Black Kingdoms

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Amazon is a matriarchal culture that arose from an ancient Queen who, whilst attacking all villages she came across with her army of female infantry and cavalry, took the strongest women to fight alongside her and subdued the men. Lying south of Stygia and Darfar, bordered in the west by the Southern Desert, defined in the east by the River Styx and extending to the equatorial rainforest in the south. Amazon covers a vast area of the Black Kingdoms, where the women are valorous warriors and their men are suppressed to near slavery. Which, to this day is ruled by a Queen, she does not marry nor maintain any form of long relationship with a man, lest he believe he can become king and rule the Amazon people. 

The cannibals of the South! Disciples of a dark and grim pantheon of spirit lords, and animalistic ghosts who dictate each aspect of their lives. When Hyborian men think of the Black Kingdoms, the striking image of a Darfari skull bearer painted in the fashion of a Deadman comes to mind, their teeth filed and in their hands all manner of primitive weaponry so that they may slaughter and butcher their opponents. A partially true image, for the tribes that have gathered in the lands of Darfar have earned their fearsome reputation – yet some of it is certainly a manner of exaggeration by bewildered Shemite traders and disgusted Tombulka tribespeople.  

The common Keshani are tall, dark skinned people originally from Kush. Like their Gallah cousins, they are enthusiastic and excitable people who wear their emotions proudly, yet are less brutal and warlike. Those from the Keshani ruling class are lighter skinned, descended from Lemurians although many would not know this without having travelled to Alkmeenon, which is extremely dangerous. They are horsemen and cattle herders by nature, which is not particularly suited for travelling the mountains and jungles.  

Kush is separated predominantly into two peoples, the Gallah and the Chaga. The Gallah are the original inhabitants of Kush and are by far the most numerous. The Minority Chaga are the ruling caste, descended from conquering Stygian adventurers.   

The nation of Punt was formed after eastward expeditions by the Gallah of Kush - Adventurers looking for new lands and mythical resources. What they found, though anticlimactic, were the mountains bordering the Turanian desert, where the soil and rivers contained hundreds upon thousands of golden nuggets as large as goose eggs. They immediately sought to take advantage of the potential trade and reign control over this land as their own, thus forming their own settlements and society outside of their Kushite predecessors.  

In the vast desert of eastern Kush, one would be forgiven for believing the ancient towers and stoic palisades of Xuthal to be nothing more than a mirage, a trick the mind plays on a body dying of thirst.  No evidence supports its existence beyond what one's own senses provide upon coming across the ominously silent civilization, and the location is marked by no map.  

Zembabwans are descended from the Kchaka, Rozwei, Mlembwei, and Vendwei tribes with Iranistani, Kusalan and Shemite blood flowing through their veins. And of course, Lemurian blood flows too – such is the worship of the water god Dagon. Zembabwans often build in the manner of the Lemurians, circular cities made of stone.