Taudo

The Taudo are a people of the far north, originating on the banks of the River Lorya in ancient times. In early times they dwelt in the caves and dark forests of the Nuvn, and although very few now hold to that lifestyle they remain associated, in the minds of many people, with a certain barbarous and troglodytic glamour. They lived peacefully for most of their early existence, but the rise of the Evyni Empire threw the north of the world into conflict, and the Taudo lined up alongside Gallat against the Evyni. The collapse of Gallat sealed the fate of the Taudo: they were conquered by the Evyni and remained a constituent of that empire until its dissolution. The Taudo rebelled as the Satar advanced against the Evyni, and when the Karapeshai Exatai ultimately claimed most of the old empire's holdings a Taudo aristocrat was granted the title of Prince, conferring high status and significant autonomy on the Taudo. During the Karapeshai period the Taudo principality came to control all of the Seadol Peninsula. When the Exatai fell apart the prince of the Taudo seceded mostly peacefully, and the Shadow Princes have maintained a precarious independence ever since, balanced between Zalkephai and Vellari and counting on support from the Maninists across Inm-Anmar. 
The Taudo converted to Maninism early in the existence of both the faith and the Taudo people, and have remained adherents ever since. Taudo Maninism was persecuted under the Ytauzi Evyni, and tolerated provided it adopted an Ardavani veneer under the Karapeshai, but since the independence of the Shadow Princedom its princes have returned openly to the Faith, and been participants and beneficiaries of the general Maninist cultural and intellectual revival. Taudo Maninism is chiefly notable to outsiders for its tendency to view the Path as Shadow, not Light. 
Category:Cultures
Category:Taudo