دارجلا Al-Jarad

The land of Al-Jarad fea­tures vast swamps, tow­er­ing moun­tains, and mys­te­ri­ous caves. To the east, the ter­rain trans­forms into a dry desert with impos­ing pyra­mids. The land is known for its ancient tem­ples, sacred tombs, and deep con­nec­tions to Egypt­ian deities such as Ra and Osiris.

• What does the coun­try look like?
  The coun­try has sandy areas but also many trop­i­cal areas. There are many moun­tains, and the plants are larg­er than nor­mal, as they used to be in the days of the dinosaurs in movies and books.

• Which coun­try or coun­tries is this near?
  Al-Jarad is an island near Varné (the land of the elves).

• How many races live in this coun­try?
  The races that rule the coun­try are: Spi­der­folk, Thri-kreen, Vespoids

  The races who live in the coun­try are: Camelfolk, Tlin­cal­li, Hiss­folk (and oth­er large insects, but they are not races)

• What are the cul­ture and tra­di­tions?
  The cul­ture is based on Egypt­ian cul­ture, so think of Pharaoh, pyra­mids, and dai­ly rit­u­als to hon­or the gods!

  Tra­di­tions are:
  Hos­pi­tal­i­ty, such as offer­ing and accept­ing tea, and respect­ing reli­gious norms, espe­cial­ly dur­ing prayer. Also, the dress code, which requires mod­est cloth­ing (par­tic­u­lar­ly cov­er­ing the shoul­ders and knees, and for women, a hijab in reli­gious places) and respect­ful use of the right hand (which is con­sid­ered “pure”).

• What is the tra­di­tion­al dress­code?
  The tra­di­tion­al dress­code of Al-Jarad con­sists of light, loose cloth­ing made of linen, because it’s hot there. Men usu­al­ly wear a loin­cloth or an apron that reached to the knee or calf, while women often wear long robes. Pharaohs have spe­cial cloth­ing, such as a hip apron dec­o­rat­ed with roy­al sym­bols and a dou­ble crown.

  How many cities are there?

  There are four cities linked to the race.

  • Spi­der­folk live in the sandy areas.
  • Bears live in the state of Shet-Arach­na.
  • The Thri-kreen do not have cities because they live more in the forests of Ant-top­ia or in the sandy area of For­mi-Ra.
  • Vespoids live more in the trop­i­cal area of the coun­try of Per-Bit.

• What reli­gion pre­vails in the coun­try?
  The reli­gion of Al-Jarad is a com­plex poly­the­is­tic sys­tem with many gods, who have both human and ani­mal char­ac­ter­is­tics, and a strong focus on the cos­mic order & the after­life.

  The pharaoh is seen as the embod­i­ment of the god Horus on earth, who is respon­si­ble for main­tain­ing this order.

  Reli­gion and mag­ic are deeply inter­twined, and the Egyp­tians believe in an after­life in which the heart is weighed.

• What is the sym­bol of the coun­try?
  Pyra­mids and tem­ples and also the Sphinx, which has an insect head.
  
  
• How do crea­tures trav­el in this coun­try?
  By boat and camel or large insects such as giant bee­tles.