Shem

• Population: 6,300,000
• Capital: Asgalun (pop. 410,000)
• Ruler: King Akhirom (Pelishtia) (? - ?)
• Major cities: Akhlat, Anakia, Akkaria, Nippr, Eruk, Shumir, Sabatea, Ataku
• Resources: Cattle, sheep, wine, grapes, fruit, grain, copper, gold
• Imports: Mirrors, silks, armor, weapons 
• Historical Equivalent: Assyria 
• Religion: Ishtar, Pteor, Bel, Nergal, Set, Ashtoreth

A large and populous southern kingdom bounded on the west by the Western Ocean, on the east by the Eastern Desert, on the south by Stygia, and on the north by Argos, Koth and Khoraja.

Western Shem is fertile meadowland with cities and city-states in the hills. The land becomes more and more arid as one travels the caravan routes eastward; but busy trade-centers continue to abound. There is  constant warfare between the meadow cities and those of the desert.

Anciently the lands of Shem were part of the Old Stygian Empire (as of circa -3800), although only in the loosest sense. Nomadic savages of the eastern borders of Shem-Stygia, called the Sons of Shem, slowly attained a higher level of culture through contact with the Stygians.   The region was then subjected to Koth (circa -2100), but the slow coalescence of the Shemite nomads brought about hard-fought independance - largely due to the founding of a permanent warrior-clan, the Asshuri - and the founding of the city states of western Shem followed.

The people remain primarily pastoralist nomads, raising cattle in the lush meadows and sheep in the marginal areas. The land is however also suited to specialized agriculture -- such as the growing of wine-grapes and other fruits -- as well as to the growing of grain. This, along with important mines of copper and gold, ensured that the urban centres flourished.  The vigor and intelligence of the Shemites led them to prosper in commercial areas such as textile production and small manufactures.