroy the roof using large warhammers and drop flaming pots of oil into the holes.
This was a massive success, and nearly all of the Pįran were destroyed. Afterwards, most of the clans forfeited their extremist views (After a discovery that goblin biology also followed the Golden Ratio), and peace was restored to Mülrania.
The Ninth Sultan (56 ABB)
Unfortunately, Kílyah and Gåm were both killed in a construction accident (The ceiling of their room fell on top of them). Fortunately, Kílyah had a child whose name was Mùki.
Mùki was...odd...to say the least. At the time, citizens thought he was infected with some sort of disease. He was known to be irrational at times, and would never enter his own palace (Often sleeping in his carriage). However, in his mental unrest, he kept himself incredibly busy. He ordered the expansion of the arts and sciences, and he personally oversaw nearly everything he ordered.
He rebuilt many old buildings, and ordered the furthering of his mother's anatomical studies. In this era, the focus was less on the brain and heart and more on areas such as muscle structure, bone structure, and the nervous system.
The Tenth Sultan (100 ABB)
It was not a surprise that the citizens the Mürad Empire were relieved to see Mùki die, ironically in a construction accident whilst sleeping in his carriage. And fortunately, Mùki's daughter wasn't nearly as insane as he.
Kïkli was then crowned the Sultan of the Mürad Empire, and she had a lust for land. On the same day she was crowned, she ordered the conquest of 6 small islands near the coast of Heyfedd, and as she desired, the pawns moved forward.
Granted, these islands weren't inhabited (Only by a few tribal sects), but they were land none the less. And soon after the conquering of the islands, she conquered the 2 larger islands. After she conquered that land, the Heyfedd government still didn't seem to mind. So she became a bit cocky.
After the conquering of 8 islands in the span of half of a year, Kïkli still didn't seem satisfied. She needed more. So she conquered the second largest island in Heyfedd. Or, more accurately, she trie to conquer the second largest island in Heyfedd.
The Heyfedd War (101 ABB)
So, as a brief summary of how the Heyfedd "government" worked, it was basically a large amount of small, self-sustaining villages of fairies and pixies that often got into wars with each other. So imagine how they reacted when some random tunic wearing land lusting Mürads come in and try to instate a hereditary sultanate.
For once in their history, the Heyfeddites joined together and fought back against Kïkli's insatiable hunger for land. Kïkli, not suspecting that this island would be inhabited by angry nomads, was not prepared for absolute war. And as a result, a majority of her army was killed. Including Kïkli herself.
But now, the Heyfeddites were fueled by vengeance, and went on a conquest run, taking back every bit of land Kïkli stole (And more, as they also conquered what was previously New Àterac).
So there was the Mürad, without a Sultan (As Kïkli had no children), surrounded by the vengeance-hungry Heyfeddites, and without most of their army. Of course they surrendered.
The Eleventh Sultan (102 ABB)
The original royal family was back in reign. Súlmate (from the Internal War) had a child. And Súlmate's child had a child...then his child had a child...and...you get the point. So now, we have Súlmate's hereditary line once more ruling, with the newest Sultan being Patala Chhaayaadaar.
Why is he named so oddly? Because his father, Chikitsak, wanted to make sure nobody knew he was the descendant of Súlmate. I mean, it worked. But after a while of convincing (and no other candidate for Sultan), they accepted Patala as the Sultan.
Luckily, he wasn't insane nor was he a conquering extremist. He was surprisingly effective, actually. He negotiated peace with the Heyfeddites and got them to release Illronic's lands, and he helped build up the country's morale. Which was exactly what the country needed.
The Twelfth Sultan (153 ABB)
After Patala's death at an accidental alchemy explosion (don't worry, the alchemist died too), his son, Mehmedhan, became the new Sultan.
And since the empire had just come out of a devastating war, Mehmedhan wasn't starting any new wars. But, he was starting new trade routes! The most well known was the Samarkan Route, which started at Cästän (where the gold was mined), went down the river to Bulípa, where you could go one of two ways (depending on your destination). You could go southeast and reach La Zalma, or you could go North and reach Illronic/New Àterac.
Through this trade route, the Mürad began to prosper. Now with Illrock and volital, primitive gunpowder from Illronic and wine and lotus from La Zalma, the Mürad Empire began to grow.
And with this prosperity began a new renovation of the Àterac. Every city was embellished with the grandest art and architecture the Mürad could muster. However, with Mehmedhan's death in 203 ABB, this would not last.
The Holy War (203 ABB)
(Just a base idea, we can negotiate in the comments)
Okay so, I'm thinking the war will primarily be about polytheism vs. monotheism. So that would mean the Telierdan religion vs. Muradi'i and Mudamiri (and Arindear's religion will fit in, most likely on Telierda's side).
Personally, I think this is the best explanation. We can use this as a way to explain the Sierdan split up (with the borders being decided on the religions fighting, so Telierda's religion led to the boundaries of Telierda, Arindear's religion let to Arindear, etc.).
This could also explain the different relations between kingdoms. Arindear was so competitive with Sion in the Commercial War because they had tense relationships in the Holy War, and the L4K was founded as a way to try to mend relationships between the kingdoms. We can retcon that the ME was always in there or something, just to make it work.
So, we'd have Sion and Mülrania fighting against Arindear and Telierda, which at the time was basically a huge rebellion against the mainly monotheistic Sierda. We'll say that Sion was always the odd land out in Sierda, considering it was one of the only concentrated areas of a polytheistic religion within the kingdom. Therefore, Sion felt it needed independence.
While at first the Telierdans and Arindearians fought under the Sierdan flag, they soon found that despite sharing monotheism, their religions weren't too similar. This eventually led to infighting between the forces and the peaceful split up treaty, leading to "modern" Telierda, Arindear, Sion, and Mülrania.
We could also say that the Mürad were pulled into the war as a holy affair. While the Sionians were concerned with gaining independence, the Mürad were led to believe that they were fighting for the glory of Müdamir, and that the Sierdans were filthy monsters who needed to be vanquished.
So what do you guys think?