Continent: Dominarchus
Terrain: Moonsnare Forest, Arvale Mts., Ithcali Forest, Thanos Forest, Downs, Grasslands, Meadowlands
Rivers: Himri River, Sasirni Lake, Banrintil Lake, Aggadu Lake
Special Classes & Kits:
The Rharihu Plains are located below Bahr al' Raml and above the Cazmorin Jungle. They are vast grasslands bounded by ocean and mountains. Throughout the Rharihu Plains are set great menhirs of carved stone that are used by the hadjjin to navigate.
For some distance past the desert the foothills are green but desolate, with short grass and few trees; these lands are called the Inhirin ("Downs"), and to the east and west the downs are used to pasture sheep and goats during the winter. To the west is the Gitukki (Moonsnare) Forest, and to the south can be seen the peaks of the Ebbikuk (Arvale) Mountains. Gitukki Forest is avoided by the hadjjin because they are home to tiny winged vampiric creatures called Ohrakini and Eshrikini. However, the forest is a rich source of wood for the hadjjin, and its edges are entered to fell wood for fences and lodges. Narrow streams run drom the Indigo and Coronach ranges through the Inhirin and down into the Nihrihu, providing water for animals and travelers, although little more than short bushes grows along these trickles.
As the land flattens, about three day's ride south, the grass grows longer; from the edge of the Inhirin to the border marked by the beginning of the Ebikkuk foothills, the land is known as the Nihrihu ("Grasslands"). The grasslands are broken here and there by the Indigo and Coronach runoff streams, but these streams are shallow and usually dry up by midsummer, leaving the grasslands dry and sucseptible to wildfire. Toward the east, about three days from the banks of the ocean, the stream waters grow brackish. The grasslands are usually travelled during the spring when there is rain to feed the streams and keep the grass damp; in summer and fall they are avoided for fear of lighting them with a stray campfire spark, and in winter they are travelled through to the Inhirin to pasture herd animals.
The Ebbikuk Mountains are a dark stone range that rises steeply from the plains, not as high as the Icewind Mountains, but still jagged and unfriendly. They have deciduous forests along their base, but the timberline is comparatively low. These mountains are home to carnivorous Sakistini, flying leonine beasts that rais the lower lands. These creatures dwell in shallow caverns and canyons; the range has no naturally formed deep cavern complex. The highest peak, in the middle of the Ebbikuk range, is known as Rakru, and in the middle of this peak is a huge iron door covered with runes and spikes that protected the kevalin Rake before the Domination War. Rake was destroyed, but his laboratory remains closed. (See Campaign: The Shattering Wars notes under the Site Index, especially Arnim's Story of the Cataclysm.)
Past the Ebbikuk foothills the land is hilly along the mountains and flattens in a slow decline to the eastern banks of the Epadunima Ocean. These are the summer lands, where the hadjjin spend most of their time hunting or farming; they are warm and pleasant, as if to spite the dangerous-looking mountains that loom over them in the west. From winter to early spring the peaks of the Ebbikuk mountains are white with snow; during the summer the snow melts to feed the meadows. From the end of the Nihrihu to the Thankakki (Thanos) Forest the plains are called Rhanri ("Meadowlands"). The Rhanri are the plains proper, rich with meadowgrasses and broken by streams and lakes. These meadows are rich blue-green, and dotted with wildflowers and small copses of trees. The most prominent river in the Rhanri runs from the Ebbikuk mountains to the ocean, forming three small lakes in its journey; this is the Himri river, and forms a major landmark for the hadjjin. During late spring and early summer it floods, and year-round it is a reliable source of water. Most tarken clans spend at least a month or two skirting its edge, and an annual trade and social gathering, the Banrin, is held on the shores of Himri's second and largest lake, Banrintil.
The climate of the Rharihu plains is pleasant, somewhat dry in the northern Inhirin and Nihrihu, but subject to warm spring and late fall rains in the Rhanri. Along the ocean shores the weather is somewhat cooler, growing warmer as one travels inland. The peaks of the Ebbikuk mountains become quite cold in the winter, but thaw out by midsummer with no year-round snows. The strangest weather phenomenon in the Rharihu Plains is "Luganim's Wind," a magical wind that turns the grass white and chills the air. When the wind blows, it is said, the dead can speak with the living.
The most striking feature of the Rharihu Plains is the long, blue-green grass that grows in the Nhirihu and Rhanri. The grass of the Inhirin is a shorter, tougher variety that requires less water, thick enough to provide good pasture for herd animals but covering land unconducive to farming. However, during the summer the bluegrass of Nihrihu and Rhanri can grow to a height of six feet, undulating in the wind like ocean waves covering vast, empty plains. In the Nihrihu this grass dries by midsummer, turning yellow, brittle and sharp; if it is not mowed or fed to herd animals, or burned by the wildfires that periodically sweep this area, it dries up and mats down to form a rich topsoil for the land. In the Rhanri the grass lives until midwinter, then yellows and falls to enrich the land.
There are few trees in the Rharihu Plains outside of the large forests that skirt the mountain ranges. Thee forests are all deciduous, as are those copses of trees that grow along streams and rivers in the plains proper. The trees are predominantly oak, hickory and beech, although there are also a number of wild apple trees.
The hadjjin do not mine, but a casual inspection reveals potential for rich iron ore deposits in the Ebbikuk mountains.
The hadjjin in the Rharihu Plains share the plains with the Ehvakkini, an intelligent species of dun-colored dog with limited teleportation ability. The hadjjin are divided into clans with strict sexual divisions, men performing as hunters and warriors, and women as clerics and mages. Only castrated men are allowed to learn some magical skills, and they are watched jealously by the women who teach them. Rogue male spellcasters are exiled. Interestingly, the division is less strict with regard to women doing men's work; many women have fought to protect their children, and are never condemned for fighting or hunting as long as such acts are performed for the collective good of the clan and they do not shirk their female duties. Despite the division of labor, the sexes treat each other equally, as experts in their respective fields.
Each clan has a number of titles bestowed upon skilled members, and these members have the strongest voices in clan decisions. For men, there are Hunter, Warrior, Sire and Speaker. For women, Sorceress, Priestess, Dam and Crafter. Clans might also bestow special titles on noted individuals, such as skilled diplomats or musicians. These titles are used in greetings and formal address.
Rharihu hadjjin do not usually marry, although they may have favored partners and there is a lifemating ritual that is similar to other races' marriage; the difference is that there is no promise of sexual fidelity between the lifemates. Sex is casual, but the crime of rape is considered a grave offense and offenders are immediately put to death by the clan. Children are very valuable to the clans, and fiercely protected by both men and women. Although children usually know their parents, they are raised collectively by the clan.
Hadjjin of the Rharihu Plains have a strong sense of personal honor, but little sense of station or rank; even those clans that take slaves do not consider the slaves to be "lower" class, and slaves can gain a great deal of personal honor by their behavior. The emphasis on personal honor means these hadjjin need few laws and tend to abide by the spirit rather than the letter of an agreement. It also means they make poor liars and criminals, and tend to be naive when dealing with treacherous individuals. These people also have little concern for personal material wealth, and borrow and lend freely among themselves.
Slaves are taken in warfare and sometimes in raids. Those that are taken in battle are commonly ransomed back to their clans or released with their hair shorn; as a rule, slaves are status symbols, treated respectfully and released after a month or two. Sometimes a slave may be invited to join a clan, especially if they are brave warriors are beautiful or powerful women. To kill a slave is both shameful and shocking; a slave-killer is often exiled from a clan or put to death. There are rumors that the Shisi clan kills its slaves in ritual sacrifices, but they have not been proven. Being held as a slave is a mild stigma that can be lived down by later acts of bravery or skill.
The women tend to the dead, using a secret process to mummify the corpse within a time period of two days. Usually this secret is known only to two or three women in the clan, who pass the secret along to their female heirs. After the mummification process, the corpse is then wrapped in furs and carried to the closest Evhalin, or burial place. The hadjjin of the Rharihu Plains bury their dead by exposing them to the elements in sacred, forbidden places, elevating the corpses on six-foot-high platforms to keep predators away and allow the spirits to return to the winds. When there are no women around, or if there is not enough time for this ceremony, the hadjjin will try to hide the body away from predators or, in desperate times, burn the bodies and hope the wind will take the ashes.
The clans have low technology but a rich oral heritage through which they have made great advances in philosophy, theoretical mathematics and physics, and magical and musical theory. The Rharihu hadjjin accumulate little material wealth, living nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyles, and wear little in the way of clothing. However, they love personal ornamentation, including coloring or tattooing their flesh.
Rharihu hadjjin seldom carry out interclan warfare, although there may be an occasional battle or raid over an insult or to gain status-slaves. Generally, the clans avoid each other except to trade or gather for festivals. Most political manuevering is carried out within the clan itself, predominantly among the men who seek higher status.
There are about 30 clans, although the number is constantly in flux; large clans break off into smaller ones, small clans join larger ones. Several clans have been fairly stable, however. The Ingal are a warlike clan whose members pluck out their left eyes at adolescence, replacing them with a disk of polished bone to prove their ferocity. This clan lives semi-permanently in the inhospitable Ithcali forest, although it travels south for gatherings or battles. The Dirraku are a full nomadic clan that erects and maintains the 27 major menhirs and the hundreds of lesser menhirs that dot the plains. Their slaves are set to work restoring damaged menhirs. The Shisi are a group dominated by priestesses and sorceresses who call demons to them to do their bidding; this clan dwells in the foothills of the Ebbikuk mountains in the Nihirhu. It is said this clan has permanent stone buildings hidden at the base of the mountains. The Nimristi is the largest clan, with two hundred members, and dwells most of the year in the Rhanri, where it has taken on the responsibility of organizing the annual banrin.
Crimes among the hadjjin are rare but when they occur the punishment can be harsh. For lesser crimes, the criminal may simply have to make a public confession and apology, carry out a specific task or set of tasks to make amends, or work at a demeaning task for a period of time. Greater crimes may be punished by branding or shearing off the offender's body hair. The worst crimes are punished by exile or death. Word of offenses tends to travel from clan to clan through traders or visitors, so criminals are often easily recognized and refused permission to stay with the new clan. A criminal can "erase" crimes over time, usually by acting honorably and regaining others' respect, sometimes by undertaking especially difficult or perilous endeavours that will aid the clans. Repeat offenders are viewed with impatience and often punished more harshly than necessary after the third of fourth offense.
When the clans must collectively settle some matter such as punishment or transfer of one member to another clan, there are two means of going about it. If the problem is confined to one clan, the decision will be made by the titled members of the clan, who may or may not call for a general vote. If the problem affects several clans, they must gather together and confer in a special conclave. If no decision can be reached, the problem is usually settled by a fight between the clans' champions. The clan whose champion wins is allowed to resolve the problem. It is here that most inter-clan strife breaks out.
There is no means of patrolling the plains and few roads, so travellers must fend for themselves. Usually travellers are allowed to spend a night or two with whatever clan they encounter in their journey, but there is no obligation on the part of a clan to shelter a stranger.
