Tarkuus

Eternal Empire of Tarkuus
Capital	Vuth Nalzek
Ruler	Tarkuus
Government	Bureaucratic autocracy
Demonym	Tarkuusan
Adjective	Tarkuusan
Languages	Necril, Common
Religions	Irreligious; Deathless Mysteries; other faiths

Tarkuus (pronounced tar-KOOS), formally the Eternal Empire of Tarkuus, is an almost entirely undead state founded and led by the eponymous necromancer. Led by a ruling class of intelligent undead, Tarkuus is open for trade and travel to the living, though both can still be dangerous for the unwary. In the boredom of their very long lives, the culture of the upper class of undead in Tarkuus heavily emphasizes horticulture, fashion, and arts as pastimes. Tarkuus is the primary exporter of drugs and spices in the world, and their engineers are experts in massive earthworks.

Geography, flora, and fauna

The Eternal Empire of Tarkuus is an expansive region, stretching almost 700 miles along the coast of the Kilche Sea and as far inland as the western side of the Shields. The empire is in a humid subtropical climatic zone - the region is warm year-round, though with summers somewhat warmer than winters.

The coastline of Tarkuus, or at least the natural parts of it, are mostly quite rough. Commonly referred to as the Skeleton Coast, these shores got their name not only for their inhabitants but also for the number of ships that have been wrecked on the rocks. This is much less the case within the Bay of Tulzar, where extensive reclamation projects have both extended the land out to sea and made the coastline significantly less dangerous.

There are a number of large lakes in Tarkuus, most notably Lake Khaxnor. The natural lakes in the region are fed by rivers that originate in the Shields. However, some lakes are artificial - Lake Ushoz in particular was constructed to assist in agricultural endeavors.

In ancient times Tarkuus was covered by forests, especially in the south and east. With massive swaths cut down for material and to make space for the plantations, these forests are a shadow of what they formerly were. The trees that remain include eucalyptus, cinnamon, paperbarks, symphonias, ocoteas or sweetwoods, and screw palms.

Other native plants include orchids, snapdragons, ferns, lotuses, blood bushes, and others that grow well in year-round warm climates.

Nearly all the native wildlife of the Eternal Empire are long gone from major population centers, driven away by the intense concentration of auras from the undead. The remaining mundane animals are mostly small vermin who live in hidden lairs or on the docks, brought by visiting ships. Many magical beasts, however, have no such fear, and remain in the region.

Though not precisely native, some undead animals and magical beasts have been let loose in Tarkuus, usually inadvertently, and now dwell in less populated regions. The Tarkuusan state attempts to contain and maintain control of these creatures, but with variable success.

The landscape of the Eternal Empire has been drastically changed by massive earthworks projects. In addition to coastline reclamation and artificial lakes, many other efforts have been undertaken to reshape the landscape for practical purposes. In the smaller scale, these include creating artificial canal networks to serve as city roads, or pyramids and raised platforms within cities. On the larger scale, the most notable of these projects was the Zarkuuz Canals, which involved digging three massive channels for hundreds of miles and diverting the Zarkuuz River from its natural course to fill these canals instead.

History

Established in Y5550^*, the Eternal Empire is significantly younger than its founder. Though it has grown greatly in size and influence since then, the empire has remained remarkably stable.

The lands now occupied by the empire were once inhabited by myriad peoples and cultures, who were gradually forced east and then south by the expansion of the undead state. Today many in the nations around the Gulf of Timakal still view Tarkuus with enmity, a view they share with the ratfolk of the Shields who were likewise driven out of their territory.

Demographics

The population of the Eternal Empire is almost entirely undead. Mindless undead vastly outnumber intelligent undead, but these are not considered citizens of Tarkuus (see Government below). Intelligent undead in Tarkuus take a wide number of forms, including vampires, lichs, ghouls, ghuls, mummies, gholdakos, and just about every type of undead that can fit within the limitations Tarkuusan society imposes.

While far fewer in number than the undead, there are living individuals who reside within Tarkuus. These individuals are members of a wide variety of races - there effectively is no majority population.

Culture

Religion

Most inhabitants of the Eternal Empire are rather irreligious, far more concerned with their pursuits in the mortal realm than with the divine. Some do follow gods, however. A variety of deities have worshipers in Tarkuus, brought there from around the world. Hasamel, Nyxras, Tarhunz, Nisaba, and their aspects across various pantheons are especially popular. In general, the veneration of lawful and evil deities is common in Tarkuus.

Within Tarkuus' upper classes, the Deathless Mysteries are greatly influential. Founded by one of Tarkuus' closest advisors, this mystery cult encourages intelligent undead to seek personal perfection, in order to one day spread their influence around the world.

Contrary to what might be expected, religion is treated permissively within Tarkuus. One can even worship deities like Shai and Harinna, both widely considered to be highly opposed to the existence of undead, as long as the practitioners of these faiths do not act on certain aspects of their tenets. A follower of these gods might find themselves socially ostracized, but the state does not restrict their worship.

Traditions

One of the most popular holidays in Tarkuus is the Night of False Life. In the evening of the 1st Falcon every year, large festivals and parades are held where the participants don costumes to appear like the living. Magical use is generally discouraged in favor of fine craftsmanship of clothes, masks, imitation or real skin, and so on. Some of the living, mostly necromancers, also cheekily dress up as the undead for comedic effect.

Public executions/disintegrations are often a social event, as many are interested in attending for religious purposes or merely as a spectacle.

Languages

The inhabitants of Tarkuus, both undead and alive, originate from all parts of the world. As such, they are native speakers of innumerable languages. Instead of adopting Common like might be done elsewhere, those residing in the Eternal Empire use Necril as a lingua franca. Common is still widely understood, but not normally used unless required. Any given individual in Tarkuus might be a speaker of one or more regional and racial languages, but it is impossible to state any generalities by race, location, or type of undead.

Arts

Music in Tarkuus is usually performed using instruments some would describe as macabre. Chimes, maracas, xylophones, wind instruments, and others are often made from bones, and other organs are used for other instruments. Tarkuusan music tends to take on an eerie and haunting quality, often causing discomfort and anxiety in the living.

Tarkuusan artworks favors hyper-realism - some have described paintings by Tarkuusan artists as almost seeming like the subject was going to jump out at them. Religious symbolism, depictions of rituals, and the raising of undead are common subject matter.

Labor

Tarkuus has a vast labor force of mindless undead, primarily skeletons and zombies. When new bodies are needed, they are sourced primarily from trade, and supplemented by those that die within Tarkuus (see laws below). This labor force never tires, complains, or needs to eat - in other words, they are wildly more productive than any living workers could be. There are some downsides, for example the bodies do eventually decay, but these are easily manageable. As a result of this massive labor capacity, the Eternal Empire is able to undertake its extensive earthworks projects, as well as work its expansive plantations. Undead workers also do menial labor like excavation, construction, and transportation. In some cases, for example with undead dockworkers, they are dressed up in fine clothing in order to be less repulsive to the eyes of the living.

Agriculture and cuisine

As Tarkuus has a relatively small living population, its food requirements are fairly minor. There are some conventional agricultural operations, mostly focusing on growing native subtropical fruits and vegetables, but these are a tiny part of Tarkuusan agriculture. Much of the food for the living is instead imported from other regions.

Drug and spice plantations make up the vast majority of agriculture in the Eternal Empire, along with some production of staple crops. Incredibly labor-intensive crops, for example tobacco, saffron, and vanilla, pose no problem whatsoever to Tarkuus due to the undead farm workers. Many other drugs and spices are cultivated as well, almost all of which are exported to other regions around the world. Some plantations are truly massive in scale. Stretching for hundreds of square miles and worked by thousands of undead, these plantations and the supply chains they feed into are some of the finest examples of Tarkuusan logistics and planning. Extensive soil rehabilitation projects as well as field rotation keep these plantations incredibly productive. Intricate artificial irrigation channels form networks in the plantations. In the vast, otherwise featureless plantations, large cylindrical pillars serve as waypoints marking every five or ten miles.

The Eternal Empire does have livestock farms, but not in a sense that is recognizable to people from elsewhere. There are effectively no cows, sheep, or other such creatures. There are, however, blood farms. From outside, these take the appearance of idyllic small towns, carefully planned with well-ordered streets, luxurious homes, and many recreational opportunities. The inhabitants of these towns are living people of many ancestries, provided every comfort of life with no requirement to work, but not out of altruism. Rather, Tarkuusan administrators have found this is the most practical way to harvest the large amounts of blood necessary to support a population of vampires with minimal resistance. Despite being fully sapient living individuals, the inhabitants of the blood farms are given the same legal standing as the mindless undead laborers (see laws below). The inhabitants of the blood farms are mostly criminals sentenced to live there as part of their punishment, instead of non-productive incarceration.

Living residents of Tarkuus, as well as the undead that can eat conventional food and choose to do so, enjoy a wide array of fine ingredients. Tropical fruits, exotic meats, and complex blends of spices are all common features of Tarkuusan diets. While these are often prohibitively expensive elsewhere, especially considering the quantities consumed, the wealth of the empire makes this hardly a factor.

Society

The Tarkuusan state ensures all individuals living in the empire are provided with a basic level of food and shelter, appropriate to their type of existence. While this food is not always of the very finest quality, at the minimum it guarantees none will starve. In the case of undead that have a compulsion to feed on the flesh of the living, like ghouls, Tarkuus makes an attempt to meet this demand but cannot always acquire enough flesh for all while maintaining diplomatic relations - as a result, many ghouls resort to paying off merchants to bring “special cargo” along.

Earthworks

In addition to working on the plantations and in other forms of general manual labor, the undead labor force of Tarkuus is put to use on monumental earthwork projects. Efforts that would have taken the living far more people and much more time to complete can be done at a fraction of the cost. These earthworks have taken a variety of forms:

• The Bay of Tulzar has been shrunk as a result of reclamation efforts - the land stretches far past the natural coastline. This has made the bay safer, as well as provided more space in the coastal cities in which to build.
• Large levees along the Skeleton Coast have reduced the impact of the major storms that commonly strike the region.
• Entire lakes, for example Lake Ushoz, have been dug to serve as reservoirs.
• The most notable of the earthworks projects is the Zarkuuz Canals. Three massive canals were dug for hundreds of miles, and the Zarkuuz River diverted from its natural path to fill these canals instead. These canals have aided greatly in transportation, though they require constant maintenance.

Architecture and urbanization

Tarkuus has an almost entirely urban population. While lands inhabited by the living require large rural populations in order to feed their cities, Tarkuusan cities are almost entirely undead and thus have no such requirement. The very small rural population of Tarkuus is largely present to manage the plantations and blood farms.

Though their cities tend to be quite densely populated, Tarkuusan urban planning heavily emphasizes large boulevards and green spaces. As a result, most buildings are multiple stories tall.

Most cities in the Eternal Empire are built on massive earthen pyramids. Much wider than they are tall, these stepped cities use their elevation changes as a way of separating different districts - usually, the more exclusive parts of the city are higher in elevation, and one can determine the social status of any individual by the step upon which they live. Terraced gardens and waterworks often occupy the rises in elevation.

Non-stepped Tarkuusan cities use canal networks instead of roads. Rather than relying upon carriages or other land-based means of travel, boats are used instead.

Tarkuusan architecture is extremely ornamental, with homes and other buildings used by the wealthy and powerful featuring intricate carved stonework, often full of statuary, gargoyles, and abstract designs. The interiors of these structures are frequently laden with precious metal inlays in the stonework, thin and delicate. Some visitors to Tarkuusan cities have remarked that the upper levels of their steps resemble in many ways the ancient walled cities of Langkha, only which each home and estate its own well-defended bastion. As with many aspects of Tarkuusan society, however, architecture too is highly class-based, and those lower on the social ladder typically live in far more austere accommodations.

Education

Freed from any expectations of physical labor, the inhabitants of the empire take to a variety of pursuits. While many must engage with the mundane details of managing the bureaucracy, plantations, trade, necromancy, and other aspects of the state, by and large they have a great deal of free time to spend on their own interests. Many take to the arts, magical studies, and scientific pursuits. Tarkuus has become a major center of learning as a result. While necromancy is favored for obvious reasons, mages in Tarkuus study and become masters of many schools of magic. Some also choose to amass great collections of artifacts of various types in museums, many of which are open to the public.

The Tarkuusan publishing industry is known for their extensive output of books, mostly focusing on magical studies.

Travel and immigration

While many undead travel to Tarkuus to join in a society where they can be accepted, the empire does not permit all immigrants. Undead who have not or cannot demonstrate they are capable of following the empire's strict legal code are turned away, as they are threats to stability and the coexistence of the living and undead. Likewise, if one is known to have committed unnecessary crimes in locations they previously lived, they will be denied entry. It is important to note that the definition of “unnecessary crime” is markedly different in Tarkuus than what it might be elsewhere. A vampire who feeds on unwilling living individuals is considered incredibly evil in most of the world, but these activities are usually considered an unfortunate necessity prior to their arrival at Tarkuus. Of course, if these behaviors continue, they will face punishment.

Living immigrants are fewer in number but not nonexistent. These are mostly necromancers who wish to serve the empire, but sometimes others arrive for different reasons. The same restrictions on undead immigration also apply to the living - while some notorious criminals, on the run and with few options remaining, have attempted to seek refuge in Tarkuus, they will be stopped if their activities are known. In some cases the empire turns these individuals over to their country of origin, but more commonly they are executed and reanimated as mindless laborers.

Tourism to Tarkuus exists but is generally pretty unusual. While many cities are undoubtedly beautiful and there are many sites to see, the fact one must do so while surrounded by the viscerally off-putting undead is enough to discourage most who would entertain the idea. Still, a small number of individuals come to Tarkuus every year to sightsee, usually around the time of major festivals.

Travel in Tarkuus is undertaken via the empire's extensive artificial waterways where possible, and on immaculately maintained roads otherwise. Some Tarkuusan researchers have begun to experiment with lighter than air travel, methods more efficient than simply casting Fly on an individual, but these are in the very early stages of testing.

Leisure

Incredibly violent combat sports are popular attractions in Tarkuus. Activities like dueling, fencing, and contact sports can be much more entertaining without the limitations and rules applied to prevent the competitors from badly injuring each other. After all, if one dies, they can be resurrected easily enough. The participants in these sports are largely mindless undead.

Gardening and horticulture are popular activities in Tarkuus, among those who have the space and time for the hobby and the ability to appreciate it. Gardens are often immaculate arrangements of flowers and other plants, including tulips, roses, snapdragons, bonsais, topiaries, blood bushes, and others. This hobby is less relaxing than it is extremely competitive, a way for the elites to satisfy their urges for dominance without turning to violence.

Fashion

Among the upper classes of Tarkuus, especially but not exclusively the vampires, fashion is an important way to express one’s social standing and prominence. Outfits are often extremely gaudy and impractical, bursting with color and constructed of expensive, hard to acquire, or strange materials. In cases where the clothes are so impractical they impede movement, spells like Mage Hand are often used to remove the need to physically interact with objects.

When meeting living individuals from outside Tarkuus, some undead Tarkuusans use magical methods like unguents of revivification to maintain a facade of life. While they are rarely self-conscious about their forms, these undead view it as practical if those they are talking to are not repulsed by their presence. These methods are generally not used when interacting with the living who reside in Tarkuus - in this case, it is assumed those individuals are completely comfortable with the realities of undeath.

Government

Tarkuus, the individual, holds absolute authority in the Eternal Empire. Though mostly absent these days, deep in their research in their private city of Vuth Nalzek, they are the absolute arbiter of the law. In practice, the empire is ruled by Tarkuus’s cabinet. The cabinet is filled by individuals directly chosen by Tarkuus, and consists of the following positions:

• The Lord of the Law deals with legal matters. The Dead Courts fall under the Lord of the Law’s purview.
• The Lord of War deals with military matters. This position is largely ceremonial at this point, as Tarkuus rarely engages in warfare aside from a token resistance against the Sun Refuge.
• The Lord of the Land deals with land use, including agriculture, earthworks projects, transportation, and other related matters.
• The Lord of State deals primarily with diplomatic relations with other states.
• The Lord of the Living deals with living individuals residing within Tarkuus, and the particular rights, protections, and limitations that apply to them. This Lordship is also responsible for living visitors.
• The Lord of the Dead deals primarily with the reanimation process.
• The Lord of Trade deals with internal and external commerce.
• The Lord of Faith deals with regulating religious matters in the empire, as well as attempting diplomatic relations with representatives of faiths elsewhere.
• The Lord of Labor deals with the mindless labor force of the empire.
• The Lord of Sustenance ensures all individuals, living and undead, are provided with appropriate nourishment and other basic needs for survival.
• The Lord of Culture sponsors the arts, festivals, and other related matters.

The Lordships are usually held by powerful undead of various types, especially vampires, mummies, liches, ghuls, and harionagos. In addition to these highest positions, each branch has a massive bureaucracy under it to ensure day to day operations run smoothly.

While nothing explicitly prohibits living individuals from holding a Lordship, it is exceedingly rare - only two people ever have, both as Lord of the Living. A large proportion of the living population of Tarkuus serve in the bureaucracy, however, mostly as diplomats under the Lord of State, legal advisors under the Lord of the Living, and necromancers under the Lord of the Dead.

The laws of the Eternal Empire are strictly codified and enforced to the letter - leniency in the Dead Courts is unheard of. While most of the empire's laws are of the same type that might be expected elsewhere (no stealing, assault, etc), there are a number that living travelers should acquaint themselves with:

• Law of Laws - This law specifies the castes that define Tarkuusan society.
  • Intelligent undead and free living individuals are considered full members of society.
  • Mindless undead - that is to say, most skeletons, zombies, and so on - are considered objects for legal purposes. For example, destroying a skeletal worker is considered destruction of property, not murder. Living thralls, mostly kept for food, are also in this category.
• Law of Coexistence - Intelligent undead and the living are afforded equal protections. In a dispute between undead and living citizens, the parties’ states of existence are not to be a factor.
  • Legal precedent has held that the Law of Coexistence also applies to visitors, not only citizens.
• Law of Powers - It is illegal to affect an individual with positive/negative energy that is oppositional to their state of existence. For example, it is illegal for a cleric who channels positive energy to affect a vampire with it. Positive/negative energy use is acceptable as long as this criteria is met. This law is enforced especially harshly with capital punishment.
• Law of Requirements - Undead who innately and compulsively have an urge feed on the living are prohibited from doing so on living citizens or visitors. This law is also enforced with capital punishment.
• Law of Servitude - Any living individual, citizen or guest, who dies in the Eternal Empire forfeits their body to the state. In practice, these bodies are almost always reanimated as mindless undead to be added to the labor force.
• Law of Witness - Any individual accused of a crime is granted a speedy trial in the Dead Courts.

Capital punishment in the empire is a common sentence. Undead offenders have their souls severed from their bodies, or are disintegrated in extreme cases, while living offenders are killed in a manner that minimally damages their bodies, so as to be more useful in undeath.

Economy

The outputs of the Tarkuusan plantations are almost entirely exported - it is highly probable that the drugs, spices, or some foods one finds in major cities elsewhere were grown and harvested by undead hands. The empire is able to sell these resources at drastically lower prices than anywhere else, due to their methods of production, and as a result maintains a near-monopoly on many crops. This has made the empire fabulously wealthy, as well as cemented their international relations by making them indispensable trade partners.

Tarkuus imports large amounts of raw material - while their agricultural output is massive, they have little other major industry.

Relations

Tarkuus views the crusader state of the Sun Refuge as more of a minor thorn in the side than any real threat. The crusaders are allowed to remain, and given a token resistance, only because it would be more of an issue to manage the fallout from removing them than it is to replace the undead they destroy.

Despite their shared undead nature, the ruling class of Tarkuus looks down on the undead hordes of Oscan and highly resent any comparisons. In fact, some paladins who have traveled to Oscan to fight the undead there have been sponsored, knowingly or not, by Tarkuus - the existence of the hordes are a practical concern to Tarkuus, as it interferes with their trade and resource acquisition.

Otherwise, Tarkuus maintains cordial relations with any other state that will tolerate them. Tarkuus, the individual, has no interest in aggressive expansion and does not wish to come into conflict merely over differences between the living and undead. The empire has become incredibly wealthy and influential through trade and Tarkuus wishes to maintain this situation.