Quoted By:
Southern Countries and City States, II:
>Archaeus: Hardened by Sand
>Far beyond the borders of the current empire where the plains meet the desert, less affluent nations and peoples exist alongside nomadic tribes. The largest of these is the city state of Archaeus, a walled kingdom built on a tiered hill, carved out into an elaborate citadel from which the king has full view of the city. Poor in resources, Archaeus has been made to rely on its natural position in order to leverage an economy based around trade: too distant to conquer and occupy, it has enjoyed all the benefits of being in contact with the Lomrian Empire and brokers exotic goods gleaned from the farther reaches of the desert. Likewise, it has taken an interest to magic based on the sun and manipulation of water, to best make the heat less intense on the city itself as well as recycle water as efficiently as possible. Glass is a major local export, one of its few natural resources in abundance.
>Archaeus's people have tough, darkened skin, tanned by the beating heat of the sun, and find themselves at home fighting in the deserts. Sorcerers have found a way to make their skins tougher still in battle, and rivals fighting the Archain Army have noted that trying to fight them with bladed weapons is like trying to slash through stone. They trade for their equipment from Lomre and their elites are heavy infantry that have learned to emulate their neighbors, but the majority of its makeup includes lightly armed skirmishers wearing armor of linen, a helmet, sandals, and wielding several javelins. Sharpshooters wielding exotic weapons from afar that have been slowly accumulated over the years also play a key role in defeating persistent nuisances, their presence marked by the thunder of their weapons. Finally, the skilled sorcerer-generals that ultimately command these warriors are known to call down the beating heat of the sun on the nation's adversaries, exhausting and in extreme cases setting them ablaze.
