Chalmerie
Pacifist agriculturalists
North of the Wasterlies the ground levels. The Bieting Sea lies to the north separating Enor Daeg and Sefir Daeg. A sandy delta of such salty waters ships consider the land incongruously frozen. The salt deposits stretch like snowfields along the dry, dry sand. Several little channels carry water from the sea across the sands. Following the river and beyond the flats lies a community all to themselves.
The Chalmerie build their quaint and confusing homes on the sandstone and barren rocks. They aren't homogeneous. Elves, humans, dragonborn, gnomes, and pretty much any that can survive the chill of night and heat of day live here. There exists a harmony between the different species, for they unite under one common idea: to grow.
Inhabitants here are avid botanists or naturalists who have studied the flora of their respective homes and bring that information. Here, they bring together their knowledge in order to raise crops and plants of their homes. About once a year, members form groups to retrieve the soil necessary for their plants, traveling as far as Brin Balo. These trips take time, but with several spell casters among the groups they usually make good time.
Once upon returning they attempt to plant their crops. They always fail. Ever the optimists, however, the Chalmerie shrug it off as a miscalculation and try again. Many attempts have been made to cease the Chalmerie, but nothing can really be done about them. Friends and family of the community ask them to return home, but the Chalmerie staunchly refuse, quoting that "innovation brings peace."
The Chalmerie ultimately believe if they can grow crops in the desert then anything is possible, including an end to violence. Indeed, the Chalmerie are vegetarian and have no weapons or valuables. They believe such things bring trouble to them, not help curb violence or end violence. They believe peace can only truly be achieved through dismemberment of military and consumption of "non-violent food," that is, not any meat or anything that causes harm to others.
Once, the entire group almost died out after a yuan-ti raid, but traveling merchants and their guards managed to rout the yuan-ti. The survivors chided their saviors, saying that if they were meant to die, it would be better to die from violence than to commit violence. True to their generosity, however, they offered them what little breads and vegetables they managed to raise.
Many scholars claim the Chalmerie a fad that will either "come to their senses or just blessedly die out." Many find them offensive, or at least misguided. One objective criticism of the Chalmerie is their stubbornness resorting them to turn away from any fact or advice. Many of the Chalmerie don't regard people of science to be "enlightened" or "pure" enough to grasp the truth. They believe the plants and flora talks to them, and the plants and flora all say the scientists are wrong. They think because of the violence around them, it taints them and their energy so they cannot perceive the "voice of the Natural." This makes converting the Chalmerie impossible. Even outsiders who have genuine advice are shunned because they have "yet to cleanse themselves of their turbulence."
Expert predict the Chalmerie to die out within the next few decades.
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