Lore of Ispar - Gharu'ndim

He stood at the base of the pyre, torch in his hand, tears on his cheeks. The cool desert breeze caused the trim on his Dho vest to billow. Tonight he would honor his uncle, Muradak ibn Narad.

He remembered his uncle as a great story teller, a follower of the ideals of the Walim, and the man who instilled in him the desire to learn.

"Learn not the ways of war, as the ancestors of this land did. Learn, instead, the ways of truth", his uncle had told him.

Bending over, the young man picked up a handful of sand and let it slip through his fingers, remembering another conversation with Muradak. "For every grain of sand in the Naqut, there is a tale to be told."

As the last grain left his hand he recalled one, final conversation. "Stay true to the twelve roads of the Poet and you will live a life worth telling."

Nayt al-Yad stepped forth and placed the torch upon the pyre. The ashes mixed with the sand, creating one more story, the story of Muradak ibn Narad.

The Distant Past

From the sands of the Naqut rose a mighty army. Forged in the heat of the desert sun, sharpened under the arrogant Rouleans, guided by the hand of destiny, they came to found the desert kingdom of Gharu'n.

Heading north out of the trackless desert, the warriors known as the Jaladh brought the ancient empire of Roulea to its knees. These desert nomads conquered half of Roulea, under the leadership of their Malik, the fearsome Rakhil al-Khur, and the warrior-poet Yasif ibn Salayyar. All of Roulea was paralyzed when the raiders laid siege to Tirethas, the City of Lore.

But the city was spared, for when Rakhil made the mistake of threatening to burn the books within her walls, Yasif struck him down in a great rage. The conquest came to a sudden end and the nation of Gharu'n was born.

Rather than succeeding the dead Malik, Yasif became the adviser to Rakhil's son, Amul. Amul was a gentler man than his father, and with Yasif at his side he shaped a realm where learning and knowledge were prized more than strength of combat. Trade flourished, and Yasif was revered for the wisdom of his writings, even more so than the Rouleans revered the writings of Archephoros. It was through Yasif's diplomatic skills that the Gharu'n won support for their sovereignty.

When the poet was captured and blinded by the king of Milantos, a hostile country to the east of Gharu'n, Amul avenged Yasif by forming the Zharalim, a secret order of spies and assassins. The body of the Milantan king was never found, but neither would Yasif travel again from the al-Nafalt, the palace of the Malik.

In his final years, Yasif dwelt within the al-Nafalt, the Malik's fabled Palace of One Hundred Gardens. This was a place of profound beauty and serenity. There he composed his greatest work, the Alamakhaida, in which his wisdom was recorded for all of posterity. When Yasif died, the people of Gharu'n mourned for a full year and his ashes were buried in the garden beneath the almond trees.

A few years after Yasif's death the order known as Walim began to appear at bazaars and community gatherings. The Walim, vowing to continue Yasif's investigations into the nature of truth, began their path of knowledge during the twilight of Gharu'n.

Amul died soon thereafter, and despite the fact he had many wives he had no children. He was poisoned at his own birthday celebration, causing Gharu'n to fall into chaos. No fewer than twenty-five Maliks ruled over the next hundred years. Coups and assassinations became the means to leadership, raather than bloodlines or ability. Some of those who ruled during this time were Malik Tu’azar ibn Amul (the first to succeed Amul), Malika Ladriya bint Daum, Malik Taraj al-Saum who (led during a brief time of peace), and Sunadin the Unlucky (rumored to have been murdered by his own sister). The al-Nafalt was eventually razed, and dark times fell over the land.

From across the Ironsea, the conquest-hungry kingdom of Viamont sent armies to invade Gharu'n. They sailed their great Armada into the port of Mawwuz, and seized upon the opportunity of a country in chaos. The conquering Viamonters set up a puppet lord, Zahir ibn Ma'mun, as Malik, so they could rule Gharu'n from afar. Shiploads of Gharu'n treasure made their way to Viamont coffers with the returning soldiers. One by one, Zahir murdered his rivals, all save a young lord, Jawhar al-Shamshir.

Seeing what had become of his homeland, Jawhar traveled the Naqut in secret, gathering together people to form a band of freedom fighters. In the end, he defeated Zahir ibn Ma'mun in a series of quick decisive battles, and drove the Viamonters from the shores of Gharu'n . Jawhar al-Shamshir became the new Malik, returning his kingdom to the glory it had known in Yasif's time. A new sun rose upon the Gharu'ndim.

With stabilty unheard of for a hundred years, prosperity returned. The Gharu'ndim were once again desert-dwellers who favored knowledge and trade over war and bloodshed. That is not to say that they are not without warriors, for 50 years ago the al-Khuraqa split from the more formal Jaladhaqa Qalathina and the rivalry spawned by the division is still in existence today.

The Present

Led by their queen, the Malika Qadira bint Balj, the Gharu'ndim are a proud and prosperous people. Trade with the Sho has been on the rise as is trade with the Empire of Roulea. There is always the threat of war, from both Viamont and Milantos, but the desert kingdom is once again a place where the sharpness of a man's mind is far more valuable than that of his blade.

In the last ten years, more and more Gharu'ndim have been hearing the call of Asheron. Originally thought as those being called to serve the Zharalim, there is news of other races having many vanish from the face of Ispar. For now, the numbers are small enough to warrent only a small amount of concern, but if there was a rise in the quantity or importance of those heeding the call, surely alarm would be raised.