Locations: Chief Features of Tizhar
Locations: Chief Features of Tizhar

  • North Tizhar: Loosely defined northern part of Tizhar, characterized by more mountainous terrain, and fertile valleys, and divided from the south primarily by the Tizhan Vastlands. Here, the old Olympian influence is still strong: Katthas are more common than Khattas, and Olympian is the more predominant language. (Rephidim Standard is very little in use outside the trade city of Tizban.) The ecology is more varied than in the south, as many non-sapient animals of Terran origin can be found here, in addition to other beasts commonly found across the continent of Ai in temperate areas.

  • Tizban: Largest trade city located in North Tizhar. Despite being located in North Tizhar and surrounded by Olympian influences, many merchants with family ties back to the Khattan Emir have set up shop here long ago, and thus Khattan is very widely in use here. Most citizens are multi-lingual, versed in both Olympian and Khattan, and their speech is characterized both by the florid formalisms of Khattan polite speech, and numerous euphemisms and phrases inspired by Olympian mythology. Rephidim Standard is in some use here, but it is considered the language of the merchant class, the nobility, and the educated elite -- and likewise its use tends to be littered with Khattan and Olympian cultural influences as well.

    Tizban is home to the only Mages' Guild Hall to be found in Tizhar, though it is a very unassuming structure, with few services and a small staff, more to serve as a base of operations for witch hunters and magical expeditions into the Forbidden Zone than to service local mages, as the local culture views with considerable wariness the overt use of magic.

    [In game terms, a character who can speak Olympian or Khattan should be able to get by just fine in more traveled areas of Tizhar. A character who speaks both Olympian and Khattan should be able to get by in even the remote areas, though there's always the possibility of encountering some tribe so remote that its dialect is more difficult to understand. There is no "Tizhar" language to be selected, per se, with the Linguist skill. However, foreigners often refer to the odd blend of Khattan and Olympian as "Tizban," after the name of the primary trade city in the north.]

  • South Tizhar: Southern region of Tizhar, bordering Kemykler Golu'dur and the Himaat Desert. This region is lower and flatter, and characterized by large patches of desert and dry grasslands. Khattas are the predominant species to be found here. Terrain non-sapients are less common here than in the north (as the deserts are generally less hospitable to all forms of life regardless), and odd creatures that characterize the Sea of Sand -- such as gooshurms and shriken -- are found in similar numbers here.

  • Tizhan Vastlands: Forbidden Zone that is home to the major battlegrounds of the First Necromantic Wars -- terrible magical battles that marked the decline of the old Olympian Empire, of which Tizhar was once the southernmost territory. This place is littered with bones and other remnants of the fallen, marked with craters, and haunted by spirits of the dead. This is a place strong in magic of the Sphere of Spirit, and to be avoided by mortals.

    Due to the impact these wars had on the people of Tizhar, magic has long been held in low regard here, and every mage looked upon as a potential sorcerer -- for good reason, because many a time a mage hungry for power has traveled to Tizhar to try to uncover the "lost secrets" of the Necromancer Kings, and wrought havoc as a result.

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