Nazumah

Nazumah is a free republic on the southern edge of the Shuriman continent, an oasis city whose waters are the only ones to be found across the surrounding desert. Its founders were mortals who refused to bow to the Ascended, the god-warriors who once ruled Shurima. Fleeing that tyranny, they traveled south, slaying fearsome beasts along the way, until they discovered a stretch of desert rich in rare treasures: roaring waterfalls, forested cliffs, and plentiful fauna. Far from the reach of the prideful Ascended, this is where Nazumah laid its roots. The city-state has held its independence for five centuries, and owes that endurance to more than strength of arms. Nazuman scholars study the monsters its hunters bring down, and materials reaped from formidable marks are worked into advanced weaponry and infrastructure. Its enemies come in two forms, ruthless predators of the savanna and imperialist warlords who covet the city's resources, and its people hold no allegiance to Azir or any other would-be ruler. That defiance was tested when Emperor Azir and the Magus Xerath ravaged the continent in a war for dominance over Shurima, both deploying monstrous abominations among their forces. One such creature, a colossal predator shaped like a lion and a cobra, wandered astray and terrorized the savanna near the city. The hunters K'Sante and Tope pledged to quell it, but its regenerating armor turned back every attack. After the failed hunts broke their partnership, K'Sante finally cornered the cobra-lion against a Nazuman waterfall, where the natural waters weakened its armor, and landed the fatal blow. K'Sante returned to celebration and is hailed today as the Pride of Nazumah. Following tradition, he donated the creature's body to the scholars for study, keeping slabs of its armor to refine his ntofo weapons. The city's future remains uncertain. Ascended forces have encroached farther south in recent months, and zealots of the Magus have ambushed its greatest hunter in the very savanna his ancestors tamed. Should Azir or Xerath march southward, Nazumah's protector stands ready.