Zarakens

Game Tag: ZAK
Capital: Kyaxares
Ruler: Ctesiphon Zakara
Government: Aristocratic Monarchy
Primary Culture: Zaraken
Faith: Zainuddian
Territory: 11 controlled provinces at start.
Levy Composition: Light Infantry 35%, Heavy Cavalry 9%, Heavy Infantry 15%, Chariots 6%, Camels 35%

Map silhouette of Zarakens — Starting realm atlas with province borders, capital, cities, holy sites, neighbors, locator inset, and mileage scale.

The Zarakens of the Eastern Foothills are the remnants of the ancient House of Zakara, once rulers of mighty empires and now reduced to a shadow of their former glory.

Tag: ZAK
Founded: Ancient House of Zakara; restored as the Zakara Kephal under Daros Zakara in 771 LC.
Capital: Kyaxares, lost in 946 LC and retaken in 952 LC.
Faith: Zaraken royal tradition under pressure from Zainudianism and Helluvian merchants.
Levy Profile: Zaraken: light infantry and camel-heavy armies, supported by heavy infantry, heavy cavalry, and chariots.

Rise and Conquest¶

After the Zani successor states weakened, the Zarakens became one of the major powers contesting Zinduidian lands. In 697 LC they invaded Zinduidian territory, only to face the rise of Bachin, Jaoz, and the Zainudian movement soon after.

In 704 LC, the Zinduidians began the Jaxan Conquests against the weakened Zarakens. By 707 LC, the Zinduidians had subjugated the Zarakens and taken Kyaxares. The struggle between Zarakens and Zainudians continued for centuries.

Zakara Kephal¶

The Zarakens later reunited and declared the Zakara Kephal under Daros Zakara in 771 LC. By 782 LC they controlled most of Karksm, treating non-Zaraken minorities as second-class citizens. They crushed a Zinduidian revolt in 789 LC and warred against Gold Dwarven kingdoms in 792 LC.

The Zakara Kephal reached a restored shape by 801 LC after making peace with the Razani, but unrest and forced conversion undermined its stability.

Fall and Modern Situation¶

The Great Zinduidian Revolt began in 934 LC. Coalition forces pushed out Zaraken rule, and in 946 LC Kyaxares fell. Most of the royal Zakara family was slaughtered, and the Tomb of Jaoz was carried to Makok. Although the Zarakens retook Kyaxares in 952 LC, they could not restore their former empire.

At 1000 LC, the surviving House of Zakara rules a rump state surrounded by hostile Zainudians, nomadic raiders, and smaller states seeking to preserve independence. Their tolerant attitude toward Helluvian merchants makes them heretical in the eyes of divided Zinduidians, even as some Zarakens dream of restoring the old empire.

Main Cities and Military¶

Kyaxares is the indispensable city of Zaraken history: imperial seat, rebel prize, massacre site, and restored capital. Zaraken levies are unusually camel-heavy, with light infantry forming the broad base and heavy infantry, heavy cavalry, and chariots giving the old house a still-dangerous shock arm.

Campaign Profile¶

Zarakens begins in Kyaxares as an Aristocratic Monarchy state led by a Zaraken political core and professing Zainuddian. Its opening position is best understood through the people, ruler, land, and institutions recorded in the game files.

Starting Ruler¶

Ctesiphon Zakara is the fixed, authored ruler at campaign start, born in 977 LC. The setup records Martial 9, Charisma 3, Finesse 5, Zeal 8; the authored traits are Confident, Tolerant, Assertive, Blood of the Zakara, and Magically Inept. This is a canonical opening character, not a randomly generated officeholder.

Peoples and Cultural World¶

Zaraken belongs to the Zarakens culture group, alongside Zakaren, Zagartian, Parsa, Uuxian, Katssaspion, and Kossian. The culture definition uses the Zaraken ethnicity set for character appearance. Across the realm's starting provinces, population-weighted provincial culture is recorded as Zakaren (61%), Parsa (23%), Kossian (16%). Provincial culture is a broad administrative label rather than a census of every household, but it provides firmer evidence than assuming the entire country matches its court.

Religion in the Realm¶

The state faith is Zainuddian. Starting provinces are recorded as Zainudian (100%). Game localization describes it this way: “Originally viewed as a heresy of the Helluvian faith, the Zainudians claim that the true god Zain'ud revealed himself to two prophets, Jaoz the Bold and Bachin, Lord of Dui-Pattar, who abandoned their former lives of opulence and wealth in the northern cities to preach his word to the Helluvians. Prosecuted by those they sought to save, the prophets were told to go south and find the Zinduidian tribes, who would help expand the faith's influence across Southwestern Luxterra like wildfire, with many Jaxan, or Holy Defensive, Wars declared against those…”

Land, Settlements, and Livelihood¶

At the 1000 LC start it controls 11 provinces, making it a compact regional realm. From Kyaxares, its government must use a limited but coherent base carefully. Province count measures the opening political footprint, not the number or worth of its people. The starting provinces contain 6 cities or metropolises. Their population-weighted terrain is farmland (58%), plains (37%), and steppes (5%); their leading trade goods are iron (27%), wine (16%), silk (16%), spices (14%), precious metals (10%), and fish (8%). These records give the country's culture a material setting without inventing unsupported customs.

Government and Army¶

Its Aristocratic Monarchy locates formal power in a crown and dynasty. The title is therefore more than flavor: succession and the standing of the ruling house are central to the realm's continuity.

The levy is built chiefly around light infantry (35%), supported by camels (35%), heavy infantry (15%), heavy cavalry (9%), chariots (6%). This is a statement about the forces available at the campaign opening, not a claim that every inhabitant shares a single martial way of life.

The army profile should be read together with the terrain and economy above: it shows what the state can raise in 1000 LC, while the province records show the communities and resources supporting that force.

See also: Countries, Cultures, Races, Religions, and Timeline.

Realm at a Glance¶

Zarakens enters the 1000 LC world from Kyaxares, with a Zaraken political core and Zainuddian as its recorded faith. Those labels connect the state to Zainudian and Zaraken history and to Zainudian tradition; they describe the court and starting state, not a claim that every subject has the same ancestry, language, or belief.

Rule and Scale¶

People and Belief¶

Primary culture and state faith show which traditions possess official standing at the campaign opening. They also provide the safest canon-grounded starting point for understanding daily identity: Zaraken institutions shape the realm's public face, while Zainuddian supplies its formal religious vocabulary. Border communities, minorities, and local practice may be more varied than those state labels can show; see Cultures and Races for the distinction between culture and ancestry.

Ways of War¶

Together, the capital, territorial footprint, political form, and levy make Zarakens more than a colored patch on the atlas: they define the problems its rulers face and the resources with which its people meet them.