Suggestion: add Zakhara as canon lore and available background region.

[SabbyKat]

Hello, everyone!

I wanted to bring up here to the forums a topic for discussion that arose in Discord a few days ago. Basically: Zakhara.

Just a small briefing for those who don't know of it (and anyone who's more lore-savvy please correct any mistakes I made - I'm not the best-versed on the topic): Zakhara, or the Land of Fate, is a FR-canon region, existing to the south of Faerun, and is similar to Kara-Tur in a sense that it has its own regional Pantheon of deities, and is part of the same super-continent that holds Faerun. If you want a reference for it in terms of culture, architecture, language, peoples, etc. take Calimshan. The Calimshani and the Bedine came from Zakhara, originally. If you're looking for a real-world theme or inspiration for Zakhara, it would basically be the old A Thousand and One Nights tales, with viziers, caliphs, djinn living in the lands alongside people, and so on.

Recently, it came up as a topic on Discord about adding Zakhara as a proper, recognized region to the server's lore and canon, especially - as some remarked - since we already have an even more remote and less-contacted region, Kara-tur, already with some clear presence on the server, in the forms of characters originating from Kara-tur, and so on. Basically, the discussion was about including Zakhara in the same manner, having people play characters originating from Zakhara and so on.

A point was raised that these discussions are usually carried out in the forums, not on Discord, when it comes to trying to bring up an actual suggestion for something new to be included on the server. So, I wanted to bring the topic here for discussion. There was lots of back and forth on Discord, both in favor and against the idea, and I was hoping to just bring that discussion here, with my own suggestion in favor of actually including Zakhara itself.

I'm aware that there are some callenges with including Zakhara, especially with the new Pantheon of deities that will be included, which seemed to be a point a lot of people touched on. However, a lot of it can be written around or adapted, especially as it's the same thing with Kara-Tur's Celestial Bureaucracy - especially as Zakhara is a decently-developed region with tens of different sourcebooks on it. On the flip-side, I think there's a whole lot to be gained by just giving players more options to play more unique and exotic characters and freedom, and to bring to the server and the setting a spice of something new - I even know people who'd love to come give the server a try if they had the option to play a Zakharan character.

[ILLY]

I am wholly in support of this. Zakharan offers a new lens through which to view the setting and will make very intersting cultural and religious influences possible for players. I think that there are enough people who can fill in the blanks in terms of alignments and etc, at that.

[blazerules]

Personally I don't see why not?

We already have Kara-Tur stuff (Even pantheon, mentioned with Celestial Bureaucracy) so I don't see why we can't have things from Zakhara in all honesty. Beyond taking a bit to add dev time I suppose.

[metaquad4]

Personally I don't see why not?

We already have Kara-Tur stuff (Even pantheon, mentioned with Celestial Bureaucracy) so I don't see why we can't have things from Zakhara in all honesty. Beyond taking a bit to add dev time I suppose.

Ditto to this.

[Ithilan]

There's a fair few problems with Zakhara compared to Kara Tur. First being how isolated the continent is, supposedly only very very few people travel to faerun from Zakhara and mostly stay in the very southern regions.

That also ties in to the fact that they don't even speak common or any other language common on faerun. And how different their pantheon is, but that is only an invitation for creativity as I see it.

No the bigger problem for me is the timeline narrative. Maztica is currently being explored and our characters should have no knowledge of that place at present. Zakhara is even less known and even in Candlekeep they should be at large be oblivious to it.

So having characters emerging from said continent would be really weird at our point in time. The continent has been completely isolated by pirates and outside of their descendants in faerun (calimshites and bedine) I don't think there's any zakharan knowledge to be had at 1359 by Dale reckoning. But I'm all for diversity if the lore fits.

[Planehopper]

No the bigger problem for me is the timeline narrative. Maztica is currently being explored and our characters should have no knowledge of that place at present. Zakhara is even less known and even in Candlekeep they should be at large be oblivious to it.

It is actually stated in the campaign setting boxed set that matches our timeline that it is the most commonly visited of the subcontinents (moreso than Kara Tur) and that their sailors and merchants are well known in Port cities.

The pantheon issues are detailed in Faiths & Avatars. I would argue that there are greater references to Zakhara there and elsewhere than the myriad elven gods that were added that aren't detailed in faith & avatars, demihuman ditties, or Powers & Pantheons (the three core books that coincide with our timeline).

Agreed on Maztica, but Zakhara should be well known (if perhaps still held in awe) by anyone that spends time in ports south.

[Ithilan]

Okay neat. I had an impression it wasn't till a bit later Zakhara pops up in the faerun consciousness and the sea voyage is near impossible at present. It is supposedly a highly isolated continent with little to no contact to the others from what I recall maybe I should read ze sourcebook again.

[SabbyKat]

Plus, on the language side, I believe Zakharan speaks Midani, which is the same language as the Bedine of the Anauroch. Plus, it stands to reason that any land and sea-travelling traders and explorers would definitely at least learn a usable/functioning level of common. Otherwise, their travels would remain pretty much impossible (I mean, technically Kara-Tur faces the same issue).

[ILLY]

Seems like there's little more to discuss.

[DaloLorn]

Seems like there's little more to discuss.

I'd caution against counting your chickens just yet, though. This is a DM-only decision, and the outcome of your petition - while hopefully influenced by the overwhelming support you've received from basically anyone who bothered to comment so far - is not in any way clear yet.

[ILLY]

Seems like there's little more to discuss.

I'd caution against counting your chickens just yet, though. This is a DM-only decision, and the outcome of your petition - while hopefully influenced by the overwhelming support you've received from basically anyone who bothered to comment so far - is not in any way clear yet.

Oh, absolutely. It was just "bump" rephrased and to see if anyone would take the bait of raising any new points or adding to the existing ones, haha!