Mount Kera
"The history of the Kerathi is one of tragedy and inspiration. It is inspiring because it shows us how even the most obstinate can become valued members of the whole. It is tragic because all the worst of the tale could have been avoided, if only we had all known the gravity of our misunderstandings." -Trace Wisteria, Scholar of the Grove Magnolia.
The Ethno-Geography[edit]
Today it would be difficult to tell the historical significance of this part of Arlandrian territory. With the use of strong Elementalism, the once brutal slopes of Kera have been pacified, and life has thoroughly flourished within the nourishing volcanic soil. Yet it was not so long ago that the great Grove Magnolia did not rest nestled in the rolling foothills, nor then did the Lake of Moonlight in the center of the caldera plunge its enchanted waters into the mountain's heart. And while one outside Arlandria would expect the architect of these great works to be a celebrated hero, their legacy is unsung and in some camps their name is greatly reviled.
Because the mountain was not meant to be this way. It was once a place of terrifying extremes. Ash-storms wracked the land from the nearest places to the far horizon. To them, it was home. The Ashlands of Kera were fertile, in a certain brutal way. They were home to yam farms, red rice paddies that grew only in dry heat, and pastures of one-horned Indrik-Beetles and Geodeon Scuttlers, whose crystal hides and chitinous shells were traded to foreigners for the green growth of foreign lands. The ashes of the ancestral dead were spread in the village commons, and their bones (all save the first knucklebone, which was kept for remembrance) were cast into the caldera to see them off into the Grey Beyond.
Their life rested in this place. Their past. Their culture. Their very bodies were the grey of ashfall, and their eyes were the red of flame. All the Aurien of Kera knew was ash. They would have it no other way.
The Forest and The Grove[edit]
"The history of Hedera has been one of great joy and life. Where they walk, the ground blooms. When they settle in wastelands, they become green. Who could deny such a paramount gift as the sacrifice of one life for the creation of countless more?"
-Juna, Tree-Minder Aspriant
The arrival of the Arlandrians was only a matter of time. Mount Kera today is within the central periphery of the Arlandrian protectorate. Not close to the capitol, but well within the reach of fourth-generation groves. While the first moment of contact is difficult to discern, as the Kerathi were adept at trading beyond their small ash-drenched realm, it is known that a small village was constructed in the region within 20 years of the arrival of the first Hedera. Magnolia Grace and Magnolia Fervor were a rare breed: Hedera formed at the same time from a conjoined fruit. Heralded as a miracle, their skill in Elementalism and Druidry were beyond compare in their grove. In time, Grace took on a female mien and Fervor a male, though one often sees art of the era (including the famous Grove Tryptic commemorating Fervor's later victory over the Kerathi) portraying them as a single being with two faces. The spiritual implications can be left up to the reader, but the modern consensus is that, while rare, these paired births don't result in shared consciousness.
What is known for certain is that the early town thrived under their leadership. The twins were a perfect pair, with Fervor's drive balanced by Grace's cautious wisdom. In time the population in the outlying settlement, which occupied a valley in the mountain's foothills, grew to exceed even the largest Ashland camp. But such things were not important to the Kerathi, for their religion understood an essential truth about the mountain: all things are temporary. The outsiders did not. Though their envoys were clear that the village would one day have to be abandoned, such things are hard to explain across cultures. To the Kerathi the phrase "you must abandon your village" is not a threat, but a statement. To Magnolia it was the muttering of xenophobic Aurien tribals. As the years drew on, tensions mounted as the tribesmen's words became more vehement. More frustrated.
One can almost understand the difficulty in explaining something beyond the scope of the consensus. Especially when it seemed to involve uprooting their entire livelihood and departing the frontier for good.
The War of Misunderstanding[edit]
"We lost our land, and the ash of our forefathers. The Heart of the Mountain lies cold and dead beneath the heaped bones of our slain, and yet we walk the path of ashes even now. Unrepentant. So you want us to pay the price of passage, Highwayman? Alright. Come and take it."
-Ashkhan Valikh, in Ashkhan, Canto III, by Kalen Veln
There are cycles in nature and in life. Rain and drought, farm and fallow, life and death. So too does the earth have a cycle. Vulcanism ravages the land, and fertile soil is spread by rains of ash. Druids are aware of this cycle, but there is debate as to whether it should be welcomed or curtailed. Is the destruction positive or negative? When Kera erupted, the finger-valleys of the foothills turned into races for ash to careen down into the lowlands. Nothing that had not moved to high ground survived. According to the accounts of survivors, Magnolia Grace wielded Druidry to form the trees of the budding grove into a tunnel, allowing many of the villagers to escape. When they gathered to take stock of themselves she was not among them. Later investigation showed that she had become rooted due to exertion, and her body had burned to charcoal along with the rest of the grove.
There is no greater sacrilege to the Arlandrians than the destruction of a Hedera. There is no more terrible loss than the loss of a twin. To Fervor, this was an act of war. Grace had soothed him about the foreigners' gaffes, but to him it seemed that their advice had been a threat. They had not left Kerathi lands, and so the ash had been called down upon them. He had long studied their magic, watched them channel magma and ashfall. He knew in his heart that they were capable not only of great magic upon the Heart of the Mountain, a mythical object they claimed to worship, but also that they were capable of great iniquity.
As the saying goes, "Haste is the mother of all tragedy." Fervor sent word to the nearest garrisons, telling them only that a Hedera had been burned by magic. Within weeks the army he needed was marching into the Ashlands. What followed was a war as brutal as it was short. Druidry wrought terrible casualties on both sides, but the Kerathi were few in number and their settlements were the most defended places under their control. The mountain's peak was not. Fervor and a cadre of his Elementalists wrought a spell of vast consequence there in the caldera. With his mastery of Elementalism he called a great rainstorm, sending mystic waters to fill the caldera as his cadre forced the magma back into the earth. When they were finished, Kera was silent. From the caldera at its peak to the bowels of the earth, mana-drenched water soaked into the volcanic rock. The entire peak had been enchanted to suppress its volcanism permanently. A punishment for his loss.
It was only a short time later that the Arlandrian forces realized what had transpired. The commanders of the invading force called off their attack and regrouped, unsure of how to proceed. They sent to the regional Seers, then to the Capitol. By the time a decision was reached, there was little that could be done. Fervor had seen to it that his revenge was complete. Not only had he quelled the volcano, but he had rooted himself in the spot where their village had been buried. Unwilling to uproot or destroy his new grove, the Arlandrian forces quickly settled a peace with the Kerathi in the way they often did, but with one concession. The remainder could live under Arlandrian protection and be integrated, as any newly-conquered people, or they could maintain their culture and wander among other volcanic slopes. Exile by another name, perhaps, but with a protected status when passing through Arlandria. The latter choice was seen as a consolation for what had been done, though with the stalemate in decision-making it was clear that Kera would never be as it was again. Most of the Ash-Clans chose to leave. At least two recorded clans (Savra and Abaras) integrated, and their Ash Druids are now a subset of the Arlandrian cohort of that type. The remainder have become what we see today.
The war in general is not seen in a good light by Arlandrian historians. Indeed, much regret has been laid towards the actions of Magnolia Fervor. Yet, paradoxically, his work remains. This is made even more ironic in that the Magnolian Grove specializes in the study of history. Its vast libraries, composed out of regret for the loss of culture the Hedera's ancestor caused, are now so valuable that the land cannot be allowed to return to its original state. It seems that, though this has not been forgotten, it also may never be given proper redress.
The Clans Today[edit]
The modern Ash-Clans form a vast array of families and kinships, far removed from their ancestral home. But it is peculiar to note that their outlook on the events is unusual. Bereft of home and ancestry, one would expect them to yearn for the days of old and the savage land their hailed from (Arlandrian narratives often position them this way, perhaps out of guilt), but they are an incredibly pragmatic people. They have begun to engage in a nomadic, mercantile lifestyle at which they are remarkably successful. Indeed, the Kerathi have blossomed in their new role. Overall, the Clans form a network that spans the roads of the entire continent. Though there are not many of them, each band moves along a circuit of roads that takes roughly 20 years to complete. At the end of their journey they unite near Kera for a great meeting where all the clans join together to share stories, perform marriages, and trade exotic goods. These grand meetings are incredibly ostentatious and incredibly profitable, as merchants and dignitaries from Arlandria and the realms beyond often attend to look for rare goods.
This is not the only change however. With the loss of its habitat, the Indrik-Beetle is now very rare. Modern Kerathi have moved on to harvesting other animals for their chitin and hide, including the Guka, a native marsh-lizard with a distinctively squat profile. They have also been forced to rely on other forms of transportation. The horse is popular among Isegradian clans, while the Guka-Tsur (Great Guka) is popular among the Arlandrian clans. Some notable exceptions are the Vys of Nalland in Isegrad, who travel atop brass automata, and the Kaval of the Arlandrian Heartwoods who ride on plant-like golems crafted in the likeness of animals. The Clans remain perpetual outsiders, but due to the variety of their wares and the skill of their craftsmanship, the peculiar customs of their people are tolerated in most nations. Bandits and other rogues have also learned, often painfully, that they are not to be harassed. With a view on life best summarized by the famous prosaic line "Come and take it." they confront all obstacles with the same single-minded determination to keep what they own.
When it comes to punishing these criminals, Clan law is equally prosaic. Execution is not practiced except in cases of extreme aberration, such as necromancy or the defilement of the ancestral ash.* The most common punishment is slavery. Whether the captive is a thief from within the clan or a bandit from outside it, forced labor and servitude are seen as means of repairing the damage done to clan society. After a requisite amount of work is added to the whole, the punished individual is left behind. The threat of abandonment is said to be enough to deter most petty crimes among the Clans, and local jurisdictions in Isegrad are reputed to allow them to enslave petty criminals so they will be transported elsewhere (whether this rumor is true or not, this discourages crimes against them by locals).
Produced for the Royal Historical Society
University of Isegrad
Vanya Kerensky, Doctor of Letters.
Culture[edit]
"Let your song be my song. Let your hearth be my hearth. Let me hear your counsel always before my rest. My Seer, my Leanna. Your words are ever in my heart."
-Ashkhan Valikh, in Ashkhan, Canto I, by Kalen Veln
Clan Hierarchy[edit]
The commonality between all of the Great Clans of the Kerathi is their structure. Though each clan may be different in customs, dress, and friendliness to the nearby cultures, you will find none which does not have an Ashkhan or a Seer. You will also find many names for each of the other roles in the clan, but most differ only in the word, not in what they mean. Each of the following descriptions uses the best approximation, with either the most commonly-used name or a translation of the proper Kerathi word into the common tongue.
Ashkhan[edit]
Every nation must have someone at the head to whom they can turn their loyalty towards. For the Clans, the leader is the Ashkhan. Due to the small, insular nature of most of these communities, the Ashkhan fulfills multiple social roles. He is at once warrior, civic icon, and religious head. In many ways he is the father of the clan, a metaphor many poems and tales allude to in order to describe the better leaders among their people. The Ashkhan's first and foremost duty is the preservation of the Clan, but that comes along with numerous other obligations with special meaning. He tends to the direct ancestors of each family within his group, acting as the ultimate preserver and ritual head of the ancestor-cult which the Ash-Clans follow. Part of this role involves the ceremonial burning of the deceased, and the hosting of various feasts and observances to honor them. More regarding this will be covered in the section on Religion.
As the Clan Father, there is an expectation that the Ashkhan will look after each family under his purview with the same care and attention as his own children. The Ashkhan is of course expected to be a literal father in addition to his role for the clan overall. Marriage-ties and family groupings are important to the Kerathi, and a large family which can be married to many other storied families is one way to increase a leader's standing among other clans. The Ash-Clan ritual that brings an outsider into the group is an example of how deeply ingrained this is in their culture. After being anointed in oil and daubed with ashes, the newly-minted clan member is greeted by some variation of the following dedication: "You are reborn in the ashes. The Ashkhan your father, the Seer your mother. Our people your kin, forevermore." It is a potent reminder of how close the bonds between these people are.
Seer[edit]
If the Ashkhan is the father of the clan, the Seer should be the mother, but that is not the entire picture. While it is true that Ashkhans and Seers are sometimes married, especially in some of the more notable clans, this is not always the case. Furthermore there are usually two Seers for each clan, and as few clans practice polygamy they cannot both be married to the chief. So what is the social position and duty of this role? One can divide Seers into two categories, which make understanding their position easier: the Hearthseer (in some places Flameseer) and the Wealdseer (sometimes also called the Worldseer or Wyldseer among other titles. The number of dialectical differences for this title are less baffling when one realizes just what they do).
The Hearthseer is the keeper of the clan's Guardian Spirit. In ancient times this was Kera, the Spirit of the Mountain who is now thought dead or slumbering. These days it is often a mere sprite, a minor elemental, or moderately powerful hearth-spirit like sometimes dwell within the fires of Isegrad's more expansive forges. These are by and large opportunistic spirits or rescues, the latter category representing elemental spirits that the clanfolk have saved from destruction by rededicating them to a new purpose. More often than not that purpose involves living in a sacred torch or basin, where their fire crackles warmly during various rituals. The ash used in many ceremonies is often retrieved from the passing of logs through an elemental's hungry fires, representing the historic gifts of fertile land from the Mountain Spirit of old.
In other clans, most of all the Vys of Nalland, the keeping of spirits entrained in objects is a much more mundane task. There, the Hearthseer spends much of her time before moving camps literally tending the hearths of the people's constructs, passing fuel to elementals to make sure they're hale and hearty enough to power the lumbering metal animals along to their next stop. Peculiar to this clan is a tertiary role, known as the Forge-Daughter, who is a Seer-in-training who learns the arts of blacksmithing and construct maintenance from a young age. Typically this role is filled by the eldest female child of the Hearthseer, and it is a part of the secrecy surrounding their engineering practices. The only exception to the necessity of the Hearthseer is that, among the Kaval of Arlandria, there is no Hearthseer at all. This author suspects that it has much to do with their reliance on the forest, separating them greatly from their people's heritage. There are some who think that this focus on one half of the Druidic dichotomy will result in the inevitable absorption of that clan into the Arlandrian nation, but it remains to be seen whether that will happen.
Wealdseers are an unusual concept in Kerathi culture, as there appears to have been no such role prior to their exile. This is perhaps understandable in that there was no need to commune with any spirit aside from the Mountain Spirit, but once the Clans were separated from their homeland a whole host of new skills and ways of speaking to the world were needed. The Wealdseer fills this niche. Her duty is to be a clan's liaison with the outside world. Not merely to engage in diplomatic talks, which she does either alone or alongside the Ashkhan, but to speak to foreign spirits as well. She is not expected to be very well versed in ancestor-worship or flamekeeping, but instead to know the lands surrounding the route which the clan will travel. Her spirits are the spirits encountered by the wayside, be they forest or river or desert.
The Wealdseers of the Satras Clan are known for their exceptional connection to the spirits of the ocean and wind, which sets them apart from most of their peers in elemental attention. Their migration is said to take them across the ocean itself, from the coast of Arlandria to a chain of islands distant from the shore. Though I have not personally verified this claim, they do trade in the goods of the sea. It is likely to be true, even if the stories of sea monsters and fist-sized pearls are highly embellished.
Vanguard[edit]
The highest rank beneath Seer is what is called the Vanguard. This is an imprecise term, but accurate in the common tongue. Their ranks consist of warriors, craftsmen, and mages who are at the pinnacle of their skill. They represent the best a Clan has to offer, and form the first line of defense in the case of any danger. Their seniority in skill and lineage afford them slightly more privilege than the other members of their clans, but not a great deal. Clan society is fairly well leveled due to the harsh circumstances in which most of them live. The only members of a clan who do not have to craft, hunt, forage, or trade are the very young and the very old, meaning that the majority of people- even Seers and Ashkhans -are engaged in productive labor on behalf of their peers.
This is of course by necessity, since they must constantly take on more supplies and produce more goods in order to obtain them. But by and large the people who live in these groups would have it no other way. This, many will tell you, is a struggle they were born to undertake.
Clan Relations[edit]
The network of inter-relations between the Kerathi clans is a labyrinth that even I, after decades of study, have yet to unravel. Thus this section will deal primarily with the means by which the clans interact rather than the specific political divisions that have emerged over the centuries.
Civic Festivals[edit]
Across all cultures, merrymaking is one of the ways in which people come together across all boundaries to unify their society. The Clans are no different. There are a whole host of festivals and holy days celebrated within their culture, almost all of which are public in nature. For now I will simply cover civic festivals: those which are not related to the Ancestor Cult or the spirits of nature. Civic Festivals are known by different names in different quarters of the map, but they all generally appear around the same milestones. The appointment of new Seers is celebrated within each clan shortly after the retirement or funeral celebration for the preceding Seer. These are internally public, which every member expected to attend to drink and speak with their new councilor.
The ascension of a new Ashkhan is a much more externally public affair. Though most clans theoretically appoint their Ashkhan with the approval of the Seers and a ceremony of the Ancestor Cult, in practice this tends to result in de facto primogeniture with the son of the former chief of the clan leading it after he cannot. When he is chosen, the new Ashkhan is celebrated by public feasting after a private ceremony with the Seers. Many outsiders have had the good fortune to witness these ceremonies, as the camp is open to all people no matter their origin for that single day.
Meetings between multiple clans are also an occasion for celebration. As there are many larger or smaller bands that travel across the continent, their paths can overlap even before the time of the Clanmeet. These smaller meetings tend to be commemorated by several days of hurried trading, drinking, betrothals, and feasting before the groups part ways. Frequently, marriage pacts between clans and various diplomatic deals are brokered here before being finalized at the Clanmeet. In some cases, more civilized clans will have market or feast days when entering major cities. Three of the Isegradian bands are known to set up public trade in the Foreign Quarter upon reaching the capitol, with each arriving at different times of the year.
The Clanmeet[edit]
Perhaps the most important festival in the entire civic calendar, the Clanmeet is a meeting of every clan, band, or adventurer who still holds currency within Kerathi society. Not only is it a meeting of the entire culture, but it is a completely open market for all to witness the myriad wares and crafts of the Clans. It is difficult to describe in words the magnificence of such an occasion. These meetings happen once every 20 years by their reckoning and last anywhere from a single month to several. Even though the slopes of Mount Kera have been turned into meadows, the presence of so many tents and campfires burning paints a stark picture. At night one can look at the darkened slopes glowing with fires and imagine what it might have looked like to see the people dwelling in their home all those years ago.
The character of the festival itself is no less astonishing. Business deals are struck in the open air. Children from countless clans play together for the first time, developing friendships and rivalries that may persist for their entire lifetimes. Marriage ceremonies are performed before the whole of the people and upon ancient soil, which is said to confer lasting love. Goods from across the continent change hands, some to be used in craft-work and others to be traded along the road to foreign hands. While the Kerathi say they have lost their homeland, one feels that the Clanmeet proves this somewhat untrue. Their return and the ceremony and joy that come with it shows that their homeland still offers them one of the things that makes a nation: a connection to their past.
But perhaps that is just the sentimental meandering of an aging scholar, and not the whole truth of the matter. For there is one aspect to the culture I have not yet explored which changes much of our understanding of their lives. That is the Ancestor Cult, the secretive religion of the Ash-Clans, which we shall cover in the next chapter.