Skylands
Realm of the Eight God-Chieftains of the Skylands Arakh
Geography
See also: The Skylands & God-Chieftains Image Gallery (External)The Skylands are flanked by the Asura's Wall Mountains to the west and the Crags of Kolaghan to the east. Beyond the Crags of Kolaghan is the violent, ship-eating Sea of the Goryō (thought to be the domain of the Goddess of Sea Monsters, Shelas Ob'Silexia), and beyond that the mysterious islands of Tiam's Cradle. Beyond Asura's Wall is the Commonwealth of Marai, a largely human-eladrin-drow federation of clans: these people are fond of bickering amongst themselves, however they are still skilled warriors that would happily slaughter the arakh and take their land if a good opportunity presented itself.
Along the farthest eastern reaches of the Skylands are the great gorge-mazes and former dwarven cities of Oloraan. They are especially noteworthy for being dotted by enormous, tree-like geological structures the Arakh call 'Starseeds'. In actual fact, they are ancient 'land stromatolites' created by the bustling, larval activity of an ancient non-humanoid people.Society
Skylander Arakh tribes are named directly after their chieftain, e.g. the Axe-Poets, under protection of Monok-Surok Axe-Poet.The culture of the Skylander Arakh is highly unique in the sense that it has no armies, and no mortal Skylander need ever take up a weapon; this is because each chieftain of the eight tribes is near-godlike in power and monomaniacally dedicated to the protection of their people. Anyone who tresspasses too far into arakh territory is inevitably met by an angry God-Chieftain, and either slain or taken into servitude. Those who choose to retreat are allowed to do so.
Sample names
Masculine: Gaan, Kamahl, Amarok, Ainok, Surrak, Batu, Vorosh, Thurul, NagalFeminine: Hetan, Kuon, Okaun, Karga, Sunat, Arvat, Ghalta, Dugga, Tarha
The Setsu-Shan Cold War
Greed knows no bounds, and some resourceful thieves are developing ways to evade the God-Chieftains' gaze. The Shan of the Maraian Highlands directly opposite Asura's Wall, have had some success getting stealth teams of ninja-archaeologists farther and farther into Skylands and making off with powerful artifacts related to the arakh homeland of Tiam's Cradle. The vast majority of the Commonwealth is either unaware or don't care, as they have no love for the Skylanders.
That said, the arakh are not without allies. Another Highlander clan, the cunning Setsu, despise the Shan and have spent nearly 50 years building a plan to get them exiled from the Commonwealth for the plundering and defilement of Setsu holy sites, suggesting this is a cultural habit of the Shan. At any rate, this plan may be coming to fruition as the Setsu have now been elected to sit the Plain Pillow (thus giving them certain veto powers over the Commonwealth). A tough situation for the Shan, but if there is an intellect able to fox their way out of this, it is the Great Ravens' chief seer and unofficial Chief Kannushi, Granny Branchhead.Demographics
In addition to the arakh majority, there is also a small population of dwarves in partnership with the Skylander tribes, a diaspora of displaced people who fled an unwinnable war in their home land of Oloraan. Their cousins who continued further west into Marai would eventually join the Commonwealth under the clan name Oloro. The Great have evidently decided the dwarves are not a threat, as dwarven comings and goings are not interfered with.
Though not a part of the clans in a cooperative sense, the God-Chieftains do allow some human settlement on the far west end of the continent. This human culture is collectively called the Naru. They, too, are old enemies of the Shan and are cooperating with Setsu attempts to end the Great Ravens' plundering of Arakh artifacts.
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