Dark Fantasy X Race Deep Dive: Surturs

To the north and west of the mapped out section of the Three Realms is the Empire of Kurushat. Originally founded on a volcanic island (reminiscent of real-life Iceland or Spitzbergen), it was settled by a couple of different northern peoples in small numbers who raised sheep and cattle on the green grass amid the dark volcanic rock, blasted by winds from the sea, and having little in the way of trees because of the subarctic climate, except in some sheltered valleys and gorges. Glaciers top the inactive volcanos and ice floes occasionally pass by near the harbors, but in this land of water and ice, there is also a strong element of fire because of the numerous active volcanos that are building the islands even now. It's not clear exactly how the first surturs came out of this environment. Some legends say that they, or at least their more elemental ancestors, simply walked out of the volcanos themselves, which are gates to the fiery Otherworldly realm of Muspelheim, and that the original Surtur himself, the fire jotunn, is their ancestor. Others suggest that they were normal people cursed or transformed by the malign intent of one of the ancient Heresiarchs, perhaps Esmeraude, She Who Ushers In the Apocalypse, who is known to have an affinity and fascination with fire. Whichever is the truth, the surturs arrived on the mainland, conquering and colonizing; settling and trading. They weren't genocidal, so many of the people who were already there are integrated into their northern Empire, but given the harsher boreal climate, the population was always relatively light anyway. Most of the itinerant hunter-gatherers who lived there saw their standard of living increase tremendously upon the arrival of the surturs, who had a fair bit of noblesse oblige for those who welcomed them—although tremendous belligerence to those who did not. 

Kurushat is largely a coastal empire, and the climate is similar to that of the Alaskan southern coast, or Scandinavia, but once you get inland, you have either tundra and mammoth steppe, or boreal forest (taiga) and wild mountains. Free northerners still live inland from Kurushat, and many have friendly trading relationships with the empire, although raiding, as is common in barbaric societies, is not unknown. Kurushat, at its peak a few generations ago, stretched down deep into the northern Three Realms, although the settlement of Kurushan citizens of any type, surtur or human, was always relatively light. The territory around Dagan Bay was their foothold, and some cities that still stand, such as Sinjagat, Vuukrat, or Volek Szemenok on Palar Lake were founded by Kurushans. Both the kemlings and the surturs look at Glittering Simashki and claim to be responsible for it, and both races still make up notable pluralities in the population. 

Kurushat expanded into the region as the Baal Hamazi empire was fading. The Boneyard gets its name because of the vast armies loyal to the two empires who clashed over the territory, leaving their bleached bones to linger on the sands and among the sagebrush and juniper scrubland, but in reality, few of any people ever lived in the Boneyard, which was called the Indash Desert at the time. As the Indash Sea withdrew, becoming smaller and saltier and more xeric, boats, fleets, and even entire towns were left high and dry, now abandoned and ghostly echoes of Kurushat's expansion into the region. Climate change is only part of what happened to Kurushat, however. As the Empire grew more powerful and more peaceful, its vigor slowly drained, and the concerns of faraway southern colonies surrounded by hostile nations, barbarians and harsh climate seemed much less important to the indolent jeds and jeddak of Kurushat.

Today, the sections of colonial Kurushat that still remain on the map are independent city-states, abandoned by the Empire for the most part, like post-Roman Britain. Some of the surturs and Northerner humans who came during the expansion period remain—or rather, their posterity does. Although never the majority in any of their cities, the Kurushan culture, mostly driven by the surturs themselves who were the carriers of it, are important elements in the cities named above, as well as the surrounding areas, but all of them have also become syncretized and hybridized by exposure to the peoples who were already here, or who have arrived since (such as the area near Bucknerfeld, where Hillman have come right to the edges of the salt flats that ring the Indash Salt Sea.

The surturs of Lower Kurushat, as they still sometimes call the region, are not an overly proud people, seeing the retreat of their empire and the abandonment of their settlements with a mixture of peevishness, but also opportunity to chart their own course in a new land without the oversight of tyrannical jeds and other hetmen. Most have abandoned any notion of attempting to recreate or maintain Kurushan culture, becoming rather fond of the more cosmopolitan syncretic cultures that they live in. Surturs are famously intense in their passions and quick-tempered, but also gregarious and social and more likely to be friendly by nature than most other races (naturally individual personality and situation can cause this to be quite variable.) For those with a darker tendency, this is still true, although their social gregariousness will sometimes manifest as narcissism, degeneracy, and other traits that make them extremely toxic, even if they aren't outright violent and belligerent (although the sharp tempers often make that likely too.) 

Like most demihumans in Dark Fantasy X, there is a curse associated with the surturs, which manifests just barely often enough to rise above the level of urban myth to something that is actually verified.  There is still a lingering connection of some sort between Muspelheim and the surturs.  Every once in a while, a burning flame will find its way from Muspelheim to a surtur person, who will spontaneously combust in a wild conflagration that can consume entire houses, or any nearby people.  Luckily, this is rare, but it has been known to happen, and the surturs themselves have a body of lore and old wives tales about spontaneous combustion, how to avoid it, how to cause it in your rivals, etc.

From a meta perspective, it's easy to see the surturs as a kind of northern race, with some similarities to the Vikings, some to more eastern northern peoples such as the Slavs, Finns, or other Siberian peoples, but also a prominent nod toward the red men of Barsoom, which informs many of their names and titles, as well as their fiery yet usually honorable personalities, or at least a culture which demands such, even if individuals may not be as honorable as their culture expects of them. Their supernatural origin, and their ancient clashes with the kemlings make them different than any human culture, real or imagined, however, and those who remain south of the boreal forest barrier that separates Lower Kurushat from Kurushat proper are more likely to be traders, adventurers, mercenaries, occasionally bandits, and a somewhat arrogant overcaste; confident in their superiority, yet mostly imbued with a noblesse oblige to the peoples who live in their cosmopolitan communities. Many of them still act as if the Imperial weight of Kurushat gives them authority, but the reality is that all of the Lower Kurushat area is now essentially independent city-states who must rule themselves with very little if any contact with Kurushat to the north anymore, which is why the various other peoples who live there have risen in prominence socially as the Kurushat Imperial structure retreated to the north. 

In terms of terminology, Kurushans and surturs are often used interchangeably, but technically a surtur is a member of the race, regardless of cultural or political affiliation, whereas Kurushans are members of the culture of Kurushat, regardless of race. However, in practical terms, that distinction often doesn't mean too much. Physically the surturs are as tall and robust as a hillmen (or typical white guy, for a real life reference), but are notable for their bright (sometimes unnaturally so) reddish or blond hair, brick red skin that sometimes tends towards sooty in the darkest of them, and red, orange or golden eyes. As the Dark Fantasy X rules suggest, the fire strike ability represents their connection to Muspelheim and their ability to call on the fiery elemental heritage that makes them different than humans.

Bahram Khanwar, an anti-PC villain and iconic surtur

His perverse and degenerate twin sister Javaira, also an iconic anti-PC.

Reasonably well-trained and capable swordmaidens often serve as a kind of figurehead or inspiration for bands of surtur mercenaries and warbands, when they form them. In some cases, these are little more than camp whores for the entire company, but in other cases, they are seen as extremely noble and a kind of foreign chivalric tradition of courtly loyalty and love has sprung up around them from the men in their companies.

Notice the unusual hair that is common to many surturs, and which is often believed to imitate the fire which surrounded their more elemental ancestors.

A traditional Larch Grove dancer, a pseudo-religious and cultural tradition that goes back to the ancient island home of the Kurushans.

Exploration of the wilderness is a passion of many surturs, and with the mammoth steppe and boreal forest around them, as well as many craggy and dramatic mountain ranges, there are great opportunities for exploratory teams, outfitted much as this fellow here, to find excitement. Their adventures are recounted to enthralled audiences when they return home, usually for the winter season. A kind of extreme adventurer tourism has sprung up among the wealthier surturs who don't need to work, to strike out and explore the remnants of distant Hyperborea to the east in the brief spring, summer and fall for that area. Although this is dangerous and many fail in this attempt, those who make it to Hyperborea and return with the tales of their journey almost become celebrities in Kurushat. Some of this still remains in Volek Szemenok, although it happens very infrequently there; one expedition a generation being about as good as it gets.

This free trader probably runs back and forth on the Great Northern Road between Vuukrat, Volek Szemenok, Bucknerfeld and Lomar with caravans of goods. His dress and demeanor shows a lot of drylander inspiration, and that he's probably fairly successful and prosperous. 

Not to give the impression that all surturs are happy-go-lucky and friendly swashbucklers. This guy is no doubt a criminal or bandit, who would be extremely dangerous to encounter in a quiet stretch of road or dark alley.

Sometimes the fiery passion that is the inheritance of the surturs turns to a smoldering bitterness and anger. The three mercenaries shown here are frighteningly berserk physical combatants, with a hot rage always just under the surface.

Although the noble titles of old Kurushat are largely irrelevant in Lower Kurushat today, the scions of the old jed's houses still maintain a status not at all unlike nobility in their demesnes.

The Burnt Seers are a kind of weird roving cult of soothsayers and hedge magicians that are part of Kurushan society, notable for their spiraling black tattoos and often socially and politically disruptive actions. When one, or a small company of them, roll into town, the local authorities are reluctant for superstitious reasons to outright run them out, but they keep a very close eye on them and curtail their ability to make trouble as best as they can.

Two typical traveler/adventurer style surturs

I sometimes forget to focus on intrigue as a theme. Here's a surtur spy.

W is for Wiksekka Mountains

The Wiksekka Mountains form the southern boundary of the Kurushat region.  Since Kurushat is located on the southwestern corner of my map, it's effectively the boundary of my entire setting, at least in that corner.  This begs the question... what's past it, and why isn't it detailed?

According to many esoteric theories throughout the region, humanity isn't the first race to haunt these lands.  Even the Neanderthals who wander the Kvuustu steppes are newcomers compared to Those Who Came Before.  The nature of Those Who Came Before is mysterious, but faint clues of their existance percolate up from the depths of Deep Time occasionally, to mystify and frighten humanity.  Many believe that the Plateau of Leng in the Forbidden Lands is a legacy of Those Who Came Before.  Most likely, so is the land south of the Wiksekka Mountains.

The mountains themselves are not terribly extraordinary.  Temperate desert is their best description, made up of weathered and carved sandstone of white, yellow and reddish color, like layers on a cake.  Juniper, piñon pines, sagebrush and other cool desert plants crawl up their slopes.  In the summertime, they can be hot, and in the wintertime a mantle of snow covers them, although they are not overly high.  There is little to recommend them for settlement, being short on resources that the kurushi value, and difficult as a place to make a living.  Even for those who enjoy the mountains as a challenge, or for their own sake, look askance at the Wiksekkas, which offer little in the way of extraordinary scenic views (with some exceptions).  In fact, travel to the Wiksekkas is specifically outlawed by the kurushi, although given the vast wilderness that they encapsule, as well as the relatively empty lands that lead up to them through either the bleak Sawado Desert or the tangled and dangerous Leitu Forest means that they don't exactly enforce or patrol this law effectively.  Some few outlaws, runaway slaves and other ne'er-do-wells eke out a difficult life in the mountains.

The lands to the South are blighted beyond all recognition, and it is possible that they are so inimical to regular life as we know it, that literally nothing can survive here.  Strange atmospheric effects and other bizarre astronomical oddities range the gamut from extraordinary to strange to outright impossible--and yet they occur regardless.  The air is very thin here, and possibly poisonous to those who manage to survive it for any length of time.  Bone-searing cold grips the land in an ice that is made up of water, as well as carbon dioxide and other compounds that don't normally freeze on the surface of the earth at all.  Strange eruptions of gas and crystaline faults hint at some kind of geological activity of the surface, but these gaseous vents bend sharply in wind shears high above the surface.

The atmosphere is, in fact, so thin that the sky is black and stars can be seen in the sky even during the day; the air is too thin to properly cause Rayleigh (no relation to R'lyeh) scattering, which gives the sky its blue coloration.  Most ominous, if there were anyone to observe it, is the presence of a blue, circular body in the sky, like a gigantic blue moon.  This is called Yuggoth in some blasphemous texts.  They hint at the possibility that this is, in fact, an alien planet, far distant in space and time, and that the area south of the Wiksekka Mountains is some kind of rift that leads to such a place. 

This line of thought leads rather ominously to the possiblity of alien entities entering our world through this patch of strange, cold land.  Some scholars in the past, before their research was suppressed and burned, believe that semi-legendary figures like the wendigo or the gnoph-keh are exactly that--creatures of extrawordly extraction that slipped through the Wiksekka Mountains to plague the world beyond.

V is for Vuukrat Savana

The Vuukrat savana is the northern third of the territory of Kurushat.  Nestled between the Karkose Sea and the Saheli and northern Black Mountains, and pierced nearly in half by the Sukotu River, the Vuukrat is the backcountry just beyond the major urban centers, and core area where Kurushat culture developed: Sinjagat and Jekara.  The soil of the Vuukrat is dark and volcanic in origin; in ancient times, massive lava flows swept over the area, only to be eroded eventually into fertile soil.  Volcanic activity is now quiet over the Vuukrat--the hot spot that lead to the lava flows has migrated due to continental drift, and the center of volcanic activity in Kurushat is now Mount Kadu and the Ash Wastes.

The Vuukrat Savana, like the American Great Plains, is the breadbasket of the empire. Numerous farms dot the landscape, especially along the Sukotu River banks. Farther afield, drovers drive enormous herds of semi-domesticated bison who make up the main meat, leather and other animal products industry for the empire. Beyond that, the savanas are wild and largely unexplored. The wildlife is dangerous; hairless mammoths, elephants, cave hyenas, giant black lions, scimitar-tooths, and worse. The savanas are not as flat as one would expect; rolling hills and occasional brakes of trees keep the horizon hidden often, and craggy volcanic plugs jut like isolated castles from the yellow sea of grass. Fragments of crumbled ruins from some mysterious civilization that predates the rise of the kurushi are hidden deep in the savana as well.

The Sukotu River pierces the Vuukrat.  It is not a major highway, for it is often fast and rocky, and other times shallow and silted up, but it is a major source of drainage across the Vuukrat Savana, and brings fresh water to both Jekara and Sinjagat; two cities that are on opposite ends of the Sukotu river delta. The Vuukrat benefits from lake-effect rain from the endorheic Karkose Sea, whose water is not entirely fresh (the Karkose is very comparable in both size and composition to the Caspian Sea.)

The Saheli Mountains make up the northern border of the Vuukrat, and of Kurushat itself. There are no large settlements in that region, as the mountains are considered useless and resourceless. This isn't strictly speaking true, but the kurushi have yet to find anything worth exploiting in the region yet, with the exception of a handful of hardy herders and stockbreeders. The mountains are also extremely cold, and are notorious for their difficult to find and traverse passes and trails. Very little traffic of any kind crosses the mountain range.  A handful of small military outposts guard the few strategic passes and charge taxes on any travelers that pass through; otherwise, the empire officially rarely acknowledges the region whatsoever.

What few in the empire realize, however, is that there are many hidden colonies of escaped slaves and revolutionaries that live in the mountains, plotting against the empire. Some of these are clandestinely supplied by the empire's enemies, or even by the Emperor's enemies within the empire. Kajim Qaerkuun, the Emperor's favored heir and khan over the entire armed forces, is one such individual. In his search for any method to accelerate the death of the emperor, while his own status and likelihood to ascend are still high, he's considered trying to lure the khagan back into the field of battle where he can be carefully ambushed and killed without anyone being the wiser, and he believes that these escaped slaves and revolutionaries might just be the group to serve as his bait.

J is for Jekara

Jekara is the capital city of the Kurushat khaganate, as well as the home of the khagan's palace and harem, and many of the nobility of the Kurushi overall.  The kurushi race, as described earlier, is unique and distinct from others in the land of the Three Empires.  I'll repost the description of the Kurushi briefly before moving on to the details of Jekara specifically.

The Kurushi are a group of peoples who live in the very southwest areas that are mapped. Their name comes from the major country in the area, Kurushat, but in reality, many of them have only recently been integrated into that polity, and some of them have more loyalty to their local traditions than to the grand, national one. Be that as it may, the kurushans have a similar appearance, traditions, language and way of life, even if their more or less unity into a single country is a recent thing. Fiercely militaristic, frequently even jingoistic to the point of obnoxiousness, and an active, virile and growing group of people, the kurushans are ready to take on the Mezzovian region by storm... except that, well, they're still relatively removed from the area, and have enough of their own issues going on around the shores of the much smaller inland Karkose Sea to deal with. Fractuous and proud, they will probably always have to deal with local pride, insubordination and other issues within their khaganate, especially as the old khagan sees the end of his life approaching and the tempestuous scrabbling for his position that will no doubt follow his death among his eligible heirs apparent. The Kurushi are fairly tall and pale-skinned except when tanned by summers of campaigning and other outdoor activity. They value achievement and ambition, and even the wealthy and the nobility pursue scholarly, athletic, military, or even mercantile pursuits. Success in any of these arenas brings prestige. Because of this, many kurushans are fairly tanned; they maintain an active, outdoor lifestyle. They have dark hair and extremely pale gray eyes, which are often almond shaped due to modest epicanthic folds. Kurushans have only fairly recently been coming into the lands of other peoples, have been isolated on the other side of the Black Mountains and the Cavusto steppes, but when they have come into contact with isolated settlements, villages, or even full cities other other nationalities, their response has often been aggressive: raiding or even outright conquering and enslaving of thousands of people. They now have diplomatic relationships with Terrasa and others, so much of that has been officially curtailed, but the kurushans, once they get past their local issues, have been eyeing the rich lands of the Mezzovian region and seeing themselves as the natural overlords.

Kurushat as a country is a relatively recent phenomena.  While ethnically, culturally and linguistically linked, all of the people in the Karkose Inner Sea region were more independent and Balkanized until recently.  Some of the cities that now fall under the banner of the Empire have done so recently--the most recent in living memory, even--and in some cases, that banner waves uncomfortably over a still recalcitrant populace.  Jekara, on the other hand, is the homeland of the group that conquered the rest.  To use a real life example, Kurushat would be much like the early days of the Roman Republic, and the Romans themselves--the Jekarans--have only recently imposed themselves over the Sabine, Samnite, Faliscan, Oscan or Umbrian peoples--and started calling them all Kurushi in an attempt to create a monolithic Kurushan culture.  Assuming its continued political dominance, it'll get there eventually, but realistically there are generations yet to come in which the Jekara dialect, Jekara fashions and customs, and loyalty to the entire nation as a whole rather than to regional concerns remain elusive.

Jekaran Praetorian

Jekara is located on the coast of the Karkose Inner Sea, at the mouth of the Sukotu River.  Its closest neighbor amongst the major cities that are now part of the Empire is Sinjagat, and long before the formation of the Empire, they had a long and mutually beneficial relationship as allies and trading partners anyway.  This created a great deal of cultural symbiosis, so that while Jekara is the secular head of the Empire, Sinjagat is its spiritual head, and the cult and worship of Yinigu, the patron god of Kurushat, started at Sinjagat and is still centered there.  Because of this, there are still a number of people in Jekara who maintain practice of their old ancestor worship cult, often side by side with the worship of Yinigu, but sometimes in place of it.

Since it is the headquarters of the Khan of Khans, life in Jekara is largely shaped by the political manuevering of its noble class.  The supreme leader of Kurushat is the Khan of Khans, The Almighty Khagan, Kajim Tokraas IX, Blessed of Yinigu, Blade of the South, Hammer of the Weak. Kajim Tokraas is a very wily ruler, and he is old and powerful. Despite his age and relatively passive appearance, he is a monster of a warrior, and his age has not in the least dimmed his reflexes, strength or battle instincts. As a master of unarmed combat and some small sorcery, he is always armed even when he appears harmless or defenseless.  His most notable trait is his absolute ruthlessness, reliance on a combination of convoluted plotting and naked power to hold on to his position. Nobody loves the Khagan, but everyone fears him.

The Cataracts of the Sukotu River at Jekara with the Khagan's palace

There is no heir per se to the khagan, but a number of khans, many of them his siblings and children, have been positioning themselves for years to take over the mantle of the khagan on his eventual death. This is the ancient Jekaran leadership ritual; a ruler holds power until he no longer can hold it (i.e., he is violently ousted and killed by a prospective replacement, or he otherwise dies of natural or unnatural causes.) On the death of past khagans, a brief period of anarchy grips the khaganate, as each of the khans attempts to ascend the throne. Usually this means a great deal of fratricide, patricide and filicide, and a significant depletion of the ranks of the upper nobility. The new ruler then spends some time consolidating power and his grip over Kurushat.

Currently the favored khan to inherit is the oldest surviving son, Kajim Qaerkuun, a gigantic brute of a man that many whisper is half Neanderthal based on his massive build, ugly features and prominent body hair. He's not--he's just really big, ugly and hairy. He's served for many years as Tokraas' brutal enforcer and Right Hand, but this appearance of loyalty is a sham, and Tokraas knows it. Tokraas has no problem allowing Qaerkuun to inherit as long as he waits for a natural death and doesn't get impatient, but he keeps a wary eye on his ambitious son.

Most of the other khans serve important roles in the khagan's court, or serve as an equivalent to regional governers. Under the khans are the various members of the noble caste. Many of them have administrative roles in the government of the khaganate, although many of them are merely titular heads of their households, and their only role of leadership is over their clan soldiers, laborers and slaves. A few of the nobles have charters that were extended to them as the city-state of Jekara gradually went "Imperial" and started expanding as the Kurushat Empire, but for the most part, these local lords were killed when their own countries and/or city-states were conquered, and nobles of Jekaran blood were installed. For some of the older conquests, this has been the situation for many generations, and is a well-established status quo. For others on the frontiers of Kurushat, the local lords are newly installed and the local populace seethes with rebellion and general unruliness. These far-flung leaders have a light presence in Jekara itself, as their duties (and distance) keep them otherwise occupied, but no khan is willing to foreswear Jekara entirely, and the more settled khans maintain permanent residence here, to better ensure that they are close to the seat of power in Kurushat.

Life in Jekara--and increasingly so everywhere in Kurushat--is dominated by a complex and convoluted caste system.  The following are the castes commonly associated with Jekara and Sinjagat and Kurushi culture in general.

• Royals: These are those who could potentially take over the crown in the event of the death of the khagan. Permeability is extremely low; it would be a very unusual and exceptional case for someone not born to this caste to enter it. This is the khagan himself, and all the khans, and their immediate families.

• Praetorians: Professional soldiers. Most make up heavy infantry units, and train almost from birth to the soldiering career. Sorta like hereditary positions in the Roman legions. The numbers are relatively small, but there's enough of them that the army pretty much has to always be on the move. The recent khagan's have created an unsustainable situation in which without a foreign war to prosecute, they've got entire castes of kurushi that are essentially unemployed and the economic basis of the entire country would collapse. You can be born into, or buy a commission into this caste. Although most praetorians are not overtly wealthy, it is seen as a noble, almost a holy calling, and praetorians are a very prestigeous caste.  They are especially common within and around Jekara itself, which is a highly militarized area.

• Cataphracts: Also professional soldiers, but also nobility. Not unlike the knights of medieval Europe. Titles to this caste can be granted by royals, so permeability here is relatively good. You cannot buy commissions as a cataphract, though, and they are always fewer in number than the Praetorians.

• Mortitheurges: To borrow a label from Privateer Press's skorne society, these guys are both religious and arcane in nature and serve as a priestly caste. Although not celibate, moritheurges do not raise their own children nor do they marry, so you cannot be born to this caste.  Their origin is in the ancestor worship beliefs of the past, but most of them have been seamlessly adopted into the worship of Yinigu as well.

• Juugashi: The Juugashi are the Elect of Yinigu, special shock troops that have been selected via a painful and potentially fatal initiation ceremony to undergo a magical transformation to better resemble the god of their religion as "were-hyenas" of a sort (although their physical change is permanent, and has nothing to do with the moon.)  Juugashi spend some of their time cloistered in special monasteries, but they also serve as elite troops on campaign, and as bodyguards for wandering clerics and nobles within the empire themselves.

Juugashi soldiers

It is illegal for all but a khan or other extremely highly placed noble to interfere with the Juugashi, so many of the common citizens of the Empire see them as little more than state-sponsored bandits, and want nothing to do with them if they can help it. Soldiers are more forgiving, as the Juugashi have a proven track record of "getting it done" when things get difficult.

In keeping with the nature of Yinigu, and the hyenas that they resemble, the Juugashi are brutal, aggressive and domineering.

• Ugiun (Artisans): A more prestigious force than laborers, these free-born entrepreneurs can belong to guilds, and are known as masters of their crafts. Not unlike medieval guild-type professions. Doctors and others also qualify. In modern society, we would call these "skilled trades."

• Haaziran (Laborers): Much less prestigious than artisans, these are the unskilled laborers. From farmers and urban unskilled labor to domestic help, this vast throng of mostly non-Kurushi, disgraced Kurushi, or those of recently conquered populations, humans, Neanderthals, and others who have somehow avoided slavery still find their lot little better than serfs in most respects. They are, however, socially somewhat invisible, and for that reason, they can move about the empire more freely than the government would care to admit. Their control over the laborers is slight; however, since most laborers have to work to survive, the potential for civil unrest from this quarter is lower than it might otherwise be.

• Kabaatas Erkek (Traveling merchants): A relatively prestigious caste that has the freedom to come and go throughout the khaganate and beyond is rare, and this privilege belongs to the hereditary merchant caste. Each merchant (and his retinue) has a charter from a khaganate himself, giving him authority to enact non-local trade relationships, and this charter is passed down from parent to child. Younger, less able, or less interested children can be placed, due to the merchants wealth, in the praetorian, scholar and administrator or artisan castes as well, to ensure that the entire family prospers.

• Qaabru: Not unlike the Nazi SS; a caste that is police force, paramility force, and which operates somewhat independently of the other arms of the government here, and which has its fingers in all aspects of Kurushi life. Members of the Qaabru are hand-picked by its leaders. In theory, this is a eugenics program; the Qaabru are supposed to be everything that's best about the Kurushi race, and an attempt to improve on that even more and perpetuate their better qualities without sullying them with any other concerns. In reality, the leaders of the Qaabru quite frequently allow Kurushi to buy entrance into this caste for their children, or they pick them as political favors.

• Slaves: Name speaks for itself. Few slaves have any rights, and their lot is a miserable one. However, this isn't universally true. The khagan himself, and his top khans, select slaves for administrative talent, and most of the bureacrats of Kurushat are slaves, Kurushi or otherwise. They can rise to great power and wealth in these roles, but they can also lose it overnight if they don't play their cards exactly right. There are also regiments of slave soldiers, not unlike the janissaries, usually led by a charismatic and powerful Juugashi individual. These jannisary-soldiers are exclusively non-Kurushi, and Terrasans and Neanderthals make up the majority of their numbers.

Finally, an interesting bit of local color for Jekara is the existance of "The city above the City"--a network of catwalks, rickety shanties and scaffolds, that are build atop many of the buildings of Jekara, in an overt example of strange squatting.  This neighborhood, called Overcity by the pretentious and Rickets by the rest, is a strange home to escaped slaves, lower class citizens with nowhere else to go, criminals and more.  Why the khagan tolerates it is unclear, but for both practical reasons and as a matter of policy, local law enforcement views the Rickets as off-limits.  Many argue that if it were cleared away, it would simply spring back up again like mushrooms within a matter of days anyway.

A is for Alcàsser

Alcàsser is a major urban development of the Terrasan culture on the far western edge of the Mezzovian Sea, northwest of Terrasa proper.  Technically, it is not a seaport, and is in fact many miles from the shore, but since the Durenga river estuary is wide and safely navigable (to knowledgeable pilots, at least) most seafaring vessels can make port at Alcàsser.  The water east of the city gets increasingly brackish, but by the time you reach the city itself, the Durenga is slow, fresh, and somewhat brownish and heavily sediment-laden.

From Alcàsser, the shoreline continues nearly due south for some time before turning east and then northeast to form the Tolosa Bay.  Directly east of Alcàsser (although certainly much too far to be visible) one would come up against the southwest coast of Gandesa, the island infamous for harboring the pirates of Porto Liure near its northeastern tip.  This puts Alcàsser roughly equidistant--as the ship sails, at least--between Terrasa itself and it's northerly neighbor Segrià.

Alcàsser has a reputation amongst Terrasans as being a boring place.  Politically loyal and untroubled by tendencies of seccession (as plague many of the more northerly city-states), the primary raison d'etre of Alcàsser is farming.  The Durenga River basin is famous for its gently rolling hills, fertile and well-watered soil, and lack of bandits, monsters, hauntings, or really any type of drama of any kind.  Called the breadbasket of the Empire, Alcàsser is seen as a sleepy little port full of farmers.  This isn't exactly untrue... but naturally, it's way too simplistic.  For one, Alcàsser isn't sleepy or small, it's a major port that has dozens of ships coming and going almost every day all over the Mezzovian, and as the main shipping hub of the grain industry, it's got its share of political manuevering and intrigue as various "grain barons" attempt to shoulder their competition aside.

Secondly, Alcàsser may be the front on a war that Terrasa isn't even aware that it's fighting until it's too late.  Because of its relative proximity to the Black Mountains and the pass of Sutaka, it's through Alcàsser that the Terrasans became aware of Kurushat.  Mostly this is in the form of runaway slaves or other outcasts who have gradually made their way as refugees to become migrant workers or rural immigrants to the area.  But official delegations have reached out.  While an embassy of sorts is under contruction in Terrasa "as we speak," for the time being, official communication between Kurushat and Terrasa goes through Alcàsser.  Some have wondered why the Kurushi seem OK with lingering in what is percieved as a backwater rather than setting up shop in the wide boulevards and canals of Terrasa.  Some have a rather disturbing theory.

If the Cavusto natives succumb to the military advances of the Kurushi, then the de facto Pax Kurushata extends easily beyond the Durenga Cascades, and then there is nothing to prevent legionnaires from marching on the city.  And with Alcàsser held, the rest of the empire would quickly starve.  If some of the citizens of Alcàsser and Terrasa can see this, then no doubt the spies that infiltrate the Kurushi labor camps and neighborhoods no doubt see it as well.  Because of this, astute Alcassan observers are very interested in news of the succession crisis that seems to be brewing in Kurushat, as chaos back home will hold the militant and expansionist state in place for some time to come.  Meanwhile, lobbyists for increased protection of Alcàsser and greater monitoring of the Kurushi community are seen as paranoid and deluded, and consistently ignored in terms of domestic policy.

Other than that, in recent months, strange wreckage of barges and boats, sometimes empty, sometimes showing the remains of long-dead skeletons or corpses, have been spotted floating down the river and reaching all the way to Alcàsser.  The style of the boats, and the style of the clothing of any bodies found thereon are both mysterious and unknown to the area, making their ultimate origin a mystery.  Since the lands all the way to the cascades (which are completely unnavigable) and beyond are well-known, all the way to the source of the Durenga on the eastern slopes of the Black Mountains, its unclear where these ships are coming from or what this disturbing omen could mean.  The ruler of Alcàsser, Duke Berat S'Asinara, has sent patrols up the river to attempt to uncover the truth behind this mystery, but so far, no reports have returned.  Meanwhile, the frequency with which these ships are coming down the river seems to be increasing.  Seen as a bad omen, few Alcassans have any interest in salvaging these seemingly worthless barges, and most are left to float downstream to the sea, accompanied only by a disquieting vigil from the docks as all stop to watch them pass.

Juugashi

Most religious characters in Kurushat are worshippers of Yinigu, the god of the state religion of Kurushat. With the exception of possible divine spellcasting classes (depending on which rules in use) and the Juugashi, religious characters get no in-game benefit for being religious, of course, and Yinigu is not a comforting god who provides solace to his flock in any case.

Clerics of Yinigu tend to have domains that focus on hunting and running down of prey, war, and other acts of brutal aggression. They favor carrying flails to whip the faithful if they look like they need it. Many of these clerics are wandering pilgrims, but unlike in other lands, these pilgrims are not peaceful travelers. Many clerics of Yinigu are killed by villagers and townsfolk, because of their habit of brutally beating anyone who appears to not be showing proper deference to Yinigu. Of course, it is illegal to harm a cleric of Yinigu, but in secret, they are often in danger unless they travel in packs, or with Juugashi bodyguards.

Interestingly enough, the cult of Yinigu is not the original religion of the Kurushat people. Early in their expansion, the Kurushati conquered the city-state of Sinjagat, and it was a major cult in that city. Because it was the first major conquest of the growing empire, the Sinjagati are the most integrated "non-native" ethnicity within the empire, and few today make an ethnic distinction between them anymore. The cult has grown rapidly in numbers and prestige, and when the first khagan adopted it, Kajim Tokraas VII, it quickly vaulted itself to state religion.

The original religion in Jekara, however, was a form of ancestor worship. Really old noble houses from Jekara, and extremely traditionalist native Kurushati still practice this religion. In a D&D environment, I prefer to represent these worshippers with the Mortitheurge and Extoller classes (from Privateer Press' Monsternomicon vol. 2) but they could also be represented via clerics in a pinch.

The Juugashi are the special elite shock troops of the Khaganate of Kurushat.  The Juugashi are the Elect of Yinigu, special shock troops that have been selected via a painful and potentially fatal initiation ceremony to undergo a magical transformation to better resemble the god of their religion. Juugashi spend some of their time cloistered in special monasteries, but they also serve as elite troops on campaign, and as bodyguards for wandering clerics and nobles within the empire themselves.

It is illegal for all but a khan or other extremely highly placed noble to interfere with the Juugashi, so many of the common citizens of the Empire see them as little more than state-sponsored bandits, and want nothing to do with them if they can help it. Soldiers are more forgiving, as the Juugashi have a proven track record of "getting it done" when things get difficult.

In keeping with the nature of Yinigu, and the hyenas that they resemble, the Juugashi are brutal, aggressive and domineering.   As it looks, Juugashi are humans who have been magically cursed (or blessed, depending on your perspective) to be transformed into gnolls.