Ihlathi

### Overview of the Three Houses

When Ihlathi was created, Toprak was faced with the issue of his Satyrs’ short life-spans. Believing this to be a weakness, Toprak constructed a solution in the form of reincarnation. With his solution in place, he still needed to create the structure of his society. The Three Houses of Ihlathi were created to act as government for his nation. Through them, his will was made into law. Each house governs themselves but gather together to govern the whole nation. House Telu is the head of the three, Ursa is in charge of defense, and Simia is in charge of hunting.

Not everyone within a house is related by blood, Satyrs join a house that best suits their aspirations.

#### Outside of the Three Houses

Belonging to one of the Three Houses is the envy of most Satyrs, however there are those who wish to live independently. Though it is generally believed among Satyrs that Toprak would desire all of his creations to belong to a house, he allows his Satyrs to seek out their own destiny (albeit with some discontent.) Those outside of a house may join one, though they are expected to be able to prove their worth.

## Pre-History

### Prehistoric Life

Before Toprak created the Satyrs, he had used the Tree heart to allow for evolution to occur at an accelerated rate. This led to imbalances, creatures would go extinct just weeks after their species were created, and creatures were beginning to evolve into fearsome beasts. Toprak first saw these beasts as a disposable army that is constantly evolving to counter the enemy. Unfortunately they had not developed a way to communicate with the god. To correct his mistakes, Toprak created the Satyrs, a race similar to his own form, who shared a connection with Toprak. These Satyrs developed ways to counter these out of control creatures and cause them to go extinct. Unfortunately many creatures were eliminated before the Satyr’s of Ihlathi began recording history. Most of the Pre-Satyr creatures are legends spread through word of mouth and act as their form of fiction within the culture. Stories of beast hunters and people who could speak to these dangerous monstrosities fill the minds of young Satyr’s everywhere.

## History

The God who rules over these lands is a fairly neutral one, not the aggressor in most situations but will still fight against anyone who dares impede upon his lands. In the beginning there was nothing but empty grasslands, but The God Toprak planted a magical seed named the Tree Heart in the center of the plains and grew a mighty tree. This tree grew to titanic proportions where it would brush against the clouds and the roots would cover the land, where more trees grew from the massive roots of the Tree Heart. As the tree grew, Toprak needed a race to protect his own stake on the world from his sibling Gods; so he created the Satyrs, with the legs of a goat, and the upper body of a man; a creation in his own image. But he found that they had too short a lifespan for his needs, so he began to reincarnate those he found worthy into Ent’s, Stone Golems, and Spriggans. Each of these reincarnations would have a certain purpose in the land he crafted; the Ent’s would be chieftains, or leaders in the great tribe he had them form; Golems would fill the role of guards and front line tanks if needed; finally Spriggans would be hunters and elite fighters for any conflicts that would arise.

As time moved on three major families became prominent to Toprak: the Telu, the Ursa, and the Simia. These three would take to different parts of his land to rule the three houses as part of one large singular tribe. One thing that Toprak noticed though is that these three families tended to turn into only one of the three beings he reincarnates them as. The Telu act as leaders and when one passes they tend to become Ents; Ursa members normally take up the role of guardsmen to protect others and then turn into stone Golems after death; finally the Simia act as hunters that venture out of the safety of the Guardian Mountains to gather supplies and scout, these Satyrs would tend to become Spriggans after their deaths.

Three major locations became well known to the Satyrs of the Ihlathi Tribe; the Tree Heart is the most notable as it was the birthplace of their tribe as a whole and the home to their capital of Tor, found around the base of the Tree Heart. The second most notable location is the Guardian Mountains; it is the mountain range that acts as the borders of the Tribe, and a natural wall for their nation as a whole. The third is lesser known but still vital, it is called Wilds Edge; or more commonly known as the hunting grounds for the Simia where they would base all hunting and scouting operations that would occur along the borders and beyond.

## Political Structure

The Ihlathi people live in a tribal caste system, everyone is given a role and they are fully expected to perform that role with maximum eficiency. In total there are three smaller tribes that make up the Ihathli Nation as a whole; they are the Houses of Telu, Ursa, and Simia. Each House has their own leader that rules over their specific House with their own specific caste system for the environment they are located in. Each House has a leader and three advisors, the House leader will always be the reincarnated variations for that House, and the advisors will be one reincarnation and two Saytrs. These leading counsles will all gather together once a month, or in times of great distress, to discuss the will of Toprak and any actions the individual Houses should take.