History

World Weep Opening History

The tale of Mzali is the tale of its ruler. Mzali was ruled by a Theocratic God-King named Walkena, who perpetuated his rule as a mummy by reconstituting his body within the depths of his ancestral tomb. Mzali was one of the few leaders of nations who joined the Heroes’ March, and he was lost to the Worldweep upon its tragic failure. Walkena spirit managed to escape the claim of the World Weep, but the God-King’s return would not be immediate, leading to rumors that he had been lost. In his absence, the Bright Lions group, a group of democratic inclined rebels against the monarchy, temporarily stepped up to help prop up a civilian council for the suddenly leaderless empire. It would prove insufficient to stave off the Alchemist’s wrath. 

Age of Collapse History — Era of the Walking Deathless

Oral accounts hold that the God-King Walkena remanifested months after the Heroes’ March with a confluence of void energy that ripped through the city streets. Instead of appearing to his people in his traditional mummified form, Walkena appeared as a ghost who walked in the sunlight to declare the reassumption of his rule. Whatever he might have achieved shall remain unknown, as the Alchemist’s bombardment began that very night and left Mzali as nothing more than smoking ruins. The former God-King was left alone, bound to the ruins of the city in the wake of Mathesis's destruction with the surviving populations of her attack fleeing before any defenses could be raised. 

Age of Renewal History

Throughout the centuries, several sun-based cults have started from the ruins of haunted Mzali, all claiming a mission to recreate the lost empire, but until the victory over the World Weep following the second Heroes’ March, none had made much progress. Now, a new sun cult has sprouted from the ruins of Mzali city, and this suncult has grown in power and size unlike any before in the previous age. The city has slowly but surely been cleaned up, and a small settlement exists next to the behemoth tombs and temples that were repaired first. Although the wandering shade of its former God King has yet to be conclusively found, rumors and stories tell that he still haunts the streets in the quiet of the night, separate from the Child-God who wears his old crown and claims his legacy.  

Government

Whispers say that Walkena, the Ghost Child-God, rules as he once did, as the God-King of the small Mzali township. Only those who swear several oaths and undergo binding rituals to the suncult are actually allowed entrance to the settlement, with the overaching economy held entirely self-sufficiently, and several slowing the rate of expansion that the city could otherwise be going through, like its neighbors.

Points of Interest

• The settlement of New Mzali is a small township with few points of interest outside of the towering restored temples of Old Mzali. The town offers a few modest accommodations, like a tavern, but the township is entirely barred to outsiders, so rumors of what the town actually has are varied. The locals spotted outside the township on their various missions refuse to talk about the township, even at the point of interrogation or threatened death, almost as if they were magically bound not to. 
• Other points of interest are the Pasunago River and slivers of the Screaming Jungle and the tracts of the Mwgani Desert. These areas are dangerous to travelers and traders of other nations, as the patrolling bands of Mzali scouts are rather aggressive in driving off others from what they consider their own territory. 

Organizations Within

• The unknown Sun Cult is by and large the most prominent and possibly only organization within Mzali at the present year. This Suncult is obviously led by the ghost that considers himself Walkena.

Major Conflicts

• New Mzali has undergone numerous skirmishes with other nation forces, particularly those of Vidrian, the Shackles, and Kibwe, as they have expanded their scouting patrols to disrupt trading routes the other nations utilize. While the scouting forces are usually defeated by experienced guards, no force has ever survived directly assaulting the city of New Mzali, which many nations have unofficially declared a death zone for traveling purposes. 

Events in the Age of Renewal

• The expansions of the New Mzali empire are slow but noticeable in how they change the trading routes of surrounding nations. Small slivers of land get engulfed by the patrolling routes of the Mzali scouts. 

Other notable changes from the past Golarion

The general population and characteristics of inhabitants mirror the past Golarion.