Khaldean

The Khaldeans are the people occupying the southern region of Arad known as Khaldea. They are known for their cultural emphasis on pursuing knowledge and higher learning, and are credited with many advances in scientific knowledge and engineering. While a number of scattered nomadic tribes have inhabited the region now known as Khaldea since ancient times, it was the learned exiles from the neighboring empire of Nuum to the north that catalyzed the establishment of large permanent settlements and a greater unification of the Khaldeans as a people. The earliest of these exiles were cast out from Nuum for their refusal to concede the superiority of those with occult knowledge and talent over all else, and as a result there is something of a cultural taboo placed on all things occult in Khaldea.

The People

The people of Khaldea are typically split into three primary groups based on the regions they inhabit:

Alaan-Saba'atun: People of the Seven Cities

((Traditional naming scheme is in a roughly Arabic fashion.))

In the east and south are the Seven Cities, each an independent city-state. Here are found the most prestigious universities and libraries of the Khaldeans, bringing in travelers from all over the world. There is a strong sense of academic competition between the Seven Cities that is believed to help push advances in research and engineering that will ultimately benefit all Khaldeans. An annual inter-city festival is held to showcase the year's latest scientific discoveries and applications. Each city is governed by a singular ruler, and traditionally all seven of these individuals keep in touch with one another, meetings at least once per year to discuss matters that affect Khaldea as a whole. While all completely independent and usually on relatively good terms with each other, there have been times throughout Khaldean history where temporary coalitions have formed in order to coerce the ruler of another city into taking certain actions under threat of social, economic, or other consequences.

A keen mind is exceptionally valuable among these people, and many individuals finding themselves in lesser life circumstances will turn to seeking education in order to prove themselves and hopefully be noticed by someone of higher status willing to take them in as a student or apprentice. Many public libraries exist where such people can go to self-educate and be taught by free public teachers funded by the government and/or Temple of Vandin. With luck, they might even be chosen in a drawing of names to participate in the occasional public forums and debates in which they can prove their knowledge and intellect and thus be noticed.

Of all the Khaldean peoples, Alaan-Saba'atun are the most concerned with matters of wealth, social status, and political influence. Wealth translates well into power, and several of the Seven Cities - particularly those on the southern coast - are ruled by those with the greatest wealth. Colorful and opulent clothing with accentuating jewelry are common indicators of wealth among Alaan-Saba'atun. Grand banquets, parties, and general displays of excess are very common (it's said that there is a party every night in the Seven Cities), and much effort and resources are spent by individuals wishing to ensure they are invited to them as frequently as possible in order to firmly establish their social status. In contrast, it is not uncommon to find poor districts in any of the Seven Cities, though it is a popular tactic for the wealthy to show off their excessive riches by making large donations or by funding improvement efforts for such areas. The Cities are in fact known for their many programs and institutions dedicated to ensuring a basic level of human rights, education, dignity, and quality of life for all their citizens, though there remain arguments that some well-off individuals do all they can to keep the poor "in their place" in order to better differentiate themselves as a cut above the rest and to retain the social hierarchy.

(List of the Seven Cities coming soon(tm).)

Alaan-Ahu'din: People of the Border Country

((Traditional naming scheme is in a roughly Arabic fashion.))

In the west is the Border Country, home to relatively recently-founded settlements and towns that sprang up around the labor settlements and land grants provided by the wealthy of the Seven Cities to offer incentive for the workforce required to build and man the Quarantine Wall when the Great Plague broke out in Aetgard. Housing, infrastructure, and parcels of land were all provided to any families willing to travel to the untamed western region of Khaldea in order to ensure the Wall was both created and then manned from then on. This was considered an unbreakable promise that would persist indefinitely through generations: anyone attempting to leave the Border Country and return to the Seven Cities would be imprisoned, in order to ensure the Quarantine Wall was not abandoned.

The culture of the Border Country is quite different from that of the Seven Cities: The highly-communal people are more labor-focused and intent on maintaining the honor of fulfilling their roles within their familial working castes, from the street-cleaner to the physicker to the baker to the engineer. Much pride is taken in every citizen doing their part to ensure that the greater whole of Border Country society runs smoothly like a well-oiled machine. They have gone to great efforts to maintain a system of equal distribution of goods and quality of life for all members of their society rather than basing such things on social status and accrual of wealth. While much less emphasis is put on pursuing the sciences, engineering in particular is popular in the Border Country as innovations are made to achieve greater labor efficiency through applications of increasingly advanced techniques or machinery.

There have been occasional uprisings in the Border Country as certain groups have attempted to rally against the strict caste system or what is essentially their generations-long exile from the Seven Cities, but all attempts thus far have met with failure and the people have eventually fallen back into stride. Still, there always seems to be at least a minor underlying feeling of discontent in one group or another in the Border Country.

Alaan-Mahalech: The Wanderers

((Traditional naming scheme is in a roughly Hebrew fashion.))

Wandering the lands between the territories of the Seven Cities and the Border Country are Alaan-Mahalech. Rarely settling in any one place, they prefer to move about after the fashion of nomadic hunter-gatherers. There are however occasional permanent villages here and there, mostly near water sources in the more arid regions of northern and central Khaldea. Alaan-Mahalech are often thought to be the purest remnants of the tribes that inhabited the land before exiles from Nuum began intermingling and encouraging the building of larger permanent settlements in Khaldea, though it is of course difficult to say whether any family or bloodline is free of intermingling with the Nuum.

Preferring to be left to themselves and their own small tribes, Alaan-Mahalech suffer from a reputation among the people of the Seven Cities that portray the nomads as aggressively hostile. Those who have had actual interactions with them are likely to dispute these claims, however: While intent on their own independence and being free of meddling from the city-dwellers, Alaan-Mahalech are in fact quite hospitable and tend to enjoy entertaining visitors - so long as said visitors are respectful, of course. Of all the Khaldean peoples, Alaan-Mahalech are the most prone toward spiritualism or religion, often paying respects to various spirits local to the vast steppes and deserts of their home region, some of which seem to share significant similarities with the more widely-recognized prominent Immortals.

While relations are generally peaceful if somewhat distant between Alaan-Mahalech and other Khaldeans, there does appear to be some occasional resentment harbored toward those that strayed from the nomadic ways of the ancient tribes and instead turned to settling in one place and seeking built-up wealth and riches, or strange new schools of knowledge and technologies. No doubt a significant source of any resentment is that the non-traditionalist Nuum-mingling settlers settled much of the more hospitable land and pushed the nomadic tribes out to the more arid and less-hospitable regions of Khaldea.

History

The first Khaldeans were exiles or deserters from the Nuum. The one often regarded as the first and most influential was Tahaani, an Eneru (high city official) of Nuum who specialized in studying the sky and was highly regarded for her dedication to her craft and her keen mind. She noted the movements of the sun, moon, stars, and other more enigmatic celestial objects, and made many charts of the night sky. It is said that the Alamaar (city ruler) she served was interested in her studies and charts and tasked her to look for links and associations between these patterns and events going on in the world. The Alamaar sought means of divining or influencing the future through these patterns, but Tahaani didn't want to put aside her charting and work on equations in order to instead seek out tenuous links between star patterns and world events; she simply saw no feasible link between the two.

Tahaani entertained the request for some time out of duty, but after several arguments she eventually refused to waste any further time on what she considered a pointless and baseless request and a waste of her time and talents. This offended her Alamaar and she was demoted to a lower class so that she would no longer be able to refuse or argue with her superiors. Tahaani began going in secret to various peers and contemporaries of hers who had similar frustrations with their own scholarly pursuits constantly being derailed in the interest of seeking some tenuously-linked occult potential instead.

In time she had gathered the support of several of Nuum's greatest scientific minds behind her and they petitioned the Annu (leader of all Nuum) to be allowed to pursue their studies without expectation of results useful for occult applications. The Annu refused and banished them all with the intention of making an example of those who would be so arrogant as to question and defy the leaders of the Nuumic people. So Tahaani and her followers fled the Great Cities of Nuum and journeyed south to a place where they were welcomed by the nomadic tribes of the area and were taught the basics of survival in that land, Tahaani and her people sharing their own knowledge in return. A small settlement was eventually established as these two groups combined their knowledge and efforts to cultivate the land.

As news of this incident spread in Nuum, there were some who were stirred by the idea of a new settlement beyond the Nuumic Empire where they could freely follow their own pursuits without interference from their Nuumic rulers. Others relished the idea of a society where they would not be held back by a mere lack of occult interest or aptitude. Those of the slave class in particular were tempted by the idea of a place where they could live as free people. Thus many more made their way to the settlement now known as Sanammanet, including much-needed laborers and craftsmen who could begin work turning the modest village into a proper town.

The Nuumic leaders were not pleased to hear of those banished from their lands ending up settling what was looking to become a successful independent town, particularly one that was tempting away some of their own people and giving the slave class hope for freedom and reason to desert. Nuum's initial small tactical force sent to break up the settlement and bring back the escaped slaves was fought off thanks in large part to the protection of the tribe that had taken in the refugees. A larger force was then sent, only to be thwarted by their larger presence drawing the notice of the massive Brown Wyrms of the region. This apparently caused the Nuum to cut their losses and make no further immediate attempts to harass the people of Sanammanet.

The Nuum would not let such a thing stand forever, of course. The people of Sanammanet were able to get a foothold, however, and even when the settlement was eventually overtaken by the Nuum, the people were able to flee to other sites that had been established in preparation for just such an occurrence. Thus the Khaldeans were born, and through tenacity, cunning, help from local tribes not wanting the Nuumic Empire to move into their lands, and quite a bit of good fortune (often attributed to the assistance of Immortals who were embittered by the Nuum abandoning them), the Khaldeans have since thrived and become a great nation of their own despite their constant conflict with their Nuumic neighbors. There has been much conflict over the settlement of Sanammanet in the time since, the town changing hands between Nuum and Khaldean countless times.

Religion

When it comes to religion and the Immortals, the Khaldeans can be both spiritual and analytical in their approach. They see the Immortals as powerful beings in the world through which much can potentially be learned and observed. In fact, most temples double as specialized schools dedicated to learning about the knowledge and sciences associated with their particular Immortals. Even those few who are skeptical of the Immortals as literal entities tend to acknowledge that the idea of many of them can still serve well as a catalyst for encouraging people to seek further knowledge about how the world works.

Being exiles from and frequent enemies of Nuum, the Khaldeans may also perhaps be pushed to actively work against the Nuumic idea that most of the Immortals are no longer relevant. That there are a scattering of particularly devout groups of adherents to various Immortals in Khaldea may well be at least partially due to the Khaldeans wishing to support these Immortals just to make up for the damage they feel the Nuum are causing via their concentrated efforts to forget and lessen the Immortals' influence.

Vandin is especially popular among the Khaldeans thanks to his focus on gathering knowledge. His name and symbology can be found in some form or other in nearly all Khaldean libraries and places of learning. A large Khaldean society of Vandin's adherents is known simply as the Temple of Vandin, dedicated to gathering and organizing information in Khaldea's many libraries. The Temple also provides teachers and funding for public education to those who can't afford or don't have the opportunity to attend specialized schools. Some Temple members even embark on years-long journeys wandering the lands to search out and provide education for places and peoples that are lacking in such opportunities.

Iarel is quite popular for her specialized knowledge regarding human biology even if the Khaldeans shy away from her knowledge of the occult. Her name, symbols, and likeness are naturally found in places of healing and schools dedicated to the same. There is one particularly large temple dedicated to her that serves as the most highly-regarded place of healing in all Khaldea. It is not uncommon for Iarel to be credited for the Khaldeans surviving their initial conflicts with Nuum, believing that it was the Serpent Queen who stirred the Brown Wyrms into harassing the pursuing Nuumic forces.

Bathal is extremely popular among the Khaldeans as they seek every advantage against their enemies in Nuum, particularly when it comes to the constant border conflict with them in the Brownlands. Bathal is in fact often credited for the initial survival of the early exiles and deserters from Nuum who went on to settle what came to be known as Khaldea. Many tales speak of the Immortal granting Khaldean forces crucial insights to help them fight off pursuing Nuum who wished to stamp out deserters and detractors. There are even some stories that tell of Bathal possessing their commanders at times, or arriving in the form of a mysterious benefactor during war meetings to give advice, and even a legend or two of Bathal taking part in the battles himself as a soldier. A popular theory explaining why Bathal would do this is that the Nuum angered the Immortal Conqueror by willfully forgetting him and being nearly successful in erasing him from history. Of course, he would likely also enjoy the challenge of helping a lesser force stand against a greater one. Whatever his reasons (and regardless of how true these stories may or may not be), Bathal has earned the loyalty, gratitude, and veneration of the Khaldean people on a particularly personal level: Stories of his assistance in Khaldean conflict with Nuum have persisted from their earliest history to the present day, though earlier stories were not originally attributed to Bathal specifically but rather an "unknown hero" whose identity has more recently been generally agreed upon as Bathal.

Nereia is popular in the coastal cities and is often seen as having an influence on commerce and trade thanks to her association with fortune at sea for merchant vessels and the like. Those who don't specifically seek her personal favor or intervention may still see her as a means of acquiring greater knowledge of the workings of the seas, ocean currents, weather patterns, sailing techniques, and so on.

Naia enjoys a decent amount of attention due to her association with rivers and lakes, which are important to the Khaldeans as sources of freshwater when much of their land can be quite dry and arid. Like Nereia, there are also those who seek Naia's specialized knowledge about the natural sciences associated with her spheres of expertise, and there is even a college dedicated to her which specializes in discovering and learning how to best manage sources of freshwater. She is also popular among botanists and agriculturists as she as viewed as having an affinity for nature.

Hesutu enjoys some devotion due to his association with the turning of the seasons, the cycle of life and death, and diseases. He is popular among botanists and agriculturists alongside Naia, and physickers and students of medicine alongside Iarel.

Relations with other peoples of Arad

• Faewyr clans: Negligible, infrequent trade. Prejudices against Faewyr raiders attacking their trade ships, generally consider the Faewyr a primitive and barbaric people.
• Fasa tribes: Infrequent contact, generally peaceful and respectful of one another. Fasa and Alaan-Mahalech peoples in particular do get along well and see each other as something akin to cousins but don't often have reasons to visit each other.
• Ivial: Friendly, frequent trade. Share a common recurring enemy in the Nuum and have assisted each other in associated conflicts. Try not to get mixed up in Viali-Rhuidim prejudices and conflicts, occasionally act as unofficial mediators.
• Karnath: Friendly with the Alaan-Ahu'din people of the Border Country; the Hillfolk of Karnath appreciate the Quarantine Wall keeping other nations from meddling in Hillfolk affairs. Rumor has it the Hillfolk and Alaan-Ahu'din have arranged for ways to trade goods across the Wall.
• Lost Lands: Sympathetic to the plight of the Lost Lands, but dedicate effort and resources both to Quarantine Wall and Quarantine Blockade (sea side) out of practical caution. Mourn the loss of Aetgard which was a strong trade partner and helped establish the Common Language and usage of riln currency on a large scale in the known world.
• Nuum: Strong prejudices and resentment, constant armed conflict in the Brownlands border region between the two nations.
• Parr: Strong trade relations, frequent trade.
• Sirak Drauth: Infrequent trade. Generally consider the Giganti to be a primitive and barbaric people, but show occasional interest in learning about their architecture and metalworking techniques.
• Tatlhuecatn Empires: Negligible, occasional trade (as primary inter-Quarantine trade party). Distaste for human sacrifice practices, show occasional interest in learning about Huecatn medicine and resilience against local diseases.
• Tol Rhun: Peaceful and generally respectful, occasional trade. Don't have as much issue with their sorcerous brand of occultism as it differs significantly from the most common Nuumic occult practices. Try not to get mixed up in Viali-Rhuidim prejudices and conflicts, occasionally act as unofficial mediators.

Achievements

• Pioneers in clockwork, steam, and gas technologies.
• Developed the alloy process to produce riversteel.
• Invented the Common Language (initially a trade language).
• Went to great efforts to establish riln as a widely-utilized currency, causing it to be accepted in most nations of the known world.
• Invented both flintlock and pneumatic guns, which they hope to continue advancing in an effort to level the field against occultists.
• Provided the bulk of work on the Quarantine Wall and continue to maintain it to this day.
• Pioneering the concept of vaccination.