“Can you tell me why we had to go through this terrace, when it’s market day and it’s always packed? We could have taken the horses and gone round by the canals to the south!”

Jawaad smiled:

“I love this crowd. There’s my tea shop down the road.”

The master merchant nonchalantly pointed to a shop with a smart front squeezed between two other food shops. A few customers were crowded in front of a large stall laden with colourful jars and jars of spices of all kinds.

The street was crowded with a motley mix of lossyans from all walks of life. The tanned complexion Athemaïs dominated, followed by the blacks of the Fringes, from the same ethnic group as Abba, the proud and haughty Eteocliens and the Teranchens, recognisable by their light brown hair and golden skin. Armanth was home to the greatest diversity of peoples from the Seas of Separation and, if you just turned your head, you could easily spot tall, massive Hegemonians, a few fiery-haired, imposing-looking Dragensmanns and slant-eyed, caramel-skinned Hemlaris from the Empire of the Ruby Throne; the list of peoples, ethnicities and exotic finery went on and on.

The Songs of Loss, Armanth

The peoples of Loss

The 15 peoples living around the Seas of Separation are presented here. No one really knows whether other cultures exist, but legends and rumours abound on the subject. You will note that there are no peoples or ethnic groups of Amerindian origin. This subject is covered in the Book of Secrets of Loss.

The Ar’anthias of the United Cities & Allenys

Asians mixed with Mediterraneans, some of them are blond, but most of the time their hair is black or chestnut brown. They are remarkable architects and sailors, and tend to live in cities. On the great plains of Allenys, the Ar’anthias are nomads raising herds of ghia-thunder. Superstitious, traditionalists and very attached to the dogmas of the Church, they set great store by honour and loyalty to their people and their beliefs.

General appearance: slim and of average height (1.75 m to 2 m), with fairly dark, sometimes golden skin. Very fine, mixed-race features, with slightly slanted eyes. Black hair and eyes predominate, but all hair types and eye colours are easily found due to their interbreeding. For reference, the inhabitants of the United Cities resemble Filipinos.

Personality traits: sensitive and proud, religious, adventurous, curious, patriotic, traditionalist, superstitious and courageous. There’s a joke in Athemais that if you want to stop an Ar’anthia from doing something, just say that what they’re doing is forbidden somewhere in the Dogma.

Language: Rethian, which uses sinograms similar to those of Hemlaris and is particularly difficult to master in written form.

Virtues: As you would expect, the most important virtue for the people of the United Cities is Honour; family, public, rather than intimate, in fact. The Ar’anthia submit to social codes so as not to offend their family, their clan, their neighbours. Courage is the next most important virtue, as it is the only one that can break the social codes of this very traditionalist people.

Organisation: Constitutional monarchy. The aristocracy dominates the city-states, but the kings are surrounded by a highly influential council elected by the Church and the richest and most powerful representatives of the city. Women were totally excluded from public and political life. Only in certain military careers can they escape the patriarchal shackles of Ar’anthia society. Note that the United Cities are often in conflict with each other.

Religion: The Divine Council. The Ar’anthias also have their own customs and superstitions that the Church does not really try to curb, as the rites specific to this people are in line with respect for the Dogmas of the Council, which are taken very seriously among them. The Ar’anthias are very reluctant to see women involved in religion, and the number of women in the civil administration of the Church and in the Ordinatorii legions of the United Cities is therefore very low. The only exception is the Athim’si, the guardian virgins of the ghia-thunder spirits, a minor cult of the Ar’anthias.

Enemies & allies: The United Cities’ privileged partners are the Hegemony, Eteocles, Terancha and, paradoxically, Athemais. But they take a dim view of Armanth and its decadence. Agreement is even more difficult with Imareth, whose pirates see the United Cities and its coasts as a target for plunder and a good source of slaves to sell; naval battles between the two peoples were not uncommon. Finally, the United Cities have strained relations with Hemlaris, despite fruitful trade exchanges.

Capital: Allenys, nicknamed the City of Golden Roofs, due to the widespread use of bronze for domes and roof decorations. The population is 250,000 in winter and around 180,000 in summer, with nomads returning to the plains.

Production & trade: the United Cities are self-sufficient in agriculture: the region is fairly rich and the genius of the Ar’anthia builders does the rest in terms of agriculture. However, the City-States can export virtually no food and are heavily dependent on fishing as a source of food. The vast majority of their exports are metals of all kinds, above all iron, copper, nickel and silver, but also tin, mercury, manganese and even titanium ore and sulphur. This wealth comes from the foothills of the Headless Mountains and the Abysses, two mountain ranges of unbridled volcanism. Goldsmiths and metal craftsmen, as well as slaves – in large numbers – a few spices and a few head of ghia-thunder cattle round out their exports.

Cultural notes: Ar’anthias women are treated in much the same way as those from Hemlaris, i.e. as half-persons and often regarded more as property and bargaining chips than as free beings in their own right. Slavery is common and widespread, highly codified and the fate of slaves is frequently sordid; the United Cities employ almost as many convicts for its mines as the Hegemony.

Names

• Male: Bayan, Alh’anam, Benjarin, Arvin, Mahal, Ron, Tueblar, Hannaki, Rafiqui, Raed, Thej, Ymar
• Female: Cheska, Mae, Kini, An’im, Chirito, An’iham, Biri, Jalana, Kelin, Lualathi, Viri, Thima

The Athemaïs & Armanth

Of Hellenic, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern origin, the Athemaïs are a big melting-pot of peoples from all the Seas of Separation, even if the Middle Easterners dominate their appearance. However, they include virtually every ethnic group from Loss. An inquisitive, open-minded and progressive people, the Athemaïs attach great importance to trade and exchange, not least their thirst for knowledge and learning. Armanth the Heretic, also known as the Decadent, is the second largest and most powerful city in Loss, and its leaders and inhabitants have little regard for the Church of the Council, even if the latter remains present and respected by its aristocracy.

General appearance: Medium height (1.75 to 2 m), tanned to brown skin, but you can find anything, although the aquiline, racy features of Middle Easterners predominate. Their hair is brown to black, often curly, sometimes even frizzy, but here again all shades are easily found. The Athémaïs are more North African in appearance, but Armanthians are very mixed, and Caucasian, Asian and Scandinavian features can be found even in the oldest families.

Personality traits: Curious, ambitious, traders, explorers, deceitful, open-minded, boastful, pragmatic. Athemaïs are not known as great warriors, and are also reputed to prefer to look after themselves and favour negotiation and accommodation over direct confrontation.

Language: Athemaïs, the lingua franca of the Seas of Separation. The alphabet is alpha-syllabic and comprises several hundred signs, making it a little difficult to learn.

Virtues: Wisdom is the most sought-after of the virtues for the Athemais: it symbolises knowledge, culture and negotiation, everything they love. The least favoured is Honour. It’s not that Athemaïs don’t care, but theirs is a bit of a variable geometry. It all depends on what’s at stake and how to get out of it without tainting it too much.

Organisation: Representative democracy and de facto oligarchy for Armanth; constitutional monarchy and oligarchy for the rest of Athemais. The city-states are generally governed by a Bey surrounded by a council elected by the merchant guilds and the aristocracy. Armanth is governed by a Council of Peers chosen solely from among the city’s most powerful merchant-masters, a Senate of the nobility, an Aassembly of the people, and an Elegio elected by the people. Women cannot vote, but they can be nominated as candidates or representatives for the various democratic assemblies, although they cannot stand for election themselves.

Religion: The Divine Council, but the Church has to enforce its dogmas with a great deal of compromise, and sees its political power reduced to mere representation. Armanth has a certain contempt for the Church, but the aristocracy remains relatively loyal to it, and the people continue to fear it. The Athemaïs are superstitious, which helps the Church, but they are attached to ancient rites, inherited from Eteoclian culture and their marine divinities. For them, the sea is a divinity whose daughters, the Nereids, the sea nymphs, must be respected and sacrificed to. It is to the sea and the Nereids that traditional Athemaïs weddings are dedicated.

Enemies & allies: The great enemies of the Athémaïs are the Hegemony for historical and economic reasons, followed by the Hemlaris, for much the same reason. The San’eshe also hate them – but in a way, they don’t like anyone. The United Cities are wary of them, but trade and exchange a lot. Athemais has good relations with the Nomads of the Fringes, the whole of southern Eteocle, and particularly strong links with Terancha, as well as Imareth, despite its pirates.

Capital: Armanth, a huge city built on a lagoon, home to 1.2 million souls and without walls.

Production & trade: Armanth exports a wide range of finished goods, especially timber, cabinetmaking, slaves, drapery, metalwork, technology, spices and goldsmiths. Its currency is virtually a monetary standard for all the Seas of Separation.

Cultural notes: The Athemais grant a number of progressive rights to women, including the right to own property, personal justice and divorce, although the latter is rarely used in the more traditional aristocracy. Women can even be academics, professors or self-employed. Paradoxically, this is one of the peoples with the most female slaves and the most luxury trade in Slave Houses and Gardens.

Names

• Male: Abid, Ahmed, Andro, Domez, Roberto, Menzio, Celio, Damazo, Bassem, Kais, Khalil, Rolando, Ottone, Melik
• Women: Alma, Alya, Hedi, Lara, Ida, Lucia, Valeria, Nahima, Kheira, Kalissa, Tamara, Madalena, Inaya, Hadda.

The Dragensmanns

Tall, massive, blond warrior-riders, horse-riders and dragens riders living in cold, harsh lands not far from the Arctic Circle. They are brave, fiery and angry men with a shamanic tradition. Female warriors are common. Fiercely opposed to the Church of the Council, they are constantly at war with the Hegemony of Anqimenès.

General appearance: Scandinavian, between 1.85m for women and 2.10m for men, fair-skinned, often with blond hair. However, there are also Dragensmanns with black eyes and hair, especially among the Eleksmans, who breed horses and herds of Sika. Redheads are not uncommon, as Dragensmanns do not consider them to be demons.

Personality traits: spirited, adventurous, reckless, fairly belligerent, easily irritated, exploratory. Dragensmanns have a strong cultural respect for animals and wildlife, and avoid over-exploitation of natural resources wherever possible.

Language: Kaergen, whose runic alphabet, Kaerg, comprises 44 letters. Note that a Dragensman never engraves Kaergs on a surface in vain, as this would be a dangerous way of attracting spirits.

Virtues: Courage first and foremost, followed by Wisdom. They are an adventurous people of explorers and curious men, renowned reckless. Honour among the Dragensmanns is linked to respect for one’s word and one’s family. But they lie, cheat and steal shamelessly and show little mercy to strangers.

Organisation: Clan-based monarchy. The eldest daughters of kings and clan chiefs are the successors, choosing their future husbands to become the new clan chiefs. Women, even if under family guardianship, are greatly respected and listened to. Kings and chiefs always have an influential council, dominated by the wisdom and words of the shamans.

Religion: a largely informal shamanic religion (worship is not the preserve of an elite) that totally rejects the principles of the Church of the Council. The Dragensmanns are close to nature, their ancestors and natural forces, invoking the spirits of the earth, sea and woods, as well as deities such as Jormungen, lord of the dragens; Wotan, father of the gods; Adda, his wife and family protector; Ilmater, goddess of warriors and young mothers; and her brother Thor, lord of storms and fury and god of fighters.

Enemies & allies: the Dragensmanns are mortal enemies with the entire Hegemony and never seek to argue with them. They either flee or attack them. They have strong and historic links with the Foresters, with whom they often trade and form alliances, but they also trade and exchange with Eteocle. Finally, many Svatnaz refugees now live in Dragensmann clans.

Capital: Dragensvard, a powerful fortress built into the side of a cliff on the coast, with a vast harbour and the largest known gathering of dragens riders. It is home to around 75,000 people.

Production & trade: as well as wool and sika skins, the Dragensmanns trade their steel, which is of exceptional quality and renowned everywhere. They also export horses and bioluminescent oils and compounds extracted from marine and coastal mammals from the Arctic zone. Finally, they produce and sell small quantities of fire-blood, a highly flammable kerogen.

Cultural notes: Dragensmanns practise slavery, but emancipation and adoption into the clan after a few years is almost systematic. The Dragensmanns regard Earthlings lost on Loss as an omen of good fortune, and if they enslave them, they treat them with respect, regarding them as sacred, and call them the Forgotten Ones. Dragensmann society is relatively egalitarian: almost a third of fighters are women, although they rarely remain so once they have children; and men respect women, even learning to fear their anger and solidarity. The Loss Singers are free, but under the tutelage and supervision of the shamans.

Names

• Male: Ervain, Sven, Renson, Odgarson, Alfard, Dunmar, Baradhuin, Hank, Khanmor, Thorson, Cudrein, Thomarson, Brajar, Angvar.
• Female: Alyn, Brigid, Elain, Cuthmeia, Tharya, Ledda, Iris, Berena, Seren, Greda, Thebga

The Erebs

Descended from the secretive mountain people of the Middle East, the Erebs live from wood and agriculture. Partly matriarchal in culture and highly mystical, they place great importance on wisdom and observation of the natural world, and do not recognise the faith of the Council Church. Their isolation, mountains and forests spared them from the Ordinatorii Crusades, and they have good trade links with Armanth.

General appearance: Fairly short (1.70 m to 1.85 m) and drier than the Athémaïs, with more arabic features and darker skin. Strangely enough, blue eyes are not uncommon, the result of ancient interbreeding that has been somewhat forgotten. The Erebs bear a strong resemblance to the inhabitants of the Persian Gulf.

Personality traits: Calm, mystical, meditative, fairly fatalistic, fairly closed to the outside world. Rarely warlike by nature, but there is a feared caste, the Bhaarams. There’s an Athemaïs saying that when an Ereb speaks more than 5 words to you, it’s because you’re something special.

Language: Abalon, whose syllabic alphabet is written in striations along vertical lines. But the Erebs most often use the Athemais alphabet.

Virtues: Wisdom is prized by this people, not in its intellectual and cultural aspect, but in a profoundly more philosophical and contemplative sense. Honour is emphasised in loyalty to the word, traditions, codes and the Ereb faith. Courage is also respected, but for the Erebs, it always threatens to be confused with pride and fearlessness.

Organisation: tribal, village chiefs are always men elected by each adult member of the village. However, family heads are always the elders, the grandmothers of the family, and even the chief listens to his elder. The village ascetics and shamans are the spiritual and material advisers of the chiefs. Ereb society is very rigid, and operates on the basis of castes. These are fairly porous, but to change caste you have to pass a series of tests and rituals orchestrated by the ascetics and elders, or prove yourself to the chief and his council. Not having a caste among the Erebs condemns the unfortunate to receive no help from the community; it is possible to lose one’s Caste, a widespread punishment for serious offences and crimes.

Religion: Mystical shamanism based on the four elements, linked to the Virtues, which makes them the last Lossyan people to follow the shamanic path of the Virtues and give importance to Faith and Air, known as the Haana. Erebs beliefs are entirely based on the Virtues and their symbolic meaning. Ascetic practice requires many meditative rituals and initiatory ordeals that few individuals can endure. The Haana devotes a great deal of space to a profound knowledge of natural phenomena, and it turns out that ascetics and shamans are all experts in climatology.

Enemies & allies: the Church in general condemns the Erebs to heresy for obvious reasons. The only real allies of the Erebs are the Athémaïs. But the Nomads of the Fringes trade with these mystics without difficulty, despite their fear of the Erebs’ magical and, in their eyes, dark practices. Finally, the Erebs have very warm, if rather rare, relations with the San’eshe, which is an exception to the hatred this people has for all foreigners.

Capital: Harrimsid, which is in fact an Athemais trading post with a population of around 12,000, home to a few hundred Erebs and serving as their foreign market.

Production & trade: wood, metals (iron and copper), mellia and other rare and precious products extracted from the canopy, and fish, including leregus, crustaceans whose meat can be dried and which Armanth loves. But foreign trade is not a major concern for the Erebs.

Cultural notes: The Erebs are secretive and don’t like to open up to other Loss peoples, whom they consider impure and too consumed by material passions. They keep their involvement in world affairs to a minimum and expect to be reciprocated. As with the Dragensmanns, the Singers of Loss are free, under the tutelage of the shamans and the watchful eye of all. They are considered sacred. The Erebs do not practise slavery, but do not take action against those who do, and only sporadically take in runaway slaves.

Names

• Male: Bilyad, Saafi, Khalad, Rashi, Emeth, Khashif, Khan, Alam, Ali, Ferez, Malik, Zahad, Imran, Faruk
• Female: Noor, Leah, Hasfa, Emra, Fatima, Najil, Areeba, Ayasha, Shabi, Tima, Anun, Rebi, Khama, Uhuri.

The Eteoclians

Mostly of Hellenic origin, the Eteoclians are a proud and noble people of high stature, who place great value on respect for codes and honour. There are many blonds among them and, along with the Dragensmanns and Foresters, they are the people with the highest number of redheads born. Despite their superstitious loyalty to the Church, they have a strong attachment to their ancient myths, beliefs and gods. The Eteoclians have a high regard for learning and count among their ranks some of the greatest scholars known.

General appearance: Fairly tall at times, but within the lossyan average (1.80 m to 2 m), with tanned or even light brown skin, most are brown with brown eyes, but blonds with blue eyes are common, and redheads are regularly born. Their slender, aquiline features mean they are often considered the most beautiful people in Loss.

Personality traits: proud, even arrogant, traditionalists, respectful of codes, but even more so of virtues, superstitious towards the Church, cultured, refined, very social.

Language: Hellensa, a rich and complex language of nuances and parables, whose alphabet of around thirty characters is one of the simplest known.

Virtues: Honour, as a social and personal virtue, is the one most emphasised in Eteoclean culture, as the glue that binds society to its members. Everyone must respect their place in society. Fortunately, however, Eteoclians are fairly open-minded and value and respect Wisdom in this respect, with a particular attachment to learning and the arts. They are generally rather courageous, but this is not a major virtue in their eyes.

Organisation: Representative democracy, in which the Church and the aristocracy play an important role in the politics of the city-states, but remain only a constituent part of the ruling Agoras, which are notoriously oligarchic. The Eteoclian cities have princes, but the only one ruled by one of them is Nashera. Women are completely excluded from politics. Exceptionally, a woman may have been appointed by standing ovation as a member of a city council. But such cases are rare. Among the Eteoclians, the common people and the bourgeoisie mix easily, with the aristocracy forming a separate elite that is often in charge of the cities’ military forces. The tribunes of their Agoras are highly respected by the Aetoclians.

Religion: The Divine Council. The Church is very influential throughout the Eteoclean Plains, but the further south you go, the more flexible the Church’s dogmas become, leaving a place, albeit a minor one, for ancient Greek myths and cults. The local beliefs of the Eteoclians make direct reference to myths, legends and divinities of Greek origin. It comes as no surprise to hear Apollo, Hera and Poseidon invoked, and officiants are often invited to perform certain civil rites.

Enemies & allies: This is a complicated question, because even more than elsewhere, the Eteoclians do not form a political unit, but a group of city-states with their own interests. In short, the whole of southern Eteocles is clearly in favour of Athemaïs, the north in favour of the Hegemony, and the cities on the eastern coast the United Cities. The Eteoclians have a great fear of the Dragensmanns and the Foresters, both of whom have a very bad reputation. But they trade with them, just as they trade with Hemlaris. In the end, the great enemy of all Eteocles is Imareth and its pirates.

Capital: Nashera, the White City, an ancient city on the shores of a vast lake, breathtakingly beautiful with its temples and gardens, the heart of Eteoclian culture and art, with a population of half a million.

Production & trade: Once again, the Plains of Eteocles are so vast that production is extremely varied. But above all, it is the granary of all the Seas of Separation, as well as the largest producer of wines and spirits. But it also supplies textiles in large quantities, wood, stone, silver, lead and gold, and has some of the richest loss-metal mines known. Eteoclian crafts and art (ceramics, glass, sculptures, musical instruments) are so highly prized that they are exports in their own right. Eteocles also trades in slaves, but imports far more than it exports.

Cultural notes: Far from considering women as worthless commodities, Eteoclians do not give them much of a place in civil life. Women have few rights when it comes to the laws and patriarchal authority that dominate society. However, while in the North women are isolated from the public arena and subject to all-powerful patriarchal laws, the further south you go, the less social pressure there is on them and the more rights and freedoms they are granted. Slavery is commonplace in Eteocles; it is considered that a man who wants to show that he has made a success of his life should own a slave. Of course, buying and maintaining a slave for prestige is generally only accessible to the wealthy.

Names

• Male: Athos, Berrus, Eschile, Naras, Octave, Zaherd, Polympus, Rado, Rufule, Xanthos, Ansiphe, Strobo, Adax.
• Female: Agathe, Sisyphe, Lilandre, Clytia, Demi, Chloé, Penera, Xamia, Maia, Melena, Junée, Hélène, Euterpe.

The Foresters of Elmerase

Living above the Plains of Eteocles in vast, deep and dangerous forests, they are descendants of Celts with a tribal culture. Like the Svatnaz, they are often hunted as slave stock by the Hegemony, but also by Eteoclian slave hunters; unlike the former, however, the Foresters display a resilience and pugnacity that make slave hunters pay dearly for their raids and attempted captures. As you might expect, the Foresters are particularly wary and cautious, trading only with caution. They are formidable archers and their society places great importance on their wives, who fight with them.

General appearance: slender and often athletic, of average height (1.75 m to 2 m), blond hair is fairly common, but chestnut brown dominates. Redheads are not uncommon among these people. Their skin is tanned and often coppery. The Forester’s features are prominent and rakish, with a distinctly Caucasian look. They often have a general air of physical power.

Personality traits: distrustful, cunning, fiery in battle, very cautious with strangers, industrious, protective, reasoned. Foresters flee and hide as soon as they suspect the Ordinatorii are approaching.

Language: Klam’prayen, which has no alphabet, but which the Foresters write using the Hellensa alphabet.

Virtues: Wisdom and Courage are almost equal. But the prudence and sense of organisation of these industrious and refined men – even if the Eteoclians take them for savages – make them more sensitive to wise and reasoned men. The Foresters’ sense of honour is a little complicated to grasp, as it varies completely with their family, their clan, other Foresters and outsiders. To sum up: they have little of it and pay less heed to it the less they have to do with the person they are talking to.

Organisation: tribal. Each tribe is organised around a village or stronghold, often hidden in trees. The largest strongholds are impregnable and remarkably well organised. The chiefs of the tribes are chosen on the death of the previous chieftain in the course of arduous and sometimes fatal physical and intellectual tests, in which both men and women can take part. The officiants of the forest cult, most often women, preside over the destinies of the villages by interpreting the natural signs and visions of the ancestors.

Religion: A cult of ancestors and the forces of nature, generally referred to as the Forest Cult. They have a number of tutelary gods and spirits, dominated by Adda, the mother goddess, lover of Loss, who is the Loss-grandmother who adopts all shapes and forms, and Deddain, the wild hunter, both provider of game and lord of the beasts. Animal and sometimes human sacrifices are part of the rites. Each tribe, and also each recognised warrior, often has a tutelary deity linked to the clan’s ancestors. Legend plays a major role in these cults. Forest shamans are rare but highly respected.

Enemies & allies: Apart from the Dragensmanns, the Foresters have no allies. They trade with the Etoclians, but with great caution.

Capital: The Crossroads can be considered as such, but it is a town of 4,500 inhabitants in Eteocles that serves as a trading post for the Foresters, whose largest strongholds never exceed 2,000 inhabitants.

Production & trade: forest products, including mellia, resins, pharmaceuticals, but especially leather, ivory and hides. The Foresters also produce wood, goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ products and steel, but trade in these products is limited. They also occasionally export a few slaves captured in the Hegemony.

Cultural notes: Forester society is very egalitarian, in fact it is probably one of the most egalitarian in Loss in terms of male-female relations. It’s one of the few peoples where it’s not surprising to see a woman working as a blacksmith, for example. Most women live at home and bring up their children, raising and cultivating the land, but they do it side by side with the men. And young female forest warriors are very common. Slavery does exist, but it’s fairly rare; most Foresters’ slaves are enslaved as a result of a serious crime, or because they are already too enslaved and conditioned to adapt to the harsh freedom of this people.

Names

• Male: Eilpenn, Dedder, Maec, Heiddyn, Gymna, Draaduin, Cadogan, Cydwalla, Nadyreith, Wilmot, Vinfred, Yannis.
• Female: Yemi, Yseult, Cuada, Anna, Birice, Daire, Dailine, Emaine, Paine, Sanis, Sandra, Piri, Adyle, Aëla.

The Gennemons

Of Asian and Siberian origin, mixed with their neighbours, these are the inhabitants of the coastal marches between Hegemony and Hemlaris. As such, they have spent much of their history under attack from both empires. They are undisciplined horsemen with a fastidious and quick-witted sense of honour, living on large plains by breeding horses, griffons, longilas and sikas. Their troubled history has strongly reinforced the patriotic identity of the Gennemons… and their mistrust of foreigners. A distinction is made between the nomadic peoples of the plains and the sedentary peoples of the cities, influenced by the Hegemonian and Hemlaris cultures. The two peoples don’t get along very well.

General appearance: Asians close to the Mongols of Earth, with Slavic influences. They are rather massive, but not very tall (from 1m70 to 1m90). Their hair is mostly straight black, their skin is tanned and their eyes are slanted black or brown. Green eyes are an exceptional sign of dangerous beauty, tinged with demonism, for this people.

Personality traits: Proud, honourable and upright, but undisciplined, fierce, combative and quick to quarrel. The Gennemons are superstitious and rural, close to their animals. Killing one of their horses or griffons is as big a crime as killing a man.

Language: Gennemon has no alphabet of its own, but uses Hemlaris sinograms.

Virtues: Honour is of vital importance in the Gennemon social structure, which makes little use of currency or contracts. Exchanges are based on trust and given word, including pacts, alliances and unions. Breaking one’s word, ignoring a custom or breaking a promise is unimaginable for them; indeed, it is the interpretation of these concepts that gives rise to the frequent disputes that regularly turn into clan wars. It’s not easy to negotiate with this people if you don’t know them well. They are also a courageous, even irritable, people; for a Gennemon, settling a problem with arms is quite common.

Organisation: councils of aristocratic and clan leaders, with the nomadic clans showing a certain contempt for the city-states and their sedentary fellow citizens, who repay them in kind. In Gennemon society, the great lineages of heroic or legendary ancestors dominated society, supported by the Church. The highest ranks within the clans rarely went to women. In rural clans, however, it does happen, although the rank of clan chief – which is primarily honorary – is always passed on to the male children. Marriage is very important for clan alliances, and clan customs are highly complex and surprising to outsiders (such as the rite of abduction of the bride-to-be, or the duel between the bridegroom and his bride’s brothers or father). Unusually, love plays an important role in these unions, even though they are orchestrated out of self-interest.

Religion: That of the Divine Council in the major Gennemon cities, but the further you go towards the nomadic clans, the more the faith of the Church is mixed with local beliefs and complex rites linked to forms of magic and divination. These rites, which the Gennemons call the Kalumi, are found everywhere and while they remain discreet in the City-States, they are vital for the members of the nomadic clans, who undertake nothing without consulting a Hama-Kalu, the witch of the Kalumi rites. Some of them are also shamans.

Enemies & allies: The Gennemons have been trodden on by both the Hegemony and the Hemlaris, the two empires often fighting on the Marches of Gennema. But the occupation of the Hegemony in the last century and the last Crusade have left their mark: the Gennemons hate the Hegemony as much as they fear it. They have extensive trade contacts with Athemais and Armanth, who have trading posts on the coast and in Mille-Feux.

Capital: Mille-Feux is a thriving commercial port on the island of Estis, famous for its many terraced fields. The city is heavily defended and boasts a population of over 100,000; paradoxically, its political power is fairly limited, as the Gennemons see it simply as a neutral trading ground.

Production & trade: Alongside textiles and sika wool, the Gennemon nomads’ main production is horses and griffins. However, they only export and sell common breeds, even though these are trained animals of the highest quality. The Gennema marches are very fertile, so the city-states and sedentary clans produce and trade a lot of cereals, starches and pulses, as well as a highly prized commodity: sugar, extracted from the roots of the labasin tree. The Gennemons also raise pack longilas and trade them from time to time.

Cultural notes: The Gennemon city-states don’t cooperate much and are often at war. The nomadic clans are also often in conflict, but in a more measured way. However, they remain a quarrelsome people, quick to take revenge, raid and pillage one clan for another. But their members unite whenever there is an external threat. Slavery is common among the Gennemons, but they place little value on High Art.

Names

• Male: Chulun, Kushi, Saek, Oyun, Narandag, Arundan, Chinghis, Raenkha, Baathior, Gandamar.
• Women: Nergui, Chimay, Saran, Saranerel, Altani, Chauli, Enkhi, Oyuni, Munkhtsaria, Delger, Hulan.