Expansion and Dissent
At first, Harun was content to rule Umbrikand. By day he resided over the courts
and his judgements became a new code of law. By night, he wrote further volumes
of his holy writings, many of which were dictated by the Daeva. Amongst these was
the Jash’ra which translates into the "Reasons and Conduct of War". It was a treatise
on "just war" and the means by which it should be carried out. Three years later,
after the book had properly circulated amongst the desert tribes, he formed his
army and took the neighbouring city of Tehliq in a lightning raid. The petty princes
of the other cities were aghast but thought themselves safe. They reasoned that
Harun would bide his time before striking again. Yet less than a month later, the
Caliph's army overran Ytriscus, traveling by secret routes over the desert. In the
cities that fell before him, Harun ousted those he despised and publicly executed
the old rulers. He particularly hated elves, sorcerers, and Djinn and showed them
no mercy wherever he found them. With each conquest, he freed thousands of slaves,
who grew to love him and adopt his new faith. He swept away all Orc tribes that
dared oppose him and hunted Djinn clans mercilessly. When faced with one of the
wild human tribes, he allowed them the chance to join his Caliphate and serve him.
As his fame and power grew, fewer and fewer tribes refused such offers. When his
desire for further conquest left him, Harun chose nephews he trusted and gave them
command of parts of his desert empire. He then returned to Umbrikand, now the bustling
capital of a vast desert realm, to live out the last of his years. There he spent
his time writing the rest of the books of his faith and laying down the principles
by which the Caliphate would be run.
After Harun's death, the Caliphate splintered into over a dozen separate kingdoms.
It was never again unified under a single ruler. Today, the Umbrikand Caliphate
controls many of the Caliphate kingdoms in the Seyerla. However, the Caliphate is
vast, and in Harun’s words, it would be madness to try and rule it all. It is divided
among dozens of Caliphs and Sultans, many of whom strongly oppose the Umbrikand
Caliphate. Among the furthest reaches are separatist sects who believe that many
of Harun's later books were influenced by his Djinn concubines. Others reject the
faith entirely believing the Daeva to have been a demon, pointing to the fact that
she appeared to Harun only a few years after the demons spilled onto this world
from the doomed Elven city of Tier-Eldral. These beliefs are regarded by the Umbrikand
Caliphate as blasphemy. Over the years, many wars have been fought between the Caliphate
kingdoms over such ideas.
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