Wisdom's Note- The reader will note that this page was torn out, and an inept acolyte has replaced it in the wrong position. Our apologies.
Full Official Name: The Sacred Dominion of Bohakii
Ruler: The Sorceror-Queen Tunhii Ehu Uyaa-Sheker, First Daughter of Suuy
Capital: Holy City of Same
Major Cities: Uuyaan, Yaaz-Tuuy, Kuhiish, Tehu-Shekii, Maake, Uunc
Major Languages: Botherian (Bohakii), Muz (Lesser Bohakii), Cemitian
Major Religions: Bohakii pantheon, some Cemitian and Illionite gods
Currency: great uuyaakiz, lesser uuyaakiz, suumuuz, muzaashii, teyaake
Resources: gold, various kinds of stone, citrus fruits, jewelry, silks, various Southern woods, salt
Major Imports: iron, tin, silver, spices (save salt), vegetables and grains, Northern woods
Allies: Nydria, Illion (Eastern city-state), Vaapsum (Virtek principality), Elteki (Virtek principality), Zoraili (Eastern city-state), Durak (Southern nation; Land of the Lotus-Eaters)
Enemies: Officially, none, however, Nermalia, the Corsairs, Gloriano, and the Gothic barbarians are often considered to be aggressors.
Bohakii, called Botheria by Armoricans, is an ancient monarchy, and has been ruled by sorceror-queens and woman magi for as long as Bohakii history cares to relate. It is probable that Bohakii was founded about the same time as the Adversary Empire.
Bohakii has had a series of wars with various neighbors, including the Adversary Empire (thousands of years ago), Nermalia, four or five of the Virtek Principalities to their north, and at least two naval wars against the Corsairs. Luckily, Bohakii's great size, wealth, and military might, as well as profusance of those knowledgeable in magic (2% of the population, vastly more than any of their neighbors, perhaps save Illion), have pulled it through on the winning side of most of these wars. Since they were all defensive, Bohakii has not profited from of the wars, or in any noticeable way. Bohakii has never, in memory or in the eye of history, attacked any nation. It finds the practice of neutrality to be more profitable.
Bohakii is a huge nation of wide-open spaces, with a long, blooming seacoast along it's south. Most of Bohakii is open, semi-barren plains of red soil with few stones, clothed in clumps of hardy grasses. In the northwest, there are high peaks that form a wall between Bohakii and the nations of Nydria and Gotha.
The western regions are mountainous hill-lands, where the red earth of Bohakii blends with the richer, darker earth of Gloriano. This region is known as Uuhu-Tekii, or the Rich Fields, because it is one of the most fertile regions of Botheria. In the southwest, the terrain becomes rocky, arid canyonlands, similar to the southern Arcturus and Nermalia.
The central portions of Bohakii are occupied by wide, flat plains of red soil, nearly deserted except for Hurutaki nomad tribes. In the more arid regions, the lands become deserts of reddish sand. Several wide, muddy rivers cross these central plains, and the fertile regions along the rivers are populated more thickly.
In the east, Botheria's nebulous eastern border lies in burning desert, thick with outcroppings of sandstone and granite.
The northern border of Bohakii is a hilly green prairieland, with seas of waving grass merging into the rugged pine-hills of Gotha and the rich fields of the Virtek Principalities.
The southern portions of Bohakii, that is, those portions along the seacoast, are blooming lands and forests of cyprus, palm, olive, and other mediterannean woods. The land is sparsely overspread with small forests of these woods, and has many grass plains, green swards, and blooming regions. In the southeast, below the desert, the land becomes marshy, creating the mosquito-infested Marsh of Shuukir, infamous as a place of disease. The blooming southern coast is the site of the majority of population in Bohakii.
Flora and Fauna
The woods in Bohakii are composed of mediterannean woods such as cyprus, palm, and olive. The land has many kinds of grass, most of them sour and indigestible for horses, including the yellow bunch-grasses of the central plains, the green foot-grass of the southern coasts, and the soft, high grass of the northern plains. Many kinds of hardy, dry shrubs flourish in the eastern half of the lands, and cacti are common in the central plains. Citrus trees and other fruit plants grow in the southeast.
Bohakii's east and southeast are the home of many kinds of small deer and boar, with a kind of long-legged bear living in the mountains. Coyotes, often called "wild dogs" or "snappers", and jackals dwell in these parts also, as well as in the central plains. The deserts and plains are home to many kinds of rodents, as well as scorpions and spiders. Birds of prey are a common sight in the east and northeast. There are many, many varieties of snakes that dwell all over Bohakii, including the deadly Botherian cobra.
Little dwells in the west, where the shifting dunes, water-less flats, and blowing sandstorms make survival very hard. The hopping mice, insects, and snakes of that land make themselves evident only in the night.
There are no horses in Botheria. The grasses there are unhealthy for those beasts, and the climate is unsuitable, and in addition, they make Botherians uneasy. Botherians instead make use the shuzuuk-yuutuk, a species of very large, hoofed rodent that looks very much like an almost-hairless guinea pig with a long, bushy tail.
The culture of Bohakii is fairly stiff, with magic-enforced caste systems based on astrological readings. The bottom rung of society is the slaves, some of which are public property, while others are private. Above slaves are common laborers (uuzuk-kiiru), including farmers (who are few), herdsmen, tanners and leatherworkers, blacksmiths, potters, and weavers. Over the laborers are the merchants and shopkeepers (tzaak-ushaak). The next caste is the artisans, who include scribes, painters, sculptors, sages and loremasters, jewelers and clothiers (uyaakii-tzonc). Artisans are passed by warriors and soldiers (kihu-uyazi). Next are priests and dream-readers (behu-sonc). The highest heighth is occupied by the sorceresses and their guardians, the sheker-laar and the kihu-sheker.
For more on culture, see the Codex Populatia.
Crime and Punishment
The Codes are a strict code of laws set down by one of the early sorceror-queens. The Codes are enforced strictly by the kihu-uyazi and the behu-sonc preach that following laws is the will of the gods.
Punishments are usually "eye for an eye" style. Traitors have the word "betrayer" cut or branded into their palms and forehead, and are then turned loose into the western desert.
Bohakii's armed forces consist of the kihu-uyazi, the warrior caste, who are some 20% of the population. They are well-armed and armored, and often wealthy. During times of war, the ranks of the kihu-uyazi are augmented by militias from the lower classes.