![[tusmit.png|250]] *His Exalted Splendour, Pasha Qharlan al-Sylba, Human (B) Wizard 12 (school of divination)* **Government:** Feudal hereditary monarchy **Capital:** Sefmur (pop. 21,109) **Major Towns:** Ajavan, Blashikdur, Cragmore, Daoyin, Tinar **Provinces:** Sefmur and eleven sheikdoms **Resources:** Foodstuffs, silver, gold, adamantine, gems (I, II, III, IV) **Coinage:** Platinum (pp), gold (gp), silver (sp), copper (cp) **Population:** 273,711—Human 79% (Bo), Dwarf 8% (mountain), Genasi (mainly earth lineage) 6%, Gnome 4%, Halfling 2%, Orc 1% **[[Languages for Genies & Giants|Languages.]]** Baklunish (low, ancient), Dwarvish, Primordial **Allies:** Ekbir (sometimes) **Enemies:** Ket (sometimes), Ulakandar (sometimes), Knights of the Watch ___ [[Tusman Characters]] ___ Tusmit is situated to the west of the Yatil Mountains and Tusman Hills. It is adjoined by the Sultanate of Ekbir to the west, the Sultanate of Zeif to the west and south west, and Ket to the east and south. The Tuflik River forms the southern border of Tusmit, while the Blashikmund River separates Tusmit from Ekbir to the west and north. The landscape is not as gentle here as in Ekbir, but it is a fertile country. The state of Tusmit is maintained through the crafty playing off of one neighbour against the other—Ekbir against Zeif, Zeif against Ulakandar nomads, Ulakandar against Ket, and so forth. By such careful diplomacy, Tusmit maintains its rich holdings north of the Tuflik and avoids costly warfare of an open nature. Tusmit’s forces are engaged in frequent border clashes with Ket in the Tusman Hills, as well as skirmishes with raiding Ulakandar horsemen. The Pasha fears absorption by Ekbir or Zeif, and Tusman politics reflect this. Most of Tusmit’s standing military forces patrol the wilderness frontiers of the Udgru Forest and in curbing the myriad orc tribes of the Yatils. Tusmit is also the only known nation in eastern Oerik to maintain a military force (albeit a small one) in the UnderOerth. The people of Tusmit are a hardy lot of farmers and miners. The soil of the Blashikmund River valley is fertile and human and halfling farmers along its length produce enough foodstuffs for domestic needs as well as a sizable surplus of sorghum, millet and root crops like potatoes, turnips and carrots for export to markets in Ekbir and Ket. The majority of its gnome population reside in the cities where they are employed as gem merchants and jewellers. The nation is predominantly Baklunish although several hill tribes of Oeridians maintain their semi-autonomy in the Tusman Hills, a territory disputed with Ket. Both dwarf and human miners work near limitless veins of iron, silver, copper, gold and, most significantly, adamantine. Tusmit is renowned across eastern and central Oerik for the skill of its smiths and armourers. The dwarves of Tusmit are fully integrated into society, so much so that the dwarves of this region are more Baklunish in culture than they are dwarven. Advar Onyxaxe, Lord of the Dwarf Marches, is the closest advisor and confidant of Pasha Qharlan, a relationship that Vizier Tusmit would like to see end. Like Ekbir and Zeif, the lands now known as Tusmit were settled by Baklunish refugees fleeing the Twin Cataclysms, this group led by the Dao Noble, Tusmit. Prior to their arrival, the region was originally home to a number of Flan tribes who were subsequently absorbed or displaced by migrating Oeridians who had themselves been driven out of their lands by the Great Horde. The humanoids pursued the bulk of the Oeridians through Fals Gap and into the Flanaess so the Oeridians tribes who settled the lands west of the Yatils were largely spared and therefore intact when the Baklun began arriving in the -380s CY. As more and more refugees arrived, some Oeridians attempted to unsuccessfully defend their lands while other clans were simply absorbed into the culture of the newcomers. Directed to these lands by Ekbiri guides, Tusmit, the Dao Prince, was impressed with the fertility of the Blashikmund River and even more so with the bounty of mineral wealth he knew existed within the Yatils and their foothills. Over the next generation, Tusmit’s people settled the region, unlike Zeif and Ekbir however, the Dao Prince showed little interest in politics and government and his people initially struggled to unify as a cohesive nation. Fulfilling his promise to the goddess Istus, Tusmit appointed an Pasha to rule over his people with Tusmit retaining the role of Vizier. A single brief border war with Ekbir, establishing the permanent border with that nation, was fought in -311 CY. Unfortunately Pasha Ishaan was killed by a stray Ekbiri arrow in the final minutes of the conflict and rather than simply replace him with a new appointee as expected, Tusmit instead declared the Pasha’s first wife to be his concubine and she soon bore him a son named Daoud whom Tusmit declared the new Pasha with the Dao lord acting as regent until Daoud came of age. The young Pasha-in-waiting was educated and raised in the faith of Istus and when Daoud turned 18 he was inducted into the priesthood of that goddess. He took the throne in -297 CY at age 21 and his early rule is widely regarded to be just and to the benefit of the nation as a whole. Daoud opened negotiations with the dwarf clans of the Yatils and successfully brought many of them into the nation creating the Marz-e Al-Aqzam (Dwarf Marches in Common) and granting palatinate status to the dwarf lords there. Daoud granted key positions of power and influence in his court to dwarves as well. He also negotiated a permanent peace treaty with Ekbir and successfully employed diplomatic means to keep Zeif at bay and is viewed today as the father of the nation. After opening an investigation into the diversion of revenues from the Dwarf Marches to an unknown source, Daoud was deposed by his eldest son, Azmir of the Bloodied Hands in -216 CY. Daoud fled Tusmit for the Zeifan province of Ket where he received asylum by the governing Bey of Lopolla and it is here that he received divine inspiration from Istus. Over the following years he worked to develop a new philosophy for the Baklunish people. Daoud proposed four superior virtues: *honesty, humility, piety*, and *endurance*. He called this new philosophy the *Path of the Seeker*. Living by example, Daoud converted several wealthy Kettite families and with their aid, and wealth constructed the Vault of Daoud into which he deposited all of his worldly goods including several powerful magic items and artifacts he had fled Tusmit with years earlier. For a decade Daoud travelled through the Baklunish lands preaching his new way, converting many who followed him from land to land before beginning their own wandering proselytizing. Daoud’s followers are urged to seek out both good fortune and bad in order to unravel the threads of destiny. They strive to be content with what Fate allows and demands of them, no more and no less. They cut lies with sharp words. After a vision from Istus, Daoud returned to Sefmur, the capital of Tusmit in -240 at the age of 71 years old. Within a year his preaching had attracted enough of a following that Pasha Azmir, attempted to have his father assassinated. Foiled in this attempt, the people of Sefmur rose up in defence of Daoud and killed the Pasha, placing Daoud back on the throne by acclamation of the people of Tusmit. Finding the treasury almost bare, through magical means Daoud learned that it was Tusmit himself who had been skimming from the taxation of the country for more than a generation. Believing the Dao’s greed would be the ultimate destruction of the nation, Daoud had the *Crown of Tusmit* forged (some say it was gifted Daoud by Istus herself). This artifact binds the great Dao Noble, Tusmit, to the wearer’s service, effectively taking precedence over the Dao’s original vow to Istus to guide and protect his Baklunish wards. With the crown, Daoud set his Vizier to exclusively manage the nation’s natural resource extraction while he was forbidden from engaging in anything related to internal politics or external affairs. While he obeys the Pasha of the day, the Dao Vizier has never accepted his bondage; being bound to a goddess to aid his Baklunish wards like the other genie nobles was one thing, being forced to serve the wearer of the crown is entirely another. As a result, Tusmit is constantly on the lookout for a way to break his bondage to his defiant descendants. Pasha Daoud I finally left this world for the next in -223 CY, Pasha Daoud II, his youngest son, was crowned Pasha of Tusmit. All Tusman Pashas have subsequently been descendants of Daoud. Because Daoud’s lineage is tied to the Dao Lord Tusmit himself, many of the nation’s Pasha’s have been Genasi over the centuries. Daoud II stripped the existing sheiks, beys, and amirs of their titles on the pretence that they had not earned them and immediately appointed successful military officials, merchants and other leaders to these positions, removing any hereditary nature to the positions. Pasha Qhorvan, grandson of Daoud I, declared the apotheosis of his grandfather and began the state patronage of his church, although the High Priest of Daoud is based out of Lopolla in Ket rather than Tusmit. Clerics of Daoud, known as Daoudahs, live in voluntary poverty, abandoning rank and title. They are known for their brutal honesty and contempt for claims based on mere social position. Despite their humble lives, they manipulate the strings of Fate, bringing down the mighty and uplifting the humble, scattering whole tribes in their inscrutable ways. Being landlocked and primarily focused on agriculture and mining, Tusmit has remained relatively stable over the following centuries. Zeif will occasionally send emissaries demanding fealty but these are usually ignored with little to no impact. Most of the northern interior is given to farming. Along the Tuflik are the nation’s larger towns, where nearly anything is available for the right price. Skilled artisans of all trades work in the towns of the Tuflik valley, and Tusman weapons and armor are among the finest in all the Baklunish lands. By around 300 CY refugees from the Dry Steppes began straggling into the lands of Ekbir and Tusmit, fleeing the Brazen Horde brought in by Zeif to control the Ulakandar nomads. Many Ulakandar found refuge in camps along the Tuflik and Blashikmund rivers for a short time before they morphed into a horde of their own and began ravaging both Tusmit and Ekbir. The two nations allied and drove this new Relentless Horde north, through the Urdgru Forest and Yecha Hills and out onto the great Northern Steppes. With the exception of some skirmishing in the Tusman Hills the Brazen Horde of Suhfeng horse nomads largely bypassed Tusmit, opting instead to move east through the Zeifan province of Ket and the Fals Gap. The nation’s military consists mostly of medium cavalry, led by Spahis by no means as noble as their counterparts in Ekbir and Zeif. A force of heavy infantry is maintained by the Pasha, augmented by mercenaries from the Tusman hill-tribes in time of war. In fact, mercenaries from all the surrounding nations can be found in southern Tusmit—Uli, Perrenlander, Quag highlanders, Ulakandar, and dwarves from the Yatils and Barrier Peaks are welcome. Along with warriors, mercenary thieves and assassins sell their services here, and almost as openly.