Narah

The **Narah** are an ethnic group native to the Southern Karmine Desert, who have been gradually replaced by Sahirean and Khiadamese migrations within the past 1,000 years. Narah are usually categorized into Western and Eastern Narah, populating their respective halves of the Southern Karmine Desert. The division occurred during the Khiadamese invasions of Sahir in the 14th century, while the Western Narah generally fought against both the Sahireans and Khiadamese, the Eastern Narah were often welcoming of the Khiadamese whom they saw as liberators against Sahir and even fought alongside them several times. After Khiadam firmly took control of Sahir, the Western Narah began a lengthy rebellion against the Khiadamese that lasted nearly a century, during which many Eastern Narah were recruited to help fight the Western Narah. By the 18th century, both groups had been pacified by the Khiadamese and began having a cultural exchange, merging back into each other while remaining distinct. The Narah are spread throughout the highland deserts of the inner Khiadamese Empire and as of 1900, there are around 7 million Narawi citizens living in Khiadam, roughly 20% of the total population.

## Trading Culture

The Narah are best known for being the caravanners of the Southern Karmine Desert, controlling trade routes that stretched across Pan-Carallia. In modern times, the Narah's long and treacherous routes have been mostly replaced by railroads, however the Narah continue their caravan traditions, supplying smaller towns not connected to the railway systems with goods from railway hubs. The Narah's modern smaller caravans have been instrumental to the rapid growth of the formerly isolated Khiadamese interior within the past century, connecting small towns and villages with Khiadam's larger economy allowing for much greater growth than before the 1860s. The Karmine Desert Elephant is the primary pack animal used for transporting goods in caravans, while camels are also used for smaller trips or for carrying supplies during longer caravans. Because of their dependence on elephants, they've become an important symbol to Narah culture, with elephants being treated as holy animals, not to be killed. Elephant tusks are often used as a symbol to represent the Narah, however unlike others who may hunt and kill elephants for their tusks, Narah only take the tusks after the animals die naturally and treat them similarly to urns or memorabilia. Due to their long lifespans, Narah caravanners will often own an elephant for the majority of their lives, considering them part of their family. Many Narah are nomadic traders, constantly participating in caravans or embarking on individual trade runs with their personal elephants. Sedentary Narah are mostly found in the west of Khiadam, east of the coastal cities of Sahir. Most Narah will spend their early lives within the cities before eventually finding an elephant and beginning their nomadic trader lifestyle as an adult. It is common for wives to stay with the children in the cities while the men become caravanners and be gone for months at a time. Because of this, Narah women generally have far more rights and freedoms than in much of the rest of the world, including fiercely holding onto their right of self defense and personal weapons. Many Narah within cities will openly carry swords, daggers, and firearms in public without much alarm, to the dismay of Khiadamese and Sahirean officials who govern them.

## Trivia

* During the Karmine Desert War, the Narah played a signifigant part in the logistics operations of supplying the millions of soldiers fighting in the Karmine Desert far from the Khiadamese homeland. Between 1887-1891, the Khiadamese Army hired around half a million Narah with over 100,000 elephants to help transport food and supplies through the Samwonese Desert Steppe. The Khiadamese Camel Corps formed in 1888 was nearly 80% comprised of Narah volunteers who brought their own camels from the Khiadamese interior. Then later during the Laraisan 1889 January Offensive and cavalry Battle of Fayfara, Narah cavalrymen were some of the most reliable in the Khiadamese Army. During the Battle of Fayfara, Samwonese General Megujin Jungso commented that the Narah were among the finest soldiers on front, on par with his own Samwonese cavalry.