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As all things flow down the river, in May’Kar, so too does all power flow down from the Priest-King, who is held by the Mahsai to be the closest living person to divinity. There are few powers beyond the Priest-King’s control- they have command of the Dominion’s military, the authority to pass laws, and a great deal of influence over the courts and the other nobility of the land.

Each Priest-King can trace their lineage back to Kosami, the first to take on the title, and upon their death the title is transferred to their heir, usually their eldest child. Though the title ‘Priest-King’ has been held by both men and women, occasionally a new monarch will designate herself a Priest-Queen instead.

The Priest-King’s primary duty is to ensure that the Ukor River flows cleanly. And that it does flow cleanly, and has done so for hundreds of years, is the basis of the legitimacy that the crown wields and the divinity that the bearer claims.

While the crown holds a great deal of religious reverence, the first Priest-Kings of Saresh also worked to ensure political loyalty with the various Princes of the Ukor. This was done largely through intermarriage of the various royal families. In fact, many Ukorate nobles can also trace their lineage back to Kosami, which is often used to argue for additional standing or favor in the eyes of the Mahsai.

The Priest-King has near-unchecked executive power, issued in the form of edicts. There is no mechanism in the Dominion for an edict to be overruled except by subsequent edicts. The only check on the crown’s power is the consequences of that power being wielded poorly. The Priest-King is expected to use a great deal of discretion when deciding how and when to issue an edict, and it is not uncommon for some to go their entire lives without doing so. The issuance of an edict is considered to be a sacred act, and so an unjust one is sacrilege and risks damaging the legitimacy of the crown.

In the event that an heir is incapable of ruling, the title either passes to another eligible relative, or else another eligible relative serves as a regent temporarily, acting in the Priest-King’s place. Those that would report directly to the Priest-King instead report to this regent, and the only power they lack is the power of edict.

Officially, the Priest-King’s faith, and therefore the state faith, is the Mahsai. This is intended to prevent favoritism among the other faiths of the Dominion. In practice, it has entrenched the Mahsai itself as an unassailable institution of divine righteousness. Additionally, unofficially, some Priest-Kings have been known to hold and express beliefs in accordance with other faiths, which has at times undermined that intended neutrality and led to schisms, one of which ultimately ended in a successful assassination. Today, Priest-Kings are expected to reaffirm their faith to the Mahsai publicly, to avoid political turmoil.

The May’Kar Dominion recognizes two types of territories within its borders: The first are the Ukorates, riverine city-states that make up the heart of the Dominion. The second are the algari, peripheral lands from beyond the river’s reaches.

Beyond the Ukor, the lands claimed by the May’Kar Dominion have been divided up into provinces, called algar. This designation began as a largely aspirational one: The Dominion really only ruled the length of the Ukor. The peoples beyond it barely recognized that the May’Kar existed, let alone that it had sovereignty over them. In some sense, the division of the lands into algar is arbitrary, done in whichever way is most convenient for the Dominion and the crown, and more than one frustration has been caused by the seasonal movements of peoples across provincial borders.

Each algar is assessed, as best as it can be, for the resources that it has to offer May’Kar, mostly in its wealth and its warriors, and then is assigned an official called an algarad, who is tasked with taking a portion of those resources yearly, as a tithe. The algarad is given a stipend, soldiers, and a staff of tax collectors and assistants, but is largely left to their own devices and able to operate however they see fit in order to meet their quotas.

As May’Kar is busy with many matters, and travel through the desert is harsh, the crown has little reason to send a proper military after these remote groups to bring them in line. Instead, algarad are expected to establish mutually beneficial arrangements between the algar and the Dominion, either through favorable trade or through diplomacy. Algarad are permitted to negotiate on behalf of the crown in a limited capacity, and canny negotiators can even personally profit from the deals they make.

Algarad who routinely fail to meet their quotas are eventually stripped of their position and then replaced by someone else. Some algar have gained a reputation for this being the norm, and have become dreaded assignments. Some algarad are remote enough that it takes multiple years for these failures to be noticed, and even longer for any corrective action to be taken. Rarely, an algarad is so successful in their task that they entrench themselves in their algar after amassing wealth and power.

The May’Kar Dominion recognizes two types of territories within its borders: The first are the Ukorates, riverine city-states that make up the heart of the Dominion. The second are the algari, peripheral lands from beyond the river’s reaches.

The Ukorates are highly developed and urbanized areas, grown by the Ukor River. Most areas that became Ukorates predate the Dominion, and even its previous iteration as the kingdom of Saresh, back from a time where independent Princes vied for control of the region. Those Princes that allowed themselves to be absorbed peacefully into Saresh during its campaigns of expansion kept their leadership and a degree of autonomy and independence, becoming vassal states. Those that resisted, however, had their leaders deposed and replaced with governors loyal to the crown.

The Prince-led Ukorates are able to maintain their own cultural and religious distinctiveness, traditions, and institutions. They’ve continued to evolve over the centuries independently of May’Kar, but also as subjects of it. Many of them are still ruled by nobility which trace their lineage back to the days of the city-states, and these nobles tend to be well-represented among the yazi, the Mahsai, and other prestigious administrative offices. The degree of autonomy to which these Ukorates enjoy varies; the southernmost Princes, by necessity due to their distance from the capital, have comparatively limited oversight over their actions.

Each Ukorate is permitted to keep its own small garrison of troops to defend itself and collect taxes, but is expected to commit the majority of its conscripts to the crown’s Army. They’re responsible for maintaining their own internal courts and enforcing their own laws, but are also obligated to leave all matters of interfaith disputes to the Mahsai, and are similarly obligated to build and maintain a Mahsai temple in their capitals so that its local judges and advocates might have a place to work from.

One major power that is expressly out of the hands of these Princes and governors is the power to manage or extract the water of the Ukor River. Instead, the crown assigns a magistrate to the region, who has the sole authority over such matters. Magistrates determine things like when and where canals, aqueducts, and water screws can be built; which areas get prioritized in times of drought; and are the only ones permitted to finalize trade agreements in which river water is bought or sold. Water is a major limiting factor in the expansion and upkeep of the Ukorates, and these matters are at the magistrates’ discretion, so most Ukorate leaders will do whatever they can to stay in their good graces.

The May’Kar Dominion is vast and complicated, and many matters are beneath the Priest-King’s attention. The Priest-King is not merely a figurehead, but few have direct access to them: only highly influential governors, heads of faith, and foreign diplomats can expect an audience. The need for a deliberative group that can address other outstanding matters has given rise to the yazi.

The yazi is a large body of state officials, which convenes almost exclusively in the capital city of Saresh, and collectively has an authority that rivals, but does not exceed, even the Priest-King’s. Each yaz is either appointed by the reigning Priest-King, and holds their position for life unless they fall from favor, or else is drawn for five year terms of service from the various May’Kar provinces, both through appointments by governors and by elections.

Informally, the yazi are broken up into various committees that focus on different matters of law and administration, but any yaz has the ability to weigh in on any issue. Despite the purpose beyond their institution, as May’Kar grows and develops, they have collectively become bogged down further and further by the burden of managing a large, complex state in constant flux. They occasionally also act as a court for those wishing to challenge the rulings of judges, and meet with special interest groups from peripheral territories who have come to advocate on behalf of their own people.

The Paladin Corps was established originally as a way of enforcing the will of the Mahsai. Men and women of faith trained as elite soldiers, so that they could carry out case judgements, as well as bring unwilling accused before the court. As they had to travel across the Dominion, to places which varied greatly in matters of law, they were granted near-immunity to these laws when in the course to carry out their duties, especially in the case of ‘known criminals’. Similarly, they had access to estates built and maintained for their purposes, to be used as staging grounds for their activities.

As they grew in number and influence, some of the members of the Corps began to act as local warlords, wielding their power as they believed it ought to be wielded in pursuit of their interpretation of the law and justice, sometimes callously or even wickedly. Though they were agents of the Mahsai, they were accountable only to the yazi, who were responsible for approving candidates brought forth to them. However, the yazi were more often than not, too slow and too divided to effectively deal with them.

When trust in the justice system had dropped to its lowest, the then-King Magurah, great granddaughter of the late Priest-King Sibbid, delivered a rare edict to those Paladins still remaining loyal and diligent in their duties: Arrest these rogue Paladins if you can, slay them if you cannot.

In return for this duty, the loyal paladins were granted holdings within various Ukorates, which embedded them within May’Kar’s systems of power, by giving them something that could be taken away from them and making them accountable to local nobility.

Afterwards, Paladins eventually regained their status as a prestigious profession, but were given administrative and religious responsibilities to discourage unrighteous or unworthy people from taking up the mantle. They’re also under ongoing scrutiny from the yazi who have subsequently been quicker to censure and discipline them, but are protected by high ranking members of the Mahsai from overreach. They are barred from membership in either the yazi or the Mahsai as well.

While they were originally recruited from the Mahsai, Paladins now participate in an ongoing tradition of apprenticeship, taking on squires and tutoring them in the martial and divine arts. These squires also assist the Paladin in carrying out their duties, which has become much more complicated and arduous as the Dominion has expanded its reach to the further fringes of the desert. Their holdings are passed down to a favored apprentice when they retire, who then inherits their title and office.

A spiritual duty of the Paladins is the cultivation and stewardship of their undead-slaying divine blades, which they use to clear the desert when reports of a lone zombie or two reach their holdings. The art of making these blades is a closely guarded secret, taught only to an apprentice on the eve of their inheritance. It’s said that it can take many years to complete the process. The death of a Paladin severs their connection with their blade and renders it impotent, but this connection can be ritualistically passed to the apprentice so that they may continue to prepare and wield it.

Paladins have been known to often travel, beyond the needs imposed by their official duties. Some believe them to be tending to various communities across the Dominion, in the form of esoteric and spiritual rituals that might not even be understood by their beneficiaries. Others believe that they venture to find undead in the more remote parts of the desert, in fear that they’ll grow in foul power if left to their own devices. Others still, say that they quest for magic power hidden in catacombs buried beneath the sands, perhaps to forge into their divine blades.

The Dominion’s military is divided up into two branches: The Army, and the Auxiliaries. These branches are independent of each other, with the head of each branch accountable only to the Priest-King.

Forces from these two branches are brought together as needed, supplementing the discipline, organization, and superior numbers of the Army with the specialized arms and tactics of one or more Auxiliary regiments. This makes them a highly adaptable military, capable of fielding the perfect counter for their enemy.

Military service in either branch is often viewed within May’Kar as a pathway to higher levels of society. The salary it provides is often an avenue to financial independence that others can’t access, and decorated officers can expect to find comfortable administrative positions for themselves once they retire.

Additionally, exceptional service within the military is sometimes rewarded with an Article of Sincere Expression, a commendation bestowed by the Mahsai, which grants the recipient the privileges associated with being a member of a legitimized Mahsai faith (and consequently, the capability to be promoted to the higher ranks of officer) even when their faith is not as a whole legitimized.

The Army
The ranks of the Army of the May’Kar Dominion are made up primarily of conscripts sourced from Ukorate city-states, supplemented by volunteers from the outer provinces, which are organized along the following divisions:

The basic unit of the Army is the harik, and contains 16 soldiers, led by one harikad. The harik is the lowest level at which soldiers are assigned roles and tasks. While 16 is the ideal number, attrition often leaves a harik with anywhere as low as 10 able soldiers.

Three harik come together to form a tselok. In addition to the 48 soldiers made up of the three harik, the tselok is accompanied by one cleric called a tselokamm, and is led by one additional tselokud, for a total of 50 soldiers. The tselokamm not only provides divine aid, but is also the spiritual center of their unit, providing counsel and wisdom, while the tselokud handles tactical and strategic matters.Tselokamm must be of a legitimized Mahsai faith, while tselokud must either be of Mahsai faith as well, or be personally endorsed by their tselokamm.

Five tselok come together to form a nadaal, lead by one nadaad, for a total of 250 soldiers. This is the level at which regional assignments are made- provincial garrisons and the like are measured in nadaal. At this level and higher, all officers are required to be of Mahsai faith.

And four nadaal come together to form a nur, lead by a nurad. This is the largest division of troops that the Dominion fields, at a total of 1000 soldiers. Each nur reports to the matar, the head of the Army in full, who also serves as the Priest-King’s chief advisor on military affairs.

Soldiers are trained at military colleges throughout the river provinces. The largest and most prestigious of these are in the city-state of Gdash, near the southern reaches of the Ukor. In times of emergency, additional conscripts can be forcibly gathered and sent down the river for rapid training and assignment.

The Auxiliaries
While the Army sources most of its troops from the river provinces, the Auxilaries are a set of irregular regiments made up almost entirely of conscripts from the algari across the Dominion, supplemented by hired mercenary companies from both foreign and domestic lands.

The Auxiliaries as a whole are led by the mabashi, who acts less as a military leader and more as a logistics and information officer, coordinating with the Army and delegating to the Auxiliary regiments.

Auxiliary regiments are usually organized by algar, and are consequently highly unique. Each regiment is headed by a bashi, assigned or selected by the mabashi, who is empowered to organize their regiment in whichever way is more effective for the martial culture of that group. Similarly, hired mercenary companies have a bashi assigned to them for the duration of their service, to act as a liaison to the mabashi and the Army.

A major duty of the bashi is to supply a regiment with what they need for their particular military specialty. As such, most tend to have a unit of non-combatants organized beneath them, responsible for establishing and maintaining supply lines. Similarly, ensuring cooperation with a group of a potentially radically different culture is of great importance, and so many bashi take on mediators or advisors from the same group from which a regiment is pulled, to smooth over possible tensions.

Auxiliary regiments vary wildly in reputation. While each has the potential to add a great deal of strategic strength and versatility to the Dominion’s overall military operations, they’re not as integrated or organized as Army regulars, and so tend to be, on the whole, unreliable. They’re carefully managed to play to their individual strengths and avoid their weaknesses, but this doesn’t always work. For two regiments that’s feared and respected, there’s one that’s seen as weak or untrustworthy, sometimes even for good reason.

One of the unshakable guarantees that the Dominion makes to its Auxiliaries is that they will never be deployed domestically against their own people. This applies to conscripts and volunteers alike, though only within the Auxiliaries. Consistent performance from a regiment is taken into consideration by the Mahsai when determining whether or not to legitimize a faith, and algar who provide the troops of such a regiment enjoyed reduced tribute to Saresh, with service itself being considered tribute.

The following are just some of the Auxiliary regiments found within the Dominion:

The Mushalee Boluk is sourced not only from the peoples of the city of Mushalee, but also from merchants, scouts, and travelers that have had dealings with them, or who are familiar with life in and around the shrubland. They’re specialized in long-term deployments in areas with weak logistical support, able to outlast opponents and overtake them through attrition and well-placed strikes. Service within the Boluk is a way for lesser nobles to improve their station through the prestige of victory.

The Tamur are elite warrior-scholars from the algar of Dindama, which sits along May’Kar’s northern foothills, sustained by one of the much smaller rivers that flows down from the mountain. There, seasoned warriors are trained at ancient academies in a wide variety of subjects like history, etiquette, philosophy, and the arts. The graduates of these academies, the Tamur, are used as diplomats and spies, both within and outside of the Dominion. They operate in autonomous cells and are specialized in assassination, infiltration, and small-scale urban warfare.

The Orats are made up exclusively of clerics, and conscripts of many faiths make up its ranks. Most of its number are of Mahsai faiths, but it also contains those of non-legitimized faiths, who have been personally evaluated for ‘correct’ demonstrations of piety, and who have been made to take oaths of service. Orats are almost never used independently. Instead, they’re organized into smaller groups which are attached to other forces. They’re used most during humanitarian efforts, when dealing with the undead, or when casualties are expected to be particularly high.

Technically a part of the Auxilaries, the Caravaneers are volunteer soldiers hired directly by influential merchants and nobles from across the Dominion, usually for the purposes of transport and escort. Caravaneers themselves are often drawn from the upper echelons of various algari, who invest their personal wealth into greater equipment and training than is available to other members of the military, and who often try to use their enlistment as opportunities to improve their contacts and station. Some Caravaneer units specialize in tactics that would be prohibitively expensive to others, like polearm fighting or a reliance on heavy armor. On paper, the yazi is able to commandeer the Caraveneers to fold them back into Auxiliary forces, but their volunteer nature makes such a prospect largely pointless outside of times of true crisis.

The peoples of Themakis, the Themakeis, maintain that they’ve inhabited their coastal lands since long before the people of today’s May’Kar settled the Ukor River. This is not a fact that the Dominion argues against- by all accounts, their ancestors arrived via the gulf along May’Kar’s northern border, which they call the Koipodean Sea, and have spent much of their history as a small nation unto themselves.

The May’Kar Dominion did not learn about the Themakeis directly, only by inference through discussions with Mushalee traders and others who had dealings with them. Eventually, though, the Register hired a navigator that was familiar with the region, and sent a group of surveyors to collect what info they could and report back. When they returned, they described a beautiful land, nearly as lush as the banks of the river, and a people on the brink of collapse.

A generation prior, the waters of the Koipodean began to recede from the shore over the course of a day. By the time the sun was setting, they rushed back in a great flood which tore through coastal and island communities. The wave destroyed homes, harbors, and markets. It drowned fields, ripped the stones from the streets, and shattered ships. Many people died not only in the initial event, but also in the aftermath of disease and famine, and their weak position made them ripe targets for raiders looking to glean what was left.

The May’Kar yazi assigned Themakis an algarad, who arrived with a nur of soldiers under their command, and wagons of tools and materials. They immediately set to work, establishing an outpost near the coast and beginning to rebuild infrastructure, drain farmlands, and bring food and medical relief to the people.

The project was an immense success, and over the next decade, the Themakeis soon found themselves resembling their former selves. And then the algarad attempted to secure tribute for the Dominion.

From the Themakeis perspective, this was a great betrayal. They were in need, their neighbor came to them on a humanitarian mission, and was now trying to extort them and claim sovereignty over them.

From the algarad’s perspective, the region was an investment. They had pulled in many favors to secure the relief materials for the Themakeis, and had even drained their own personal coffers to fund the effort. Now they were very overdue to meet their quotas, and would be replaced if they couldn’t.

Negotiations were more or less successful, at first. May’Kar began to receive its tribute, Themakis began to economically thrive once more, and a tense peace was established. Over the decades though, the region was reassessed, and deemed to be too large and prosperous to be considered a single province, and was continuously broken down into more and more algari, each with their algarad.

Today, the crown’s relationship with the Themakic algari is multifaceted and complex. Some have been cooperative, finding opportunity and sometimes even purpose in being a part of the Dominion. Others have continued to advocate for their independence, sometimes through outright rebellion, though only the smallest island communities can be said to be truly independent.They operate under vastly different conditions, with some being left mostly to local leadership and minimal oversight, and others being under ongoing martial law.

In contrast to the remote management that many algari enjoy, the Dominion exerts more direct control over Themakis. Its capital city, Akistokos, has had its leadership replaced entirely, and it operates much like a Ukorate city-state. The surrounding provinces are still assigned algarad who extract tribute from them, but that process is more local and centralized than is the case elsewhere in the desert.

Themakis is of incredible economic import to May’Kar. Its access to the ocean alone, and therefore to sea trade, is an enormous boon. But even absent this, the natural resources of Themakis opened up opportunities for the Dominion that it never had before. Wine, olive oil, honey, and seafood were previously rare along the river, but were now made accessible to the working class as well as the elites, and have since become staples of May’Kar cuisine.

The Themakic people are great city-builders. Rather than being centralized around a single state or crown, their communities are structured around city centers built for community use. Cities are places for education and the arts. The average Themakic citizen has a strong foundation in fields like mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, and theology, with multiple options available for those pursuing greater learning.

Entertainment is an abundant amenity within these cities. Public performances are commonplace, making use of stages and parks built with them in mind, and are often sponsored by public figures and other nobles. Some troupes have become internationally notable, and are sought out by visitors from far away lands, while others are hired to travel and perform abroad.

The ocean is at the heart of Themakic society. During the day, fishing boats fill the coastal horizon, and large seafaring vessels carry goods for import and export. Smaller ships ferry people back and forth between the mainland and the many smaller island communities that make up Themakis as a whole. In the winter and spring, rain supplied by evaporating seawater is common, thoroughly hydrating even the areas not immediately on the shore.

One of the arts that Themakis is most famous for is glassmaking. The oldest known eyeglasses in Faedrun are of Themakic make, and glasswares are one of their common exports. Shortly after their introduction to the Dominion, a guild of glassmakers began to develop larger lenses in a joint effort with Ukorate craftspeople, which ultimately resulted in the development of telescopes, with which to view the stars.

Astronomy has always been valued among the Themakic. Knowledge of the movement of the heavens is essential for navigation upon the sea. A great observatory was built in Akistokos, so that anyone who wished could see the stars. As arcane scholars were able to observe them in greater detail, however, they began to notice patterns between these stars and their magics, leading to the development of a new discipline of study.

These star-mages are called chymeria, and much of their work is dedicated to the collection of various kinds of starlight, and the investigation and documentation of the influences of celestial objects on magic in its various forms of expression. The greatest of the chymerion are said to be able to, when everything is aligned correctly, set in motion unlikely events, which conspire to influence the future for years to come. Some Ukorate Princes are known to regularly give patronage to chymerion schools, in the hopes of procuring good fates for themselves.

Some of the Themakic algari have become integrated into the Auxiliaries, large in two regiments: The first is the Kaftaris, skilled sailors who make up the vast majority of the Dominion’s naval presence. They’re most often leased out to merchants to act as escorts, and are seen as a relatively unprestigious regiment by other career soldiers due to their limited use in military operations. The second is the Oikrates, a regiment of military engineers who have crafted and operated some of the most reliable siege weapons used by May’Kar.

The Themakic people have a complex web of faiths that they collectively refer to as the Thelatroi, which consists of many different gods which are worshiped by different people at different times. These various gods have relations to one another, stories of their deeds, and virtues which they promote in their followers. In all of these cases, the beliefs tend to be localized to different communities, with different communities having totally contradictory beliefs regarding the same figures. Two different clerics can seemingly draw power from the same god, despite having nearly opposite beliefs about who that god is. This has been endlessly confusing to the Mahsai, who previously legitimized the worship of several of these gods before realizing the depth of the Thelatroi in its entirety, and has since had a great deal of its resources locked up in trying to draw lines between its myriad different modes.

In the western mountains that line the edge of the Dominion, in a narrow band of land between rocky hills and stony peaks, live the Gölkiyde. Here, evergreen forests thrive, sustained by the little rain that makes it over the mountains. At these higher altitudes, the temperature cools, leading to some of the mildest summers and coldest winters in the region. The people who live here are among the very few who can say they’ve seen snowfall within May’Kar lands.

Like many of the people living within the desert, the Gölkiyde follow the movement of the seasons. In the summer, when the snow and frost melts from highland meadows, their herders bring their goats, yaks, and camels upwards to pasture. Here, they dwell in lodges that sit empty for the rest of the year, and hunt and forage from the surrounding lands. To communicate across the greater distances in these lesser-populated areas, they whistle in a song-like form of their own language.

In the winter, when the cold is at its worst, they instead descend into the foothills, which they’ve terraced into grain fields of barley and millet and fruit orchards of apricots, walnuts, and pomegranates. Their towns here are walled and fortified- the first line of defense against raiders- and see a swell in visits from visitors and traders. Seasonal workers come here to help with the harvest, and many visit to participate in festivals and religious occasions.

It’s not quite accurate to say that the Gölkiyde are nomadic. Their settlements dot the mountainside at all heights, and most are permanent and inhabited year-round. Only some move during the year, and only as their professions demand it. Generally, these travelers end up having two places they call home, and some even end up having two families.

The coniferous forests that the Gölkiyde live among are the most abundant sources of hardwood found across the Dominion. The Gölkiyde make great use of their lumber in both their architecture and their arts. Their homes are often multistory and compact, taking advantage of small areas of relatively flat building ground. They’re skilled woodcarvers, creating intricately detailed works, both in their functional and decorative pieces. Even a simple door might have elaborate and complex carvings set into its face. They’ve developed advanced joining techniques as well, with some of their buildings standing without a single nail or bit of adhesive holding it together. May’Kar buys a great deal of lumber from the Gölkiyde each year, as well as some of these works, but only a rare few carpentry masters have been able to make as good use of the materials as the ones who harvested it.

Gölkiyde clothing is fairly distinct from what’s worn in other regions of May’Kar. They commonly wear layers of wool clothing, which is often felted and dyed in dark blue and green hues. In the colder seasons, this is further supplemented with cloaks and hats that pull down over the ears. The vast majority of their wool comes from their yaks and camels, and different parts of their coats are made into different articles of clothing with different properties, with the warmest and softest pieces being made from the down innercoat of the yak. These goods find little use in other parts of the Dominion, but fetch high prices from foreign merchants. Their clothing is also often accented with jewelry made from silver, turquoise, and agate.

The highlands are where many of the Gölkiyde holy sites can be found. Their faith, Tanuyu, unusually uniform across the various groups of the Gölkiyde, is devoted to a great god, Tan, who lives in the sky. As such, the most sacred places to Tanuyu followers are those in the highest places. The local maxima of the high ridges that overlook surrounding areas, but especially the peaks of the tallest mountains. Many of these places become sites of piety for the Tanuyu, between small temple sites for worship and offerings, and funeral sites where revered dead are taken to be devoured by birds. These sites are often in remote and sometimes dangerous locations, and so pilgrimage to them is considered a pious and commendable act.

One thing that sets Tanuyu apart from many other faiths in Faedrun and especially within the May’Kar Dominion is that it is a firmly monotheistic one. To its followers, Tan is not only the supreme god, but also the only god. All other allegedly divine figures are either fakes, or are sheygya. The term means ‘demon’, but has a more complex meaning within the mythology of the faith.

According to the Tanuyu, when the universe was young and unformed, Tan began to set order from chaos. While his power was vast and incomparable, there were many small things that needed to be done while he handled the greatest deeds like separating the earth’s mountains from its valleys. To assist him in these smaller tasks, he created the sheygya to assist him. Each one was given a task and a fragment of Tan’s power with which to complete it. But many of these sheygya became derelict in their duties, and some of them even rebelled and found mortals to extract worship from, tricking them into thinking that they were gods of Tan’s equal.

May’Kar agents working with Tanuyu followers are advised to be careful in their word choice when speaking of the gods and spirits of other faiths. Denying the supremacy of Tan, or implying that he is merely one of many, can lead to offense and even hostilities. The Mahsai have begrudgingly legitimized the Tanuyu faith due to the sheer economic advantages that positive relationships with the Gölkiyde have to offer.

In the eastern reaches of the Dominion, where shrubland gives way to endless fields of golden grass, live the Yewuan. They’re never particularly difficult to spot: They’re usually accompanied by great herds of horse, sheep, and goats, and have mounted sentries that guard these herds from the periphery.

The Yewuan are pastoralists. Much of their way of life is dedicated to the movement and management of their flocks. These flocks are the source of some of their most essential resources: Food, milk, wool, hides, and in the case of their horses, mobility. The animals graze from the grasses of the plains, and when that grass begins to deplete, the Yewuan move on.

This movement takes the Yewuan east in the summer, when the desert becomes even hotter and more unbearable, and west in the winter, when frost and snow begins to make the territories bordering Richtcrag difficult to move and graze in. To facilitate this movement, they bring with them large wool-covered communal tents that can easily be set up and torn down, but they also have permanent settlements at the extremes of their journey where up to a quarter of their people reside.

There are multiple Yewuan groups called adukar, which follow parallel paths in and out of the desert. Raids between and within adukar are common (as is raiding on other groups in the area), though relatively bloodless, with the primary objective being the seizure of herd animals. As imbalances in power emerge between nearby groups, some might pledge loyalty and tribute to each other in exchange for peace and even protection. Hierarchies among the Yewuan are complex webs that seemingly contradict themselves when viewed from afar.

The Yewuan are collectively bound by their religious law, referred to as the Tsukor, which is also the term that the Register has assigned as the name of their faith. The Tsukor is highly prescriptive about how the Yewuan must live, both as individuals and as communities. It covers in great detail matters of diet, dress, animal care, marriage, trade, justice, inheritance, and battle, and has different prescriptions for situations involving only Yewuan, and situations involving outsiders.

For an individual, violating the Tsukor means harsh punishment, usually of a physical nature. The most severe crimes are punished by death. For those crimes of a particularly sacrilegious nature, exile is common, for a period of up to seven years. This exile is from the whole of the Yewuan. After one returns from exile, they are considered spiritually cleansed and are welcomed back into their adukar.

For a larger group, violating the Tsukor means no longer being protected by it, and inviting the wrath of the Yewuan. Raids are not just for stealing from the flock, but also for retributive killing and the taking of slaves. In the most extreme cases, an adukar will be picked clean of its people and its herds. Slaves taken this way are protected by the Tsukor, which goes so far as to define their rights and the conditions under which they are to be treated. They are made to work as a form of spiritual rehabilitation, much like exile. After a period of time, they’re either returned to their adukar if it still exists, or adopted into the adukar that took them if it doesn’t.

These conditions keep the various adukar on relatively good terms with each other- the Tsukor ensure that everyone is ‘playing fair’, with raids being seen as a natural part of the general struggle for influence and prestige. Those that wish to abstain from this struggle entirely find homes for themselves on the permanent settlements at the east and west ends of their adukar’s grazing range.

When dealing with foreign hostile powers, the Yewuan act as a single confederation, united under a leader called the adukan. The adukan is responsible for coordinating the rest of the adukar against their common enemy, but their power begins and ends at collective defense.

In protracted conflicts, warriors will be organized into groups of up to twenty, will be given general orders, and are set free to carry out those orders however they see fit. Yewuan warriors take advantage of the speed of their horses, cutting down their enemies either with long, curved bronze blades, or with expertly fired shots from their longbows. They excel at harrying forces much larger than their own, waging wars of attrition with their superior mobility. Their prowess has led to bands of them being hired by various eastern Richtcrag powers, and they’ve been inducted into the Dominon’s Auxiliaries under the banner of the Yewuan Irechem, which is exclusively cavalry.

The herders and warriors of the adukar are the glue that hold their wide-spanning peoples together, and a major responsibility of theirs is transporting goods and materials during their seasonal travels, to balance the needs of their satellite communities. At the same time, these towns and villages work tirelessly using what resources they have. They farm hardy crops that persist in the dry climate. They work forges to produce tools, weapons, and armor for their people. When the herds return to them, entire communities come together to butcher and preserve the animals selected for slaughter.

These settlements are the main point of contact between the Yewuan and the May’Kar Dominion, as well as other traders, providing them with a permanent place to meet and discuss matters. The Yewuan grant hospitality here to those who approach them in good faith, even among those they would normally battle with upon the plains. They give a token tribute to the Dominion in the form of fine animal hides, a symbolic arrangement made for the sake of their algarad, but they receive far more in return, paid by the crown for peace and protection for traders moving through the region.

The Yewuan are skilled architects. Their tents and homes are built from very little, making the most out of lumber purchased from outsiders. Their temples, on the other hand, are great and extravagant, made from stone blocks that have been meticulously cut to perfect size and fitted together. Some temples have been found that are so ancient that the people that built them have been gone for centuries, but they still stand tall. In times of danger, the temples also serve as castle-like fortifications, allowing the villagers to wait for invaders to lose enthusiasm or for help to arrive.

When time allows for it, they weave elaborate colorful rugs and tapestries, which are laid within and hung upon their homes, respectively. These woven works are artistic expressions, but also often encode personal and communal history, elements of the Tsukor, and other personally and culturally significant objects and figures. Some are made specifically to be sold to the Dominion, where they fetch a high price, but most are made either for personal use or for symbolic gifts, given to loved ones, leaders, or sometimes, enemies.

The Tsukor acknowledges two gods: Khiidur and Salach. They represent the duality of the earth and the sky. Khiidur is a masculine figure of earth, soil, and stone. The Yewuan temples are built from his bones, and dedicated to him, and are a symbol of his strength and protection. Salach is a feminine figure of the winds, sky, and flame. She has no temples, because she is the thing that cannot be contained, but many offerings are committed to her in high and open spaces.

According to the Tsukor, all things that are, were made by Khiidur and Salach in isolation. Khiidur made the earths of the world, the waters that sit upon it, the metals that dwell within it, and more. And Salach made the skies, the winds that blow through it, the sun and the moon, the birds, and the stars, and yet more as well.

But when they came together, they saw that there were things that could only be made through the union of their arts, and this created three things: The first are the grasses, which grow from the earth but sway in the wind. The second is the horse, and earth-bound creature that nonetheless flies across the ground with the speed of a bird and the spirit of thunder. The third is the Yewuan themselves, the chosen people of the gods, who are uniquely suited to dwell within the space that so clearly marks their divine union.