Mugroba

The Kingdom of Mugroba lies to the northeast of Anaxas, directly south of Hox. It is comprised of a vast expanse of desert punctuated by several long, winding rivers which serve as highways for trade and travel; the largest and longest of these rivers is the Turga with the Duna and Yug being other important waterways. It is currently ruled by the youthful Emperor Un Fera, a boy of twelve. The prime god of Mugroba is Hulali, the River God. The capital city is Thul Ka, or the White City, home to the palace of Ashu'tei.

The adjectival and demonymic form of "Mugroba" is "Mugrobi". The word "Mug" is used in a non-pejorative way to describe a person from Mugroba or one of Mugrobi descent.

Mugrobi people are dark-skinned with white teeth and black or blue eyes (see Genetics and Appearances). Mugroba's population is mainly human, humanity making up around 85% of the total population. Wicks are a small percentage, maybe 5% total. Galdori and imbali (passives) make up a slightly larger portion of the population (around 10%), with many immigrating to Anaxas to attend school.

The number of galdori has gone up in Mugroba since the founding of Thul'Amat, while the number of wicks has substantially lowered; many Mugrobi wicks have moved on to Anaxas, where they make a better living plying their trades on land rather than by sea. A good number of Mugrobi wicks and humans currently live and work in Old Rose Harbor in Anaxas, or in the Muluku Islands.

The Mugrobi Plague has already wiped out a large portion of the small wick villages, causing many wicks who were not nomadic to become so.

Topography & Locations

The terrain of Mugroba is harsh and unforgiving—many foreigners find it unbearable because of its arid heat in the daytime and dry chill in the night. The ergs are broken up by many winding rivers that carve paths through shifting sands, scrublands, low mountains, and treacherous salt flats from west coast all the way to east coast—cutting Mugroba in two—which serve as the only means of safe, reliable transportation as well as fertile areas where the rich spice trade is grown and raised. Without Hulali's gift of these waterways, desert life would be impossible.

The islands off the Mugrobi coast, however, are covered with lush jungle, white sands, and beautiful people. The Muluku Islands are vital places of produce and trade for all of the Six Kingdoms.

Western Erg

• The Muluku Islands are an archipelago that contain the major trade ports of Mugroba and serves as the go-between for the spice trade throughout all of the Six Kingdoms, mostly through the Kingdom of Anaxas.
• Manatse is a large floating wick encampment on the Turga river, in western Mugroba.
• Demoga a large human town in western Mugroba
• Holaga is a human town in mid-western Mugroba, famous for its natural golden phosphor mines.
• Pa Krat is a small village near Fen Kierden on the border with the Kingdom of Anaxas.
• Asha Morais a medium-sized fishing town in western Mugroba, badly affected by the Mugrobi Plague
• The Mineral Flats are a long expanse of level ground stretching out from Fen Kierden, dotted with different mineral pools and long expanses of flat, salt-covered plains. When the Fen floods, its waters overflow into the Mineral Flats, creating a huge, temporary miasma of lakes and dangerous mud, only for it all to crust over again. This area also has geysers and deep, mysterious pools of liquid filled with strange concoctions.

Eastern Erg

• Thul Ka is the capital city of Mugroba and heart and soul of the spice trade. It is located in Eastern Mugroba at the meeting of the three main rivers that supply the Mugrobi drylands with its most fertile and necessary resource.
• Unlike many other Kingdoms, the galdori bastion of sorcerous education, Thul'amat is located in the capital itself and has become an integral part of the sprawling city and culture.
• Redomseko Dailotoma is translated as "the village that is smaller than its name", this famous tourist attraction is similar to Muffey in that it is a center of fashionable galdori, two miles northwest of Thul Ka.
• Pa Olakano is a small fishing village in eastern Mugroba, on the coast.
• Isla Kura is a mysterious and legendary island lost in the mist to the southeast of Mugroba.
• The Wakesho Steppes are the low, grassy plains that make up the northeastern border of Mugroba and the Kingdom of Hox. Tall grasses, abundant wildlife, and tribal wicks roam this remote area that is almost entirely untouched by galdori authority. The altitude climbs via a series of plateaus as one approaches Hox until it becomes cold, windswept heights.

Central Erg

• The Turga River extends from the west coast all the way to the east coast, effectively dividing Mugroba in the middle. This is the most fertile strip of the mostly dry, desert Kingdom, and many villages, farmlands, and floating collectives of wicks can be found on the river.
• Serkaihis the valley of ghosts (phasmonia) located in Central Mugroba and home to a sprawling, miniature town carved out of beautiful multi-colored sandstone.
• Paora Fo is a remote a desert village in Central Mugroba.
• Hulali's Handprints are a chain of lakes in the far south of Central Mugroba known for their different mineral contents and strange colors. It is a sacred site to all races of Mugroba and many temple ruins and altars to Hulali can be found here.
• Shifting Desert is a huge expanse of dangerous, windswept desert in north central Mugroba. Deadly creatures are said to roam the constantly shifting sands made up of brilliant colors and sandstorms frequently ravage the landscape, barreling south to occasionally reach as far as the great rivers and Thul'Ka itself.
  • The Deserted Dune is a place in the Mugrobi Expanse, a valley of windswept dunes littered with the bleached-white skeletons of the creatures that were unfortunate to be trapped in the sands at the bottom.

Kingdom Information

• Climate
• Culture
• Economy
• Politics
• Race Relations

Climate

Mugroba is mostly an arid, subtropical desert with extremely hot days and very cold nights. Near the border with the Kingdom of Anaxas, there are swamps and wetlands, mineral floodplains and salt flats, but those quickly give way into scrublands with squat, sparse trees and finally sandy desert. Near the border with the Kingdom of Hox, dry plains become stepped grasslands that eventually climb into cold, windswept plateaus.

The Turga river cuts through the middle of the Kingdom and provides life to the desert, creating fertile valleys and cutting mysterious canyons along the way. Many smaller rivers wind their way through the harsh desert landscape, digging deep, ancient valleys and rushing through dry wadi. They form important and life-giving networks of travel, communication, farming, and trade. These rivers and waterways are Mugroba's most well-traveled and well-maintained roads. They are vital to life in the Kingdom for all races.

Foothills and squat mountain ranges jut up through parts of the desert, but for the most part, Mugroba is rolling open spaces dotted with an oasis here and there, the occasional tributary to the Turga, and long, baking stretches of sand.

Mugroba's islands, especially to the south, are very tropical and warm, but the Kingdom is so large that as the altitude climbs toward the north, the climate can be very cold.

The Kingdom of Mugroba's seasons are different than Anaxas, and while the rainy season is indeed very wet, often causing the rivers to overflow their banks to flood and mudslides in the mountains, other seasons see very little rain. Lightning storms and sandstorms whip through the desert instead, especially during the dry season.

Culture

Mugrobi people are mostly unflinchingly moral. Lying is considered incredibly damning, so many Mugrobi think of ways around a lie, often by obscuring the truth with metaphor or invented parables or hiring someone to lie for them (usually an Imbali. A backhanded insult is sometimes called a "Mug compliment" in other countries, including Anaxas.

Intelligence and the pursuit of knowledge are of infinite importance to the Mugrobi galdori, but also to the humans and wicks. Mugrobi humans and wicks are allowed to read and write, and the literacy rate is quite high. Keeping diaries, collections of poems and memoirs is a common activity among Mugrobi citizens; letter-writing, although an imperfect pastime given the unreliable nature of the post, is also very common. Many Mugrobi galdori have "quill friends" that they correspond with in Anaxas or Hox. This is an expensive thing to do, but it is considered an academic pursuit.

The Mugrobi equivalent of Brunnhold is Thul'amat (or Thul University) in Thul Ka. It is a relatively new institution, built in the last 100 years to replace the destroyed Dejai Temple (a religious school).

The Mugrobi people are fluent in Estuan as their primary language, though the spoken language of Mugrobi is still used in many cities and villages. It is a very lyrical and flowing language; the Mugrobi people carry over the poetic speech patterns into Estuan, giving them a unique way of speaking replete with metaphors and colorful descriptions.

Religion is also important to the Mugrobi people, though they are less superstitious than the Anaxi. Their prime god, Hulali, is mainly accepted as a metaphor for the prosperity in their lives. They live by the moral code that dictates that goodness done to others will become goodness received.

Mugrobi culture is against interfering in the affairs of other countries; they are reluctant even to comment on the state of things in Anaxas, despite calling themselves the Kingdom's staunch ally. Even in the Symvouli, Mugrobi politicians tend to be the quietest party during international decision-making. This non-invasive policy is contrary to their attitude in ancient times, when the galdori conquered the desert and seemed intent on building an empire, but this imperial attitude does not persist today. It isn't to say that national politics aren't a noisy ruckus because, indeed, they are, but it's simply part of the Mug culture to keep from intervening as much as possible.

History of Mugroba

Imbali Culture

Gender, Marriage, & Sexuality

Economy

Mugroba was originally a nomadic land, before the rivers began to form, making river trade and permanent civilization possible. The values and traits of a nomadic society remain with the Mugrobi people, and the tradition of travel remains in practice with the river traders to this day. Trade is the main source of income for Mugroba, and as such, many Mugrobi people are artisans, crafting luxuries for other countries to enjoy. They take immense pride in their work. Not all Mugrobi craftsmanship is decorative; in Thul Ka, there are many schools where advanced technology is developed by the deft minds of Mugrobi engineers. Many of the great inventions of the twenty-seventh century were developed in Mugroba.

The Muluku Islands serve as the main hub of the spice trade with Anaxas. Apart from spices, Mugroba exports artisan wares, exotic fabrics such as silk, jewelry, books of fiction, and unlicensed spells. Mugroba also trades with many other kingdoms.

Anaxi Currency

Kingdom Economies

Politics

The Kingdom of Mugroba's political system is slightly different from that of Anaxas: their monarchy is based on a family line rather than an elected King and Queen. The current Emperor, Un Fera, is but a boy at twelve years old and has been on the throne for three years, his mother, Empress Ial Fera, having passed away after contracting the Plague during a humanitarian visit to Fen Kierden to assess the situation herself.

Mugroba isn't quite an absolute monarchy, for while the Emperor of Mugroba wields a substantial amount of power, the every day tasks of law-making and jurisprudence are left to a mixed-party system that somewhat resembles a Congress, with individuals elected based on their wealth, influence, and so-called merit, jostling for position and representing a myriad of different political parties.

More on Politics

Mugrobi Law

Race Relations

Mugrobi society is unusually egalitarian: galdori are considered superior to the majority population, but the gap between rich and poor is comparatively smaller than that of Anaxas. Humans, wicks and passives (known there as Imbali) are treated relatively well. Wicks, humans and imbali make up the majority of traders from that area, and can be quite wealthy and successful, as they are less hindered by their government than their neighbors to the south.

Imbali are allowed to be educated, attending Thul'Amat or private education facilities on The Turtle, depending on their preferences and political leanings, and they are given a voice in the local government where humans and wicks do not. It is to be noted, however, that only galdori participate in the Symvouli, and this is currently a very sharp sticking point with post-exile imbali pushing for reform.

Although there is no significant hostility from the galdori towards the other races, galdori do consider themselves above the humans and do not commonly associate with them. All important public offices are still held by the galdori, with very specific, imbali-oriented offices given to imbali even if those offiices tend to lack in power and substance so much as exist for ritual and saving face to the public. Humans are not prohibited from earning a living or owning property, however, and on some level the Mugrobi people understand that the old ways are dying out. However, they tolerate the situation in Anaxas.

Imbali Culture

Race Relations