Category:Iranistani



IRANISTANI ''Land of Gaudy Silks and Spired Helmets An eastern nation south of the Vilayet Sea, Iranistan is one of Turan's strongest rivals, grown rich on trade with Vendhya and the Black Kingdoms. Its capital, glittering Anshan, is presided over by a king and is far-famed for its cultivated court, its splendid woven carpets, and exotic delicacies (such as the pistachio nut).

The Ilbars Mountains extend into Iranistan, and the Ilbarsi hill men who inhabit the towns in these mountains are nominally subject to the Iranistani government, though they are openly rebellious, owing allegiance to their own personal chiefs and overlords.

The Iranistani people are divided into a myriad of tribes banded together against the threat of Turan. Although this common enemy gives the kingdom some strength, the varying origins of the Iranistani make the kingdom fractious.

Description
The people of Iranistan are described as being black haired and broad in the shoulder. They have a dark complexion and dark eyes. They are likely a relatively hairy race. Various tribes of Iranistani vary slightly in description. Although the Iranistani population is composed of many distinct tribal units, much of their way of life is essentially the same.

The Iranistani use the in-game Tribal Himelian race when creating a character.

"Let the king rule in Anshan," one tribal leader has said. "These lands are ours."

Clothing
Iranistani males wear baggy silk or cotton pantaloons and long shirts or striped robes that hang nearly to the knees. These are belted at the waist with wide sashes and accompanied by embroidered vests. The sashes hold weapons and often bristle with multiple knives.

Most adult males are heavily bearded. Many wear turbans with a long strip hanging down the back or large sheep-skin caps. Others, particularly the nomads, wear keffiyehs, striped to identify their tribes.

Many of the soldiers wear turbans wrapped around their spired steel caps.

The women also wear baggy silken trousers and vests. Veils may also be worn but are not required. Jewelry is worn by many of the women. Armlets, bracelets, necklaces, tiaras, headbands and thin gold or platinum belts are common adornments.

Women’s hair is kept long and held in pony-tails by jeweled bands. Everything they wear is embellished and decorated. Iranistani men and women both wear soft shoes with upward-pointing toes.

Everything the Iranistani wear, from the basest of clothing to armor and weaponry, is ornate and decorated.

Behavior and Notable Oddities
They fight from horseback with bow and scimitar.

Hospitality is also important to the Iranistani. Generosity is honorable, so food and drink must be given to anyone who comes to them in peace. All guests must be protected; the Iranistani take responsibility for all who are in their homes. Their honor depends on this. This is often called the bond of salt, or eating a man’s salt. Once a person is a guest in an Iranistani’s home, that person is safe.

Love of art is one common element among the Iranistani. Virtually everything the Iranistani make is attractive.

Pride is another word for personal honor for the Iranistani. Honor and pride define respect for oneself. Insults must be paid for, no matter how great or small.

First and foremost is an Iranistani’s immediate family. He is most loyal to his immediate family members, followed by other kin, remote clan members and the king.

Drujistan, the land of demons, is a wild and barren region of black rock in the southern Ilbars where a ghoul king once built Yanaidar, a haunted city.

One cult within the borders of Drujistan is the Yezmites, or the Sons of Yezm. This cult has its roots in the pre-Cataclysmic Society of the Hidden Ones, a sect of assassins who used their dreaded Flame Knives to sway the destiny of empires. The daggers have blades shaped like a many-tongued flame.

Religion

 * Asura
 * Shamanism

The northern Iranistani primarily worship the Vendhyan god Asura. This religion, born of enormously complex rituals derived from four great Vendhyan books, celebrates a cosmic order and a belief in cause and effect that extends beyond the physical realm in such as way that failure to perform the proper ceremonies or keep sworn oaths would result in a disturbance of the cosmic order. As a result of this sense of cosmic order and justice, Iranistani believe in a heaven, a hell and the judgment of souls. Asura is the chief god of Iranistan and was imported from Vendhya as Iranistan struggled toward civilization. The Asuran religion, with its strong belief in cause and effect, embraces an idea of fate, fate that becomes a grim duty. To the Iranistani, there is no fate but the fate Asura gives. Man has little say in the matter. The Iranistani have flavored their worship of Asura with their own culture and their innate fatalism steers Iranistani scholars away from attempting to divine the future. As a result divinatory magic styles are not taught to Iranistani worshippers or priests in northern Iranistan.

The southern Iranistani follow a variety of more shamanistic, primitive faiths and are not bound by this restriction.

Government
Ruler: King, also titled as 'Shah'

The government of Iranistan is nominally feudal. The king of Iranistan is theoretically supported by the tribal chiefs but this rarely proves to be the case in reality. The tribal lords, if they disagree with the king, simply leave the court and ignore him. If the king wants to enforce his will, he has to send his army out of Anshan to do it by force of arms.

The Iranistani will not run from such a fight, for their code of honor prohibits such a thing. They are honor bound to protect what is theirs, be it land, women or personal honor. Royal disputes are settled in this way. Often the royal troops return with the offending chief ’s head or with the chief himself, who may then be hung in an iron cage for the birds to slay. However, the king does make decisions for the nation as a whole and protects the various chiefs who are in his good graces from outside invasions. He rarely intercedes on any one side in the case of an internal blood feud. Iranistani code permits wars of revenge.

Economy and Common Professions
Iranistan’s major products include hand-woven rugs, embroidered clothing, silks, wool, cotton, nuts and fruits, wines, opium, hashish, various oils (petroleum and olive), coal, copper, talc, barites, sulphur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, slaves and precious and semiprecious stones. As a crossroads of trade between the Black Kingdoms, Turan, Stygia, the Golden Kingdoms, Ghulistan, Vendhya and Khitai, Iranistan has grown wealthy. Turan hungers after this trade and recently captured Zamboula in order to control (and profit from) trade coming from Iranistan headed to the West.

Common Professions:
 * Craftsman
 * Farmer
 * Merchant
 * Warrior
 * Archer
 * Slaver

Sex Roles and Marriage
Patriarchal society. Men are bureaucrats and clan warriors, both groups being leaders. Women are not involved in government.

However, women have far more freedom and power than women in other patriarchal cultures such as the Hyborian kingdoms to the west. In Iranistan, women enjoy power, influence, and economic opportunities and can be involved in the military and own businesses.

Slavery
Trade in human beings is very common, just like in Turan, at least in urban parts of the country. Their hungry markets are filled from raids, and also by trade with many southern countries, like Punt.

Influences
Architectural influences: Sassanid Empire, Persian empires.

Love of art is one common element among the Iranistani. Virtually everything the Iranistani make is attractive. Fine calligraphy and visual arts are displayed in the beautiful trimmings that adorn the buildings. The Iranistani respect both the arts and artists.

Villages in Iranistan are comprised of mud-brick houses (although the wealthy might have stone-walled homes) surrounded by a low wall. Nomads in Iranistan use tents instead of houses.

Tip: Many pieces from the Turanian building kit are appropriate for Iranistani.

More Information
RPGS:
 * Return to the Road of Kings (Iranistan, p 123 - 126)