Hareen

The flag of Elyn Othram (No official flag)

Deyazi Common

Silver Coins

Copper Pieces

**Hareen**, or **Nelyn Hareen** in Elven, was a wide expanse of land located on the continent of Eliya. It lay to the east of El Deya, and was known both for its hazardous, rocky terrain and the enigmatic race of Elves who inhabited it.
It was easily distinguished from any other land in Eliya by the gigantic cliffs and sheer rock faces found throughout the vast ranges of desert and barren wasteland. The Elves of Hareen were accustomed to making settlements of all sizes by carving the rock away and taking shelter within. The largest of these cliff cities were able to grow as large as any western city.

Primarily because of its size, Hareen was a decentralised land with a populace largely independent from each other. There was no capital of the land, nor was there any form of central government. The scattered populace of Hareen was united only in faith, all having a peculiarly devout belief in Hadism. Hareen remained a bastion for those on Esria whose true faith had no home in the dogmatic preachings of the Church of the Heavens.

Descended from expatriates of Alvyri Vandryl, the elves of Hareen had a large mythos and saw themselves as a chosen people of Mailah, the god of Hadism. Having left the empire only a few years before the Fire Ritual of Londorwyn, many legends and stories of their people's beginnings created a united identity for the Hareeni, in spite of their large autonomy from each other.

## Structure and Organisation

   Hareen was less a state than a land, united in its history, societal norms, culture, and religion. With virtually no aspirations of polity, and vehement defiance against conquest and hierarchy, most were content with the shape of the region – a decentralised land of city-states and clans, working only in unison through trade, otherwise remaining sovereign and self-sustaining.
The only influence exerted over the entire expanse originated from the city of Elyn Othram, a colossal settlement carved into the rock of cliff faces, surrounded by desolate lands and vast dunes. Translated from the regional tongue, Othram-ei, to *dead city*, it was known for the harsh and dangerous journey necessary to reach or leave the settlement, which the barren landscape littered with skeletons of humanoids and animals alike made evident. This city held partial governance over the regions surrounding it, and whilst territories further away were completely autonomous from its direct influence, its importance in trade and powerful military was still respected.

## Etymology

The name Hareen originates from the elven word "Hareei", roughly meaning *promised*, or alternatively *prophesied*. The elven expatriates who first pioneered the region hundreds of years ago left behind many written records in what would become Elyn Sarra's Great Library, chronicling the history and background of Hareen and their connection to hadist belief.

Within these records, it is written that their mythical leader, an elf of royal birth only known as Sylan, had visions of a land across the sea, forged to be the home of all those who would usher in the warmth of the true god, Mailah, and cast aside their delusions of any other omnipotent force. When his pleas to the emperor fell on deaf ears, he cast aside his duties and proselytised the people of Alvyri Vandryl night and day. He is said to have then received another vision, forewarning him of a great fire, a cleansing by Mailah, that would cleanse the world of those who refused to see the truth. This vision made him leave his land in despair, disconsolate that he could not save more of his kin. He travelled with his proselytes across the western sea, and found the land later known as Hareen. The foretelling of this land, a promised home to those who would believe in Mailah, is supposedly why it was aptly named *prophesied*.

The great fire mentioned in the records of the Hareeni was undoubtedly the Fire ritual of Londorwyn. The prophetic visions of their mythical leader, Sylan, which are said to have foretold these events, became central to the Hareeni, who saw this as unwavering proof that they were a chosen people, spared from certain doom by their new god. No other records exist in Hareen, nor in El Deya or Ivyrl to counter these claims, but outside the region itself, they are widely seen as fictitious, written to bolster the people and create unity in belief of Hadism. Most scholars, such as Andar the Chronicler, a Deyazi man who was the first non-hareeni to enter their heartlands, believe the records were chronicled as late as a hundred years after the original arrival in the region.

## Society

    Whilst a majority of Hareen's populace lived a nomadic lifestyle and herded animals, maintaining villages only for a few months at most, a subset of people found permanent lifestyles in the rare regions that were continuously habitable. Only a scant amount went back to the nomadic lifestyle after moving to larger settlements, making the small number of cities grow to the sizes of Astrian cities, despite the relatively meagre overall population. Elyn Othram's population became so immense that the city had to expand further into the cliff, until a vast network of caves, some up to a hundred metres in height, took shape.
In the original settling of Hareen, the elves came in contact with the men living in the outskirts of El Deya, and learnt from them how to sustain in the harsh environment of the Eliyan desert. During these interactions, the Hareeni not only adapted to the new lands by learning how to cultivate crops, herd animals, and find water, but also by attaining the Deyazi culture, customs, and religion. Many traditions live on with the Hareeni from Alvyri Vandryl, the Empire of the Elves, but their lifestyle is much more similar to that of Deyazi, or even Asevians.

The most common animal herded by the nomads of Hareen were ibex, a subspecies of goat that could sustain themselves in the hazardous heat of Eliya's deserts, and flourished in the mountainous terrain of Hareen, becoming the staple meat both for the nomads and the people of the cities, who traded for the creatures with tools, cloths, gemstones, and rarely coins. In fact, due to the exceedingly infrequent interaction with foreigners, usage of coin was unusual, as only a small amount of minted coins existed in circulation, mostly from the original interaction with the Deyazi, and from what had been taken along during the emigration. Bartering was widespread, and as such material goods had to be produced to be able to purchase wares for survival. This meant that very few Hareeni solely spent their time with theoretical work, such as research, science, and writing.

This necessity to perform physical work was central to the identity of Hareen, and because of it, children were trained from a young age to get accustomed to constant labour in the scorching heat of the sun, and were taught to cherish the shade given by the enormous cliffs they took shelter in. In some ways, this appreciation of the terrain of Hareen was connected to their religious beliefs, as the mythos of the first Hareeni told the land was forged by Mailah himself, and that they were his chosen people. The cliffs were seen as gifts from Mailah – enormous monuments to his power in a land otherwise filled with barren landscapes and endless sands.

Hadism was, most likely, the most important part of Hareeni Society. It was what made them unified, despite being completely independent from each other, and not under centralised control. The elves who first settled the land most likely learned of Hadism from the people of El Deya, as the records of the Hareeni tell of meeting their new god in name and incarnation when they met the *Men of the Sands*, presumably the Deyazi who lived nomad lifestyles on the edges of the land. Whilst the Hadist priests of Hareen would argue that their people already knew *of* the god they would later know as Mailah, it is assumed that the acquiring of various hadist literature, prayers, hymns, and tenets was through their interactions with the Deyazi people.

The people of Hareen followed the ideals of Hadism to its most strict forms, surpassing much of the Deyazi in how extensively they followed the hadist teachings. This austere worship was both prominent among the nomads and the people of the Elyns, but arguably the nomads were more focused on survival and therefore had less time for religious practices. The ways of worship, such as rituals, prayers, and local legends, differed somewhat between regions of Hareen, but these didn't seem to cause any strife between the peoples, as interactions between nomads and cityfolk, as well as clans and Elyns, were ordinarily friendly and open. One of the major parts of Hareeni life were the bazaars, where bartering and mingling between different peoples was a constant affair and essential to survival. The Bazaars were essentially the centres of Hareeni life, where culture, socialising, and economy took place in plentiful.

## Geography

    The landscape of Hareen was highly monotonous, consisting of an overall bleak tan and orange colouration, where sand dunes and arid plateaus reigned in a majority of the territory. The plateaus were a vital part of life in Hareen, as they gave shade, but also contained around them much of the vegetation and natural springs of the region. These enormous cliffs were divided into ridges by valleys and gorges, creating a natural safe haven which protected animals and inhabitants from the scorching sun, who took shelter between and below the enormous surfaces.
The sparse fertile areas were found at the coasts, located mainly on the southern side of Hareen, but also north-northwest, where the Dahari gulf stretched in and touched the edges of the territory. These areas were home to a sizeable amount of the permanent settlements in Hareen, but what was far more unique was the access to groundwater below the cliffs abundant in the central and eastern parts of the region. These were the main access route to water for the people living in a majority of Hareen, along with the scarce number of oases and wells found in the vast desert landscape. Occasionally there would be rainfall in some areas of Hareen, particularly the west and north. This created seasonal water streams, that were an enormous relief to the water-starved conditions common throughout these regions.

The vegetation of Hareen was scarce, only found in small amounts throughout the region, close to the different sources of water and irrigation. The areas where it was most prominent was surrounding the plateaus and the coasts, where natural sources of water were abundant below the earth, and could sustain a higher amount of flora. These areas sometimes saw plants such as palm trees, which was otherwise a rare sight, as most vegetation would only consist of bushes, grass, desert sage, and cacti, which grew only to a low height. This vegetation was not often part of the Hareeni diet, as they were mainly spared for herding animals such as the ibex, or transport animals like camels and horses. Instead, for humanoid consumption, cultivated crops were harvested in small amounts where the soil was fertile enough, and used for bread, grain, and various fruits.
The wildlife of Hareen was relatively varied, despite the harsh conditions and scarcity of vegetation and water. There was a good balance between herbivores and carnivores, as evident by the fact that both types of mammals sustained for hundreds of years. Nonetheless, the circumstances were tolling, leading to the skeleton graveyards found in many of the deeper areas of Hareen. The main herbivores of the region consisted of various subspecies of antelopes; such as the Oryx, goats; such as the ibex, rodents; like the jerboa, and of course tamed animals like horses and camels. In contrast to these, there lived an assortment of carnivores, mostly based in various kinds of scavengers, there among snakes, vultures, and hyenas. There was also a rich insect diversity present in Hareen, which were mostly eaten by the nomads who would use them to add flavour and texture to meals, and create various salves and remedies.

Hareen's climate is relatively uniform, the heat changing only slightly between different seasons, remaining arid and dry for most time of the year. The only rainfall that occurs happens during the winter season, where some areas are given partial relief from the scarcity of water in the regions not close to the coast or the plateaus. Before and after the winter rain season, hot, dry air from the north-east deserts produce strong winds, known as *The Gales*, that are accompanied by great dust clouds. The onset of these winds is heralded by a hazy sky, going from blue to orange in colouration. Within mere hours, the areas affected rose sharply in temperature, and were met with windstorms whirling with sand and dust, which lasted normally for a day, destroying crops, homes, and causing much discomfort.
A large canyon existed to the north-east of the country, carving a deep rend in the earth between jagged mountains. This was known as the *Akhul Pass*, and was one of the only ways to pass beyond Hareen's border. The pass was incredibly dangerous, however, primarily due to the unnaturally chaotic behaviour of magic around it, and the fearsome beasts that hid away in caves close by. This was the only way leading to the Free Realm of Asevia from Hareen, an area similarly secluded from the rest of the world until the Asevian Invasion in 1416 B.E. Since the dissolution of the Empire of Asevia, this pass has seen increased traffic, and trade has begun to pass through the hazardous area.

## Art of Hareen

A small camp common for the nomads of Hareen. They were quickly constructed and dismantled within the span of weeks, moving with the herds of ibex to vegetation and water.A Hareeni Artist's depiction of the unique terrain in his homeland.