PZO9406 Qadira, Gateway to the East.pdf

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qadira

Gateway to the East

J a l r u n e r iver

30 60 90

Omash

m ileS

P l a in S o f P areSh

Katheer

Koor

Q a d i r a

Hatavit

Al-Bashir

K etz d eSert

Khoka

Gurat

Shadun

z h o m o u n ta in S

Dimayen

m eraz d eSert

Okeno

o bari o Ce an

Sedeq

J a l r u n e r iver

Omash

30 60 90

m ileS

P l a in S o f P areSh

Katheer

Koor

Q a d i r a

Al-Bashir

Hatavit

K etz d eSert

Khoka

Gurat

Shadun

Dimayen

m eraz d eSert

Sedeq

o bari o Ce an

COMPANION

qadira

Table of ConTenTs

Qadira 2

society 12

Katheer 16

Combat: Daivrat, the Genie’s friend 20

faith: Religion in Qadira

Magic: Traditions and schools

bestiary

Preview

Author • Brian Cortijo

Cover Artist • Eva Widermann

Cartography • Rob Lazzaretti

Interior Artists • Concept Art House and Tyler Walpole

Publisher • Erik Mona

Paizo CEO • Lisa Stevens

Vice President of Operations • Jefrey Alvarez

Corporate Accountant • Dave Erickson

Director of Sales • Pierce Watters

Sales Manager • Christopher Self

Technical Director • Vic Wertz

Events Manager • Joshua J. Frost

Editor-In-Chief • James Jacobs

Editing and Development • Christopher Carey,

Sean K Reynolds, and James L. Sutter

Editorial Assistance • Jason Bulmahn and F. Wesley Schneider

Editorial Interns • David A. Eitelbach and Hank Woon

Graphic Design • Sarah E. Robinson

Senior Art Director • James Davis

Special Thanks

The Paizo Customer Service and Warehouse Teams

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(characters, deities, etc.), dialogue, plots, storylines, locations, characters, artwork, and trade dress. (Elements that have previously been designated as Open Game Content are not included in this declaration.)

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Printed in China.

gateway to the east

COMPANION

qadira

mountains, and ancient ruins, Qadira is but the

western tip of a sprawling continental empire.

Ruled by Satrap Xerbystes II in the name of the Padishah

Emperor of Kelesh, Qadira is the larder, the trading post,

and the sword of the great empire around the Inner Sea.

Situated at the southernmost end of Avistan, Qadira

occupies all of the lands between the Inner Sea and

Casmaron. It dominates trade from the eastern nations, and

its capital city of Katheer is rich beyond most imaginings,

rivaling the wealth of any city on two continents.

The nation is called the Gateway to the East, the

Emperor’s Doorway, Den of Slavers, and (perhaps least

complimentary) the Living Ruin for the abandoned cities,

sprawling ruins, and sand-blasted wastes that disigure

its frontiers.

Although most of the Inner Sea views Qadira as a

power that must be watched, its citizens see themselves

Gateway to the East

A land of whirling sands, sprawling coasts, great

qadira: gateway to the east

as lesser members of a great and vast empire whose

riches and untold pleasures are denied them as they live

among the unwashed, unclean, and uncivilized dregs of

Avistan and Garund.

Qadira is a land of great mountains and wide deserts,

a land where rivers snake through seemingly lifeless

wastelands inhabited by nomads, savage humanoids,

and all manner of beasts that seem able to feed on sand

and sun.

The power of Sarenrae shines down over the Gateway

to the East, burning away iniquity and weakness. For

the unprepared, the desert path to Katheer is a harsh,

unforgiving road. For those who learn the secrets of the

Living Ruin, untold riches await.

Keleshite Qadira (–78 ar to 1531 ar )

It was in the waning years of the Age of Destiny that

merchants irst led Keleshite war parties to Qadira. The

lands there were similar to their own, and the warriors

felt at home. Fine horses ran the plains of Paresh, and

they claimed some of these animals as mounts for their

companies. But it was the shining streets of Katheer, as

the explorers had promised, that convinced the captains

to stay.

Claiming the land in the name of Padishah Emperor

Adalan IV, the soldiers of Kelesh raised the empire’s

green lag of conquest, the Black Blade of War crossing its

ield. Ater 2 years, when word returned from Casmaron

that Adalan IV had approved the conquest, they added the

Silver Blade of Kings to the lag. Formalizing their rule in

–43 a r, Kelesh installed its irst satrap, Cerush, and began

to bring the rest of the region under its heel.

Transplanted Keleshites came in large numbers

from the interior of Casmaron, expanding Katheer and

bringing commerce, learning, and formalized temples

to the city. They mixed well with the native Qadirans,

adopting some of their place-names and customs while

importing their language. The Keleshites took horses and

land from the Qadirans, but in turn mixed so seamlessly

with those people that now only a few stubborn nomadic

tribes claim to be anything other than Keleshite.

It took the Keleshites less than a century to settle

the Plains of Paresh and to expand northward to the

border with Taldor, which sparked a series of minor

conlicts. Fortifying the boundary with a hundred stone

watchtowers and the fortiied camp of Omash, Qadira’s

satraps waited, biding their time for their northern

neighbor, this uncivilized “empire,” to show weakness.

The satraps turned their attention southward and

set about expanding. The southern city of Sedeq was

created as a resort town, to show the emperor that life

could be carved out of the desert and to grant relaxation

and quiet to the nobles of Katheer. They founded other

settlements as well, including Al-Bashir, the massive

forge-city of Koor, and the logging town Hatavit,

along with countless others lost beneath the sands.

The philosophy of the emperors in that age, and thus

the policy handed down to their satraps, was to create

distinct settlements with discrete purposes, to increase

the eiciency of the satrapy.

History

Little is known of the history of Qadira between the fall of

Azlant and the coming of Sarenrae’s missionaries. Most

information regarding this time is derived from the tales

of the merchants that irst encountered the local nomadic

peoples and came upon the already shining city of Katheer.

Pre-Padishah Empire Qadira (prior to –43 ar )

Before the armies of Kelesh came, Qadira was a far more

sparsely populated land, empty of the teeming caravans

that now dot its sands and plains. The native humans of

the region, related to both the Keleshites and Garundi,

were a wandering folk, goatherds and gatherers for the

most part, abandoning one region when the sands came

to wash them away, only to move their tents eastward

toward the mountains in summer, or toward the sea in

winter, as the winds took them.

Only in the city of Katheer was this wandering set

aside. First a trademoot for the various nomads of the

region, it became the site of a great annual horse race.

At irst the nomads made seasonal visits, but eventually

some came to live there permanently, working the fertile

land on either side of the River Pashman. Legends grew

up around the place—that it was the site of great births

and deaths, that its waters could heal even the mortally

ill, that it was here that Sarenrae stepped forth to do

battle with Rovagug in the time before recorded time.

It was the races along the river that irst convinced

Keleshite expeditionary caravans to consider the native

Qadirans worthy of trade—and later conquest—rather

than annihilation. Though the locals wore coarse

clothing, used crude weapons, and spoke an awful,

grating tongue, their love of horses earned the explorers’

friendship. Unable to incorporate the sot “th” sound

of the city’s name, the explorers called the lands there

Kadeera, which in turn was changed by the pens of the

thousand court scribes of Kelesh to Qadira.

rising Qadira (1531 ar to 4606 ar )

During the Age of Enthronement, Qadira’s satraps again

took up the Black Blade of War, seeking to spread the

message and mission of Sarenrae, to expand the power

of the Padishah Empire, and to enrich themselves and

their favorites. This led to the conquest of the mountain

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