Dar'Miri

The Dar'Miri, also known as the Swamp Witches, are the keepers of the Dar'Imir, and the last of the original human inhabitants on Daederus. They live solitary lives in the Swamp, and are considered to be savages by most outsiders. The Dar'Miri live organized into small tribes, usually of around 20-100 people, which they call blooms.

## History

Following the detonation of the Necromium Refinery at the climax of the Ichor War, a few humans who had fled to the far reaches of the continent managed to survive. The land here was turned to a murky swamp, corrupted by the ichor leftover from the apocalypse, but the humans learned to survive in this harsh ecosystem. Since then, they have developed a rich culture through long oral histories passed down by the Elders, with especially unique perspectives on philosophy and the nature of humanity.

Townsfolk from villages near the Swamp have sent parties to attack the Dar'Miri in order to defend their town from getting abducted. This usually goes poorly for the townfolk, but it still happens sometimes, especially after the witches take human sacrifices.

In terms of large-scale conflicts, while the Dar'Miri largely keep to their own affairs, some Blooms who live near entrances to the Underdark are thought to occasionally interface with the Drow. It is unlikely, however that their interactions are any more positive than those with humans.

Additionally, in 3104 CE, Dol Arrah Angels went to war with the Dar'Miri. There was a great drought that had gone on for many years, taking a great toll on the wildlife of the Dar'Imir and making life very difficult for the witches therein. Food was scarce, but enough to survive on---more importantly, however, the witches were struggling to find sufficient sacrifices to feed the hungry swamp. So they grew more ambitious in their hunts, travelling further and further away from the swamp to find blood. This caused a great deal of distress among the nearby towns, who called to the Dol Arrah Angels for help. As protectors of Iria, the Dol Arrah Angels battled the Dar'Miri, pushing them back into the swamp. The war was not long; the Dar'Miri's magic was weaker than usual due to the lack of sacrifices, and the angels were able to force a retreat back into their swamp. Unfortunately for the angels, however, the lack of sacrifices to the swamp caused it to grow over the next several years, encroaching on and eventually enveloping many of the settlements that they had fought to protect. The angels still attribute this to the Dar'Miri using their dark magic as a sort of retribution, and hold the witches in great contempt for doing so to this day.

## Beliefs

The witches of the swamp are, above all, followers of the natural way of things. They tend to live reclusive lives in their huts in the swamp, hunting and gathering for food. They do not usually formally educate their children in ways more civilized folk would be used to, but rather pass on their knowledge through stories, songs, and often through magic. From a very young age you would have been expected to hunt for yourself, for the witches believe that it is the nature of the strong to prey on the weak, and it is the nature of the weak to die. To them, however, death is not an end. Most do not believe in an afterlife in a typical sense, (although some may follow deities of nature or death), but they see wolves feeding on sheep and mushrooms growing on carcasses and seedlings sprouting from decay and they see the spirits of the dead carrying on to nourish a new form of life. It is this great cycle of nature that the witches hold in highest reverence.

## Culture

Children are raised primarily by elders so they are loyal primarily to the tribe and not their parents, and so their parents are free to just go back to hunting.

Every witch of the Dar’Miri must choose a path when they turn ten winters old (ten is believed to be a sacred number by the witches), one of three branches which will determine their role in the tribe. These three paths correlate to the three most common types of trees in the Dar’Imir: oaks, birches, and willows.

The witches who take the branch of the Oak are the warriors, masters of the hunt and seekers of blood. They hunt for meat to eat (the witches of the Oak are the only ones who eat meat, because the reward of eating meat should only be given to those who have earned it themselves), and also are responsible for finding and capturing sacrifices to the Ichor. Whether that be great and terrible beasts or foolish travelers, the Oak witches are the ones who take them down.

Those who choose the branch of the Birch are the gatherers, most in tune with the life of the Dar’Imir, and the primary food suppliers of their tribes. They know every worm, every patch of moss, every vein on every leaf in their domain, and they have a fundamental understanding of how each piece of the ecosystem fits and thrives. Armed with this knowledge, they tend to the swamp, knowing which plants to take for eating, which to help with their magic, and which to let die. The Birch witches are the speakers of the swamp, and no one knows its language except for them.

Finally, the witches of the Willow are the tenders to the spirit. They foster a powerful connection with the Ichor, the same connection that gives all of the witches their innate magic, even when outside of its presence, and it is the Willow witches who conduct the rituals of sacrifice to satiate the Ichor’s hunger. Those of the Willow branch are also the storytellers, the caregivers to the young who ensure that the Old Ways are not forgotten. If the Oak are of the body and the Birch are of the mind, the Willow are of the spirit.

Sparsely dotting the landscape of the Dar’Imir there grows a fourth kind of tree: the Magnolia. Magnolias are not the tallest trees in the swamp, nor the widest, nor the most beautiful, but their root systems can stretch for miles in all directions, entwining nearly every tree in a hidden embrace just beneath the surface. They are symbols of the Dar’Imir’s unity, of how every being therein is but a piece of a whole. Those witches who do not fit in with their blooms may be sent into the much rarer fourth path, the branch of the Magnolia. These witches are bloomless; they wander the swamp in solitude, venturing from group to group at the whims of fate, but never staying in any one place too long. When a conflict arises between blooms, all eyes turn to the Magnolias, for they are the keepers of peace, the preservers of unity. In the hardest of times, their wisdom has kept the Dar’Miri as one people.

Each witch of the tribe has tattoos of ichor-infused ink on their forehead: the mark of their tree in the center, the symbol of their tribe above the eyes, and earned honorifics adorning the sides, and in some cases around the cheekbones.

## Magic

Ichor is present throughout the Swamp, and more rarely throughout the rest of the world. The Elders teach how to use its power in the form of magic, which in turn controls the ichor's power and keeps it from running rampant, consuming and destroying all of Iria. This magic requires sacrifices, however, and depending on the strength and type of the magic, sometimes the sacrifice of life. Some blooms of the witches hunt down travelers to be a source of these sacrifices, while others hunt down the great beasts of the Swamp. Some do both. Those who do hunt travelers have given the Swamp witches a very sour name to outsiders, and it's a big reason they're so reclusive.

The Dar'Miri are taught to draw their magic from the Ichor but it's not necessarily the only magic they know. Many witches have an innate magical ability, it's more than just element-bending, they just have a sort of symbiotic/parasitic relationship with the Ichor to enhance that magic.

When people die, they are buried by being dropped into a pool of ichor. The Dar’Miri can then summon back the spirits in a special ritual to commune with them or whatever.

They can also do the same with the spirits of animals, or any living being who is offered to the ichor upon death. This is partially why they hunt down great beasts and offer them to the ichor, so that they can preserve their spirits and gain their wisdom and strength.