Chiefdom of Uraka

**Population**: 90% Sylbari, 10% Westrasi Humans

**Capital**: Uraka-Kai

**Goverment**: Matriarchal Chiefdom

Uraka is a kingdom inhabited by a semi-humanoid race known as the Sylbaris. These race is genderless, though they ressemble almost perfect a human female. Sylbari reproduction is a mystery close guarded, but seem to be connected to the 'Mother Lake' in their main settlement of Uraka-Kai. The center of almost perfectly circular settlement is a fresh water lake surrounding a Old Worl Tech spire. It's said that the first Mother of the Sylbaris emerged from there, and they have since stablished themselves as a races. Sylbaris were once almost all tanned with dark hair but there are Sylbaris with almost all hair colors and skin varying from rosy-pale to caramel. Sylbaris are often slightly taller than humans and proportionally slightly stronger. Sylbari were often stolen from the peninsula by slavers due to their female appearance, but the race health tend to deteriorate too fast in captivity, being linked to their emotional state very closely. A sylbari in bondage will almost never survive longer than five years, as they tend to simply stop eating, sleeping poorly and losing hair. This frailty seemingly paradoxical with their strong tall physiques may have been a result of genetic tampering in the past.

#### **Culture**

Urakese culture is focused around clan. There's no real concept of nuclear family as we understand it, as the children of the tribe as raised collectively. Whole settlements are thought of as been one large family with hundreds of members. Devotion to your clan is a very important trait, and one is expect to always pull one's weight around the clan. Outsiders tend to find some cruelty in the way those born with visible deficiencies are often killed in the cradle in Uraka, but actually that tradition likely started as a mercy since the rudimentary way of living of Urakese people would likely result in starvation. Urakese are expected to work on their bodies as well as their minds, and many tribal rituals are deliberately very aerobic and demanding. Sweating during rituals is seeing as a sign of health and respect for it, signalling one put proper effort. All those born in Urake are trained in javelin throwing and spear fighting, as that is their main approach to both hunting and battle. Throwing ten javelins a day is often considering the minimal you can do if you're not a hunter or soldier, to preserve clan security. Among the clans, there are the Kais and the Tais. Kais are those born to the central ruling family of the Matriarch. Tais are those born of someone not directly connect to the Matriarch. That's the closest thing to nobility. Due to the scarcity of iron, almost all iron the Urakese have is used for javelin tips and working and farming tools. The nobility get to wear bronze breastplates that are more ornamental than protective, though they help. The rest wears leathers, padding or no armor at all to battle. Urakese are great horse rides, but lack the minimal familirity with archery. Their typical strategy is to charge in battle, toss javelins from horseback and withdraw, only committing to battle after a few cycles of weakening the front lines.

#### **Religion**

Urakese are divided between those that follow GE faith brought by missionaries and those who follow the 'Great Spirit', And the pan-animistic spirit said to be the source of all life on the planet. Great Spirit religion teaches that rivers, rocks, animals, and humans have souls who come from the same source and return there. Bigger things like mountains, rivers and oceans, have more powerful, long-lived souls with big memories, while animals and humans have smaller, short-lived souls. So the larger and most ancient something is, the more respect you must show for it. But every animal and person deserves respect. Every pain you cause, despite reason, to anything, living or not, you shall feel when you rejoin the great spirit upon death. So been kind is ultimately the right move. Saramese philosophers call this 'Selfish Altruism'.

Organization

Urakese clans are entirely independent of each other but pay ritual respect to the clans of the settlement of Uraka-Kai out of cultural and traditional need. Uraka is the mother settlement from where all tribes spammed. Uraka-kai is the 'home lake' from which the first Mother emerged to care for the Urakese.

#### **Origin**

Urakese legend says that in the first Mother arrived in the planet on a falling star, and where she crashed, the heavens wept for thirty days until it became a lake. The great mother them emerged from the lake, along with the first Urakese people. They founded the settlement of Uraka by building a crude wall around the lake and their dwellings there, but as they grew and grew, the settlement expanded until the land couldn't hold them anymore, and some of them left to form a second tribe, but returned to pay respect to the lake of the Mother.

#### **Diplomacy**

Urakese have a peaceful relationship with Terravia, and the peaceful way of their neighbours are rewarded with many gifts and exchanges. The friendship between nations is unusually untroubled. Urakese are primitive in most things but their woodwork, herbal medicine and weaving products are of a rare quality seldom found elsewhere, and they gift freely much of that to Terravia. While no formal barter agreement is set, Terravia will often gift back iron, which Urakese lacks, horses and products like alcohol and luxuries to Uraka. Aside from that Urakese are contentiously always protecting their shores from Farisians, Bertranoxians, and Saramese pirates and corsairs, and have a strained relationship with most of those nations.

#### **Geography**

Urake is a mostly flat country, around 25km long and a little under 50km tall. The center of the country has some short hills. Most of it is hot and arid, and civilization occurs alongside the few short rives that run from the hills to the sea. The ground is very rocky and poor in minerals except for copper and tin, which gave Urakese an edge during the ages of Bronze, but their industry stalled for the complete lack of coal and the very poor reserves of iron.

#### **Economy**

Urakese internal economy works mostly as primitive communism inside villages, and a currency aided barter between villages. To deal with outsiders they mostly rely on selling bronze works, mostly decorative, woodwork and medicine in exchange for iron and coal, which the country is painfully lacking.

#### **Player Character Notes**

The Sylbaris of Uraka are a strange race, who all resemble human females. Primitive and tribal compared to their neighbors, the Sylbaris rarely leave their homeland, and when they do, they sometimes become terminally ill if their emotional state is poor for too long. Sylbari are physically strong and favor the javelin and short spear for combat. They often practice wrestling and hand to hand combat, and are fond of horse-riding. They aren't found of bows, and rarely use armor.