Pithicai

The Pithicai are a short, diminutive hominid species who have the ability to speak. They are one of two Hominids in Aplacia that have built cites, adopted agriculture and developed civilization. However, not all Pithicai are ``civilized". The Feroki are Pithicai who live mostly in the Tebele Jungle where the species is believed to have originated, hundreds of thousands of years ago. The Domi Pithicai live in cities at the edges of the eastern jungles. The Feroki are generally smaller than their Domi kin averaging a height/weight of 4ft/100lbs for males and 3ft-7in/80lbs for females. The Domi, owing to their ample food supplies, better medicines and superior wealth, have an average height/weight of 4ft-6in/120lbs for males and 3ft-10in/90lbs for females. The Pithicai tend to have more body and facial hair than Humans (but not nearly as much as the Thrals or the Aruktai) with Feroki Pithicai women often sporting full beards or even mustaches. Proper Domi etiquette however, does not permit female facial hair within the Zwalhirian Empire.

The Domi in Northern Aplacia are broken up into three main groups: (1) The Tebele Domi who live in the towns and cities on the edge of the Tebele Jungle along the Eastern Ocean, (2) The Zwalhirian Domi who have colonized Orlaan Zwalhir and built their capital in the heart of the Zwalhirian Jungle high-up in the Bazen Mountains and (3) The Boskan Domi, who live in Boskus south of Orlaan Zwalhir near the equator, across which they migrated, ailing from Southern Aplacia. The Piticai who live in Fariati Siti, a sprawling, dilapidated and crime-infested city far inside the Fariati Sea near the heart of the Tebele Jungle, are a strange mix of all types of Pithicai (both Domi and Feroki). It is believed by Pithicai and non-Pithicai alike to be a den of iniquity.

### The Zwalhirian Empire

The Zwahirian Domi, the post powerful of all the Pithicai, founded an Empire in the lands of Orlaan Zwalhir many thousands of years ago. The humans from the Djurdon Islands taught the early Zwalhirian PIthicai how to build cities and farm crops. Eventually, the Zwalhirians built many magnificent cites such as Cneeva, Barrasoon and their capital, Zwalhir, where no non-Pithicai has ever set foot. Around the year 2700 B.F., after rising tensions between the Pithicai and Humans finally snaped, the Zawlhirian Pithicai decreed that all of Orlaan Zwalhir belong to the Pithicai and the Pithicai alone. They waged war on their former Human friends banishing then back to their islands. They eventually turned their ambitions west and south, conquering land and building settlements. As the years passed, the distinction between civilized Domi and wild Feroki became clear and by 1000 B.F. the three Domi cultural groups had become established. The Tebele Domi, who lived in the cities of Kalifundi and Dalmikundi (Neu Orthaan) along the coast and Aler Taso up the Tamlit Road, still pay homage to the Zwalhirian Empire, but are on better terms with the humans of Northern Aplacia, trading heavily with the Tajirian and Amiran Empires. The Boskan Domi are considered fully within the Zwalhirian Empire even though they have origins from South Aplacia and have a different look than the Zwalhirian Domi who first learned civilization.

There are four main provinces of the Zwalhirian Empire: (1) West Orlaan (Antenwalizar in Zwalhirian), a large, mountainous island containing the prized cites or Cneeva and Barrasoon, (2) East Orlaan (Bazenwahilihir), the peninsula containing the capital Zwalhir in it's mountainous heart, (3) Binnevule, the land west of the Bazen Mountains containing a large mix of Zwalhirian and Boskan Domi and (4) Boskus, lying east of the Bazen mountains where Boskan Domi have developed ship-building in the past 200 years and have begun sea-trading with the peoples of the Eastern Ocean.

### Tribes of the Feroki

In the Jungles of Tebele and Carin Major live the uncivilized Feroki Pithicai who are said to still be swinging from trees. While there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Feroki tribes, there are several large tribal unions who are known to cause trouble in Aplacia-245 by attacking the Tebele Domi to the north and east, the Turzan Human settlements on the northern shore of the Arothaeri Sea to the south and even the Tajirian humans far to the west at the edges of Arde Tajiri.

### The Gangs of the Pithicai

There are many violent gangs of Pithicai who are based in the shanty towns of Fariati Siti. These gangs are typically composed exclusively of Domi or certain Feroki (former) tribesmen. There are a few know gangs however that are composed of many types of Pithicai. Sects of most of the major gangs can be found in the other Domi cities and even in the Human-built cities friendly to the Pithicai in Abrahvin and Amira. The PIthicai gangs of Fariati Siti are responsible for high crime rates in the city with turf-warfare being the name of the game. The major gangs (as of year 245 A.F.) include the Jengis (Lorsi), the Farlocs (Domi), the Akuti (Peindi), the Gripshas (Domi), Sarigades (Tarthi) and the Domadins (Korvini).