Jan'Tep

See also Jan'Tep Territories

> "*The word ‘tep’ means ‘people’, so it should tell you how important magic is to us that when my ancestors came here, like other peoples before them, they left their old names behind and became known as the Jan’Tep, the ‘People of True Magic’.*"
> ― Kellen[source]
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The Jan'Tep are a culture of magic-users who live as clans in large, beautiful cities in the Seven Sands. Their society is structured as an arcanocracy, split into two castes: the Jan'Tep, powerful mages ruled by the Clan Prince and the council of Lords Magus, and the Sha'Tep, magic-less servants.

Jan'Tep society places significant emphasis on the family, or House. Loyalty to the House comes before everything, with the exception of the clan as a whole, as seen when Shalla was berated for publicly accusing her brother of cheating.

> "My people aren't big on poetry but we appreciate a well-composed death threat." ––Kellen Argos, *Shadowblack*
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## History

> "*Quit talking as if you Jan'Tep were a race. You're just a bunch of magically inclined folk who came to this continent searching for the kind of power that had faded from your own lands [...] Different skin colours, different faces, eyes, noses... you're like a big bowl of beggar's stew.*"
> ― Ferius Parfax
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The Jan'Tep first formed when magic-users from other cultures came together in the vicinity of the Mahdek lands, searching for access to the Jan - true magic - and drawn by the Mahdek Oases. Under the leadership of a Clan Prince, the Jan'Tep attempted to take control of the oases by fighting the Mahdek outright. When it became clear that their magical ability was not strong enough to defeat the Mahdek shamans in duels, the Jan'Tep used shadow magic and targeted the shaman's children in order to break the morale of their enemies.

After defeating thoroughly defeating the Mahdek and driving them out of their lands, the Jan'Tep settled in the now-vacant cities and attempted to erase all knowledge of their actions in the war, blocking up the Mahdek arcanum and mausoleum within the Sha'Tep mines. The Clan Prince further placed a mind chain on his wife, Mer'esan, in order to protect the lie.

After solidifying their position as the magic-using culture on the continent, the Jan'Tep became the targets of a number of their neighbours, from the armies of Darome, who sought power over their magical ability, to the Berabesq, who considered the magic to be a blasphemy against their six-faced god. Their magical ability acting as their only defence against their enemies, the Jan'Tep encouraged strength through their harsh trials and laws forbidding intermarriage between Jan'Tep and Sha'Tep people.

## Trials

The rite of passage for a Jan'Tep comes in the form of four trials, which, if completed before the age of sixteen, earns an initiate a mage's name.

### The First Trial

The first trial involves a mage's duel between two initiates using one of the disciplines of the fundamental magics. It is sanctioned and overseen by a master mage, normally the initiate's teacher, and involves the suspension of the protection of the law, meaning a death in a sanctioned duel is not considered murder.

The duel takes place in the centre of a magical oasis, with the initiate who had sparked the least bands choosing the discipline to be used, and is begun by the overseer counting down from seven. The duel then continues until one of the initiates is either unable to continue or concedes defeat.

### The Second Trial

The second trial tasks the initiate with finding a new source of power. The clearest example of this is a power animal, such as Reichis, although other sources exist. Worried he would be unable to form his own source of power, Kellen attempted to leverage his mission from the Dowager Magus to convince her to create a source of power for him, but was denied.

### The Third Trial

The third trial for a Jan'Tep initiates is to combine two disciplines to create a new spell. This generally requires the initiate to have sparked at least two of their bands, although Kellen was able to pass the trial by combining breath magic with chemistry, which he demonstrated by blowing up the supplicantia, using the *Carath* evocation to control the blast made by his powders.

### The Fourth Trial

The final trial is generally considered a purely traditional trial, in that it is practically the easiest trial to complete. It simply involves the initiate 'discovering' a secret. Although customarily an 'enemy', or another initiate's secret, there does not appear to be any technical limitations on the secret, as Nephenia's secret about Kellen was freely given, and Kellen's secret was a subjective comment.

## Mage's names

Upon passing the trials, the clan council provides an initiate with a mages name that follows the structure of their parent's name. The name given to a male mage has a short patronymic prefix, based off their father's name, followed by the personal name, as in Ke'helios, son of Ke'heops, while the name given to a female mage has the personal name first (often a shortened version of the childhood name) followed by a matronymic suffix, derived from their mother's name, such as Sha'maat, daughter of Bene'maat.

Due to the patriarchal structure of households in Jan'Tep society, the patronymic prefix is often also the name of the household, as in the House of Ke, though it is unknown how this would be affected by Sha'maat being the sole Jan'Tep member of the House of Ke, or whether she would form a House of Maat.

## Culture

Modern Jan'Tep culture is heavily based around magical ability, but also has a basis in archaic Mahdek beliefs, although misconstrued. The Jan'Tep have a longstanding and extreme hatred of demonic influences which is partially derived from Mahdek fears around demons, as well as a developed fear of the Shadowblack after their use of shadow magic to overcome the Mahdek.

While the Jan'Tep consider belief in gods to be superstitious, there is a culture of ancestor-worship within their society. Jan'Tep believe that when they die, they will visit an afterlife called the Grey Passage, where their ancestors will judge their lives. There is also a belief in seven distinct 'hells', although this may be based on the seven ethereal planes of Jan'Tep magical theory.