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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 17529" data-attributes="member: 2020">Furyondy, Veluna, and Keoland remain unclaimed, along with the lesser states surrounding them.  Also, Nyrond and the Urnsts remain unclaimed.  The drow of Oerth remain unclaimed.  Zeif, Ekbir, Tusmit, Ket, Ull, Istivar, and the Spirit Empire of Garnak remain unclaimed (the Baklunish Nations.)  Greater Ahlissa and the Great Kingdom of Northern Aerdi remain unclaimed.  I can't have an IR until these powers, at least, have takers.  Concerning the Spirit Empire of Garnak ...  There is no change in the geography.  The Spirit Empire of Garnak occupies the Dry Steppes north of the Sea of Dust and west of the Hellfurnaces and Crystalmists, it's capital city being near Tovag Baragu and on the shores of Lake Udrugandar.  Istivar is much smaller, bounded by the Spirit Empire on the west, and by the mountains on the east and south.  Several hundred years ago, a tribe of the Baklunish secretly (not that anyone cared) came back to this desolate area, led by a prophesy.  They were greeted by their ancestors, the spirits of the dead Baklunish who had fallen in the Invoked Devastation.  Following the instructions of the spirits, the tribe began the building of a new city on the shores of the lake, and the restoration of the immediate area to farming.  The task should have been impossible, for the effects of the Invoked Devastation still linger in the soil, but where the incomers worked, the soil regained it's fertility, and canals from the lake supplied water.    With the spirits of the dead actually walking in their midst, and instructing them, the tribe grew into a people, and the people into a truly mighty nation under the domination of their clergy and their undead advisors.  One of the great accomplishments of Garnak, for which it's druids and clerics are renown, is the permanent alteration of a vast part of the Dry Steppes back into forest, and an accompanying alteration of the climate into a humid, subtropical regime.  Another of their great accomplishments are their huge cities of stone, each one built around a Temple of the Ancestors which stands tall and imposing over the city it nurtures.  They have regained writing, regained many of the great arts and crafts of the ancient Baklunish Empire, regained the will to fight - throwing aside the notable Baklunish fatalistic mindset, regained much of the stature of their forefathers.  Their culture is as steeped in mysticism as the Aztecs, and heavily resembles Aztec culture.  The spirits of the dead walk in their lands, and are often amongst them, if rarely seen.  All of them hold the dead in awe, and would do their bidding ... but now the dead offer only council, and do not bid them do anything.  The spirits have hinted they would play their part in any conflict, and if they mean fighting by that, then woe to the foes of Garnak.  The forests they created are filled with treants and with the Faerie, but unlike most nature spirits these also bow to the spirits of the ancient Baklunish, and if bid they would march out to war.  The treants and woodland spirits reverence their creators, the living Baklunish, and protect them, cherish them, if they come into the woodlands they themselves created.  Istivar is a similar place, created by a smaller tribe of Baklunish who were given a slightly different vision by the dead.  Their land is still arid, but their cities are mighty fortresses, and all their people are warriors.  Ull and the Paynims regard the new nation to their south with awe, and the ambassadors from Garnak and Istivar are treated like Gods when they appear in the north.  The Empire of Zeif, further north, regards the situation with alarm, for here is a powerful nation that just might decide to invade their decadent, sedentary (and militarily weak) nation, and claim all their land for the ancient Baklunish.  Ekbir and Tusmit are similarly dismayed, but Ket is secretly delighted.  Ket is a warrior nation, and they are pleased mightily to see their people, the Baklunish, rising out of their self-pity and weeping, their fond wishing for what is long lost, rising to military prowess, great courage, and hopefully great deeds.  Ket and Garnak are already allies, and Istivar and Ket soon will be.  The Suel people are not welcome in Garnak.  Suel people found in Garnak are captured and given to the spirits, who then either kill them, or take them away for magical reeducation and the showing of insights.  The result of said insights and reeducation is never a human being;  those given to the dead change into non-humans, into various types of beings, into sentient constructs, or even into sentient plants and animals, all fanatically loyal to the Spirit Empire of Garnak and her people.  The Spirit Empire of Garnak maintains a powerful guard and watch over Tovag Baragu, but they are not capable of stopping Vecna from coming through.  If Vecna comes through, his legions - who are Suel fanatics - will make the destruction of Garnak their first priority.</blockquote>

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