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Locations  ยป  Kingdom of Matara

Matara

Matara

Founded: 871 IR
Continent: Matarica
Government Type: Kingdom
Capital: Kebessa
Negusa Nagast: Mojisola Arendse

Pronunciation

muh-TARR-ah


Matara is a fairly small realm in the southwest of Eard. The current negusa nagast, or king, is Mojisola Arendse. Its capital city is Kebessa. More than any other realm in Eard, the Kingdom of Matara is focused on trade and their traders can be found anywhere.

 

Politics

The main political force are the four founding umunna, the Asmae Umunna, Gurtom Umunna, Serenser Umunna, and Shelele Umunna. There are other minor umunna, but these four great families are the most important. The heads of each umunna are called negusa, or king.

There is also the negusa nagast, or king of kings. The Arendse umunna is the royal umunna. Its most important prerogative is that by tradition anyone who marries a member of the Arendse becomes Arendse, no matter what umunna they previously belonged to. Political marriage has obviously been a major tool for the royal family.

This tradition has been upheld by the four founding umunna, who have found it useful to keeping their place to have a royal family that can balance against upstart umunna or a negusa who makes destructive, and hence not profitable, choices. Merchants like stability, and the royal umunna may reduce the power of the four main umunna but in return provides an extremely stable government. In fact, the Kingdom of Matara has remained essentially unchanged for almost 1300 years.

The kingdom neighbors a variety of small realms on the coasts of Matarica. They have left these alone, generally speaking, because the four great umunna control their economy.

More importantly, the Kingdom of Matara shares a border with The Empire of Makhaira to the northeast. As with all of Makhaira's neighbors, their relationship with the Empire has always depended upon the emperor. The current emperor, Nikephoros II, has regularly pushed and prodded Matara to the point where the negusa are actually contemplating war, something they dislike because of the hit to their bottom line.

 

Economy

As mentioned, the Matarans are active traders. Matara is well-supplied with natural resources, including some of the best gold and diamond mines in Eard. Not only have the Matarans taken advantage of their natural resources, they have invested in some of the most skilled craftsmen around. Some of the smaller umunna specialize in a particular craft, such as the Okeke, whose jewelry is prized around the world.

 

Military

The Mataran military consists of companies of about a hundred sarwe called sarawit. These sarwe are extensively trained to mesh within their sarawit. They are usually infantry units that focus on strict discipline with a shield wall, but other types of sarawit do exist. The discipline, however, remains the same no matter the type.

 

Founding

The four founding umunna competed as far back as the Matarans earliest memories after the Akkermenian Empire. In the early 800s, they founded a trading emporium in an excellent harbor that each coveted but none could successfully claim. This became the city of Kebessa.

With a couple of generations, the people of Kebessa had carved out a certain identity of their own, led by the fabulously successful Adisa Arendse, negusa of a previously tiny umunna. In the interests of stability, the four founding umunna made a deal with Adisa and crowned him their first negusa nagast. The Arendse umunna has remained the royal household ever since, in large part due to the regular infusion of talent from political marriages.

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