Khinasi

"Khinasi" is what first Anuireans unwilling to show proper respect to a land foreign to their customs and with a foreign language, called the people and the land. Originally and still used by the Basarji, who have chosen not to embarass foreigners by always lecturing them about the correct name of their lands the name is "khir-aften-el-Arrasi" = Lands under the protection of el-Arrasi" in honor of the liberator of the Basarji people from the control of the Anuirean Empire.

The Southernmost portions of Cerilia are the lands of the Khinasi. These lands reach to the Harrowmarsh in the west, to the forests south of Brechtür in the north. to the south is the Baïr el-Mehare and to the east is the Sea of Dragons which separates Cerilia from Djapar, ancestral home of the Basarji. To the south of the Khinasi mainland is the Isle of Ghosts, and further still, the Sahirde el-Mahare (the Golden Archipelago) while to the south east are the Dragon Isles, both island chains are used by the few sailors who dare cross the ocean of Djapar.

The lands of the Khinasi are often referred to as the Cities of the Sun by Anuirean and Brecht scholars. The Anuireans called the southern coast the Saere Siendere, or Sun Coast.

The land splits, loosely, into the Plains states, the Zhaïnge Valley, the Drocandragh, the Island States and the Basarji Islands.

The Plains States are the realms most often thought of when an Anuirean or Brecht speaks of the Khinasi and include historic Ariya, birthplace of el-Arrasi, deeply religious Zikala, wind-swept Binsada, home to the nomads that still follow the ancient Basarji ways, the lands of the Sphinx - a terrible awnshegh, ambitious Aftane, corrupt Sendoure riven by guild conflict, and the desolate Tarvan Waste. Included here is the deadly Harrowmarsh of the Hydra. Not a plains state at all, nor even Khinasi, but grouped here because of its proximity to these realms.

The Zhaïnge Valley is named for the great Zhaïnge River, and holds embattled Mesire, the wastes home to the Basilisk, the gnolls of the Black Spear Tribes, ancient elven Innishiere, and the Vos controlled realm of Kozlovnyy.

This is a majestic region of forested mountains and high still lakes, vast areas of woodlands remain untouched by human hands. The Drocandragh is home to guild-dominated Djafra, independent Khourane and the conquered realm of Mour el-Sirad, the brutal orogs of the Iron Hand Tribes, the realm controlled by the narcissistic Lamia, militaristic Min Dhousai and the open elf realm of Rhuannach. Legendary Kheleb-izhil of the dwarves was said to be found somewhere in the Drochandragh but the dwarves have not been seen in centuries.

This area comprises a a collection of states on the islands south and east of the Khinasi lands and also include the isolated realms on the east coast that are almost unreachable by land. The Island States include the Isle of the Serpent, home to one of Cerilia's most powerful awnsheghlien, the war-torn realm of Vos dominated Pipryet, now more commonly named after its regent, the Magian, who is a deadly mage with few, perhaps no, equals in magical might. Suiriene the fair remained an Anuirean colony long after the empire withdrew from much of Khinasi and the culture is still a mixture of the two human tribes, Ghamoura by contrast never yielded to the empire and also scorns its fellow Khinasi states for their tolerance of magic, which the theocracy sees as impure. The tiny state of Mairada holds itself neutral from the dealings of the states around it, while the Maze of the Minotaur is only ever remembered due to the presence of the Minotaur himself. Last is Merasaf, an embattled realm pressed by orogs to the west and Vos to the North.

These islands are not truly part of Khinasi, although they are populated mainly by descendants of the Masetians and Basarji and so often appear Khinasi to the unaware. although they are rarely referred to collectively, some scholars call them the Basarji islands due to the predominant population.