Nyissa

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Nyissa is the smallest of the countries in the West of David Eddings book series The Belgariad which is followed by The Malloreon. Nyissa is named after its god Issa, who is the snake-god. As a result of their God's totem animal, snakes and deeply respected and admired for their beauty in Nyssia, and they are common pets there. The country is ruled by the priestess Salmissra, who is named after the first priestess of Nyissa and love of Issa. At first all the Salmissras were chosen to look exactly like the original, and also given medicines to slow the visible aging process. This was until Polgara turned the latest Salmissra into an immortal snake, who rules them to the end of the series and beyond. Nyissa is a country located in the swamp and jungles of the southeast of the West, and is largely uninhabited except for its capital Sthiss Tor. Its people have a reputation for being addicted to drugs and similar substances, and they also are masters of poison.

As reviewed the Jungles of Nyissa are not uninhabited, the people exist in very small communities. As seen in the Rivan Codex, or in the early books of the series the People of Nyissa suffered a near Genocide following their Queens assassination of King Gorek. Salmissra ordered the people to leave their cities and return to the jungle following the Marag invasion, making the Alorn destruction of the nation ineffective, as many Nyissans escaped. Currently Sthiss Tor is the only known city.