Karrathi

Overview

The Karra'thi (Sumireth Karrathi), also known as Enkharin (Hluron), Nehirre (Nevisem) or Udrari (Tsennari), are a Niedene ethnic group native to the underground of the continent of Nieden. They have Ingharan ancestry, but differ slightly in appearance to other Niedene due to their environment and thus have greyish pale skin and ice blue or faded tyrian-colored eyes. As a people, they are incredibly small in population. They live mainly in three major population centers, that being in Sumireth, Hluron, and Nevisem; Sumireth has a dozen cities or so, Hluron has one city, and Nevisem has three cities. They vary widely between their cities.

Culture

Faith

The Karrathi as a religious group tend to vary between clans, but most of them accept the prophet Sarruket.

Sumireth

In Sumireth, the faith is Henotheistic with the central deity is the prophet Sarruket.

Hluron

In Hluron, the people do not accept Sarruket Some worshipped old Ingharan deities in a pluralistic manner, but a new philosophy was developed in which magic itself is worshipped and seen as a gift of the eternal god Maro.

Nevisem

In Nevisem, are polytheistic, believing in Sumireth along with other traditional Niranni deities. The most popular mong them is the deity of the sands and wind, Kisavhan, who is depicted as a winged snake.

Militarism

The Karra'thi are a rather militaristic and deeply religious society as the gods are frequently invoked throughout the day and military training is a daily occurence.

Sumireth

Among the Sumirethi, there exists a hatred towards the firstborn children of the houses, who are taken by the ruling house and sent to the capital. These boys and girls are made to be apart of the oathtakers; the oathtakers, or Ahtanvelath, are a class of warriors, slaves, clergymen, or whatever else is required by the lords of the city. They are known to wear dark robes and cover their faces with veils when in public; in battle, their strategy is to blend in with darkness and so they all have black cloaks and cloth facewraps. These soldiers are contrasted by the Promisekeepers, or the Dirvelan. The Dirvelan act as the royal guards of Sumireth, wearing whites and golds to show the splendor of devotion to the gods.

Nevisem

Among the Nehirre of Nevisem, the population is the least militarized among the three Karrathi groups. They rely heavily on their taming of animals and trapping of their caverns for defense, but still have a large army that serves as the city's workforce, with all men and women serving.

Hluron

Among the Enkharin, every citizen is a professional soldier tasked with crafting their own weapons, learning magecraft, and destroying the witherance wherever it is encountered. The Enkharin are renowned for domesticated spiders that are used for producing gossamer and poisons that the Enkharin use.

Clothing

The Karra'thi wear an excessive amount of veils and fabrics that cover their skin, primarily made of gossamer silk and silk from the Sewa moth native to te northern Gendur. The clothing of the Karrathi often is adorned with tassles and writing in the Ingharan derived scripts of the Karrathi. Their tops are often adorned with gossamer fibers.

Sumireth

Sumirethi typically wear veils or wraps with the exception being that of soldiers who favor the ability to see unobstructed. The Sumirethi prefer purple and dark blue colors and make their clothing out of a type of vine that is able to be harvested and its fibers used to create a type of cloth called Hun. Hun is often accompanied by spider silk imported from Hluron.

Nevisem

Nehirre typically cover most of their bodies, although the veils are replaced by face-wraps or shawls.

Hluron

Enkharin cover the whole body and wear gloves so that no skin is visible. They only typically wear veils, although sometimes the veils only cover the eyes and not the mouth.

History

The Karra'thi all in all are simply Ingharan descended peoples that were isolated from the rest of the world for some time. The general range of the Karrathi seems to be post-Usorring, and includes a variety of people who can barely understand each other.

Sumireth Karra'thi

It is said their origins can be traced back to the times of the Ingharans, when the great lord Sanrica (Sanarik) imprisoned his brother Sarruket deep in the hollows of the earth. It is said that in the deep hollows of the earth, not even the grace of the stars would reach their sorrow. They saw an ecosystem of vibrant bioluminescence welcoming them, a place far from barren. It is in this deep suffering that Sarruket went away for 6 years to try and explore the lands while his brother Nithirrhin led his people to settle in the caverns, barely surviving off of what they could.
Sarruket returned with a hysterical smile and proudly exclaimed that he had found the promised land. He led his people through the caverns, fighting off drakes and other beasts until they reached the underground lake Missaveth (Meaning Lake at the Core of the World). The beautiful lake appeared to be at the center of a dormant volcano, with the center of the lake opening up to the sky above. They sailed out to a set of islands that they could sea, making their homes among them and building a great city called Sumireth, the City of the Prophet. From Sumireth, the Karra'thi made their capital and began to settle the other reaches of the underground powered by their Ingharan age magic, masterwork smiths, and will to survive. While Nithirrhin built the city, Sarruket meditated atop mount Kinthana.
In time, the actions of the Karra'thi would anger a great flaming monster named Gemikin. Sarruket would battle Gemikin for 6 nights before dealing the finishing blow atop mount Kinthana in view of the capital. He absorbed the power of Gemikin and used it to destroy the blight in the cavern of Sumireth. Although he won against Gemikin, he sustained deep injuries. He claimed that he would become one with the universe and his people as he stood atop Kinthana one final time, defiantly fading into nothingness. Sarruket's son Insith would claim the throne and declare the first state of the Karra'thi, that being the Holy Realm of Surthen. Insith would develop technology and achievements, among them was the taming of the Kimerith, drakes that dwelled deep in the stone that could carve through rocks like butter. Other great achievements included the construction of a great library-palace, the introduction of a great series of timekeepers who relied off of the life of the Hlida fly, and some basic magic powered machinery.
Religion changed greatly in this time as the people began to worship Sarruket as their primary god among a series of other spirits known as Danvhai. Gods of the old Pantheon were known as the Markav, the old gods. Superstition held that the old gods existed, but rarely cared for the underground world and were neglectful of those in it; In time, the old gods would be seen as common Danvhai. The people would ritually sacrifice mortal goods to a fire, alongside criminals who would be burnt alive as an offering to the spirits in an effort to show that the society was purifying itself. As for Sarruket, he was worshipped as a god of magic, guides, war, and purity; his younger brother Nithirrhin became known as Nurhi, a god of civilization, peace, industry, and light. The main symbol of Sarruket was known as the eye of Ithir, symbolic of gazing into the unknown and seeing the Danvhai.
With these drakes, the armies of Surthen breached the sealed tunnels and began their assault on the surface world that trapped them there. They wreaked havoc in the years leading up to the first century until a great earthquake occured. This was when the Auri and Anesari noticed that they had stopped their attacks and any surface strongholds were all but retaken by the second century. When they appeared again centuries later in places like the hills of Anosfae or the Lusiij plateau, the Kimerith were not present; the absence of the Kimerith made it much easier for a combined Anesari-Dwarven alliance to seal them back underground at the battle of Ikire.

Things changed when the shattering happened, and an alliance was formed between all of the Karrathi states. No longer were the Karrathi to be divided, and thus they were united against the common enemies, that being the witherance.
Eventually, in 1028. In 1028, the Karra'thi leader Nanharra led an army out from the mountains and into the counties of Dahnarrin and Silvarin. This resulted in Karra'thi settlement of the above ground for some time. In 1123, the Karra'thi declared isolationism their policy and barred outsiders from entry into the underground. This led to an era of silence around the peoples, broken only by periods of Karra'thi traders coming to the surface to procure goods. This was until in 1316 when the Ahtanvelath emerged in Essukur during the first wars between the Niedene and Utumi peoples. The general Inkhirva ferociously pillaged the river valleys near Sagadra and defeating the Essukuri strongholds and Arkhai monasteries before vanishing again.
Years later in 1342, Inkhirva would return wielding an artifact of great power known as the Kikhurvat that he stole from the Arkhai. With it, he joined the armies of the Gendur valley in fighting back a great blight that had come from Gentarien and was spreading from Korthai to Alsivai. During the battle, Kikhurvat was used by Inkhirva to seal the corrupted spirits of the blightspawn within it. From here Inkhirva threatened to weaponize the blight and was assassinated by an anesari assassin while the artifact hidden away somewhere in the ancient lost city of Vanharnan. After this struggle of power began, the local lords of the region recaptured any above ground holdings and even campaigned into the caverns until the Karra'thi were forced to bargain for peace as the capital was threatened from siege equipment firing down from above and armies conquered the towns on the lakeside.
Occasionally, a banner bearing an eye can still be seen rising from the depths to the surface world, but now the Karra'thi often perform diplomacy and trade with their outside neighbors. They ruled the mountain regions for a hundred years until it their power had decayed due to local inter-clan conflict beneath the mountains. As of the modern day, they only hold a few fortresses above ground, most of which are entrances into the underground anyways.
The people often are seen as pragmatic, paranoid, and hostile; however, their traders are welcomed in many places due to their abundance of things like ores and unique materials. As for surface presence, most do not leave their countries but a few are found in the mountain cities peddling goods or raiding caravans. Local rumor in the plateau states that Sumireth was struck by an earthquake in 1565, and is still recovering. In addition to this, it is said that the blight has returned to the capital caverns for the first time since the 1300s, a dire sign for all of the continent.

Nesivem Karra'thi

The Nevisem Karra'thi are said to originated from a warlord named Inparkel. Inparkel fought against the invading Sirii in Anosfae prior to being overrun and forced to retreat into the mountains, taking refuge in the caves of the region. When it was clear that his people lost in the end, they hid in the mountains, coming in contact with the Sumirethi with whom they made war. The Sumirethi subjugated the Nesivem, but treated them fairly.The Sumirethi attempted to convert the Nesivem, succeeding partially as Sarruket woul become the primary god, but the Markav would remain worshipped. Eventually during the shattering, the Nesivem would migrate largely to the sands of the south, arriving in the modern location of Nesivem by the 4th century. Things changed when the shattering happened, and an alliance was formed between all of the Karrathi states.

Enkharin Karra'thi

The Karra'thi of Enkharin began as a prosperous mage city in the early Ingharan age built on a lake Island. The city itself was struck by the witherance in the Ingharan age during the reign of Usorring, but survivors of the region noticed that while there were some ruins of the city, most of it had just vanished, its spires and all. In reality, the city was swallowed by the earth due the mages battling the blight. As a result, the city became isolated from the rest of the world. While passages to the surface were restored, they were largely hidden and kept secret.
In the years to come, the Enkharin developed on their own, taming the spiders of the region and using their magic abilities to produce some of the finer enchantments in the world. They developed into a mage society with an aelite class of warrior-mages at the head, keeping their faith similar to the Ingharan era animistic traditions.
When an expedition from Sumireth encountered one from Hluron below the Gendur valley, war began sometime in the 200s. The war culminated in a great battle outside of Sumireth city that resulted in a Surthen victory and an uneasy truce. In the years since the victory, the two left each other alone largely and even began to trade. Things changed when the shattering happened, and an alliance was formed between all of the Karrathi states. After this, the Enkharin began to support the Sumirethi on their excursions against the witherance. The only notable case of the Enkharin invading outsiders happened in the reign of Atshara, when a group of them invaded the city of Keitalia in order to purge it from vampires, which their bodies were taken and used for alchemical purposes.