Author's Notes
Zarhalem
Arabian nights is the obvious inspiration, but also the tag line of the board game Junta: "A very rich, very poor banana republic". Of course, there is also a bit of the French comic Iznogoud. Actually, any small, rich nation ruled by a very powerful dictator could work as inspiration.
Zarhalem is a very rich nation, for the rich. For the rest, it's a horror. Slaves do the work, there are constant intrigue for power, and the Khalif ruthlessly strikes down anything he percieves a threat to his power or the flow of silver and slaves.