Christopher Thompson
15-10-2008, 10:45
The Gahrodanthi Social System/History
Race: Dwarven (Of Azer Descent)
Population: Seven Million
Society on Gahrodanth is organized along loose family associations, many of which now include millions of members. An extended family grouping is called a kiith (plural: kiithid), and most archaeologists agree it is a social artifact that dates back to before our exile.
A kiith has a loose hierarchy based on one's social position within the family. Originally this was based primarily on seniority, but as technology has changed the face of our society, the kiithid too have changed, and now family ranking is based more on wealth or personal influence than age. Organization within the kiith is recursive in nature and models that of a core family unit. Where a single family has a primary leader, a secondary and then a group of dependents, the next level of kiith organization is based on the same system -- there is a primary family who makes policy decisions, a secondary family which hears disputes and makes recommendations, and a number of families of lesser power that have sworn allegiance to the primary. The primary family within a kiith is called the kiith-sa.
The structure is not static by any means and, while it is not a trivial matter, families are free to change their primary allegiances as they see fit. A family's position within the kiith rises and falls with how many swear allegiance to them. Although it is much rarer, from time to time a family will move from one kiith to another or even feel the need to become their own full kiith.
A kiith-sa can direct all within the kiith to war, demand families to dedicate time and finances to special projects, or even move the Kiith to another region. The kiith-sa is a political and financial leader in that it acts on the wishes of the entire kiith. The kiith-sa from all over Gahrodanth meet in the Great Daiamid located in the capital of Ass'aam Kiith'siid, to debate policy and resolve legal conflicts between kiiths.
Traditionally, kiithid concentrate their own power into one or two disciplines and gather families under their banner by being the best place to find advancement in a particular field. For example, Kiith Sjet has been associated with magic on Gahrodanth so long that their history with magic is known to date back for over a thousand years, and is known to have the oldest magical libraries in Gahrodanth. An old kiith, the Samtaaw, are known all over as excellent miners, and their long expeditions, far into the earth have long been the financial and constructional backbone for our trading and building ventures. Bonded couples interested in magical study often apply to a Sjet family associated with such, and anxious entrepreneurs often apply to families in the Samtaaw Kiith. Alliances between kiith are also based on mutual intrests, and they often lead to closer ties or complete reorganizations. During the 1200s, when the manufacturing families of Kiith Hrall realized that the future was in engineering rather than permanent magical consecration to achieve transport and construction, they first tried to influence Sa Hraal to begin in engineering technologies. When this gambit failed, the entire manufacturing branch of Kiith Hraal broke away and joined a relatively small kiith that specialized in engineering technologies. The new kiith, LiirHrall, has gone on to take the lead in the design and construction of most military and commercial enterprises within our empire.
In the modern era, the kiithid have slowly begun to transfer their power to the individual, but it should be noted that it is still a powerful means of social identity. Gahrodanthi society now answers to the Diamid today, but unfortunately for the unity of our people, tradition dies hard, and it takes little stress for any Gahrodanthi to think of family and kiith first and Gahrodanth second.
Kiith Gaalsien
Of all the kiithid, none has lost more throughout the centuries than Kiith Gaalisien. The Gaalisien line is ancient and some of the oldest documents bore their sigil.
Historically, while minor cults have come and gone, the majority of Gahrodanthi have always believed in the Great Master Sajuuk, whose Hand Shapes What Is. The majority of religious sects differ not whether Sajuuk exists, but in what His nature may be. The majority view until the Time of Reason was some variation on the theme of punishment; the logic being that no just God would leave his people on such an imperfect place if they had not done something to earn this fate. Many vital survival tactics, such as conservation of resources and not risking the future of the kiith on untried methods, were reinforced by dogma - understandable acts were always described in terms of punishable arrogance. These beliefs helped keep our people alive during the great trek from the central deserts into the earth, but once in the temperate earth, the same beliefs held back useful innovations that the more hospitable environment made possible. Generally, how wrathful one believed Sajuuk to be tended to dictate how wary one was of cultural and technological advances.
Of the three major religious kiithid, Gaalisien, Ferriil, and Somtaaw, it was Gaalisien that preached the strongest message of punishment. The dogma of righteous suffering and humility held that Sajuuk had cast our people down to pay for our arrogance. Gaalisien theologians preached that to deviate from the most accepted and ritualized survival methods was to actually extend the period of time before our people would be lifted back up to heaven. In the early days, this strict dogma paid off and allowed Kiith Gaalisien to survive and prosper during various ecological disasters between 75-250. Once this turbulent time passed and our people penetrated further into the ground, more innovative kiithid regained their power and Gaalisien power began to fade somewhat. Many archaeologists believe that Kiith Gaalisien deliberately started the Heresy Wars as an attempt to bring all the lesser kiithid back under its power during the resulting chaos.
Fortunately for the technologically and magically inclined among us, it was Kiith Naabal which emerged victorious from the Heresy Wars, and the dogma of penance and repression began to fade from hearts and minds. Despite this, the Gaalisien, power shattered forever after nearly 300 years of war, became even more extreme in their religious beliefs -- as if to compensate for the rest of the sinful planet. By the Time of Reason was at its height in 710, the Gaalisien were down to less and 30 vassal families, and only the great desert temple of Saju-ka remained under its power. Perhaps it was the sense that history had passed them by, or simply a desire to commit an act of sacrifice strong enough to regain the favor of Sajuuk Himself, but in the year 717, the kiith-sa of the Gaalisien performed an act that has lived in infamy ever since.
At the time, Saju-ka was the artistic gem of Gahrodanth. In its great temples and halls were most of the great works commissioned in the name of the God Sajuuk, and in its libraries were the collected works of our people, gathered before His eyes so that He could see them and judge us worthy. Though Saju-ka had been built in the first hospitable valley found in the north, time had allowed the deserts to crawl ever northwars themselves, and by the 700s, sand would have completely swallowed Saju-ka if not for the complex series of wind baffles, dikes and paths designed by the great Engineer Gar Naabal. One night, during the height of the spring winds, Saju-ka was lost to our people. In a single act of divine madness, Miirpat Gaalisien-Sa ordered his people to blow up the entire system that held back the sand. The light from hundreds of explosions was still visible when the hungry sands began pouring down the streets of Saju-ka. Within two days the city was completely buried, and thousands died in the mass evacuation.
The whole Kiith Galsien was convicted of absentia by all and deemed an outlaw kiith, but this punishment had very little effect on the Gaalisien, as they slipped away into the wastes during the terrible night, abandoning the progress they saw as decadence that would eventually bring down the wrath of God.
Since then, Kiith Galsien wondered the deserts, surviving by the skills and rituals they held so dear. Occasionally they will make themselves known by raiding engineering and magical communities and leaving massive theological documents proclaiming how close we are to the end. Military expeditions to track them down once and for all have always failed, and a certain mythology has grown up around them -- as if there is a nagging suspicion in the minds of modern Gahrodanthi that the only way Kiith Gaalisien could have survived all the way to now, is if they really did have the grace of Sajuuk. Some say that they have even found His lost city underneath the earth, and Saju-ka once again echoes with mumbled prayers, and offerings made in the darkness.
Certain acts of sabotage during the our history seemed to be Gaalisien-inspired, and it's likely that even today there are families secretly aligned with the ancient religious kiith. The Gaalisien have become somewhat of an Illuminati among our society, and conspiracy theorists have long proclaimed scores of Kiith-Sa and even the Daiamid are secretly Gaalisien.
Kiith Paktu
Prior to the year 462, Kiith Paktu was a minor farming kiith, living on the slopes above the Lake Mourne. On the year their most famous leader, Majiir Paktu, was born, the long rift between the religious leaders of Kiith Siid and Kiith Gaalsi, which were then the most powerful kiithid of the north, finally became an unbridgeable divide. In 462, the famous Siidim Council announced a new Dogma -- the traditional Siidim cosmology, which once held that all kiithid were exiled from a heavenly paradise, was abandoned. The truth, according to the proclamation of 462, was that only the Siidim were of divine origin -- all other kiiths were native, and therefore inferior, their blood tainted by corrupting sand.
In accordance with the new Dogma, many cruel programs were passed against non-Siidim kiiths -- the people now known as the "Gritiidim," or "sand people." By far the harshest of these measures was the Clean Water Act, which forbade non-Siidim kiithid from living at the headwaters of a river or stream, lest they foul the water which Siidim downstream would have to drink. Hundreds of families were displaced by Siidim temple dwarves, turned out of their ancestral homes and made to march downstream, carrying as much of their former lives with them as they could. In 488, Kiith Paktu joined the ranks of the dispossessed.
At the same time, the temples of the neighboring Kiith Gaalsi had become obsessed with the sins of pride and by the redemption through suffering. The Siidim made obvious targets for the sermons of Gaalsi holy dwarves: for every Siidim sin of pride, a more brutal and excruciating expiation was demanded by the gods. Lesser kiiths of the north, already suffering under the weight of Siidim oppression, often were willing to join their holdings to the Gaalsi rather than see them taken by the Siidim; many welcomed Gaalsien soldiers and temple dwarvesinto their holdfasts, only to find themselves held at swordpoint and made to watch as their "sinful" books and belongings were burned to appease the Gods. Heavy tributes of both food and fodder were demanded by Gaalsien armies, and appalling sacrifices were sometimes demanded by Gaalsien priests, who saw no reason why the pure of heart should suffer alone.
Clashes between Siidim and Gaalsien holdings intensified over time, and even remote kiithid were forced to choose sides; both great kiithid were too powerful to challenge on its own. Caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, the Gritiidim were finally ready to try the unthinkable: crossing the Great Banded Desert to the east, looking for new land.
By this time Majiir Paktu had become head of the Paktu kiith-sa. Although the First Migration may not have been entirely his idea, it's certain that the fate off all the people of Kiith Paktu was in his hands. It is difficult for us to imagine today what he mist have felt as his people built the first great sailors at the edge of the desert. Although many believed there might be arable land at the south, no one had ever attempted to cross the Great Banded and returned to tell the tale. The only confirmation of a land south of the desert came from Mannanii travelers, rambling on about endless rivers and "grasses that touched the sky."
The Migration offered slim hope at best, so slim that no one dared to risk it until there was no other hope at all.
Th rest, they say, is history. Nearly 50 kiithid set out from the plain at Albegiido in 490 and sailed into the Great Banded Desert, sweeping over the burning sands on the winds of the seasonal storm, the Chak m'Hot. By the time the males, females and children of the First Migration reached the shore of the Hunon Mountains, only 17 families were left, and all of them had lost weaker members on the journey. Still more died as they struggled over the mountains; without anyone to guide them to the easiest pass, they lost many to poisonous water, rockfalls, thirst and lizard-bite.
As the story goes, many of the Firsters fell into despair among the burning red mountains of the Hunon and did not want to go on. Despite whether he had been the leader from the beginning of the Migration, Majiir Paktu was definitely the leader on that day. He stood at the head of the column and pleaded with the people to continue. "I can smell the water," he said. "It's only a little farther."
The people did not believe them, and more than a few turned to start the hard trek back to their sand-sailors, still docked at the desert shore. But as legend has it, at that moment a bird appeared in the cloudless sky above them -- a water-spirit, circling against the hot sun.
The people of the First Migration followed the water-spirit and Majiir Paktu through the mountains, and when they stood on the last red hill-top, they were looking down at the rolling breakers of a great blue river at the Cythian Steppes. Straight away, that expanse of water was named the Majiirian River, after the man who had brought them there.
The people of the First Migration settled on the shores of Majiirian, and were presumed dead by many in the North for the almost two years it took them to build up their homes and holdings. In the spring of the third year, however, Majiir Paktu and a group of picked volunteers attempted another crossing of the Great Banded Desert to take back word of the new land to the West, where so many still lived in a nightmare of war and oppression.
Majiir Paktu did not survive the return, but seven of his followers did. These seven Paktu kiithsmen passed through the westlands on foot, taking word of the new land with them everywhere they went. Once that word spread, there was no stopping it. Dozens of families built sandsailers on the famous Salt Marshes every year, trying to escape the Heresy Wars and the madness of their Siidim and Gaalsi masters.
Alas, Siidim and Gaalsi were not quite finished with the people who escaped their tyranny. Although they ignore the migrations for years, both of them lost many hectares of holdings to the war, By 650 it occurred to both of the great northern kiithid that many of those who fled to the south were still considered their vassal clans and by treaty still owed them lands and tribute.
There were at least three major attempts to assault the eastern lands from 652-700. The last of these three was the most sucessful; the army of Liam Gaalsi actually arrived at the pass of the Hunon mountains almost intact in the spring of 698, ready to subdue the unruly kiithid of the eastlands and their kiith-sa.
On that day, Kim Paktu, the grandson of Majiir Paktu and the leader of the Paktu kiith-sa, arrayed and army of 300,000 swords on the shore of the Majiirian. Every one of them wore the colors of Kiith Paktu, and every standard bearer carried its flag.
"These are my people," Kim Paktu said. "And this land is ours. You have no vassals here."
Badly outnumbered and facing a fresh and well-supplied army, Liam Gaalsi nonetheless led his troops into battle. Very few of the Gallsi that followed him that day escaped with their lives. Although they killed thousands of Paktu, the southern kiith-sa eventually prevailed, and no such crusade ever was attempted again.
The flag of Paktu is white, the color of the sandsails which carried its people across the Banded Desert, emblazoned with a sun stained red by the blood of those who died in search of -- or in the defense of -- freedom. Silhouetted against that sun is the shape of the water-spirit, an eternal symbol of hope and faith.
Paktu believe fiercely in independence and despise priests and dictators. Its people are optimistic, innovative, and venturesome -- when things are darkest, someone will almost always repeat the kiith's motto: "I can smell the sea."
Kiith Soban
"The Kiith of Spirit"
In Gahrodanthi society, the majority of citizens are secure in their kiith ties. Within the immediate family, or within the larger circle of more distant blood relationships, most of us are bound to our kiith. If we should ever have a falling-out with one kiith'sa, disaster would strike such an unlucky family.
This has always been the case. Prior to the emergence of the eastern federation and the Naabel intervention very few had ties outside their own kith and, if they did, they were ties of dominance and submission - one kiith was made vassal to another, and owed tribute to their masters, in return for which they were given the protection of the larger kiith's army and the benefit of trade with the larger kiith's holdings.
In all of this , however, there was no provision made for those who were without kiith. Unthinkable as this state may seem to us today, it can still bring a shudder to the modern Gahrodanthi to consider the fate of a kiithless man or woman during those times. Banishment from the kiith was effectively a death sentence at any time prior to the year 416, when Kiith Soban was born.
The origins of Kiith Soban, the "Grey Brotherhood," are somewhat hazy. It appears that two vassal kiithid, who held lands along the second sea, were invaded by the temple dwarves of a strong neighboring kiith. The vassals fought back furiously, defending their homes with desperate and furious strength, and succeeded in killing a few of the raiding kiith. In revenge, the invaders punished the survivors brutally, although they had already surrendered. Many of the basic taboos of our society were violated; all the children of the farmers were murdered, as well as the leader, man or woman, of every family. Those that remained were driven from their holdings and fled across the Sparkling Desert to carry the news of these atrocities to their kiith'sa.
The leader of this group was Soban, later known as Soban the Red. When he knelt before his Sa he recounted the horrors that the neighboring kiith had committed against his people and demanded vengeance. He offered to personally lead the army that would ravage the invaders and teach them the error of their ways, and waited for the males and females of his kiith'sa to join him in a rush across the Sparkling Desert.
Unfortunately, this support was never to come. Soban's kiith'sa, afraid of the possible repercussions - or perhaps simply realizing that their kiith was not strong enough to prevail against a larger and stronger kiith - refused to attack the reavers. Instead, the smaller kiith became vassals to the larger, joining their blood to the blood of the murderers.
When he heard of this, Soban tore the colors of his kiith from his body in shame. His followers did the same, and in doing so they abandoned their kiith completely -- an unheard-of gesture at the time, especially coming as it did from landless males and females. According to legend, Soban declared at that time that the word "kiith" was meaningless, when any kiith'sa could turn a deaf ear to the blood of children crying from the ground. He vowed that he would never belong to any false kiith again - the only kiith which deserved the word was the kiith of spirit, the brotherhood of like mind and shared ambitions.
All the followers of Soban took a new color: a deep and vivid red, the color of blood flowing from the heart. Although they could not have been many, their first act as a kiith was a successful attack on the holdings which had once been their homes. When they left their old farms behind, not a blade of grass was left green or one stone standing on top of another - everything was razed and every invader killed, in ways which gave Kiith Soban a bloody reputation for years to come.
Kiith Soban became a martial kiith from then on, and as years passed a peculiar set of rituals developed among them. Although many other warrior kiith existed at the time, those kiiths were standard in their aims and organization; they were martial to the extent that they desired the property and possessions of their weaker neighbors. Only the Soban were completely landless, and existed purely as mercenaries.
The Sobanii mercenary is a curious feature of our history. For centuries, Sobanii took part in every military conflict in our nation, and their skills as soldiers and commanders were highly prized. When the services of any given Soban were bought, he or she would dress in the colors of the new kiith and fight in the service of that kiith, regardless of the personal risk or cost. When the term of service was over--down to the hour and minute--Soban mercenaries would put down their arms, remove their adopted colors, and return to their own kiith. If the end came during the middle of a battle or a thousand miles from home, they would still go; contracts for their services can not be renewed on the scene, but only through their kiith-sa.
To this day, the Sobanii are completely devoid of standard family groupings. No "marriage," as such, is permitted among their ranks; although male and female Sobanii are permitted to form whatever alliances they might want, there is no such thing as a Sobanii child. Children born to the Soban are left as foundlings with other kiiths, or their parents are made to leave Kiith Soban to raise them.
Despite the fact that there has not been a major war on Gahrodanth for 200 years, the skills of Kiith Soban are still valuable, and they never lack for money and influence. Sobanii are often preferred when influential kiiths like the Naabel need intelligence officers or security officers, and virtually all modern-day generals are trained at Soban-run military academies, which are still very highly regarded and secretive facilities even today.
A current of true Sobanism still exists in our society, and always will so long as some continue to reject the status quo. Some Gahrodanthi still join Kiith Soban of their own free will, renouncing all other kiith ties and associations; others are forced to join, when driven from other kiiths for violating their taboos. Before "taking the red," as it is called, a prospective Sobanii must repeat the ritual which Soban performed centuries ago; all other kiith colors must be forcibly ripped from the body, a powerful gesture of negation. To some it represents the ultimate rebellion, to some the only salvation, but Kiith Soban imposes the same discipline and solidarity on them all - for which Gahrodanthi society may well thank them.
Kiith Sjet
Kiith Sjet is something of an oddity amongst the power structures of the Kiithid. While they are an ancient and respected Kiith, whose expertise has been courted by Kiithid-Sa across Gahrodanth, they have never parlayed this influence into any real political power. Kiith Sjet is, in fact, one of the only Kiith to have a validated claim to direct Kiith descent from the ancient first city of Khar-Toba in the Great Banded Desert. Translations of the words and calculations found on the wall of the Temple-Observatory make several mentions of a group of scientists and clerics with the family name of Sjet. Even the Sjet sigil, a series of embedded circles representing the celestial spheres, can be found etched in the temple doors. It is now an accepted fact that Kiith Sjet were once responsible for the preservation of the Temple-Observatory to protect it and scan the heavens.
And therein lies the true power of Kiith Sjet-their undying desire to question, observe, predict and record.
In ancient times they were the first to plot the path of the planets in the system and derive a calendar from them. They were the first to discover the 13-year progressive cycle of sandstorms that tear around the center of Gahrodanth, and predict where the rains that follow the end of every cycle would fall. Most of the impartial histories of the Heresy wars and the resulting reformation were penned by Sjet scribes, who recorded it along with their observations of top-soil destruction and the slow crawl of the sands northward.
During periods of upheaval, Kiith Sjet have always been too valuable as allies and advisors to try and turn into vassals. Any Kiith who kills or attempts to interrogate a Sjet is shunned by the Science Philosophers for a period no shorter than 100 years, and in order to keep their knowledge from being corrupted, any kiith who wishes to become Sjet swears an oath directly to the Sjet-Sa, and has to serve faithfully for two generations before being instructed in the sacred wisdoms. The closest thing to a scandal that has ever shaken the Sjet Kiith was during the Time of Reason, when it came to light that during the Heresy Wars certain Sjet vassals had actually lived under a secret secondary oath to Kiith Naabal. These secret Naabali used their positions of Sjet immunity to move through the various warring factions and carry out missions of retrieval and intelligence-gathering. When this truth was revealed, the sense of outrage was strong, but Fliir Sjet-Sa realized that the extremity of the situation may have justified the betrayal. Even though she was able to bring enough of her kiith over to this line of reasoning to avoid sanctions or exile for the families involved, there is still a lingering thread of mistrust between some Sjetti and Kiith Naabal to this very day, and the debate over the use of Science and Magic as Power is still a passionate one.
As the Time of Reason progressed, Kiith Sjet expanded their studies and moved away from the tradition of celestial mechanics and mathematics. Various families began to delve into the nature and origin of magic. Within a century, Kriil Sjet presented a paper to the Diamid presenting scientific and magical evidence that we bore little resemblance to any other creature in the region, and were in-fact, very closely related to being from the elemental plane of fire. This scientific proof backed-up the religious tenet and shook Gahrodanthi society, but established once and for all that Kiith Sjet served the Truth, however disturbing that might be.
Kiith Naabal
Not much is known about Kiith Naabal, prior to their dramatic emergence at the end of the Heresy wars. There are a few scattered mentions of them in the records of the major Kithid of the first epoch, but the name Naabal arises only in terms of tradesmen or heretics. Kith Gaalsien were particularly vehement in the persecution of families under the Naabal flag, and there is some evidence that it was Gaalsien persecution which drove Naabal to their hidden valley refuge, blasted into the edge of the Hunon Mountains. Based on the fact that the Naabal crest, a Gahrodanthi silhouetted against a background of tiny circles and stripes, loosely resembles symbols found etched into panels at Khar-Toba, some anthrocists have put forth the theory that the Naabal are actually direct descendants from some sort of engineering core that ran the city. While the theory is convenient in terms of linking the unknown past with the present age of exploration, the evidence is just too circumstantial for most scholars to give it much weight.
Kiith Naabal itself seems uninterested in clearing up the distant past, and the hard facts only begin to appear in the years directly before the Naabal intervention, when the kiith moved to end the Heresy Wars and then establish the Diamid. In those three centuries of chaos, Kiith Nabaal had almost completely cut off contact with the rest of Gahrodanth. Traders or refugees who accidentally stumbled into the valley were welcomed with open arms and given a place to make their lives anew. There is no record of any rejecting this offer, so we are not quite sure what the alternative might have been... Small parties, always made up of families with direct fealty to the Kiith-Sa, were sent out occasionally to bring back texts that were in danger of destruction, usually because the cities that held them were being constantly sacked. Sometimes these parties would even spirit away scholars imprisoned for heresy. It wasn't until Ifriit Naabal-Sa came to head the secretive Kiith that a less isolated philosophy began to take hold. Ifriit realized that the wars were dangerously close to destroying the last of the infrastructure that kept the bulk of the people alive. Fields were being burned, dams demolished, caverns caved-in and sand traps torn down simply to deprive the enemy of valuable resources, and under such an onslaught the days of our survival were numbered.
Though declared pacifists, much of the knowledge discovered and hoarded by Kiith Naabal had direct military application and so, when Ifriit Naabal-Sa finally proposed intervention to his people, it only took a few years for a military force to be assembled. The Naabal had been keeping the secrets of explosives, gunpowder and refining for more than a hundred years, and when they rose, they swept out of their hidden city of Tiir like the gleaming servants of Jaakul himself. Large towed cannons to bring down the walls of despotic Kiith, while handfuls of soldiers carrying guns and wearing hardened armor moved to route marauding armies 20 times their size. Ifriit Naabal-Sa spoke at every holding, village and city his army liberated, and offered their people all the fruits of Naabal science and technology if they would but lay down their arms and end the pointless destruction. Unlike the major powers in the Heresy Wars, Naaball-Sa did not demand renunciation of former Kiith ties; all he asked for was an ending. The lesser Kiithid, brutalized by nearly 300 years of war, gratefully accepted his terms, and soon the Naabal army had grown 50 fold with Kiithid whose only desire was to end the Heresy Wars any way they could.
And in three short years they had done it. Ifriit Naabal-Sa's last act before stepping down as Sa was to establish the Daiamid in Ass'aam as a place where all Kiith, powerful and weak, could gather to resolve disputes and set policy for all of Gahrodanth. Even today, in the Captital of Ass'aam Kiith'siid in Gahrodanth, they still meet.
In the decades to follow, Naabal rebuilt the damaged infrastructure and improved upon it with their no-longer-secret construction and metallurgical techniques. Any minor Kith were accepted into Naabal if they simply wanted to learn new crafts and trades. These same Kiithid were then allowed to go their own way if they chose, and many of the major industrial Kiith of modern Gahrodanth began under Naabal's wing. By the Time of Reason 200 years later, Kiith Naabal had replaced the perilous sand-sail routes to the east with tunnels, and had given Kiith Paktu-Sa of the southern region a permanent presence in the Diamid.
Kiith Naabal seemed content to fade slowly into history for many years, but the discovery of Khar-Toba seemed to change all that. From that point on, Naabal formed permanent alliances with both the Sjet and Soban Kith, and began to influence first the excavation of Khar-Toba and then the exploitation of history and artifacts discovered there. Again, the Naabal-Sa have been careful to spread the wealth and knowledge.
Kiith Manaan
Perhaps the strangest of all kiithid is the Manaan, "the Travelers." Although the blood bonds between Manaani are not strong - they range greatly in physical appearance and kiith traditions - they are nevertheless all considered one family, especially by outsiders, who for centuries viewed these nomads as a dire threat to decency and morals, to unprotected holdings, and to the virtue of young dwarves from good families.
The antipathy toward Manaani is simple enough to explain. During a time when the majority of Gahrodanthi were hard-working desert farmers, clinging to life with teeth and fingernails, the Manaani maintained a traditional nomadic existence. They traveled from place to place, stopping at watering places to rest; if the water was surrounded by a hold, the Manaani expected hospitality. Although they were rarely hostile toward farmers and city dwellers, they resisted any attempts to settle or civilize their kith. Driven by a hunger for new experiences and a restlessness which few other could understand, the Manaani could never stay in one place for long - they simply picked up stakes and moved on into the wastes again, leaving the security (and the hard work) of house and hold behind them.
The earliest historical mention of "Manaani wanderers" comes from the year 340, when holdings along the shore of the White Desert complained that their farms had been raided by the Travelers. According to the report they sent to their kiith-sa, the White Desert holders had recently closed their gates to a wandering kiith, refusing them permission to make camp by the waterside. Although the Manaani went away at the time peacefully, they returned by night and came over the wall " by the hundreds", overwhelming the resistance of the surprised holders. In the end, the Manaani were accused of stealing nearly a ton of food and many hundred man-weights of water - which was, coincidentally, just a bit more than the tribute which was owed by the White Desert holders to their Kiith-sa that year.
The tale of the White Desert holders was dubious for many reasons, although it was widely believed by them at the time and for many centuries to follow. The report that Manaani came over the wall of a sand-dike "by the hundreds" is absurd, given the fact that traditional Manaani never travel in groups larger than an extended family - and in such a group, there would have been a dozen able-bodied dwarves at most. To find Manaani "by the hundreds", one would have to seek them out at a Gathering, their yearly meeting on the sands of Ferin Sha ("The Dancing Ground") - and not only was Ferin Sha nearly two hundred leagues from the White Desert, but focus at such a Gathering would be celebration and drinking, not killing and looting. Fighting of any kind is forbidden at Ferin Sha; to profane sacred ground with spilled blood is the greatest Manaani taboo.
Is this to say that there was no basis for Kiith Manaan's early reputation as thieves? Unfortunately, no. If the majority of Manaani were innocent of raiding, there are still undoubtedly some who traveled in greater strength, and might be capable of carrying off a few water barrels, and the majority of Travelers are probably guilty of a little judicious pilfering from time to time, even if it is only picking a pocket or picking fruit in the night. The real question is not whether the Manaani were really thieves, but why, if they are widely believed to be thieves, would the majority of holdings open their gates to Manaani visitors? An answer of one word will suffice: entertainment.
The Manaani have always been traders, but prior to the Great Migration they could never compete with the legitimate trade routes among the northern holdings - at least when it came to transporting mundane cargoes. In order to survive, a kiith of Travelers need to bring their would-be hosts something they could not get cheaper or more routinely somewhere else. In some cases, Manaani would carry rare drugs or medicines that could only be found in remote places, or traffic in taboo items, but since their caravans were often searched before being allowed to enter a holding, the Manaani would more often carry a less tangible but even more valuable freight: music, laughter, and spectacle, a break from the hard and unending work of a farmer's life. For many years, Kiith Manaan survived by their wits and their ability to amuse hold-born Gahrodanthi. Singers and poets, magicians, dancers, actors and con men - there was nothing to the rumor that Manaani could perform dark magic, but they could certainly make your purse and your fifteen year-old daughter disappear.
After the Great Migration began, however, life changed drastically for the Manaani. Although they played no important role in the First Crossing, a small kiith of Travelers accompanied the Paktu in the sandsailers that left Albegiido in 490; most of them returned to the north in 497, bringing their three-masted ships with them. The Manaani took to the new technology in droves, and made many improvements to the original design.
During the beginning of the Heresy Wars, Manaani kiithid still living in the north suffered badly under the rule of Siidim and Gaalsi; their free-wheeling and joyous attitude was anathema to both of the great kiith, and one of the few points of doctrine that both parties could agree on was that Manaani were abominations before the eyes of Sajuuk. The last bloodless celebration at Ferin Sha was held in 513; an army of Siddim attacked the Dancing Ground and slaughtered the celebrants wholesale.
After the massacre at Ferin Sha, the majority of Kiith Manaan survivors took to the sail and the sword. Manaani raiders, once largely a myth, became a grim and terrible reality to Siddim holdings that bordered on the desert and water; no one was safe from the pirate sailors, and the sight of a mast on the horizon was an occasion of panic and terror. Within a hundred years, however, the Manaani exhausted their appetite for bloodshed, and began to use their ships for more profitable ventures. When the great mother of their kiith-sa, Jora Manaan, declared the war on the Siidim at an end in 656, the Manaani built a new Dancing Ground in the Paktu-held south and turned their fleet completely to trade.
The questing spirit of the Manaani is not dead, even today. Kiith Manaan still controls enormous wealth, and of all the kiithid they are the most likely to produce a diplomat or a statesman. Manaani are also common in the ranks of scouts and are always eager to volunteer when it's time to try an experimental tactic: being the first to see anything new and different is a hunger that still burns deep in their blood.
Race: Dwarven (Of Azer Descent)
Population: Seven Million
Society on Gahrodanth is organized along loose family associations, many of which now include millions of members. An extended family grouping is called a kiith (plural: kiithid), and most archaeologists agree it is a social artifact that dates back to before our exile.
A kiith has a loose hierarchy based on one's social position within the family. Originally this was based primarily on seniority, but as technology has changed the face of our society, the kiithid too have changed, and now family ranking is based more on wealth or personal influence than age. Organization within the kiith is recursive in nature and models that of a core family unit. Where a single family has a primary leader, a secondary and then a group of dependents, the next level of kiith organization is based on the same system -- there is a primary family who makes policy decisions, a secondary family which hears disputes and makes recommendations, and a number of families of lesser power that have sworn allegiance to the primary. The primary family within a kiith is called the kiith-sa.
The structure is not static by any means and, while it is not a trivial matter, families are free to change their primary allegiances as they see fit. A family's position within the kiith rises and falls with how many swear allegiance to them. Although it is much rarer, from time to time a family will move from one kiith to another or even feel the need to become their own full kiith.
A kiith-sa can direct all within the kiith to war, demand families to dedicate time and finances to special projects, or even move the Kiith to another region. The kiith-sa is a political and financial leader in that it acts on the wishes of the entire kiith. The kiith-sa from all over Gahrodanth meet in the Great Daiamid located in the capital of Ass'aam Kiith'siid, to debate policy and resolve legal conflicts between kiiths.
Traditionally, kiithid concentrate their own power into one or two disciplines and gather families under their banner by being the best place to find advancement in a particular field. For example, Kiith Sjet has been associated with magic on Gahrodanth so long that their history with magic is known to date back for over a thousand years, and is known to have the oldest magical libraries in Gahrodanth. An old kiith, the Samtaaw, are known all over as excellent miners, and their long expeditions, far into the earth have long been the financial and constructional backbone for our trading and building ventures. Bonded couples interested in magical study often apply to a Sjet family associated with such, and anxious entrepreneurs often apply to families in the Samtaaw Kiith. Alliances between kiith are also based on mutual intrests, and they often lead to closer ties or complete reorganizations. During the 1200s, when the manufacturing families of Kiith Hrall realized that the future was in engineering rather than permanent magical consecration to achieve transport and construction, they first tried to influence Sa Hraal to begin in engineering technologies. When this gambit failed, the entire manufacturing branch of Kiith Hraal broke away and joined a relatively small kiith that specialized in engineering technologies. The new kiith, LiirHrall, has gone on to take the lead in the design and construction of most military and commercial enterprises within our empire.
In the modern era, the kiithid have slowly begun to transfer their power to the individual, but it should be noted that it is still a powerful means of social identity. Gahrodanthi society now answers to the Diamid today, but unfortunately for the unity of our people, tradition dies hard, and it takes little stress for any Gahrodanthi to think of family and kiith first and Gahrodanth second.
Kiith Gaalsien
Of all the kiithid, none has lost more throughout the centuries than Kiith Gaalisien. The Gaalisien line is ancient and some of the oldest documents bore their sigil.
Historically, while minor cults have come and gone, the majority of Gahrodanthi have always believed in the Great Master Sajuuk, whose Hand Shapes What Is. The majority of religious sects differ not whether Sajuuk exists, but in what His nature may be. The majority view until the Time of Reason was some variation on the theme of punishment; the logic being that no just God would leave his people on such an imperfect place if they had not done something to earn this fate. Many vital survival tactics, such as conservation of resources and not risking the future of the kiith on untried methods, were reinforced by dogma - understandable acts were always described in terms of punishable arrogance. These beliefs helped keep our people alive during the great trek from the central deserts into the earth, but once in the temperate earth, the same beliefs held back useful innovations that the more hospitable environment made possible. Generally, how wrathful one believed Sajuuk to be tended to dictate how wary one was of cultural and technological advances.
Of the three major religious kiithid, Gaalisien, Ferriil, and Somtaaw, it was Gaalisien that preached the strongest message of punishment. The dogma of righteous suffering and humility held that Sajuuk had cast our people down to pay for our arrogance. Gaalisien theologians preached that to deviate from the most accepted and ritualized survival methods was to actually extend the period of time before our people would be lifted back up to heaven. In the early days, this strict dogma paid off and allowed Kiith Gaalisien to survive and prosper during various ecological disasters between 75-250. Once this turbulent time passed and our people penetrated further into the ground, more innovative kiithid regained their power and Gaalisien power began to fade somewhat. Many archaeologists believe that Kiith Gaalisien deliberately started the Heresy Wars as an attempt to bring all the lesser kiithid back under its power during the resulting chaos.
Fortunately for the technologically and magically inclined among us, it was Kiith Naabal which emerged victorious from the Heresy Wars, and the dogma of penance and repression began to fade from hearts and minds. Despite this, the Gaalisien, power shattered forever after nearly 300 years of war, became even more extreme in their religious beliefs -- as if to compensate for the rest of the sinful planet. By the Time of Reason was at its height in 710, the Gaalisien were down to less and 30 vassal families, and only the great desert temple of Saju-ka remained under its power. Perhaps it was the sense that history had passed them by, or simply a desire to commit an act of sacrifice strong enough to regain the favor of Sajuuk Himself, but in the year 717, the kiith-sa of the Gaalisien performed an act that has lived in infamy ever since.
At the time, Saju-ka was the artistic gem of Gahrodanth. In its great temples and halls were most of the great works commissioned in the name of the God Sajuuk, and in its libraries were the collected works of our people, gathered before His eyes so that He could see them and judge us worthy. Though Saju-ka had been built in the first hospitable valley found in the north, time had allowed the deserts to crawl ever northwars themselves, and by the 700s, sand would have completely swallowed Saju-ka if not for the complex series of wind baffles, dikes and paths designed by the great Engineer Gar Naabal. One night, during the height of the spring winds, Saju-ka was lost to our people. In a single act of divine madness, Miirpat Gaalisien-Sa ordered his people to blow up the entire system that held back the sand. The light from hundreds of explosions was still visible when the hungry sands began pouring down the streets of Saju-ka. Within two days the city was completely buried, and thousands died in the mass evacuation.
The whole Kiith Galsien was convicted of absentia by all and deemed an outlaw kiith, but this punishment had very little effect on the Gaalisien, as they slipped away into the wastes during the terrible night, abandoning the progress they saw as decadence that would eventually bring down the wrath of God.
Since then, Kiith Galsien wondered the deserts, surviving by the skills and rituals they held so dear. Occasionally they will make themselves known by raiding engineering and magical communities and leaving massive theological documents proclaiming how close we are to the end. Military expeditions to track them down once and for all have always failed, and a certain mythology has grown up around them -- as if there is a nagging suspicion in the minds of modern Gahrodanthi that the only way Kiith Gaalisien could have survived all the way to now, is if they really did have the grace of Sajuuk. Some say that they have even found His lost city underneath the earth, and Saju-ka once again echoes with mumbled prayers, and offerings made in the darkness.
Certain acts of sabotage during the our history seemed to be Gaalisien-inspired, and it's likely that even today there are families secretly aligned with the ancient religious kiith. The Gaalisien have become somewhat of an Illuminati among our society, and conspiracy theorists have long proclaimed scores of Kiith-Sa and even the Daiamid are secretly Gaalisien.
Kiith Paktu
Prior to the year 462, Kiith Paktu was a minor farming kiith, living on the slopes above the Lake Mourne. On the year their most famous leader, Majiir Paktu, was born, the long rift between the religious leaders of Kiith Siid and Kiith Gaalsi, which were then the most powerful kiithid of the north, finally became an unbridgeable divide. In 462, the famous Siidim Council announced a new Dogma -- the traditional Siidim cosmology, which once held that all kiithid were exiled from a heavenly paradise, was abandoned. The truth, according to the proclamation of 462, was that only the Siidim were of divine origin -- all other kiiths were native, and therefore inferior, their blood tainted by corrupting sand.
In accordance with the new Dogma, many cruel programs were passed against non-Siidim kiiths -- the people now known as the "Gritiidim," or "sand people." By far the harshest of these measures was the Clean Water Act, which forbade non-Siidim kiithid from living at the headwaters of a river or stream, lest they foul the water which Siidim downstream would have to drink. Hundreds of families were displaced by Siidim temple dwarves, turned out of their ancestral homes and made to march downstream, carrying as much of their former lives with them as they could. In 488, Kiith Paktu joined the ranks of the dispossessed.
At the same time, the temples of the neighboring Kiith Gaalsi had become obsessed with the sins of pride and by the redemption through suffering. The Siidim made obvious targets for the sermons of Gaalsi holy dwarves: for every Siidim sin of pride, a more brutal and excruciating expiation was demanded by the gods. Lesser kiiths of the north, already suffering under the weight of Siidim oppression, often were willing to join their holdings to the Gaalsi rather than see them taken by the Siidim; many welcomed Gaalsien soldiers and temple dwarvesinto their holdfasts, only to find themselves held at swordpoint and made to watch as their "sinful" books and belongings were burned to appease the Gods. Heavy tributes of both food and fodder were demanded by Gaalsien armies, and appalling sacrifices were sometimes demanded by Gaalsien priests, who saw no reason why the pure of heart should suffer alone.
Clashes between Siidim and Gaalsien holdings intensified over time, and even remote kiithid were forced to choose sides; both great kiithid were too powerful to challenge on its own. Caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, the Gritiidim were finally ready to try the unthinkable: crossing the Great Banded Desert to the east, looking for new land.
By this time Majiir Paktu had become head of the Paktu kiith-sa. Although the First Migration may not have been entirely his idea, it's certain that the fate off all the people of Kiith Paktu was in his hands. It is difficult for us to imagine today what he mist have felt as his people built the first great sailors at the edge of the desert. Although many believed there might be arable land at the south, no one had ever attempted to cross the Great Banded and returned to tell the tale. The only confirmation of a land south of the desert came from Mannanii travelers, rambling on about endless rivers and "grasses that touched the sky."
The Migration offered slim hope at best, so slim that no one dared to risk it until there was no other hope at all.
Th rest, they say, is history. Nearly 50 kiithid set out from the plain at Albegiido in 490 and sailed into the Great Banded Desert, sweeping over the burning sands on the winds of the seasonal storm, the Chak m'Hot. By the time the males, females and children of the First Migration reached the shore of the Hunon Mountains, only 17 families were left, and all of them had lost weaker members on the journey. Still more died as they struggled over the mountains; without anyone to guide them to the easiest pass, they lost many to poisonous water, rockfalls, thirst and lizard-bite.
As the story goes, many of the Firsters fell into despair among the burning red mountains of the Hunon and did not want to go on. Despite whether he had been the leader from the beginning of the Migration, Majiir Paktu was definitely the leader on that day. He stood at the head of the column and pleaded with the people to continue. "I can smell the water," he said. "It's only a little farther."
The people did not believe them, and more than a few turned to start the hard trek back to their sand-sailors, still docked at the desert shore. But as legend has it, at that moment a bird appeared in the cloudless sky above them -- a water-spirit, circling against the hot sun.
The people of the First Migration followed the water-spirit and Majiir Paktu through the mountains, and when they stood on the last red hill-top, they were looking down at the rolling breakers of a great blue river at the Cythian Steppes. Straight away, that expanse of water was named the Majiirian River, after the man who had brought them there.
The people of the First Migration settled on the shores of Majiirian, and were presumed dead by many in the North for the almost two years it took them to build up their homes and holdings. In the spring of the third year, however, Majiir Paktu and a group of picked volunteers attempted another crossing of the Great Banded Desert to take back word of the new land to the West, where so many still lived in a nightmare of war and oppression.
Majiir Paktu did not survive the return, but seven of his followers did. These seven Paktu kiithsmen passed through the westlands on foot, taking word of the new land with them everywhere they went. Once that word spread, there was no stopping it. Dozens of families built sandsailers on the famous Salt Marshes every year, trying to escape the Heresy Wars and the madness of their Siidim and Gaalsi masters.
Alas, Siidim and Gaalsi were not quite finished with the people who escaped their tyranny. Although they ignore the migrations for years, both of them lost many hectares of holdings to the war, By 650 it occurred to both of the great northern kiithid that many of those who fled to the south were still considered their vassal clans and by treaty still owed them lands and tribute.
There were at least three major attempts to assault the eastern lands from 652-700. The last of these three was the most sucessful; the army of Liam Gaalsi actually arrived at the pass of the Hunon mountains almost intact in the spring of 698, ready to subdue the unruly kiithid of the eastlands and their kiith-sa.
On that day, Kim Paktu, the grandson of Majiir Paktu and the leader of the Paktu kiith-sa, arrayed and army of 300,000 swords on the shore of the Majiirian. Every one of them wore the colors of Kiith Paktu, and every standard bearer carried its flag.
"These are my people," Kim Paktu said. "And this land is ours. You have no vassals here."
Badly outnumbered and facing a fresh and well-supplied army, Liam Gaalsi nonetheless led his troops into battle. Very few of the Gallsi that followed him that day escaped with their lives. Although they killed thousands of Paktu, the southern kiith-sa eventually prevailed, and no such crusade ever was attempted again.
The flag of Paktu is white, the color of the sandsails which carried its people across the Banded Desert, emblazoned with a sun stained red by the blood of those who died in search of -- or in the defense of -- freedom. Silhouetted against that sun is the shape of the water-spirit, an eternal symbol of hope and faith.
Paktu believe fiercely in independence and despise priests and dictators. Its people are optimistic, innovative, and venturesome -- when things are darkest, someone will almost always repeat the kiith's motto: "I can smell the sea."
Kiith Soban
"The Kiith of Spirit"
In Gahrodanthi society, the majority of citizens are secure in their kiith ties. Within the immediate family, or within the larger circle of more distant blood relationships, most of us are bound to our kiith. If we should ever have a falling-out with one kiith'sa, disaster would strike such an unlucky family.
This has always been the case. Prior to the emergence of the eastern federation and the Naabel intervention very few had ties outside their own kith and, if they did, they were ties of dominance and submission - one kiith was made vassal to another, and owed tribute to their masters, in return for which they were given the protection of the larger kiith's army and the benefit of trade with the larger kiith's holdings.
In all of this , however, there was no provision made for those who were without kiith. Unthinkable as this state may seem to us today, it can still bring a shudder to the modern Gahrodanthi to consider the fate of a kiithless man or woman during those times. Banishment from the kiith was effectively a death sentence at any time prior to the year 416, when Kiith Soban was born.
The origins of Kiith Soban, the "Grey Brotherhood," are somewhat hazy. It appears that two vassal kiithid, who held lands along the second sea, were invaded by the temple dwarves of a strong neighboring kiith. The vassals fought back furiously, defending their homes with desperate and furious strength, and succeeded in killing a few of the raiding kiith. In revenge, the invaders punished the survivors brutally, although they had already surrendered. Many of the basic taboos of our society were violated; all the children of the farmers were murdered, as well as the leader, man or woman, of every family. Those that remained were driven from their holdings and fled across the Sparkling Desert to carry the news of these atrocities to their kiith'sa.
The leader of this group was Soban, later known as Soban the Red. When he knelt before his Sa he recounted the horrors that the neighboring kiith had committed against his people and demanded vengeance. He offered to personally lead the army that would ravage the invaders and teach them the error of their ways, and waited for the males and females of his kiith'sa to join him in a rush across the Sparkling Desert.
Unfortunately, this support was never to come. Soban's kiith'sa, afraid of the possible repercussions - or perhaps simply realizing that their kiith was not strong enough to prevail against a larger and stronger kiith - refused to attack the reavers. Instead, the smaller kiith became vassals to the larger, joining their blood to the blood of the murderers.
When he heard of this, Soban tore the colors of his kiith from his body in shame. His followers did the same, and in doing so they abandoned their kiith completely -- an unheard-of gesture at the time, especially coming as it did from landless males and females. According to legend, Soban declared at that time that the word "kiith" was meaningless, when any kiith'sa could turn a deaf ear to the blood of children crying from the ground. He vowed that he would never belong to any false kiith again - the only kiith which deserved the word was the kiith of spirit, the brotherhood of like mind and shared ambitions.
All the followers of Soban took a new color: a deep and vivid red, the color of blood flowing from the heart. Although they could not have been many, their first act as a kiith was a successful attack on the holdings which had once been their homes. When they left their old farms behind, not a blade of grass was left green or one stone standing on top of another - everything was razed and every invader killed, in ways which gave Kiith Soban a bloody reputation for years to come.
Kiith Soban became a martial kiith from then on, and as years passed a peculiar set of rituals developed among them. Although many other warrior kiith existed at the time, those kiiths were standard in their aims and organization; they were martial to the extent that they desired the property and possessions of their weaker neighbors. Only the Soban were completely landless, and existed purely as mercenaries.
The Sobanii mercenary is a curious feature of our history. For centuries, Sobanii took part in every military conflict in our nation, and their skills as soldiers and commanders were highly prized. When the services of any given Soban were bought, he or she would dress in the colors of the new kiith and fight in the service of that kiith, regardless of the personal risk or cost. When the term of service was over--down to the hour and minute--Soban mercenaries would put down their arms, remove their adopted colors, and return to their own kiith. If the end came during the middle of a battle or a thousand miles from home, they would still go; contracts for their services can not be renewed on the scene, but only through their kiith-sa.
To this day, the Sobanii are completely devoid of standard family groupings. No "marriage," as such, is permitted among their ranks; although male and female Sobanii are permitted to form whatever alliances they might want, there is no such thing as a Sobanii child. Children born to the Soban are left as foundlings with other kiiths, or their parents are made to leave Kiith Soban to raise them.
Despite the fact that there has not been a major war on Gahrodanth for 200 years, the skills of Kiith Soban are still valuable, and they never lack for money and influence. Sobanii are often preferred when influential kiiths like the Naabel need intelligence officers or security officers, and virtually all modern-day generals are trained at Soban-run military academies, which are still very highly regarded and secretive facilities even today.
A current of true Sobanism still exists in our society, and always will so long as some continue to reject the status quo. Some Gahrodanthi still join Kiith Soban of their own free will, renouncing all other kiith ties and associations; others are forced to join, when driven from other kiiths for violating their taboos. Before "taking the red," as it is called, a prospective Sobanii must repeat the ritual which Soban performed centuries ago; all other kiith colors must be forcibly ripped from the body, a powerful gesture of negation. To some it represents the ultimate rebellion, to some the only salvation, but Kiith Soban imposes the same discipline and solidarity on them all - for which Gahrodanthi society may well thank them.
Kiith Sjet
Kiith Sjet is something of an oddity amongst the power structures of the Kiithid. While they are an ancient and respected Kiith, whose expertise has been courted by Kiithid-Sa across Gahrodanth, they have never parlayed this influence into any real political power. Kiith Sjet is, in fact, one of the only Kiith to have a validated claim to direct Kiith descent from the ancient first city of Khar-Toba in the Great Banded Desert. Translations of the words and calculations found on the wall of the Temple-Observatory make several mentions of a group of scientists and clerics with the family name of Sjet. Even the Sjet sigil, a series of embedded circles representing the celestial spheres, can be found etched in the temple doors. It is now an accepted fact that Kiith Sjet were once responsible for the preservation of the Temple-Observatory to protect it and scan the heavens.
And therein lies the true power of Kiith Sjet-their undying desire to question, observe, predict and record.
In ancient times they were the first to plot the path of the planets in the system and derive a calendar from them. They were the first to discover the 13-year progressive cycle of sandstorms that tear around the center of Gahrodanth, and predict where the rains that follow the end of every cycle would fall. Most of the impartial histories of the Heresy wars and the resulting reformation were penned by Sjet scribes, who recorded it along with their observations of top-soil destruction and the slow crawl of the sands northward.
During periods of upheaval, Kiith Sjet have always been too valuable as allies and advisors to try and turn into vassals. Any Kiith who kills or attempts to interrogate a Sjet is shunned by the Science Philosophers for a period no shorter than 100 years, and in order to keep their knowledge from being corrupted, any kiith who wishes to become Sjet swears an oath directly to the Sjet-Sa, and has to serve faithfully for two generations before being instructed in the sacred wisdoms. The closest thing to a scandal that has ever shaken the Sjet Kiith was during the Time of Reason, when it came to light that during the Heresy Wars certain Sjet vassals had actually lived under a secret secondary oath to Kiith Naabal. These secret Naabali used their positions of Sjet immunity to move through the various warring factions and carry out missions of retrieval and intelligence-gathering. When this truth was revealed, the sense of outrage was strong, but Fliir Sjet-Sa realized that the extremity of the situation may have justified the betrayal. Even though she was able to bring enough of her kiith over to this line of reasoning to avoid sanctions or exile for the families involved, there is still a lingering thread of mistrust between some Sjetti and Kiith Naabal to this very day, and the debate over the use of Science and Magic as Power is still a passionate one.
As the Time of Reason progressed, Kiith Sjet expanded their studies and moved away from the tradition of celestial mechanics and mathematics. Various families began to delve into the nature and origin of magic. Within a century, Kriil Sjet presented a paper to the Diamid presenting scientific and magical evidence that we bore little resemblance to any other creature in the region, and were in-fact, very closely related to being from the elemental plane of fire. This scientific proof backed-up the religious tenet and shook Gahrodanthi society, but established once and for all that Kiith Sjet served the Truth, however disturbing that might be.
Kiith Naabal
Not much is known about Kiith Naabal, prior to their dramatic emergence at the end of the Heresy wars. There are a few scattered mentions of them in the records of the major Kithid of the first epoch, but the name Naabal arises only in terms of tradesmen or heretics. Kith Gaalsien were particularly vehement in the persecution of families under the Naabal flag, and there is some evidence that it was Gaalsien persecution which drove Naabal to their hidden valley refuge, blasted into the edge of the Hunon Mountains. Based on the fact that the Naabal crest, a Gahrodanthi silhouetted against a background of tiny circles and stripes, loosely resembles symbols found etched into panels at Khar-Toba, some anthrocists have put forth the theory that the Naabal are actually direct descendants from some sort of engineering core that ran the city. While the theory is convenient in terms of linking the unknown past with the present age of exploration, the evidence is just too circumstantial for most scholars to give it much weight.
Kiith Naabal itself seems uninterested in clearing up the distant past, and the hard facts only begin to appear in the years directly before the Naabal intervention, when the kiith moved to end the Heresy Wars and then establish the Diamid. In those three centuries of chaos, Kiith Nabaal had almost completely cut off contact with the rest of Gahrodanth. Traders or refugees who accidentally stumbled into the valley were welcomed with open arms and given a place to make their lives anew. There is no record of any rejecting this offer, so we are not quite sure what the alternative might have been... Small parties, always made up of families with direct fealty to the Kiith-Sa, were sent out occasionally to bring back texts that were in danger of destruction, usually because the cities that held them were being constantly sacked. Sometimes these parties would even spirit away scholars imprisoned for heresy. It wasn't until Ifriit Naabal-Sa came to head the secretive Kiith that a less isolated philosophy began to take hold. Ifriit realized that the wars were dangerously close to destroying the last of the infrastructure that kept the bulk of the people alive. Fields were being burned, dams demolished, caverns caved-in and sand traps torn down simply to deprive the enemy of valuable resources, and under such an onslaught the days of our survival were numbered.
Though declared pacifists, much of the knowledge discovered and hoarded by Kiith Naabal had direct military application and so, when Ifriit Naabal-Sa finally proposed intervention to his people, it only took a few years for a military force to be assembled. The Naabal had been keeping the secrets of explosives, gunpowder and refining for more than a hundred years, and when they rose, they swept out of their hidden city of Tiir like the gleaming servants of Jaakul himself. Large towed cannons to bring down the walls of despotic Kiith, while handfuls of soldiers carrying guns and wearing hardened armor moved to route marauding armies 20 times their size. Ifriit Naabal-Sa spoke at every holding, village and city his army liberated, and offered their people all the fruits of Naabal science and technology if they would but lay down their arms and end the pointless destruction. Unlike the major powers in the Heresy Wars, Naaball-Sa did not demand renunciation of former Kiith ties; all he asked for was an ending. The lesser Kiithid, brutalized by nearly 300 years of war, gratefully accepted his terms, and soon the Naabal army had grown 50 fold with Kiithid whose only desire was to end the Heresy Wars any way they could.
And in three short years they had done it. Ifriit Naabal-Sa's last act before stepping down as Sa was to establish the Daiamid in Ass'aam as a place where all Kiith, powerful and weak, could gather to resolve disputes and set policy for all of Gahrodanth. Even today, in the Captital of Ass'aam Kiith'siid in Gahrodanth, they still meet.
In the decades to follow, Naabal rebuilt the damaged infrastructure and improved upon it with their no-longer-secret construction and metallurgical techniques. Any minor Kith were accepted into Naabal if they simply wanted to learn new crafts and trades. These same Kiithid were then allowed to go their own way if they chose, and many of the major industrial Kiith of modern Gahrodanth began under Naabal's wing. By the Time of Reason 200 years later, Kiith Naabal had replaced the perilous sand-sail routes to the east with tunnels, and had given Kiith Paktu-Sa of the southern region a permanent presence in the Diamid.
Kiith Naabal seemed content to fade slowly into history for many years, but the discovery of Khar-Toba seemed to change all that. From that point on, Naabal formed permanent alliances with both the Sjet and Soban Kith, and began to influence first the excavation of Khar-Toba and then the exploitation of history and artifacts discovered there. Again, the Naabal-Sa have been careful to spread the wealth and knowledge.
Kiith Manaan
Perhaps the strangest of all kiithid is the Manaan, "the Travelers." Although the blood bonds between Manaani are not strong - they range greatly in physical appearance and kiith traditions - they are nevertheless all considered one family, especially by outsiders, who for centuries viewed these nomads as a dire threat to decency and morals, to unprotected holdings, and to the virtue of young dwarves from good families.
The antipathy toward Manaani is simple enough to explain. During a time when the majority of Gahrodanthi were hard-working desert farmers, clinging to life with teeth and fingernails, the Manaani maintained a traditional nomadic existence. They traveled from place to place, stopping at watering places to rest; if the water was surrounded by a hold, the Manaani expected hospitality. Although they were rarely hostile toward farmers and city dwellers, they resisted any attempts to settle or civilize their kith. Driven by a hunger for new experiences and a restlessness which few other could understand, the Manaani could never stay in one place for long - they simply picked up stakes and moved on into the wastes again, leaving the security (and the hard work) of house and hold behind them.
The earliest historical mention of "Manaani wanderers" comes from the year 340, when holdings along the shore of the White Desert complained that their farms had been raided by the Travelers. According to the report they sent to their kiith-sa, the White Desert holders had recently closed their gates to a wandering kiith, refusing them permission to make camp by the waterside. Although the Manaani went away at the time peacefully, they returned by night and came over the wall " by the hundreds", overwhelming the resistance of the surprised holders. In the end, the Manaani were accused of stealing nearly a ton of food and many hundred man-weights of water - which was, coincidentally, just a bit more than the tribute which was owed by the White Desert holders to their Kiith-sa that year.
The tale of the White Desert holders was dubious for many reasons, although it was widely believed by them at the time and for many centuries to follow. The report that Manaani came over the wall of a sand-dike "by the hundreds" is absurd, given the fact that traditional Manaani never travel in groups larger than an extended family - and in such a group, there would have been a dozen able-bodied dwarves at most. To find Manaani "by the hundreds", one would have to seek them out at a Gathering, their yearly meeting on the sands of Ferin Sha ("The Dancing Ground") - and not only was Ferin Sha nearly two hundred leagues from the White Desert, but focus at such a Gathering would be celebration and drinking, not killing and looting. Fighting of any kind is forbidden at Ferin Sha; to profane sacred ground with spilled blood is the greatest Manaani taboo.
Is this to say that there was no basis for Kiith Manaan's early reputation as thieves? Unfortunately, no. If the majority of Manaani were innocent of raiding, there are still undoubtedly some who traveled in greater strength, and might be capable of carrying off a few water barrels, and the majority of Travelers are probably guilty of a little judicious pilfering from time to time, even if it is only picking a pocket or picking fruit in the night. The real question is not whether the Manaani were really thieves, but why, if they are widely believed to be thieves, would the majority of holdings open their gates to Manaani visitors? An answer of one word will suffice: entertainment.
The Manaani have always been traders, but prior to the Great Migration they could never compete with the legitimate trade routes among the northern holdings - at least when it came to transporting mundane cargoes. In order to survive, a kiith of Travelers need to bring their would-be hosts something they could not get cheaper or more routinely somewhere else. In some cases, Manaani would carry rare drugs or medicines that could only be found in remote places, or traffic in taboo items, but since their caravans were often searched before being allowed to enter a holding, the Manaani would more often carry a less tangible but even more valuable freight: music, laughter, and spectacle, a break from the hard and unending work of a farmer's life. For many years, Kiith Manaan survived by their wits and their ability to amuse hold-born Gahrodanthi. Singers and poets, magicians, dancers, actors and con men - there was nothing to the rumor that Manaani could perform dark magic, but they could certainly make your purse and your fifteen year-old daughter disappear.
After the Great Migration began, however, life changed drastically for the Manaani. Although they played no important role in the First Crossing, a small kiith of Travelers accompanied the Paktu in the sandsailers that left Albegiido in 490; most of them returned to the north in 497, bringing their three-masted ships with them. The Manaani took to the new technology in droves, and made many improvements to the original design.
During the beginning of the Heresy Wars, Manaani kiithid still living in the north suffered badly under the rule of Siidim and Gaalsi; their free-wheeling and joyous attitude was anathema to both of the great kiith, and one of the few points of doctrine that both parties could agree on was that Manaani were abominations before the eyes of Sajuuk. The last bloodless celebration at Ferin Sha was held in 513; an army of Siddim attacked the Dancing Ground and slaughtered the celebrants wholesale.
After the massacre at Ferin Sha, the majority of Kiith Manaan survivors took to the sail and the sword. Manaani raiders, once largely a myth, became a grim and terrible reality to Siddim holdings that bordered on the desert and water; no one was safe from the pirate sailors, and the sight of a mast on the horizon was an occasion of panic and terror. Within a hundred years, however, the Manaani exhausted their appetite for bloodshed, and began to use their ships for more profitable ventures. When the great mother of their kiith-sa, Jora Manaan, declared the war on the Siidim at an end in 656, the Manaani built a new Dancing Ground in the Paktu-held south and turned their fleet completely to trade.
The questing spirit of the Manaani is not dead, even today. Kiith Manaan still controls enormous wealth, and of all the kiithid they are the most likely to produce a diplomat or a statesman. Manaani are also common in the ranks of scouts and are always eager to volunteer when it's time to try an experimental tactic: being the first to see anything new and different is a hunger that still burns deep in their blood.