Teleme (aka "The Southlands")

The peoples of Teleme (“tuh LEM” or “tuh LEH may”) are comprised of an oppressed majority known as the Ouraî (pronouced “OH rah ee”) and their conquerors, men from the north (primarily from Backbone and Lowland) who call themselves the Telemi (“tuh LEH mee”). The culture of the Ouraî is akin to pre-Columbian Central America – which means that from a “civilized” perspective, they are dangerously primitive “mud” people.

The tribes who lived on or near the coast were conquered by settlers from Backbone and Lowland around 150 years ago (mid-10th century). However, this merely had the effect of dividing the natives into two groups: The prouder (and more aggressive) ones that fled inland, and the subservient ones that stayed with the conquerers and form the backbone of their economy. The “free” ones have raided and tried to disrupt the conquerers ever since.

On average, about every forty years, the servants join with the jungle tribes and revolt. These revolts are usually put down quite easily. Most recently, this happened in 1102 – only six years ago. However, because the link to Backbone was severed when that kingdom fell in 1098, the “fatherland” was unable to offer assistance and the revolt was more successful than ever before. While the initial revolt was put down quickly, its cost in lives to both sides was enormous. Despite this “loss”, the Ouraî managed to establish footholds in some of the outlying baronies from which they began a guerrila campaign against the Telemi government that continues to this day.

To add insult to injury, in December, 1104, the Dark Mage used Teleme as a launching point for his war against the northern civilizations. He came to Teleme and exumed thousands of dead from its ample burial grounds and turned them into an zombie army. It is speculated that he came for two reasons: 1) He needed fresh corpses and the recent revolt had killed thousands of people. 2) It was far away from the rest of the world and he could give birth to his plans here without intervention.

Whatever the reasons, he apparently had no real interest in Teleme and merely sent his undead army marching across the lands from south to north – where they boarded a fleet of warships at Taikim and set sail north. (The origin of this fleet is still a mystery).

While the undead army marched, the Telemi and Ouraî were briefly united in a common task: survival. However, this truce faded within hours of the Dark Mage's departure. In many ways, the whole experience was surreal. The two sides were fighting skirmishes until one day they both had to flee into the jungles away from the undead. Then, a few days later, they were back to the old battles.

By the end of 1105, the Telemi wizards had managed to restore order to the lands. Since then, they have been able to clean things up and restore peace to the land – though the roads connecting the various cities of Teleme remain dangerous – and a handful of outlying Baronies were abandoned permanently. Also, with the change in magic, Teleme stands to suffer more than most places since the minority Telemi rely on their magic to keep the Ouraî in check.