Zagis

Oldest kingdom in Alorea, and possibly the world. Home of the Zagis Institute of Magical Sciences, the most advanced magical organization in the Nexus. The bulk of the kingdom’s territory is horribly corrupted as a result of thousands of years of experimentation by the ZIMS.

City of Zagis
Since most of the territory in Zagis is far too magically corrupted to be inhabitable the entire kingdom’s population is confined to a single sprawling city made up of several districts. The kingdom’s leader is King Eldwin Bralani, though many outsiders assume it is The Magister, the enigmatic head of the ZIMS.

The city is located on a steep cliff surrounded by violent rapids and the Twisted Woods, with a large portion of the city being situated on an actual overhang. Zagis has a mostly elven population, and even those not connected to the ZIMS typically possess more of a magical aptitude than the average commoner.

The ZIMS depends on the surrounding city for food and living supplies so they are very quick to help with any issues the city might encounter, often turning it into a practical exam for their students.

Twisted Woods
Years of magical experimentation have corrupted the surrounding lands to an extremely dangerous degree. The lands, flora, fauna, and even physical laws are constantly shifting and mutating. An area can be a desert plagued by meat eating ice cubes one week and a floating lake housing a pod of glowing whale skeletons the next. Mapping the area is thought to be impossible and traversing through it is a notoriously dangerous task, due to both the bizarre obstacles within the woods and the residual corruption that permeates it.

Zagic Mutants (they’re gross Simic Hybrids)
Originally only defined as humanoids who had their body changed by spending too much time in the Twisted Woods, the meaning has since expanded to encompass anything that has been affected by magical corruption. Oftentimes this corruption results in twisted appendages sprouting from the body, or additional sensory organs such as eyes or attanae. Zagic Mutants typically die early as a result of the corruption.

Rumored Tribes
Many outsiders who venture into the Twisted Woods claim to have encountered fantastical tribes. There are reports of explorers being given a life saving drink of water by women with technicolor skin and hair, or being taught which of the absurd plants within the woods are safe to eat by a clan of slimy lizard-like people with fleshy feathers sprouting from their heads. Many books have been written about such encounters but none have been verified. Most investigations into such reports concluded it was corruption-induced delirium.

Culture
Zagic citizens tend to live by the principles of wizardry even if they aren't magicians or connected to the ZIMS. For example a Zagic farmer might experiment with different mixtures of chicken feed every year then record the results for her own personal benefit.

Worship of the Philomath, the Kippelian god of knowledge and wizardry, began in Zagis and they are the patron deity of the kingdom.

General education is a much bigger priority in Zagis than in most cultures and almost every child attends school from age 7-16 where they learn basic math, history, science, and magical principles.

As a society that values education, the ZIMS is viewed with the kind of respect that is usually reserved for nobility. The department heads at ZIMS are akin to princes and The Magister revered like a king, much to the chagrin of King Eldwin. Zagic children dream of becoming ZIMS graduates rather than knights or adventurers, and many commoners often work on their magical abilities in their spare time in the hopes of one day being accepted.

Atrocity Schmocity
Zagis practices some kinds of magics and experiments that are taboo throughout the rest of Kippel. They are the Kingdom that's most accepting of Tieflings and Yugoloths, which is unsurprising considering they were the ones who brought the Yugoloths to Kippel in the first place. It is common to see Yugoloths guarding the ZIMS and wealthier households. They also have a long history of necromancy, and ZIMS even has a dedicated department for it. Though they are likely more disgusted by liches than any other province in the country, which seems like a contradiction to many outsiders.

Artificer Antagonists
[TO-DO]

Origin
The Kingdom of Zagis was founded by elven sorcerers and is the earliest known kingdom on the continent. Some sorcerers began studying the nature of their magic, experimenting with it, and teaching their findings to each other. These became the first wizards. A while after this the Magister appeared and founded ZIMS, and gradually the people shifted away from sorcery and towards wizardry.

Yamen Border Dispute
The ZIMS drastically increased the practice of magical experimentation and the people of Zagis soon realized the dangers of magical corruption. They began performing their experiments far away from any Zagian settlements. The wizards had to delve deeper and deeper into the woods to find uncorrupted land, eventually the magic corruption reached the border of the Yamen kingdom. The Yamish people did not trust the Magister or the wizards and were very protective of their lands. The conflict was close to escalating to an all out war but the two nations managed to reach a compromise, the wizards agreed to keep their experiments far enough behind the border that no corruption would spread to Yamish soil. As a result of this agreement the wizards were forced to experiment on land that was already corrupted, hundreds of years of this formed the Twisted Woods as they are now.

War of Unification
Zagis' involvement in the War of Unification was crucial to the formation of Kippel. Had they not allied with Koble and agreed to help them summon Yugoloths it is unlikely Koble would have been able to overcome the Warforged defending Yamen and Tekk.

Zagis greatly benefitted from this alliance. Koble rewarded them generously for summoning the Yugoloths. They also negotiated High Lord Kip into making necromancy legal in the newly formed empire.