Clockwise from top right: Shahla, Malachi Dastagir, Jade Athanasi, Luther Arimanes, Philomena Cohilas, Ardath Dastagir.
Nykara is both a continent and a country in the southwestern Waltari Sea. There is no central government; rather, the country is made up of several major city-states, including Melekess, Lydell, Silvenia, and Vitharn, each with its own sovereignty. Numerous small towns and villages as well as nomadic tribes wandering the desert are considered to be among the Nykaran people, though such folk are generally lawless.
While much of the broader continent is inhospitable desert, mountains, and frozen tundra, some regions, particularly those close to the river Neva, are fertile enough to give rise to prosperous civilizations. Thus, a few of the tribes organized themselves into cities along the river during ancient times. The "desert royalty" who became the leaders of the cities continue to rule today through their descendants, particularly the Cohilas family.
Native Nykaran people are smaller in stature (described as "petite" and "lithe") with bronze skin and dark hair/eyes. Melekess, the most populous Nykaran city, is very ethnically diverse due to centuries of immigration from other lands. Twenty years after the fall of Zantium, it boasts the largest population of Zantines in the world.