Lashan

## Summary

Planted deep into a land considered too fierce and too barren to settle, a seed of rare greatness took hold. Centuries of mindless tribal violence ended within the span of a decade, and the mightiest host the world has yet seen now gathers in the plains of Lashan, where the hordes from across the western savannas of Uarach have finally united under a single banner: that of their god, Noyondayan, the Golden Wolf.

The sudden uniting of the Hordes of Lashan strikes fear and suspicion into the hearts of their more “civilized” neighbors across the continent.

Surely, somewhere across the Three Brothers, the Gratalians shit themselves half to death imagining the Hordes of Lashan attacking as one, striking through some unknown passageway in the mountains. Their mighty war host, brought forth from the golden gates of Tsetsergon, has instead marched north across the plains and begun their terrible campaign against “Silmicia” - a land unironically named after its owners, the Silmician Trade Company. Seeking to sink the teeth of Noyondayan into the untold wealth of Silmicia, the Hordes now skirmish in the wetlands of their northern border.

Led by their emboldened Warchief, Walks-Without-Shadow, the Westerners have watched with mouths agape as magnificent cities rise from the barren plains, masterpieces of marble and steel, elaborate architectural poetry giving form to the once unseen nature of their culture. Tsetsergon, once a mighty sprawl of nomadic yurts and tents, is now a structural marvel of pure white stone, with high walls and hanging gardens. Believing such prosperity to be the consequence of generations of hardship, a boon granted upon them by Noyondayan, the Westerners rush to adapt their culture to a more “modern” way of life. While many flock to the cities, from out of the savannas, more still rally under the banner of the wolf, and the largest army in Uarach pours forth from Tsetsergon’s golden gates.

## Inhabitants

  A fierce, strong people, the inhabitants of Lashan go by no national demonym, but rather by the description once hurled as an insult: **Westerners**.

    Humans left to survive in the harshest environs on Uarach, the humans once comparable to today's Easterners took to their savannas and badlands, devoid of shade from the harsh, ancient sun, and made a slow but steady work of their lives, dedicating themselves to strength and progress while under constant threat from terrifying wildlife and unforgiving terrain.

   In a land where a single bad hunt might spell the end of one’s village, weakness died out over the course of generations. A warrior people and warrior spirit was thus born, the Westerners themselves diverging somewhat from typical humans, growing taller and fiercer over millennia of savage existence. When the villages grew plentiful, they invaded their neighbors, who did the same. Thus, the great and vast savannas of Lashan were consumed by tribal warfare for hundreds of years.

   Westerners are given a placeholder name upon birth - typically a short, descriptive element: “Boy,” “Girl,” “Dark,” “Fair,” for example. They are named simply so to encourage moments of strength and virtue - “naming moments” - wherein the person’s true name is unveiled by Noyondayan, the Golden Wolf - or wherein they return to the mud.

## Religion

The Cult of the Golden Wolf has no official organization or clergy, and is instead a folk religion which spread throughout the badlands of Lashan by an unknown, ancient origin. The Golden Wolf is the personification of brutal challenge and hardship, yielding success to those strong, or cunning, or agile enough to seize it. The Golden Wolf culls the weak, and its spirit lives in those who act with decisiveness and strength. Westerners are generally a cheery folk, and attribute failure and loss not to shame but to “the way of things.” To die, the Westerners believe, is to simply trim the stock, enabling those truly chosen by the Golden Wolf to strengthen their offspring and wrestle the world out of the hands of foreigners.