Dhakar

> *"They say that the hardest stones are formed deep within the earth. That only the greatest pressure and greatest of heat can produce such strong materials. SteelHeart teachings tell us the same goes for people, which is why you must always regard the Dhakar with the utmost caution. Formed in the heat of a centuries long war and the pressure of the entire Red Tide, the world is glad that it is the Goran that have drawn their ire"* (Family Hearth caravan trader)
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The nation state of **Dhakar** or **Dhakarii** is the independent **mortal nation** located on the eastern side of **the Wall** buried deep within Goran territory. The Dhakarii people are a highly militarized people who's existence and day to day activity mostly revolves around keeping the **Goran** **Expansion**at bay.

They are highly antagonistic to most outside nations, having a poor history with attempted diplomacy due to the Goran's unique language barrier. Despite this they maintain a functional trade relationship with the **Encircled territories** in which they trade combat drugs and rare minerals from their volcanic homeland for reinforcements and advanced weaponry to combat the Goran tide.

## Appearance

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### **Morphology**

The Dhakar come from the areas around the **Firelands** and are the descendants of nearly every civilization conquered by the Goran nation during their earliest days of expansion. Their ancestors fled to the mountains where the **Goran Ecology** could not easily take root.

They tend to be dark haired, dark skinned, lean of build and their men are noted to have heavy facial hair which is often styled into various shapes. Rarely a red haired Dhakar will be born and regarded as cursed or untrustworthy.

## Land

> *"The cliffs, partially sculpted at a steep enough angle in most areas to stop infantry, but just level enough in certain places to encourage an uphill battle. Isolated water supply, vision and unobstructed fields of shooting for miles around. A small force of a few dozen soldiers in this location, properly supplied could hold out indefinitely against hundreds."* (Ashed Mercenary, surveying the location)
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### **Climate**

#### **Natural disasters**

Once a land of active volcanism, the many vulcanoes have gone quiet for all of the recorded history of the Dhakari. The volcanoes of old while slumbering are not entirely extinct, as the region is wracked by the occasional major earthquake and gentle tremors are not uncommon.

### **Geography**

The lands of the Dkhari sit in high elevations, astride the mountains. Most of the lowlands between the peaks in their region are rather flat and the valleys do not extend deep giving the region the feeling of a plateau pierced by thrusting volcanic peaks and ravine riddled flatlands.

## Law

### **Punishment**

Punishment for major incidents in Dhakar nominally take the form of time served on the front-lines of the army. While an act of theft may receive one rotation on the front line, more heinous crimes can carry a life sentence to be on the front. These life-long sentences tend to pit the most violent and dangerous people in Dhakar against the Goran, utilizing their nature to the benefit of society.

## Society

### **Family**

All things and people are considered male until they earn the right to be called female by birthing.

## Government

### **Leadership**

The Dhakar government is council run by 23 members. The currently sitting council elect their own replacement from either current military command and business owners inside of the city. The economic and agricultural councilors tend to be exclusively women as all Dhakar men are required by law to serve in the military until they either die or become decrepit with old age.

The male council members generally represent the warriors who have distinguished themselves tactically resulting in changing the tide of battles, or those who have earned the highest number of confirmed Goran kills in battles. It is not unusual for these councilmen to wear sweeping capes displaying that preserved tattoos of upwards of a hundred individual Urok's gathered during their typically 25 or more years of military service.

### **Governing**

The council of Dhakar rules with absolute authority. Actions need a simple majority in order to take action.

## War

The Dhakar culture revolves around their defense against the Goran nation, war is a primary focus of life.

### **Training**

Dhakarii military training begins at age 10 for women and 12 for boys. They are trained in the hot, high altitude mountains wearing heavy wool outfits to increase their endurance in combat scenarios. (Will continue)

### **Equipment**

#### **Weapons**

The Dhakar fight the mostly unarmored Urok warrior caste, and their weaponry reflects this.They use primarily large, top heavy c

urved swords designed for slashing and chopping. Outside of this they are known for using thrown circular bladed disks at medium range and in some rare cases flexible whip like swords. In the case of heavily armored foes, punching daggers are utilized.

Due to their alliance with the **Technocracy** and tinkers from the Encircled, krak weapons are rarely seen usually in the form of single shot blunderbuss cannons often loaded with volcanic obsidian.

#### **Armor**

Dhakarii armor is mostly designed to deflect blunt force trauma, and consists mostly of thickly woven or padded armor. Their armor is covered with strategically placed obsidian shards to slice unarmored foes that manage to get into extreme close quarters. due to their alliance with **Kushan**, silken armor is fairly common.

Their heavier infantry uses the same bladed design, however incorporates steel plates over the woven fabric, this is rare due to material constraints and the arid heat of the land.

#### **Other**

The Dhakar utilize small explosive techmaturgical devices that are small shaped bombs covered with sticky resin on one side. The youngest soldiers, the oldest, or those that have not proven themselves carry these into battle in the case of a Goran **Juggernaut** or rare **Titan** involvement. These charges are meant to be manually stuck onto the larger foe and ignited, often killing or badly wounding the soldier that delivers it. Successful use of these charges is grounds for instant field promotion or honor in death.

## Religion

The Dhakar consider themselves to be the true children of Gorr and as such the worship of the immortal Fire-God is the most wide-spread of religions in the region. By the mythology of the Dhakar their land of extinct volcanoes once was a land of flowing lava which the Dhakari under Gorr's blessing were able to wield as a weapon and tool. Gorr it is said was stolen from the Dhakari by a betrayal of their supposed friends to the north who wished to take the prosperity Gorr brought for themselves. It is commonly believed that should Gorr be rescued from the Goran and returned to his rightful home, the volcanoes will return to life and the time of affluence and plenty will return to the Dhakari people once more.

Beyond the worship of Gorr, the Dhakari hold to the traditional pantheon of immortals though the population contains minorities of Gogalith followers and anti-immortal worship groups as well. The ever impending doom and single-mindedness of Dhakari society however keeps these tensions cooled as any energy for fighting needs to be directed at the Goran for the Dhakari to survive.