Roulea

The Roulean lands lie west of Gharu'n and north of the Sho Empire. To the north, across the Iron Sea is the Kingdom of Viamont.

History
The founder of the Roulean Empire was a warlord named Maleksoros. With his favorite battle-weapon, the mace Subjugator, he personally defeated the leaders of every neighboring tribe, forming the seed of the Empire that would spread out to conquer almost all the known world.

The Rouleans brought imperial order to most of the lands around the Ironsea. The Rouleans saw however no benefit in conquering the Viamontian peninsula, and the tribes that would become the nations of Viamont and Aluvia remained chaotic and disorganized.

One of their most famous city was Tirethas, the "City of Lore", which held a famous library. It was also the site of the Imperial Academy of Magic, and home to the greatest concentration of mages and scholars in all of Ispar. Roulea marks the beginning of its calendar with the founding of the capital by offspring of the gods.

Rakhil al-Khur the First Malik and the founder of the nation of Gharu'n led the first wave of nomadic peoples in a campaign of conquest, sweeping the antiquated Roulean Empire out of the capital city of Tirethas. Together with Yasif ibn Salayyar, he conquered a large part of the old Roulean Empire. When the raiders laid siege to Tirethas, the City of Lore, however, Rakhil made the mistake of threatening to burn the books within her walls. Yasif struck down his king in rage, and the conquest came to a sudden end.

The Empire continued to exist, and Roulean retired generals helped King Elous VI to structure and train the national army and another cooperation helped him build up his fleet.

When the Viamontians under leadership of Varicci I invaded the Empire, the Roulean empire collapsed upon itself like a rotten fruit. Already weakened by the long-ago loss of their trade outposts, the Rouleans were in no position to defend their holdings. Their once proud imperial legions gathered for one last great battle, which ended with the annihilation of the imperial army and the Emperor murdered in his palace, pinned to his throne by a sword through the chest.

The Empire of Roulea has all but fallen, being invaded by both the Viamontian and the Gharu'ndim. Though they have lost their power among the nations of the Ironsea, their cultural influence has spread even to Dereth.

No Rouleans are known to be on Dereth.

Culture
Old Roulean is a language used by the traders of the Isparian nations, and as the common language on Dereth. The language has spread to nearly every corner of Ispar, and was used as a common trading language. When the Aluvians, Gharu'ndim, and Sho were thrown together on Dereth, they adopted this trade tongue as a common language. Also, the Roulean names for the months and hours of the day, and the Roulean Calendar is commonly adopted.

Roulea is pronounced the same as R'lyeh, the mythical sunken city of H.P. Lovecraft's novel "The Call of Cthulhu." It is probable that the lore-writers of Turbine derived Roulea from R'lyeh.

The Roulean Empire could be compared to the Greek or Roman empire.

Customs and Traditions
The Rouleans were a literate people and their books and treatises were valued highly by the other nations. However, some books, such as "The Treatise of the Individual" by Lokios of Tirethas, which held quite a few revolutionary ideas ("ideas dangerous to the kind of thoughtless, brutal, morally bankrupt regime that the Emperors maintained"), were banned and any copy found burned. It was this book which might have triggered some of the rebellious ideas of the Viamontian Duke of Bellenesse.

The Rouleans sported gladiator fights, the gladiators have been described as being large and heavily muscled. The greatest gladiator in the history of the Roulean games was named Archophon. He died after accepting a challenge from an unknown Silveran. The arenas also showed animal fights, or people being torn apart by wild animals.

The Roulean Imperial guard was called "praetorian".

Factions

 * Malachite Claws - an order of female assassins who were active in the courts of Roulea.