Pannótiés

General introduction

The region of Pannótiés is to most Tarrabaenians nothing more than a barren wasteland. It lies in the Northwest, bordered by the Acritetérés to the South, dividing them from the region Tresalbeo, the Central Erana Mountain Range, which is so steep here, that it is even more of a natural border to the West than elsewhere and the Sévo Mountains to the North, which share the characteristics of the Central Erana Mountain Range in these parts. In the East it borders on Nel Farmilitis.

All parts of Pannótiés are flat. There is only little rain, most of it falling close to the Sévo Mountains. This makes the area a steppe landscape, that is also defined by a continental climate. Winters are long, but so are spring and summer. The transition from summer oder autumn to winter is the shortest seasonal change. The lack of larger rivers also inhibited the development of larger settlements, so for the most part, life takes place in the southeastern corner of the region, where also the capital, Tria Cencária lies.

Climate and natural resources

As it is either relatively hot or relatively cold and dry in the region, Pannótiés does not have too diverse of a wildlife. This also reflects in the crops that can be cultivated in the region. For the most part the agricultural output goes hand in hand with the natural vegetation of the region, which means, that mostly cold resistant crops like millet and oat as well as smaller amounts of rye are grown. Onions grow here, too, but other vegetables are difficult to grow. Only the Southeast can produce mentionable amounts of cabbage.

No metal ores or precious stones have yet been found in Pannótiés, although mountains are almost everywhere around the region. The difficult climate has deterred many from exploring the area further and even the explorer Córius Amaditius Píró only passed through here, since his focus lay not in the region itself, but the Central Erana Mountain Range. Some people have tried to wash gold in the local waterways, but output was low, so goldwashing only sustains a small amount of people.

Flora and fauna

As in Tresalbeo, dama make up the majority of the larger bodied animals of the region. There are also some smaller herds of wild horses. All other herbivores are rather small. An animal one often sees and hears is the emintrior, a small fur reptile, that lives in colonies and communicates by whistling.

Plant life consists mostly of grasses, bushes and shrubs with trees being rare. Small patches of birch and beech coves exist in the foothills of the Sévo Mountains, where most of the precipitation falls. Along the few smaller rivulets birches or pines can be found.

One must be wary of the acator, a wolf sized predator, which is also a fur reptile. It seems to be a kind of Shagreen dog, only smaller in size. Nonetheless is is ferocious as it has to strike to kill with prey being as few as it is. Other, smaller predators are foxes and falcons.

History and culture

Pannótiés was never of much interest to either the Duiniken or the Tarrabaenians. While the whole region is de iure part of the Confederation of Tarrabaenia, de facto only the parts that were already occupied and settled by the Duinikens stay in use by the Tarrabaenians. There are a few seminomadic herders, who graze sheep in the steppe, but their numbers are small. Nonetheless this sheepkeeping has led to the production of a famous cheese from the area, the négus, which is a creamy fresh cheese, rich in fat and of a mild, but deep aroma. It is a prized ingredient in the cuisine of the upper classes from other regions.

When it comes to Pannótiés own local cuisine, the only well known dish is pasatin, which is a thick sauce made of a root vegetable of the same name, that is partly ground up, partly cut into small dices, the spicy buds of a flower called miratia and mutton fat on a bed of millet mixed with sheeps milk and négus. The pasatin tastes like a very mild radish, but has not the fresh notes of radish. Instead it leaves a warm, almost creamy mouth feeling.

The regions capital lies in the Southeast, which is the most hospitable part of the region. It is called Tria Cencária, which translates to 'three millet granaries', as that were for the longest time the most striking pieces of achitecture in town. In fact the term cencária refers to a special type of granary, that was developed here, but since it was tried and tested and proved to be most fitting for the northern climates, has since also been exported to Nel Farmilitis.

Nowadays the biggest building in town is the temple for the goddess Curalia, who governs peaceful households, hospitality, birth and wellbeing of all members of a family or guests of a family. Here in Pannótiés she is also interpreted as the keeper of the hearth and provider and protector of harvest and lifestock. The temple was erected during the time of the empire of Tarrabaenia and is famous for its delicately crafted statue of the goddess, holding a flame in one hand and stalks of millet in the other as symbols of the hearthfire and the crops she protects.

The non-sedentary herders of the region, while performing their own rituals on their migrations, also make pilgrimages to the temple of Curalia. They nonetheless have their own special way of making offerings. While the sedentary farmers often make grain offerings, the semi-nomads craft puppets out of straw, often adorned with attributes specifying the purpose of the offering. Puppets with an enlargened belly area stand for a wish of pregnancy in general or a pregnancy going well. Some puppets have a coloured body part as to indicate the person making the offering wishes for some form of healing for that body part. The most often seen type of puppet, though, is one bearing a model of a bow. These puppets wish for better luck in protecting the herds from the voracious appetites of predators. A fire is kept burning in the temple at all times and people say prayers and pay the priests for their services, like tending to the fire or enhancing personal wishes and prayers with so called alláta (meaning 'additional/ancillary (prayers)'). For each nomad group, an ambassador visits and brings the offering by throwing it into the flames.

A special form of settlement seen here as well as in the northern parts of the adjacent region of Nel Farmilitis are the sémící (literally 'half villages'), which are used by the semi nomads for parts of the year. They are sprinkled all over the far land and used by all groups of nomads. Around each of these villages there is a vast area of land for the animals to be grazed on. Groups change the area and settlements every now and then and sometimes meet on the way or also in the sémící. If that happens, the currently sedentary group stays, while the others move along to another place, of course after exchange of words, goods or sometimes even people, for marriage for example.

Sémící are simple shelters, but bigger than any group would need, so in bad weather conditions a wandering group can seek refuge from the elements for a while. Also the area around these shelters is rich enough, a group can stay for several months before moving on. There is always enough pasture left behind, so another group can settle down even if only a short period of time has passed between two occupations.

Noteworthy individuals

With the population being so small and the resources being so scarce, it is no wonder, that neither beacons of culture, noteworthy aristocrats or officials or literati have sprung from this region. Two Men, though, stand out, though. Their names are Arcótus and Tosus, two brothers, who showed great military prowess during the initial phases of the wars against the Messellat Mdûlûn. These two, of whom nothing more than their cognomina are known, were excellent bowmen, trained by their life on the steppe and their hunts of acatórés, which threaten herds to this day. Although Tarrabaenians knew how to ride, it was only here, that the need for mobility on horseback was so vital for surviving, that stirrups were invented. Today Arcótus and Tosus are quasi-mythological figures even attributed with having invented stirrups, but that is questionable.

The great achievement that can be rightfully attributed to these two, is the repelling of a

Type

Geopolitical, Province