Located
at the Viper Pass Naczach'sh is the gateway to Tahnn, a flourishing town
afoot the mountains near the borders with Korresh and Garr...
The Beginning
Hundreds of years
ago, when after the Scourge the Guard Towers had been built up at the Viper
Pass which had formerly been unprotected, the Ss'tiss built up houses for
those among the guards who didn't live in the towers. This first 'settlement'
merely consisted in a small well reaching deep down into the ground to
provide the inhabitants with water from a water reservoir and a couple
of leather dens and one or two stone houses. Eventually the female guards
got pregnant and lay eggs.
Now - those children
had to be hatched, there had to be a stable provision of food and clean
water... more houses were built, more people of the families sending their
women and men to perform the high valued duty of guarding this entrance
into their Kingdom settled down here, the settlement grew.
Luxury and Wealth
Eventually the relationship
between Tahnn and the surrounding Kingdoms, Garr and Korresh got better
sometime after the Scourge. Caravans started traveling to those Kingdoms
and arrived from those. They provided the population of Naczach'sh with
almost anything it needed - Dwarven Ale, Human fabric, Dwarven metal and
weapons, even with wood which was and is a rare material in Tahnn.
Merchants settled
down, a caravanserai offers shelter for those caravans which stay for a
day or two. Inns, gambling dens, taverns and pubs, grounds for fighting
contests and blade-dancing, brothels and whores on the streets - a flourishing
little town has grown from the former village...
Misharr Settlers
The Misharr had
always used to hunt in these grasslands, they had gathered herbs and berries
and eventually a couple of families settled down at the skirts of this
village. They started their own trading business, cultivated berries and
other vegetables, cultivated arrasa in these grounds that provided the
animals with a stable water supply and more grass than ever to be found
in the depths of the desert.
And they do never
waste any of the 'materials' their animals provided them with - milk is
drunk or used to create butter and cheese, the wool cut off and used for
weaving carpets, blankets and all such. Their delicious meat is dried and
sold to the caravans as well as sold fresh to the inhabitants. The skins
are used for creating anything they need - waterskins, leather dens, bags
and pouches or simply sold to those producing clothes for travelers, leather
armors, boots and such...
Ss'tiss Farmers
Some Ss'tiss saw
the advantages of breeding their meat instead of hunting it down 'traditionally'.
A couple tribes living a nomadic life in the desert had always gathered
small herds of arrasa and taken them with them during their desert-travels
to fulfill their needs whenever there were no wild animals to feed on.
Those Ss'tiss settlers now turned their back on the traditions of hunting
down prey to satisfy their hunger and train their skills but started breeding
arrasa and camels to feed on these throughout the whole year. Now that
they just do not have enough time left to go hunting the only time they
join a hunt is the annual hunt for goldeath' youngs. Those are killed or
given to Ss'tiss who sell them away as pets. With the meat they gain from
their herds they are able to fulfill the needs of the entire town and even
to provide caravans with food for their travels.
The "Keeper of
Tomes"
Entering the 'Library
of Sun' you will be approached by a tall, muscular female Ss'tiss greeting
you "May Sun light your soul.". You just met the Keeper of Tomes, the woman
who has dedicated her life to gathering knowledge and wisdom of the ancient
to enable those living in the present to learn from their knowledge. Although
a mere librarian this woman is very strong and can easily break the neck
of a Human - like a stick. She is the perfect example of the Ss'tiss ways.
She studies the scrolls and tomes, lovingly cares about them and copies
the texts written on very old parchment but also cares about the needs
of her body - she is one of the trainers of the local 'School of Martial
Arts' for Ss'tiss.
The Members of
the 'Council of Three'
The Council currently
consists of Zzsh'eth Nshhih, a mother of the tribe Hzzath and famous artist,
Shhizz Chralsh, the matriarch of an 'independent' farm**** nearby and
Ezzhan Ohzznath,
Leader of the tribe Czzulth which has settled down in Naczach'sh a couple
of hundred years ago.
Import and Export
The inhabitants
of Naczach'sh buy almost anything offered by the caravans passing through
their town on their way to the big cities Ta'ess and Hasst. That may be
-
Wood and furniture,
any sort of fabric for the decoration of their houses, metal and weapons,
wine and ale, herbs...
-
Water is the most precious
they sell to caravans stopping by. Aside of this they also offer
-
Dried meat and other
sorts of food, woven goods, leather goods, herbs gathered mostly by Misharr,
goldeath youngs**, falcons***, gems from the
-
Ss'tiss gem mines and
occasionally armor and other stuff made of the hides of scalodons which
they hunt down in Spring in the Northwest of Tahnn.
Caravans from
all over the country provide the towers guarding the Viper Pass in the
mountains with fuel for the fires burning 24 hours a day to keep up a temperature
warm enough for the Ss'tiss guards not to be restricted in their movements.
The only way to keep these fires burning is to provide the towers with
a steady supply of camel and arrasa tang. Those caravans bringing the fuel
can be noticed from afar already. To the sensitive noses of Ss'tiss and
Misharr that smell is awful...
Problems
Of course Goldeaths
are lured by those large herds of easy-to-hunt-down food both Ss'tiss and
Misharr are breeding...
And the Misharr -
many of which refuse to kill their 'relatives' - dislike the annual hunt
for goldeaths and especially their youngs that the Ss'tiss are running
in Spring.
There are also tensions
because of the Misharr caring about any law breaks among their people of
concerning their people on their own without informing the guards or the
local judge.
Thieves find lots
of victims in the streets of Naczach'sh - they especially like to steal
from people belonging to caravans since those won't stay there very long
and therefore won't spend too much time on trying to find the thief who
recently stole their pouch...
Robbers, renegade
Ss'tiss of which no one knows where they come from or where they disappear
to, keep robbing the farms farthest away from the protection of both the
guard towers and the village guards.
Every now and then
the guards have to hunt down smugglers taking narrow, dangerous paths through
the mountains around the Pass to enter the Kingdom with magic stuff or
anything else that is forbidden in Tahnn or that they just do not want
to be seen by anyone else...
The nomad Ss'tiss
tribes insist on the farmers not to be 'real' Ss'tiss for they gave up
the natural way of hunting down prey to fill their stomachs with food.
Of course the tribes DO also have small herds of arrasa - but THEY do only
feed on them when there is no other choice... A nomad meeting a farmer
on the street will at least try to avoid walking on the same side of the
street like that one...
Used Words and
Expressions - Explanations
* mother:
A mother is any
Ss'tiss female who has laid eggs at least one time. To be mother does NOT
mean that you have youngs. Although those mothers who have laid eggs from
which no young has survived are considered a social status a little less
high than other mothers they still have a much higher social rank than
male Ss'tiss.
** These youngs cannot
be bought throughout the whole year. After the annual hunt for goldeaths
all the youngs that have been collected are sold away to hatcher - people
who hatch them until they are strong enough to survive a travel through
the desert or over the mountains. There are usually about six or seven
youngs who survive this process and they are incredibly expensive.
*** falcons:
The most common
birds of prey caught and trained in Tahnn, especially here in Naczach'sh,
are the small, brown czazzeh living in the grasslands which has about the
size of a kestrel and the grey headed chre'mahsh - almost two times as
big as the czazzeh - that lives in the mountains.
**** 'independent'
farms:
These farms do not
consider themselves as a part of the city but since the government does
the only way for them to take influence on their situation is to try to
vote one of their people into the Council of the town. Still, the atmosphere
between their chosen member and the other two is tense. The situation is
comparable to that between the Ss'tiss and the Misharr members and authorities
in town. The independent farms tend to care about their problems on their
own...
