Kushites

## Summary

The Kushites are a slightly shorter than average, dark brown-skinned race with curly black hair. The Gallahs are the lower class and make up the majority of the population of Kush. Several other countries of the Black Kingdoms share similar racial and cultural characteristics to the Kushites, including the Keshani, Puntans and Zembabweans. To the folk of the Hyborian kingdoms, who are relatively ignorant of lands beyond civilization, any black man is likely to be presumed a ‘Kushite’ and any land south of Stygia is considered to be ‘Kush.’
Culture
The northern Black Kingdoms of Kush, Keshan, Puntand Zembabwei approximate to the North African states of Mali, Ethiopia and so on. There are also sub-tribes among the nations. Culturally,the Darfari are regarded as a southern nation, while the Ghanata and Tibutribes of the desert south of Darfar and Kush are certainly northern in culture.

### Aphaki

The Aphaki are the formerruling class of Tombalku. They are the descendants of a tribe from the Oasis of Aphaka in the Kharan Desert in southeastern Shem, who moved southwest and interbred with the black people. The power of the Aphakiin Tombalku is dwindling.

### Ghanata

The harsh southern desert south of Kush has bred a hardy nomadic people in the Ghanata.

### Keshan

Lying in the eastern hinterland of Kush, where the broad grassland merges with the forests that roll up from the south, Keshan is ruled by a mixed race. This dusky nobility claims descent from an ancient group of Shemites and rulesa population of blacks. These rulers are said to have founded Alkmeenon, which now houses the legendary treasure, the Teeth of Gwahlur. The current capital is Keshia. The Hyborians regard Keshan itself as a legend. Keshan is the hereditary enemy of Punt.

### Kush

Western Kush is open savannah, where the black tribes graze their cattle. To the south and east lie thick steamy jungles ﬁlled with the ruins of bygone civilisations. Beyond the jungle is desert; to the north lies more desert.The Gallahs are the original black inhabitants of Kush,ruled over by the slightly more civilized Chagas, who are descendants of Stygian settlers. The capital is a Chagacity, Shumballa, also known as El Shebbeh. A relatively large shanty-town of laborers and craftsmen has grown around the core of Shumballa. This is known as Punt. Kush is home to a thin but hardy breed of horse. Kush contains the Mandingo coastal tribe; the Baghirmi; the Dangola and Bornutribes of the grasslands; and the Tibu, a desert tribe intermixed with Stygian Blood.

### Punt

Some Gallahs of Kush moved into the small kingdom of Puntand settled, naming the wholeland after the outer city of Kush. There is thick jungle south of Punt. Punt is also rich in gold, so much so that ‘they wash gold out of the rivers in wicker baskets’.

### Zembabwei

Little is known of this land south of Punt. It is called a ‘hybrid empire,’ which suggests close ties with another culture, perhaps Iranistan. It has traders (probably including slavers) and fortresses. It has more than one king and hosts armies of black spearmen. The land seems to have links with Shem and with Iranistan, forming a link in the slave trade that feeds the Turanian Empire with black slaves via Zamboula.

## Names

Names from Kush and the northern Black Kingdoms tend to be North African in nature, particularly  Abyssinian.

### Punt

Ethiopian names have been associated with Punt.

### Zembabwei

Zembabwean names are also something of a mystery, with no examples given in the stories. It is assumed here that they are similar to modern Zimbabwean Names.

## Religion

There are many local gods and devils worship among the black kingdoms, such as Ollum-onga andThog. In addition, the following more-or-less national gods are known.

### Keshan

Keshan has a number of bestial gods, although Gwahlur, the King of Darkness, is the only one known to the Hyborians.

### Kush

The Shemite Derketo has been adopted by Kush as a result of contact with the north, though she is worshipped as Derketa, Queen of the Dead. The ruling class of Kush worship Set, while the common masses worship Jullah in opposition to Set.

### Punt

The Ivory Goddess, possibly a variant of Ishtar, is worshipped in Punt.

### Zembabwei

Dagon and Derketo (interestingly under her Shemite name) are worshipped in Zembabwei. The ruling caste of the Kushites, known as the Chagas, are of partially Stygian descent and are far taller than the ordinary Kushites. They have a quite different cultural background to the Gallahs and so do not gain any of the standard Kushite characteristics. They gain different characteristics as described below. The Chagas and Gallahs exist in a constant state of tension that could at any time break out into open conﬂict, with the Gallahs always at least a little wary of their Chaga rulers.

## Culture

Chaga culture is uniquely its own. It is perhaps closer to Stygian than to Gallah culture, since the Changes tend to be quite isolationist with respect to their subject people, the Gallahs. However, over the centuries since the Chagas left Stygia, they have developed their own culture distinct from that of their erstwhile homeland. The Chagas share the Stygian love of hunting but have taken it almost to the point of obsession. While their politics are also almost as convoluted and treacherous as those of Stygia,the Chagas are not a theocracy, which can allow for still more factionalism and betrayal.