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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr. Strangemonkey" data-source="post: 4434726" data-attributes="member: 6533">Agreed.  Any chance to talk seriously about Al-Quadim is a chance I'm gonna take.Yeah, they had great ideas for magic that they just sort of left fallow.  So there's a lot to work with there.Maybe in the interregnum the culture of magic has developed enough that there are three distinct aspects to the culture:1.) Popular Magic - the educational aspects of the arcane were already well developed with rules for allowing people acsess to utility spells through skill training.  So let's say Zakhara has moved further so that there magical literacy is actually wider spread than textual literacy.  Most craftsmen belong to guilds who posess libraries of rituals to aid with their craft, and most guilds have relationships with craft mages who do 'industrial' research and training.  They also play a strong role in urban politics.2.) Magic in Service - an education in magic is expensive both to hire and to acquire.  As such they have become an important part of feudal and military obligations with Temples, Military Academies, and Great Houses all sponsoring students to train in magic and service.  This is the standardized heroic magic.3.) The Arcane World - in the wake of the Mystic wars a century ago and the first 'Taming of the Fire' the many magical academies of Zakhara with their wild and experimental styles sat down and created the oaths of disjunction which govern conflict between the cabals.  This has created a magical sub-culture midway between the Old West and the world of Kung Fu where magicians with singular styles accept contract work, perform exhibitions, and police their own. Here's an idea - maybe the Persian Satrapies have alternate legitimacy to the Caliph.  Their own distinct but clearly applicable revelation of the Loregiver.In the time of Chaos it's unclear if they represent a foreign threat or the possibility of renewal from uncorrupted sources.This could be a good way of expanding the world, too, with refugees appearing the Peal Cities who have knowledge of lost kingdoms and civilizations in the mountains and islands of the west.You could run it as a sort of tropical version of Moorish Spain, with hundreds of small city states claiming diverse heritages and engaged in a neverending kaleidoscope of war and peace with both each other and the native tribes.I see it as a split between the Mamlukes who want to focus on the increasingly 'obsolete' and unpopular but decidely honorable task of defending the realm from foriegn invasion and those Mamlukes who turn to internal tasks that make good use of their discipline and training but still make them little more than dressed up mercenaries.One result of the split is that the quality of being a Mameluke varies greatly according to which citadel you've found work with.As a rule the Old Keep Citadels exemplify the oldest and most noble traditions of the Mamelukes, but a given citadel could be devoted to nothing more noble than the thankless task of exterminating bandits and The New Embassy Citadels as a general rule perform only mundane tasks, but they might be well loved by the people for their sense of justice and dedication to due process.In either case there have been cities who's administration has been usurped either in the wake of foriegn crisis or out of frustration with domestic corruption.  All of these citadels are supposed to be subject to the same split council, but as a free Zakharan it can be difficult to discern what the sympathies of any individual general or even company might be.</blockquote>

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