The Shrine of Hamaskis.
Shabak
The Shrine of Hamaskis.Shabak | |
Although less well known than many of the places in other parts of Allansia, Shabak is both an ancient and significant principality and an interesting and unique geographical area. The High Priest thanks Hugh Eldred-Grigg for the following authoritative and learned description of the culture, government and geography of this location. The interested reader can also find out more about the history of this facsinating nation.
The people of Shabak are prosperous and inclined to leisure. The warm climate makes for a lifestyle many would see as indolent, and it is not unknown for some Shabaki towns to shut down between two and four hours after midday as the inhabitants nap through the hottest hours of the day. Their skins are an olive brown, their hair usually a deep black, and their eyes brown, although some blue-eyed Shabaki do exist (and are often rumoured to have the Evil Eye). It is not uncommon to find men of other races in the ports of Shabak, but demi-humans such as elves and dwarves are quite rare.
Shabak, as a merchant culture, is also a slave-keeping one. There are two types of slaves - native Shabaki who have sold themselves into slavery, usually to pay a debt, and non-human slaves, usually orcs and goblins, taken as slaves in war. Both types are surprisingly well provided for and the non-human slaves, many of whom have been in slave families for years, are not unhappy with their position. Slave-keeping is most common in the large towns where slaves are manual servants - they have been found to make inefficient miners and farm workers.
The nation has a large peasant class, mostly centred in the less prosperous, more rural West of the nation. Shabak's peasants are quite well off, not suffering from the feudal rule common elsewhere in Titan. The main crops are wheat, corn and cotton.
Shabak is a Principality and it does have a nobility, but they are not as powerful as elsewhere on Titan. The Shabaki nobility, while wealthy, have mostly used that wealth to become involved in the thriving trade of the nation's city ports. Some of them are uneasy regarding the rise of the non-noble elite, but most of them are happy to do business with them. Although wealthy, they have no political power due to their noble status, although many are influential in Shabak's army.
The merchant class are the lifeblood of Shabak and tend to dominate the nation's government. Shabak has a very decentralised government structure - each major town is ruled by a council of wealthy citizens, known as 'Electors'. These Electors, who are judges, tax collectors and governors, are officially responsible to the Prince in Bakulan but can, in practice, do what they want. Some Electors are very corrupt, some are exemplary. Their positions are purchased for a fee from the Prince, and as such, only the wealthiest can join the Elector Council. Important settlements in Shabak include Shalabak, Bakulak, Tempest, Zhenir, Barlamma, Lorika, Varna and Kelbakna.
The Court of the Prince is the seat of nominal power, but beyond control of the navy and army, Prince Nuno XXII is mostly secondary to the various Electors. Although the Court is usually held in Bakulan, it can set up wherever the Prince happens to be - there is no official capital. However, as the supreme Judge of the land, he is able to resolve disputes between Electors, and this is probably his most important political function. Prince Nuno, who is only twenty-two, is a more canny politician than his father, Palos V, who tended to fight the power of the Electors. Palos, who abdicated in favour of his son two years ago, continues as one of the Prince's most trusted councillors.
Religion is not particularly powerful in Shabak. Kulak - the Shabaki name for Kukalak - is a respected diety, due to the preponderance of storms. Glantanka is also powerful, as are The White Lady, Fourga and Skotas (their name for Hydana). Most towns have a patron god - Tempest, unsurprisingly, owes fealty to Kulak, while Glantanka is worshipped chiefly in Bakulan. Most major cities have a temple, and there is little conflict between members of the various religious faiths beyond competition for land and government monies.
Shabak has a strong academic tradition, and scholars and magi have frequently been influential in government. There are organised schools of magic in several of the major towns and, while great sorcerers tend to scorn them as producers of 'workaday' magicians, they play an important role in town life. Mundane schooling is also popular, with an emphasis on mathematics, astronomy and navigation.
A land of varying contours, Shabak has two main characteristics: it is warm, and it is stormy. The climate is substantially warmer than that encountered by visitors from North-West Allansia, and during summer it can often be unbearable to non-natives. The Shabaki have long adjusted to this, taking a nap through the worst part of the midday heat and working into the evening. The storms are another common characteristic. Shabak sits at the intersection of wind fronts coming north and south, and as such is plagued by heavy storms, particularly during spring. These tempests are of a fury virtually unknown elsewhere in Allansia, and most hillsides have four or five trees which have been split by lightning. This area is particularly bad in the high moor known as the Storm Fields, and along the coast of the Typhoon Straits.
Eastern Shabak is slightly cooler than the rest of the nation, and hillier. There are two major sets of mountains - the mineral-rich Bronze mountains near Bakulan, and the more foreboding, snow-capped Ulabak mountains, home to several wild orc tribes, further South. Several forests, mostly of dark pines, can be found in this area. The Melgov Forest is often used for hunting trips by nobility, while the Drakwood and Blackleaf are more oppressive and often used as refuges for orc tribes or bandits.
Western Shabak is dominated by the vast, fertile plain known as the Green March. The breadbasket of Shabak, this area is not as dry as the East, caught by storms between the Typhoon Straits and Mercucian Bay which bring frequent rains. The farmers who inhabit this area are salt-of-the earth folk, often suspicious and superstitious, and contemptuous towards the Eastern Shabaki. However they are loyal to the nation as a whole, their discontent usually taking the form of grumbling about taxes rather than rebellion.
Further west, the land becomes higher, drier, and less fertile, before eventually fading into the Great Western Plains, or the Plain of Bones as other Allansians know it. This area is infertile and barren, inhabited only by the marauding tribes of Tiemuraz.
A notable feature of the landscape of Shabak is the ruins which dot it. It is not unusual to find a decaying stone tower or building standing alone, or being used as a barn or warehouse. On many occasions clusters of buildings, and even whole cities, can be found. These ruins are particularly common along the East coast of the nation. The Shabaki are quite dismissive of them, although the larger ruins are often avoided as sites of 'Evil'. Most scholars believe the ruins date from the Irritarian period, although they do not match elven architecture found elsewhere in Titan.
<---Back to the Allansia Atlas. | <---Back to the Titan Atlas. | <---Back to the Contents page.