Katab
Katab.png

The kingdom of Katab is a small and old but very wealthy, established shortly after the deluge as a sanctuary from the ruins of the Red House. Nestled into the cliffs and peaks of the southwestern Kabir coast, Katab hosts several ports that serve ships heading out to the South Seas. These ports also serve as a significant shortcut between Eastern Olorun and Southern Kabir, allowing goods to move between the two regions with a minimum of overland travel. As a result of this trade, Katab has a diversity of imported and exported resources flowing through its ports, and it exercise a great deal of political power over Eastern Olorun. Katab is also the only kingdom in Kabir with a unified government and a standardized national policy, making it a popular destination with naval merchants and travellers from other regions. Katab is habitable primarily because of marvels of engineering which bring water from high in the mountains down into the towers of Katab, providing most people within the city with fresh water routed directly through the multi-floor communal houses common to its cities. Aside from coastal routes north to Ebih and east to Hasan, Katab is cut off from the rest of Kabir by the Empty Desert, an inhospitable place dotted with ruins haunted by the dead of the Great War.

The Katab rule the southwestern peninsula of Arabaya, serving as a major port along the the east/west trade corridor. It is one of the few nations with a functioning diplomatic relationship with the Marul, an aquatic civilization thought to be ruled by the Kanshai of Aklon. This arrangement allows Katab to be a powerful trade partner with eastern nations like Myrrha and Jin without having to deal with harassment from Kanshai forces. For this reason, the people of Katab are famous for their trade of exotic commodities such as perfumes and spices, goods which the otherwise desolate and geographically isolated nation can keep well preserved in sandstone caves.

Katabean land is particularly harsh and inhospitable. The nation-state is only able to sustain itself through the use of a quarter-mile long dam that serves as a rain-water reservoir, built throughout the sandstone mountains above Ma'rib. Through natural hydraulic action, this water supply sustains a number of wells, irrigation canals and underground waterways. With fresh water being a rare and important commodity, neighboring states such as the Minean and Himyaran tribes rule the surrounding territory with an iron fist, adding to the danger of overland trade. These tribes live off the bones of the old world, living tough, unpleasant lives amongst the supernatural creatures of the desert. Traders and other travellers provide them with a welcome reprieve from the dangers of scavenging.

The Kingdom of Katab is cornered not only by geography of its mountains, but by the ruins of an ancient civilization believed to maybe even predate the Age of Wonder. This ancient constructions seems to stretch through the nearby hills, connected to a great underground cavern lit by an eerily constant light. City planners must take care when digging through the nearby hills, and even the hostile tribes seem to avoid surface ruins leading to this place. Much of the architecture is too short for all but the smallest humanoids to comfortably wander, and the ruins appear to be covered with strange gouges that have been conjectured to be writing, but don't seem to match any known language. They seem to be beacons for the dead.

Katab strongly relies on the raw resources provided by its former colony, Axum. Almost directly across the South Straight from eachother, international trade between these two entities is of absolute necessity to Katab. As a result, significant naval fortifications exist between the two locations.

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