Hreyu

Nahrayn, the Hreyu heartland

The **Hreyu** are an ethnic sub-group of the Najer culture. They are distributed primarily throughout eastern and central Najer, but are mostly concentrated in the vicinity of Nahrayn. It was formed from a variety of people who were persecuted during the Najer Droughts of 4100 BB, primarily smiths, charcoal burners, bakers, and glassblowers- those who worshiped the Lost God of heat and flame. As a result of their persecution, many left their communities and banded together as one in the city of Nahrayn.

Modern Hreyu are more spread out, forming a diaspora across Najer after the fall of ancient Nahrayn in 614 BB. Population estimates confirm there are at least 25,000 Hreyu in Najer, though unofficial estimates posit as many as ten times more, as most Hreyu have assimilated into greater Najer culture and are unaware of their lineage.

## Ethnonym

The Hreyu were first referred to as such by a Bacri scholar who visited the city of Nahrayn on his travels. Noting the prominence of the two nearby rivers in the daily lives of the citizens, he termed them the "river people" or Hreyu. Hreh is an archaic Najer word that meant river (in modern times it has come to mean a flow or stream in a more general sense), while Yu is a word that designates a people or ethnicity.

The name caught on over time, and the Hreyu began using it to refer to themselves as early as 3800 BB. The name has remained constant over time despite the exact meaning shifting.

## Language

The Hreyu speak Najer, the same as the majority of the population, though with a slight accent. This accent arose from ancient times, where the Hreyu spoke a distinct dialect of the pre-modern Najer tongue. This dialect was diminished over time as the Hreyu mixed and interacted with nearby groups, particularly the Mahait and Bacri, eventually forming a unified eastern dialect, Shim-Kesir. This dialect continued to be spoken even after Nahrayn's fall and abandonment.

This was in contrast to the west, where another dialect, influenced by the western Tribes and the Lizardfolk's interactions, was more prominent (the Kem-Sasal). When Najera'jad was founded in 1 AB, this dialect overtook Shim-Kesir thanks to the prominence and power of Najera'jad and the western tribes and their close ties with the Sterling Crownlands.

After the Crownlands fell, there was a mass west-to-east migration. This, along with the moving of the federal capital to Wobambi-on-Sea, contributed to the reversal of prominence for the dialects- more and more people began speaking Shim-Kesir as time went on. This shift was solidified when the ancient Najer Script was re-translated in 69 AB. The more-developed and linguistically unified east caught onto the changes more quickly, leaving Kem-Sasal to slowly die out.

## History

The Hreyu are a subgroup of Najer, and as such share similar characteristics and origins to the other subgroups and ethnicities under that umbrella. They came from the proto-nomadic peoples who migrated to Najer over 20,000 years ago and were among the first to call the Wandering Deserts their home.

They first became a distinct people around 4,100 BB. A catastrophic drought and famine had stricken the land, and the people searched for a source of their troubles, eventually blaming the Lost God of heat, Ajvudah. Although this deity had once been widely worshiped, time and societal changes had made her worship limited to those whose trades she affected- bakers, smiths, charcoal burners, and the like. The rest of the Najer began restricting Ajvudah worship and excluded those who participated in it.

As such, many families were uprooted and forced to find a new home, but with little success. This was until a man named Tejarel began to gather them together, eventually forming a loose coalition of Ajvudah worshipers. He led them into the desert until they came to a place where two rivers nearly met, and he declared that this would be their new home. There, they built a city that they later dubbed Nahrayn, or the Land of Two Rivers.

This city would quickly accumulate people and infrastructure as construction began and more Ajvudah followers arrived. Under Tejarel's leadership, the disparate collection of people was forged into a cohesive body.

The collection of tradespeople from all across Najer also allowed for collaboration and innovation, creating new techniques in a variety of fields. The large collection of smiths in the city is credited with hastening the independent discovery of non-meteoric iron metallurgy in Najer, which spread to the surrounding regions over the next hundred or so years.

The Hreyu prospered in their city for thousands of years, until around 761 AB. During this time, the neighboring Mahait High Seyohdom began a series of conquests of smaller entities, notably Ajek Point, which was previously seen as untouchable thanks to its wealth and connections in trade and commerce. This greatly scared a number of smaller tribes, who went to the locally powerful Nahrayn with a proposal to join under the banner of the Hreyu. The Hreyu accepted, creating the Nahrayn Confederacy.

The Nahrayn Confederacy increased in power over the next hundred or so years. The Mahait did not attack, successfully put off by a potential war with Nahrayn. Relations improved between the Mahait and the Hreyu, to a point where the Hreyu leadership considered joining forces under a dual Seyohdom. However, when these plans became public, it immediately sparked outrage within the confederacy. A group of extremists successfully assassinated the Mahait High Seyoh.

This immediately inflamed tensions between the two, with the Mahait declaring war shortly after. They attempted a quick preemptive attack on Nahrayn, but were repelled thanks to the discipline and order of the Nahrayn army. A series of wars occurred over the next twenty years. In the beginning, the Hreyu put the Mahait on the defensive, claiming a large amount of their territory and coming very close to liberating Ajek Point. However, time took its toll in the later years of the wars, and the Mahait began striking back, retaking what they had lost.

Both sides were exhausted and short on resources by this point. The Mahait knew that if it came down to a war of attrition, they would probably lose. So, they began innovating- improving on their previous tactics and knowledge gained through many years of war, they once again assaulted Nahrayn in a daring gambit in 614 AB.

They were successful, and they razed Nahrayn. The remainder of the Hreyu army was slain, captured, or fled in the aftermath. There was a mass exodus of citizens from Nahrayn, with many forming new communities in other places, both nearby and in other dominions. It became taboo to speak of the city, which moldered and was buried over time, and so was forgotten just a few generations later.

The new epicenter of Hreyu culture became one of the new settlements formed after Nahrayn's destruction. Raidahmah became the capital of the new Raidah Seyohdom. It was a hybrid farming and nomadic community, with many of its members intermittently coming and going to trade and travel. It never regained the former prominence of Nahrayn, becoming obscure along with the other tribes in the region. Worship of Ajvudah was also diminished, with many adopting the ways of the Mahait, worshiping Gafa instead.

Eventually, when the Sterling Crownlands were founded, the Hreyu in the Raidah Seyohdom did not need much convincing to join the newly formed nation of Najera'jad. They were among the first to join officially, and afterwards, many Hreyu took up residence in Najera'jad.

After the fall of the Crownlands, Najera'jad was reorganized into the Emirate of Najer. With the now lack of focus on Najera'jad, a massive wave of west-to-east migration occurred as the new seat of the government was moved to the far east. Many Hreyu began wandering once again, or rejoined Raidahmah. One such Hreyu, Hirudo Talvos, after growing up in Najera'jad, began to wander the deserts near his homeland.

On one of his trips in 39 AB, he stumbled upon a statue buried in the desert during a sandstorm. Upon excavating it, he discovered there was much more than it present- an entire series of ruins laid beneath the sands. He had rediscovered the lost city of Nahrayn. He called to his people and they answered, coming to rebuild and repopulate the city. Over time, it became bigger and more significant, eventually becoming the biggest city in Najer.

It especially became prominent after Hirudo became the Emir of Najer, though it would not become the capital until 40 years later when Hirudo's son, Alsham, also became the Emir. It was thanks to Hirudo that House Talvos, or rather the fammily of the descendants of Tejarel, was re-established, becoming a Najer noble house.