Rashemen

Rashemen is about the same size as Cormyr, running approximately 330 miles from its southern border at Lake Mulsantir to its northern reaches at the Icerim Mountains, and 270 miles from Lake Ashane, its western border, to its curving eastern border that ends at the southeast arm of the Icerims. The Sunrise Mountains and two small but thick forests divide Rashemen’s lower third from the rest of the country, and most of its citizens inhabit this smaller portion. Although its size is comparable, Rashemen’s harsh climate and remote location mean its population is less than half that of Cormyr.

The lower third of Rashemen is a cool, hilly land of pine forests and heather-grown downs. The land climbs toward the east, quickly becoming quite rugged as one approaches the Sunrise Mountains. The northernmost reaches of the Sunrise range are lower and snowier than the southern portion bordering Thay, and from these well-watered peaks, innumerable rivers and streams flow west to Lake Ashane. Ages ago, glaciers scarred this land, carving deep U-shaped canyons in the mountains and trapping hundreds of tiny lakes behind moraines.

The North Country, Rashemen’s upper two-thirds, is mostly bleak, windswept plains with little vegetation other than hardy grass and scrub. The southerly reaches of this area consist of knife-edged rocky ridges with steep ravines covered with a thick pine forest, but the landscape flattens as one moves north, becoming a vast cold steppe unbroken for more than a hundred miles before the foothills of the Icerims rise up from the plains. The North Country lies 3,000 feet above sea level, as does much of the rest of Rashemen, and this altitude contributes to its harsh winters.

On Rashemen’s western flank is a veritable inland sea, the great lakes of Ashane and Mulsantir. Stretching over 500 miles in length and more than eighty miles wide at their broadest point, these lakes occupy deep rift valleys between the high plateaus of Ashanath, Thay, and the North Country. Rivers from the surrounding elevations drain into these lakes, which have no surface outlet. However, they are freshwater, not salt, which suggests that one or both are linked to seas or subterranean rivers in the Underdark.

Magic has sculpted Rashemen’s geography as much as wind and weather. Caught between the warring nations of Narfell and Raumathar long ago, Rashemen is a place of ancient wizardry and powerful spirits (called telthors) tied to the features of the land. Spirits guard the forests, mountains, and waterways against defilers—in some places, every stone and sapling has its own guardian. The local folk respect and take care to not offend the spirits, which are said to punish those who are callous toward them and bear grudges against communities for years.

In addition to its native spirits, Rashemen features many old sites of battle between the dead warring nations, and from time to time dormant spells are awakened, rocking the land with earthquakes, freakish storms, and strange monsters. Fortunately, most of these battlefields are in the northern, less populated reaches of the country. The icy lakes and rivers that form Rashemen’s western border are enough to deter casual aggressors, and the fury of its native sons and daughters drives off all but the most determined attackers. The people of Rashemen love their home despite its dangers and prefer to keep it untarnished by the footprints of ignorant visitors.

Lake Ashane is the longest natural feature defining Rashemen’s borders. Icy cold and inhabited by water spirits and aquatic monsters, it is the lifeblood of many fishing villages. Ferries cross at Mulsantir, where the Golden Way spans the lake. The Ashane ices every winter, particularly in its narrower stretches, and caravans cross on foot when the surface is frozen.

Lake Mulsantir is a turbulent body of water that forms part of the border with Thay. In years past, the Red Wizards stocked the lake with hostile magical crossbreeds, but such things were as likely to return south against their creators as to go north, so this practice has ceased. Some of the more cunning creatures survive, though, and are blamed whenever boats disappear on this lake. Mulsantir connects with Lake Ashane through a broad passage referred to as the River Mulsantir.

Rashemen’s southern border continues east from Lake Mulsantir along the Gorge of Gauros to the Sunrise Mountains. Evil humanoids and natural predators make life dangerous for travelers and prospectors here. The border runs north past the ruins of Citadel Rashemar, which is inhabited by fell creatures and ruled by a powerful hag sorcerer, then north and northeast along the edge of the Endless Waste until it reaches the Icerim Mountains. Frost giants, frost worms, taers, and white dragons lurk in the Icerims, but these creatures dislike the relative warmth of the flat-lands and are rarely seen there. The southern edge of the Icerims forms the country’s northern border to the Falls of Erech, which flow downstream to join Lake Ashane.

Most interesting features of Rashemen are confined to its southern parts. The eastern side of Lake Ashane cradles the Ashenwood, a wild forest inhabited by hungry monsters. East of the Ashenwood are the Running Rocks, a leg of the Sunrise Mountains reputed to have mystical powers and connections to the Underdark. The Urlingwood to the north is controlled by the Witches and forbidden to all others under penalty of death. In the middle of the southern flat-lands is Lake Tirulag, fed by rivers originating in the forests and inhabited by an “ice dragon.”

• Ashenwood
• Ashanath
• Erech Forest
• The High Country
• Lake Ashane
• Lake Mulsantir
• Lake Tirulag
• The North Country
• The Running Rocks
• Urlingwood

The people of Rashemen are sturdy, hardworking, and deeply respectful of the land. A traveler here will never see a logger casually cutting down trees for greater profit, nor a stream dammed to power a mill. The Rashemi understand that they must respect the land as they would a neighbor, for the spirits punish those who take what they don’t need.

Rashemi are a short, hardy folk, built for strength rather than speed. Men grow beards but keep them trimmed short. Both sexes keep their hair long: The men wear a pair of thick braids, while the women have only one. The length of one’s hair is a measure of status, in marked contrast to the shaven-headed Red Wizards. The penalty for adultery in many villages is to have one’s hair cut short, and others shun short haired Rashemi for this crime against the family.

Typical Rashemi dress is simple, made of wool, leather, and pelts. Men wear trousers, loose shirts, and fur vests, while women dress in long woolen skirts and blouses of linen. In times of celebration, both sexes dress colorfully, preferring vests and blouses of red, blue, and yellow, embroidered in red, white, and green. Rashemen is relatively poor in metal, and most of that goes to making weapons, tools, and armor, so Rashemi jewelry is made of carved stone, bones, and ivory decorated with complex patterns and runic markings. These pieces are often used as trade goods.

Long ago, these people were forced to defend themselves against the greed of Narfell and Raumathar, two magical nations that constantly fought each other, usually in the lands the Rashemi called home. This ongoing battle against aggressive neighbors turned the Rashemi into insular warriors, distrustful of outlanders and honoring kinfolk who destroyed the most enemies. That mentality persists today, fueled by the greedy attacks of the Red Wizards and Rashemen’s relative isolation. With such a history, it is no surprise that the Rashemi glorify personal strength and shun people who are not like them.

Races and Cultures

Given their remote location and the natural barriers that prevent easy communications with other lands, it is not surprising the people of Rashemen are almost exclusively human. Although of the same racial stock as the Rashemi of Thay, they spit at the suggestion that they are related to weaklings who allowed themselves to be enslaved. The people of Rashemen are taller and paler than their Thayan cousins and can easily recognize someone from the land to the south.

As a warrior culture, the Rashemi see competition as a way to define status and honor, as well as to release pent-up aggression. Rashemi compete in nonlethal tests of strength, skill, and endurance, leaving overt hostility for their enemies. Rashemen would never host a gladiatorial arena, but many settlements have regular athletic competitions where contestants pummel one another into submission in hopes of achieving higher esteem among their peers.

For a country that always has a male leader and laws enforced by an exclusive group of female spellcasters, Rashemi are surprisingly egalitarian. Most warriors and berserkers are male, as are most craftsfolk in demanding fields such as blacksmithing, but women with the necessary skill are not shunned or ridiculed, and the lodges that train Rashemen’s berserkers welcome anyone with an interest in fighting. While martial skill is respected among the Rashemi, the ability to go berserk against one’s enemies is the mark of an elite combatant. Berserkers have the highest status of any class or group in Rashemen other than the Witches. Fangs (military units of ten to fifty berserkers) practice similar fighting styles. Each village has one or more fangs, each tied to a particular berserker lodge.

Life and Society

The people of Rashemen prefer to live their own lives without interference and invasions from hostile neighbors. However, as long as the Red Wizards control Thay, that is not likely to happen, so the Rashemi spend their lives in a near-constant anticipation of attack. This makes life very tense, so the people throw themselves into work and recreation to forget about the constant threat. Rashemi work hard to survive in their harsh and beautiful home, and they play hard to lighten their hearts.

Even within their own land, the Rashemi are surrounded by strange and potentially hostile powers—spirits in the very rocks, trees, and waters. A Rashemi is trained at a very young age to avoid certain landmarks, to leave gifts for helpful spirits, and to ask permission of the telthors before touching anything in an unfamiliar place. The relationship with the spirits is a strange one, for while Rashemi fear offending them, they also love the spirits for their power to protect the land.

The people have a similar relationship with the Witches. The hathrans are mysterious, always wearing masks when in Rashemen, and have the power of life and death. They wield powerful magic that can burn out a man’s mind or reduce a woman’s body to dust in an instant, and they are feared for these things. The hathrans also commune with the spirits and placate them when they are angry, sparing the common folk their wrath. They defend against the magic of the Red Wizards and name the Iron Lord, the face of leadership in Rashemen. These earn the people’s respect. But most of all, the Rashemi love the Witches because they come from the ranks of their own sisters and daughters.

Among the Rashemi, berserkers are universally honored. In a warrior culture that values strength, endurance, and skill, the berserkers embody the highest ideal of those things, primal and powerful. They lead the fight against enemies and are the face of the Rashemi people to all inside and outside the land. Although the Witches are the real power in Rashemen, they are wise enough to elect a berserker as leader of the people.

The Witches test all children at a young age—less than ten years old—for aptitude in magic. Those who pass these tests are taken away from their parents to be trained with the Old Ones, male Rashemi of great age and magical power. The Witches are not cruel or secretive; the families know what is to become of their child and that she will become a person of power and influence. The family is always compensated, usually with livestock, tools, or an orphaned child of similar age. Both boys and girls train. The girls are taught the deep tenets of Rashemen’s religion in preparation for becoming hathrans, while the boys study only arcane magic. Upon reaching adulthood (age twenty in Rashemen), girls are normally ordained as ethrans. Some choose to return to their home villages as practicing mages or healers, but they are always potential recruits for a hathran in need. The boys are given a choice when they reach adulthood: Join the Old Ones, or leave Rashemen forever under a geas to never reveal their secrets. Most choose to remain and may eventually become Old Ones themselves. Those who leave usually practice their magic in distant lands.

An important aspect of the Rashemi way of life is the dajemma, a journey of self-discovery that all young men must take before being considered adults (women may take this journey as well, but it is not required). In days of old, young Rashemi nobles made the dajemma to visit strange lands, slaying horrible monsters and wicked warlords, but now it is mostly an exercise in drinking and sightseeing. It also helps Rashemen build trade contacts with the outside world. The hathrans require all young ethrans to go on a journey (usually in groups) to learn about the outside world and report on current events.

Other than the dajemma, few Rashemi leave their homeland for any length of time. Foreigners within Rashemen’s borders are a curiosity—and not a welcome one. Visitors get many suspicious looks, and mages and obvious spellcasters of non-Rashemi faiths gain hostile stares, for the locals dislike anyone other than the Witches practicing magic in their land.

Economy

Blocked in by mountains, icy lakes, and haunted forests, Rashemen has to fend for itself in most things. Its people raise herd beasts (cattle, sheep, and surface rothé), hunt wild game, fish, and grow crops in the short summer. They trade with the caravans that come through their country on the Golden Way, offering wool, carved items, furs, firewine, and their famous smoky cheese in exchange for cloth, wood products, and foods they cannot find in their own land. Rashemi have limited options: They cannot produce enough excess to simply buy what they wish, and they are unwilling to trade, sell, or lend the things that others really want (magic, lumber, and skilled berserkers).

Rashemen could greatly benefit from a portal to a large city outside their homeland, but the Witches have little interest in that sort of magic and are unlikely to allow another person to create such a portal for fear of unwanted visitors. The most popular export of Rashemen is jhuild—Rashemi firewine—a powerful draught that boosts strength and dulls the senses. The full-strength drink is very expensive, but a watered-down version is affordable to those who have a taste for the exotic. As it is customary to bring a bottle of full-strength jhuild on a dajemma, many young Rashemi have quickly become popular and made some coin in an emergency just by sharing the potent drink with their hosts.

Law and Order

Rashemen is governed by a simple set of laws, primarily concerned with safeguarding people and property. The legal system relies on common sense, which is in good supply despite the number of hotheads in the land. The code of laws takes up less than two written pages, which is fortunate, because a majority of Rashemi are illiterate. The laws also exist in song, making them easier for the common folk to remember.

• Do not kill or deliberately injure another Rashemi. Save your anger for your true enemies.
• Do not steal from your fellow Rashemi or outsiders with honor. To do so is to taint your own honor.
• Respect your family, the spirits, and the deities, for they guard your soul in this life and after.
• Respect the spirits of your home, for they guard the land when you sleep.
• Obey the Iron Lord, for the safety of all Rashemen is his responsibility.
• Obey the Witches, for they are the bond that ties the people to the land and the Iron Lord to the people.
• Be strong, resolute, and courageous, for the weak, lazy, and craven betray the spirit of the Rashemi people.

Defense and Warcraft

Most of Rashemen’s soldiers are warriors and berserkers. Unlike in most other countries, the standard leader or elite member of an army is not a fighter but a barbarian. Rashemen’s warriors favor light and medium armor for mobility and stealth, dressing for concealment in snowbanks when enemies approach. The military is divided into units called fangs, which serve together as members of the same berserker lodge.

Warriors support the berserkers with ranged fire or follow them to deal with foes left alive after the initial charge. Some units ride small mountain ponies to reach the front lines or to deploy ranged weapons, but they dismount for battle because the ponies are not suitable combat mounts. Although the berserkers are terrible to behold, they rarely use group tactics. They generally advance as a screaming mass to tear holes in the enemy lines, which is effective but costly. It is the Witches who make the berserkers successful in war, using powerful place magic and summoning great spirits to attack and terrify the enemy forces, taking advantage of the berserkers’ initial successes. They also use the witchboats to deploy forces rapidly into key locations, utilizing their great mobility to place shock troops where they are needed.

Most communities in Rashemen have defensive walls. With the cessation of attacks by the Red Wizards, the Rashemi are enhancing and expanding their southern fortifications, often with spells such as wall of stone. As much as they hope for an end to centuries of war with the Thayans, the Rashemi have lived with their hostile neighbors for too long to believe they could change their colors so easily.

The Rashemi are generally content to defend their own borders and rarely invade neighboring lands. On the rare occasions when large numbers of Rashemen’s warriors did leave their homes for war, it was always to make a punitive strike against an enemy fortification in retaliation for an attack against Rashemen. The Rashemi, and the berserkers in particular, feel there is no honor in slaying commoners barely able to defend themselves; they prefer to take out their aggression on military targets.

Religion

The Rashemi are a devout people, involving religion in every aspect of their daily life, for they venerate the spirits of the land as minor deities. Rashemi religion focuses on “the Three”—Bhalla (Chauntea), Mielikki, and the Hidden One (Mystra)—but also honors telthors and famous heroes. Most of the spirits are not known by name, except for very old ones with recognizable personalities. Most people do not meet the spirits in person but instead seek their signs, which are interpreted as miraculous occurrences and omens. Celebrated heroes are believed to serve the Three in the afterlife as generals, strategists, and messengers. They are rarely seen except in fantastic displays of hathran magic such as the planar ally spell. All Rashemi respect the hathrans in their role as speakers to the divine (whether deities or spirits). The younger divine spellcasters (ethrans who have not yet become hathrans) are responsible for most spiritual guidance and healing, much like clerics and druids in other lands. This frees up the hathrans to concentrate on greater matters, such as battling the Red Wizards, thwarting the bheur hags, and guarding Rashemen. Only when an ethran’s power is insufficient to minister to the people’s needs (such as in the case of a plague) are the hathrans called in.

The Wychlaran

Main Article: The Witches of Rashemen

The wychlaran (“wise old women”) are the spiritual guides of the Rashemi people, watching over their souls and communicating with the spirits of the land. The formal term for a member of this group is hathran (“learned sister”), although the Red Wizards and others call them the “Witches of Rashemen,” a term the women use informally themselves. All female spellcasters in Rashemen, arcane or divine, fall into one of the four following ranks: unproven, ethran, hathran, or othlor. The unproven are those female spellcasters who do not choose to become ethrans. A number of adepts and minor spellcasters fall into this category, women who simply do not have the inclination or aptitude for further study. These women are generally left alone by the Witches to practice their magic as they see fit, so long as they do not claim the privileges and authority of a true Witch.

Ethrans are low-ranking initiates of any arcane or divine spellcasting class, although most are clerics or sorcerers. An ethran is a Witch and bears the full responsibility and authority that goes along with the title, although she must defer to the hathrans and othlors. There are thousands of ethrans, although most are little more than village healers or spirit-talkers.

Hathrans are the leaders of the sisterhood. A hathran can do no wrong in Rashemen; her word is law, and to disobey her is death. There are about three hundred hathrans scattered over the country and elsewhere in Faerûn; the actual number is a carefully guarded secret of the sisterhood.

The wisest and most experienced hathrans carry the title of othlor (“true one”). No more than a dozen or so othlors exist at any one time, although the title is freely awarded to any sister who merits it.

The Vremyonni

Main Article: The Vremyonni

While the wychlaran serve Rashemen as judges, rulers, priests, and warriors, men with spellcasting ability are segregated from their kin as vremyonni, or “Old Ones.” Divine spellcasters such as clerics or druids are not required to set themselves apart in this way, but Rashemi expect wychlaran to placate the spirits and intercede with the gods, so male clerics or druids do not have a role in society.

Most become hermits or eventually join a berserker lodge (after multiclassing as barbarians) and become advisors to these elite brotherhoods. Men who happen to be arcane spellcasters have no such option. They must secret themselves among the hidden villages and cavern strongholds of the vremyonni, or they must leave Rashemen. To refuse this command is death. Most Old Ones accept this as the way of things and do not begrudge their seclusion. In their hidden refuges, they become expert weaponsmiths and item-crafters, creating potent magic weapons for the berserkers and wychlaran in defense of the land. On very rare occasions, when Rashemen faces the direst threats, vremyonni take the field and march to war alongside the wychlaran. Masked like their hathran sisters, each binds himself to a hathran with a short length of silken cord, and the paired spellcasters work as deadly teams.

Adventurers

True adventurers—people who wander about solving problems and investigating strange old ruins—are rare in Rashemen, for most get such urges out of their system in the dajemma. Most adventurers within Rashemen are nobles (usually men and women born of powerful and influential berserkers) who undertake dangerous quests to prove their fitness and courage.

Adventurers from other lands are viewed with as much suspicion as any foreigner unless traveling with a hathran or respected berserker. Such folk are uncommon, although they are sometimes seen along the Golden Way, acting as caravan guards or heading to explore remote dungeons. Adventurers are most common in the North Country, where the locals are happy to point strangers toward the nearest ruin just to get rid of them.

Most settlements in Rashemen have only one small establishment for dealing with foreign adventurers (locals can usually stay with family or at a berserker lodge-house). Mulptan and Shevel are the exceptions, having become used to caravan traffic and strange faces. Visiting adventurers are often forced to sleep outside, as no right-minded Rashemi would even lend a barn to someone who may be a spy for the Red Wizards. Many adventurers freeze to death in the colder months, unused to such a reception and unprepared for the extreme temperature. All strangers are encouraged to move along after a couple of days, and foreign spellcasters are advised to use as little magic as possible within Rashemen’s borders for fear of upsetting the locals, spirits, and Witches.

Rashemen has had the same form of government for over 1,400 years. Not long after the empires of Narfell and Raumathar collapsed, the tribes of the Rashemi were united with the help of a mysterious band of women spellcasters, the wychlaran. The women swore to protect Rashemen, its people, and its native spirits until the end of the world. In exchange, they asked only for the power to choose Rashemen’s kings and war leaders. The Rashemi, having seen how effectively the wychlaran battled against the Nars and Raumathari, gratefully agreed, and the first Iron Lord was selected sometime around seventy-five years before the start of the Dalereckoning calendar.

History of Rashemen

Main Article: The History of Rashemen

Rashemen’s history is a long series of invasions by hostile neighbors, followed by the invaders’ defeat by berserker fury and hathran magic. These enemies include old Narfell and Raumathar, Mulhorand (seeking to expand its holdings from its northernmost territory), the Tuigan Horde, and Thay, which is responsible for at least twenty major invasion attempts in the past 450 years. Because Rashemen is isolated and communicates little with the outside world, the details of most of these attacks are not well known.

Government

At its simplest, each community is led by a fyrra (“lord” or “war leader”), usually a warrior of renown from a clan of good standing. Technically, a fyrra wields power only over the soldiers he trains and commands, but he often keeps the peace and settles matters of traditional law and judgment. A fyrra is advised by the Witches and normally defers to their judgment. The fyrras of each settlement report to the Huhrong, or Iron Lord, the highest-ranking leader in Rashemen. The Iron Lord is always a man, chosen by the Witches, and rules at their whim; they may replace him at any time. The Iron Lord is expected to rule wisely and in the best interests of the people of Rashemen. It is his duty to keep travel between settlements reasonably safe, secure the frontiers, and control raiding monsters from the wilder parts of the country. In times of invasion, the Iron Lord is the supreme warlord of all Rashemen’s forces except the Witches, who usually follow his suggestions as if they were orders.

The Iron Lord represents the physical ideal of Rashemi men and personifies all their virtues: He should be able to outfight, out-ski, out-swim, out-drink, and outrun all his warlords. In practice, no Iron Lord has been able to do this, though many have come close.

Justice in Rashemen is swift and precise. People who steal have their property confiscated. People who kill are killed or exiled. The Witches dispose of people who offend them or the spirits. Fortunately, most problems in Rashemen are the result of drunken brawls and lusty spouses, and such things can usually be worked out without serious harm to either party.

The absolute rulers in Rashemen are the Witches. They prefer to remain behind the scenes, but if thwarted in their tasks—most involving the safety of Rashemen—they are ruthless in eliminating a potential spy or traitor. The Witches have the power of life and death over the people but exercise this right only when absolutely necessary (such as when someone deliberately harms a Witch within Rashemen’s borders) to avoid a bad reputation. Disobeying the direct order of a Witch is considered treason and may be punished by death as well, although the Witches normally give a warning and repeat the order before exacting this punishment and are more lenient with the young, the ignorant, or other Witches.

Enemies

Despite its remote location, natural barriers, and lack of mineral resources, Rashemen has a number of enemies who would like to see it destroyed, pillaged, or enslaved.

Chaul of Citadel Rashemar

With the fall of Citadel Rashemar, a power vacuum opened in the eastern end of Rashemen, and in stepped Chaul, a devious hag with many minions and significant abilities as a sorcerer. She is one of the durthans (see below) and is power-hungry like all of her sisterhood. Since she isn’t human, some humans in that organization fear what would come to pass if she gained too much power. As it stands, she has close ties with the annis hags of the Ashenwood, the bheurs of the Running Rocks, and the shrieking hags of the Endless Wastes.

Chaul is busily gathering an army in the eastern slopes of the Sunrise Mountains, rallying goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, and ogres to her banner. While she loathes Rashemen and the wychlaran, she knows she cannot overthrow the hathrans with a humanoid rabble, and so she is seeking a subtler strategy. She dreams of finding some way to turn the people of Rashemen against the Witches, and to this end she has been working to entrap young ethrans and seduce them to her way of thinking with offers of power and wealth. So far she has had little success, and any Witch who falls into her hands soon winds up dead.

The Duergar

Below the Sunrise Mountains lies a strong kingdom of duergar known as Darzalstaukh, the City of Dark Dreams. So far, the gray dwarves have not engaged in overtly hostile actions. However, given their generally evil nature and the rarity of their expeditions to the surface, most Rashemi assume the duergar are up to no good. Drow are rumored to appear in the Running Rocks from time to time, so if the Underdark beneath Rashemen is contiguous, the gray dwarves may be able to strike at any portion of the country from below.

Already, duergar outposts in surface caves come into conflict with Rashemen’s miners over the land’s meager supply of iron ore. The miners are preparing for inevitable war and don’t plan on being the victims of a surprise attack. The hathrans suggest patience and caution, for the numbers of duergar are unknown, and they might be interested in trade rather than war. The duergar may be unsavory trading partners, but peace with Darzalstaukh would give Rashemen access to iron and other valuable metals.

The Durthans

Main Article: The Durthan

The wychlaran aren’t the only female spellcasters manipulating events in Rashemen. The durthans are a generally evil group of women with powers similar to those of the hathrans, but they are focused more on the spirits of destruction and vengeance that live within the land. The durthans believe the only way to protect Rashemen is to be as ruthless to its enemies as its enemies are to the Rashemi people. They dream of mounting attacks into Thay and Narfell, stealing magic, and eliminating powerful foes. They would tax the Golden Way and demand tribute from Thesk to allow eastern goods to reach that country. The Great Dale, a similarly forested and natural place, would become a target of Rashemi expansion; the durthans are certain they can awaken the spirits in that land and make it a place much like their home.

As it stands, the durthans are greatly outnumbered by the Witches, but because they work in secret and sometimes pretend to be hathrans themselves, the extent of their power is unknown. The Witches are grateful for the respite from Thayan attacks, which gives them time to concentrate on this danger from within. They are grooming many underlings for membership in their dark order, much as the hathrans count the ethrans among their number despite the inexperience of the “untried.”

Nar Barbarians

Old Narfell may be long dead, but the descendants of those evil priests live on as bloodthirsty marauders and raiders who fight with one another and anyone who stumbles into their cold lands. From time to time, aggressive Nar tribes cross the River Erech to battle the Rashemi, and when the two groups of berserkers meet, blood stains the ground for many miles. Fortunately, weather and water discourage this behavior, but when populations grow large in Narfell and resources grow thin, foolish young Nars are willing to raid Rashemen. Recently the Witches have encouraged the berserkers to leave defeated raiders alive, but only after removing an arm. These grim survivors of pointless Nar raids are sent home to remind their fellows of the consequences of attacking Rashemen.

The most aggressive of these horse-raiders are the Ragnor tribe, a powerful band of barbarians who live on the steppes north of the Firward Mountains. The Ragnor tribe is led by a vicious killer called Ghur-Tha the Cleaver (CE male human Bbn4/Clr9 of Orcus) who delights in capturing enemies alive and sacrificing them to his demonic patron.

The Red Wizards of Thay

Main Article: The Red Wizards of Thay

The primary enemies of modern Rashemen are the Red Wizards of Thay and their servants, slaves, and armies. Even though the common people of Thay have no reason to hate the Rashemi, Thay’s history of war with Rashemen and the constant exhortations of the Red Wizards have convinced the lower classes that the Rashemi are a horrible and debased people. Fortunately for Rashemen, the Red Wizards have been incompetent in execution of their goals of conquest, wasting resources fighting one another instead of focusing on their opponents. They might take the field with an army of orc troops and a new magical crossbreed that loves to eat orcs, or send a squadron of griffonriders to aid a gnoll tribe that hates all flying creatures. They give imprecise orders to mindless undead, so that thousands of troops walk aimlessly into the forest or march themselves into a lake. The Red Wizards are best when dealing with opponents directly—using spells and magic items they wield themselves—but they avoid such tactics, which put them directly in harm’s way.

Now that the Thayans are focusing on trade rather than military conquest, it will be interesting to see what happens to their long-term relationship with Rashemen. The Rashemi aren’t going to forget five hundred years of conquest attempts overnight, and the Red Wizards aren’t going to forget their defeats at the hands of the hathrans, nor the phenomenal magic hoards of the Old Ones. Even if the Thayans succeed at spreading their trade enclaves throughout the nearby lands, the Rashemi will be a tough sell.

Most Rashemi live outside of large settlements, preferring separated homesteads surrounded by small tracts of farmland or pasture. Their homes are usually built to blend in with the countryside. Some are stone, covered with earth and grass; others are built against small hillside caves; and a few are almost completely buried, looking like nothing more than a low knoll. Rashemi cities are small and compact, with buildings made of dark wood and stone and topped with sod and grass. The thick walls keep out the cold weather and are treated to resist burning (always a danger when a constant fire is needed for much of the year). Rural Rashemi look down on the city dwellers, considering them soft, but in truth the residents of Rashemen’s cities live much the same as the country folk, although with shorter walks to their neighbors.

• Citadel Rashemar
• Immilmar
• Mulptan
• Mulsantir
• Shevel
• Taporan
• Thasunta
• Tinnir
• Urling