Country profiles: Qumar

Qumar is a harsh, hot country where only the most persistent can survive. As if the climate and the scarcity of water in its deserts weren't already enough, a war that has been raging on for decades is taking a heavy toll on the inhabitants of this land. How this war started has long been forgotten, only the sides are clear: the troops of the king, who controls the cities around the oases, are fighting the nomad tribes of the deserts over the control of the water sources.
Both sides will capture enemy soldiers and sell them off as slaves to gain funds and weapons, but apart from that, Qumar has only very few goods to offer for trade, except for some of its more exotic animals.
Its most well-known animal is the Qumarian demon, also known as the Mandulis, a scorpion-like creature that can grow to be almost 15 feet long. It often hides below the sand and is mistaken by travelers as a simple dune - the last mistake for a lot of them. Since they would be of great use in any battle, numerous attempts to tame them have been made, but they have all but failed. Although the Qumarian demon may be the most impressive of all the creatures in this country, it is by far not the only danger that awaits in the deserts.


The Qumarian Demon

The Qumari have a large number of gods, with every tribe featuring their own pantheon, although some gods may be shared by several tribes. The people in the cities just seem to have adopted whatever gods their local tribes believe in, although faith is of far lesser concern to them than to the tribal people. The way of worshipping these gods differs from tribe to tribe, with some tribes demanding daily prayer or others even human sacrifices, while others only pray before important events.
The cities of Qumar have been heavily fortified in the recent years to withstand the constant attacks of the nomads. Most of them feature a large city wall, parts of which have been hastily rebuilt after the latest attack. The buildings are almost exclusively made out of stone.


Outside of a typical, larger Qumarian city

Legends in the cities tell of the old society of the Anhur, ruthless assassins who used to control the Qumarian society through fear and bloodshed. But at about the same time as the war started, they suddenly vanished. In the last few months, rumours have been arising about cloaked figures being seen near the scenes of murders, and many link these sightings to the manslayers of the past, saying that they might return to regain control of the country. While many would welcome the change this would bring about, others say that it may be better the way things are going right now, while some just see the rumours as complete nonsense.


A Warrior of the Ardueg Tribe

Some of the technological progress of the last few decades has already arrived in Qumar, although it still compares poorly to the most advanced countries in the world. Trains are not fit for the inhospitable deserts of this land, and most heavy machinery doesn't seem to cope well with the sand. Still, some advances have been made, especially in the areas of water purification and, of course, weaponry. Because of this, no advances to colonialise Qumar have been undertaken by any of the more powerful countries yet - its scarce resources wouldn't be worth the trouble anyway.

Mal, good idea on adding pics to the country profiles...really adds a nice touch.

I like Qumar, although I doubt I would want to visit.

Remind me to never go to Qumar...

I think the worst thing about the country is the war, though. The Qumarian demon may sound bad, but a country like this just couldn't feed too many of it. In the past, they were probably mostly feeding on the occasional caravan, but now that better weapons are available and the caravans are heavily armed to defend themselves against the nomads (and the nomads are just as heavily armed, so no easy target either), I guess they would mostly feed on fallen soldiers on the battlefields. Life in Qumar shouldn't be too different from any real country in our world that has almost no water and an ongoing civil war.
...which is bad enough, of course.