The Veyr | Part I: History, "The Making of a People"
Duru loh'vi Kora
"Salt remembers what we forgot."
⋘════════⚱════════⚱════════⚱════════⚱════════⚱═════════════════════⚱════════⚱════════⚱════════⚱════════⚱════════⋙
Chapter 1, "The Time Before The Echo" (800s-1080s)
Numa vé sharé
"We were sung into being."
Before the Echo, generations before the Long Mist descended, in the Age of the Old Gods, comes the oldest surviving excerpt from the Anele Kal’Thol (Veyr for: the Singing Archive) compiled by memory-keepers of the Southwest salt steppes. Though the Veil had not yet parted, and the Echo had not yet taken root in the souls of the people, the Veyr—though they were not yet called so—lived lives of great splendor, wisdom, struggle, and ritual. They were a Gods-fearing people of clay and copper, of sun-beaten stone, of cracked brick roads and golden harvests. They were the N’daratha, "those who walk under the Sky Unshrouded." Their kingdom, united under a decentralized monarchy, was headed by the Namarun, whose emblem bore the triple-ringed sun encircled by an ibis.
The Namarun were neither tyrants nor saints. They were valiant guards of a vast and diverse realm, with the six most noble fatho ("tribes"). Their rule, begun in the early ninth century of the Age of Flame, brought order to lands once feuding over salt pits and grazing paths. By the time of Mansa Elun the Just of Fatho Serathu, who rose to power in the Year of the Flame, 849, the clay cities of the N'daratha blossomed as cattails at the edge of the desert.
Each Namarûi city was edom na kenu, seat of breath, named for the way the wind moved between their tall ochre towers and drystone courtyards, where market stalls selling woven linen, clay bowls, and bronze artworks. These cities were centers not only of rule, but of recitation—oral archives where story-keepers, known as the Oduma Salla, recited genealogies that stretched back to the beginning of the sky.
"Tari n’shomé, ka n’shomé ka shul," they would begin—("Speak the name, for the name is the soul").
In these days, the N'daratha did not bind souls to salt. Their greatness would echo through time, not through mystical saltworkings or soul-binding rites, but through voice, story, and breath. They honored the dead in the air itself. To speak of one's ancestor was to breathe life back into them. This was the root of memory. The voice was the temple, the tale was a prayer.
⋘════════⚱═════════════════════⚱════════⋙
Chapter 1, Subsection 1, "A Circle of Flame and Salt"
|| The Shape of the Land and the Houses that Ruled It ||
The N'daratha dominion, known in their own tongue as the Kal'Zarathi (the Circle of Flame), stretched farther than the modern Desmne of the Veyr. Its lands were divided among countless fatho (tribes and prominent families), which were in turn governed by the six most powerful fatho, who formed the six great houses. Each of the great fatho went concentrated its rule into six sacred regions: the Namarûn-Kha, the Enu'Raal, the Vesh'Ka, Kushira, Tazallat, and Haluun; uneasy alliances and deeper ancestral claims bounded these claims. And though the Keth'sul (Namarûi for warriors) of the Fatho Namarûn held the crown, their rule was possible only through complex negotiation and ritual bonds with the other five and the support of many, many lesser tribes.
To the north, in the amber savannas just below the vast nothing and its sprawling dunes, lay Vesh'Ka, ruled by the Fatho Arakhme (Arakhme or House Arakhme in the common tongue), famed for their untamed horsemasters, the Shazurai. Their warriors were wild riders who prized freedom over doctrine, rejecting many of the old scriptural codes revered by the Serathu and Mebuza. Though considered uncouth by the southern lords, the land of Vesh'Ka supplied unmatched cavalry, forging a brittle alliance with both the Namarûn Fatho and the Serathu Fatho. While Namarûn was warmer to the Arakhme, the scholars of the Serathu were uneasy about their northern neighbors, whom they saw as rebellious and uncontrollable nuisances. Many other smaller tribes among the Serathu migrated away from the Arakhme to escape their ways, which permanently tainted relations with the Suthar of the Serathu.
To the southwest sprawled Haluun, ruled by the austere fatho, the Veloth. It was a land of salt steppes, set beneath the towering ridges of the Khiveth Mountains, a range believed cursed for the screams that echoed from its cliffs at night. Neither the N'daratha nor the Veyr would ever settle in the mountains. The salt of Haluun was considered sacred, its grain radiant and unusually dry. In the Year of the Flame, 1118, Mansa Asja Namarûn the Thunderous famously banned the domestic trade of Haluun salt, two centuries after its discovery. The ban is a widely debated mystery that scholars and salt-binders alike still ponder. Some claim the ban was a divine decree; others whisper that the salt had begun to "sing."
On the eastern outlay was the land of Kushira, the Kushite stone stairlands, where gold was unearthed in the Year of the Flame, 962, and shaped the very destiny of the N'daratha. Ruled by the Etazhi Tribe, a people of masons, warriors, and deep-thinkers, the region became the kingdom's gold engine. It was said that Kushira's wealth built the great salt colleges of Enu'Raal, funded the Salt-Pilgrimage of Uriye, and corrupted the old priesthoods of the Gods. It was said that the Etazhi coin was in every cup in the kingdom, and that any man of any noble rite owed coin to Kushira. Over time, warrior lords in Kushira and surrounding lands would bend the knee to the Etazhi, seeding conflict into the N'daratha's fertile crescent.
However, the crown was not so lost, as, nestled between these powers were the two hearts of the kingdom:
Namarûn-Kha, the ancestral highlands of the Fatho Namarûn, lay to the northwest, shielding the realm from the Rhü-ki (barbarian) footholds beyond the Khiveth Mountains and its serrated ridge. This region straddled a great transitional zone between the central floodplains and the western desert basin—a geographic echo of the N'daratha’s hold between the Serathu’s fertile bend and the harsher lands to the east. The land of Namarûn-Kha was a crucible of red rock and dust-wind, a place where authority was not just inherited, but carved out through precise rites and immense militaristic stewardship. The Namarûn ruled not merely by blood, but by network. A sophisticated bureaucracy of provincial governors, salt-lords, military liaisons, and memory-keepers managed their domain. Its cities, including Makhed du'Raal—the “City of the Bronze Flame”—were planned with geometric severity and housed tiered temples to the Old Gods, as well as grand archives containing oral law recorded in seas of scrolls. Though the population was modest compared to the lowlands, its people were drilled in war and reverence. It was said that to be born in Namarûn-Kha was to be born halfway between breath and flame.
Enu'Raal, ruled by the Serathu Fatho, stretched westward from the highlands of the Vesh'ka to Namarûi lands; a land of river-fat soil, rich in sediment and seed, it was the breadbasket of the N'daratha. The mighty Velarathi River forked through the land like veins of life. Enu'Raal’s wide river valleys, lush woodlands, and year-round rains made it the kingdom’s most agriculturally productive region. The region combined fertile geography with intellectual prestige and cultural cohesion. Its urban centers, though few, were marked by terraced gardens, well-maintained irrigation channels, and vast public squares for oral instruction and seasonal rituals. Takhen'Mora, the capital, housed the Colleges of the Flame and the Salt-Borne Archive—two sister institutions revered throughout the realm. There, the Oduma Salla, literally "scholar-priests", led by the Suthar, wore richly dyed robes and presided over ancestral knowledge and scientific inquiry. Serathu Oduma emphasized order, balance, and the oral recording of all things. Their agricultural cycles were entwined with spiritual calendars, and many believed that planting was a divine act—returning pieces of the world to the gods in exchange for sustenance. It was said throughout the kingdom that Enu'Raal was where breath became scripture, and scripture became bread.
Tazallat, governed by the mercantile Mebuza, sprawled across the river split southeast into a lattice of jungle flora, oasis basins, and dense urban corridors. Its economy pulsed with the life of trade, and its cities were crammed with market dynamos. Though the region lacked a central geographic unity, its identity was forged through a network and motion. Caravan routes, salt canals, and sacred roads connected the Mebuza tribe's capital, Zharabét, to every other major city. Urban markets overflowed with goods, not just from the Six Great Fatho, and their vassals, but from foreign lands—gems from the far south, script-tiles from the east, and fantastic idols and silks from across the sea. Tazallat's people were multilingual, shrewd, and fiercely proud of their trade guilds, which often held more power than local nobility. In fact, as time progressed, leiges to the crown of Tazallat and House Mebuza routinely fell out of favor for the increasingly wealthy merchant clans and banks. Tazallat culture prized recordkeeping, deal-making, wittiness, and the flexibility of faith. Worship in Tazallat was famously syncretic, blending Old God rites with foreign divinities and the Mist Gods of nomadic tribes. Zharabét, the jewel of the Velarathi's southern bend, would rise from a merchant exclave into the imperial center during the War of Ash and Salt (1132-1145). In Tazallat, the voice of the gods was not a whisper—it was a negotiation.
The Six Fatho formed what the memory-keepers called the Circle of Flame and Salt: three Thrones in the south (Etazhi, Veloth, Mebuza), and three Horses in the north (Namarûn, Serathu, Arakhme).
⋘════════⚱═════════════════════⚱════════⋙
Chapter 1, Subsection 2, "Circles Within Circles"
|| The N'daratha Way of Governance ||
The N'daratha were not a people of a decentralized monarchy. In the Year of the Flame, 850, Mansa Elun the Just, the first Mansa and third Suthar of the Serathu fatho, created a process for selecting the next Mansa. This procedure, known as Va'tha Mansa Nê(e) Zhorin—"the ritual public recitation of electing the new (born) king"—saw all of the N'daratha's inner ring convene on the eve of the current Mansa's child's birth to elect a new ruler. Voting power was distributed semi-evenly, granting more electoral sway to the current ruling Fatho. For this reason, after Mansa Elun the Just, most Mansa were Namarûi. But even though the Namarûn fatho governed the N'daratha, the kingdom was ruled according to the Kith n'Thala (Law of Circles). This decree dictated that every ruling decision must pass through three layers of counsel:
The Inner Ring, composed of the ruling Mansa and the heads of the other big fatho:
The Namarûn were represented by the Mansa, (MAN-sah), sovereign ruler of the N'daratha
The Serathu chose to send their Suthar (SOO-thar), the N'daratha's Keeper of the Collective Stories, and supreme leader of the Serathu and all underlying fatho.
The Arakhme were usually absent in any N'daratha body, and rarely honored summons to Makhed du'Raal, much to the dismay of the other fatho.
The Etazhi fatho were deeply engaged in running of N'daratha. Their delegation to the Inner Ring was the Khezare (kheh-ZAH-reh), a female supreme leader chosen through a council of mine-lords and village leaders that are also Etazhi.
The Mebuza fatho sent their Vel'mebuza (vel-meh-BOO-zah), the elected merchant lords of the Mebuza. There were always two, elected by a council of senior guild-lords, all who had to be Mebuza.
The Veloth were a patriarchal tribe who practiced primogeniture. They sent their Velakh (VEH-lakh), or salt ward, who was the supreme leader of the fatho, chosen through austere salt-rites and omen-reading after the death of the last Velakh.
The Second Circle, filled with the fatho's elders, high priests, and scholars from the College Temples (essentially the inner rings or first circles of other tribes);
The inner circle of the Namarun, the Thakoru (THAH-koh-roo), or inner council, was a collective term for the Mansa's inner ring of most trusted Keth'sul (soldiers), including their:
Thoru'kel (THOH-roo-kel), the Mansa's best soldier and closest military counsel, typically a brother of the Mansa, though not strictly mandated
Sul'dara (SOOL-dah-rah), a general charged with road patrols, and honoring the God, Zôl; a relative of the Mansa
Vel'ashur (vel-AH-shoor), the Oduma (oral historian and "soul-mender") of the Mansa's inner ring for ceremonial memory and oath witness; typically a Serathu
Vara'keth (VAH-rah-keth) many soldiers who have survived several battles; Namarûi or Namarûi fatho subjugates.
Based off the Serathu's unique position as both the N'daratha's hub of knowledge and science as well as being the beating heart of the N'daratha's agricultural base, they had two large factions, which had taken over.
Suthar'vel (SOO-thar-vel), someone who had previously served as Suthar and had been confirmed through ritual to speak for the dead as well as the living; an elder member of the Serathu's ruling family
Kal'thoru (KAL-thoh-roo), "the bone of the archive", was a senior war-scholar who advised the suthar on doctrine and its moral relevance; the royal family in Enu'Raal (& must speak Serathu as well as N'daratha)
Oduma'vel (oh-DOO-mah-vel), "memory of the veil", a memory keeper who was elevated to sit within the Serathu First Circle during times of crisis (famine, disease, and war)
Vel'salla (VEL-sah-lah) "singer of will", another memory keeper with expertise in the Anele Kal'Thol ("sing archive"), and oversaw armies through ritual chanting before, during, and after battle.
Oduma-Salla (oh-DOO-mah sah-lah), advanced oral historians and memory keepers
Chiefs of other tribes and prominent families mostly agrarian, rural leaders with prominent control of Enu'Raal's food supply. (Keep in mind the vast majority of non-Serathu in Enu'Raal live in rural areas)
The Etazhi were a dynastic, matriarchal people—with one ruling family, like the Serathu. In this way, the Khezare (who inherited the position from her mother) would fill her Kush'kel (KOOSH-kel), advisory council, with other—predominantly Etazhi—noblewomen, headed by the former Khezare (kheh-ZAH-reh-vel), "Stone Mother." Other members of the Kush'kel included:
An Etazh'narum (eh-TAZH-nah-room), "gold-lord," which was an Etazhi title for a rich man who funded state projects through his own wealth; typically of Etazhi descent
The Thoru'gold (THOH-roo-gold), the Etazhi war-treasurer, who controlled the payment of soldiers and supply contracts; commonly a woman of the Etazhi fatho
The Vel'kush (VEL-koosh), the Etazhi title for an intelligence chief, and help managed the Ni'narum (NEE-nah-room), "night-lords", a group of female assassins handpicked from the Vel'etazh (VEL-eh-tazh), "hidden-gold," Etazhi intelligence buyers—they served as the eyes and ears of the Khezare among her enemies and allies.
Sul'etazh (SOOL-eh-tazh), was the Etazhi liason to other tribes—a diplomat who negotiated military alliances in trade terms
and sometimes a Kush'thol (KOOSH-thol), or stone archivist, who served as the keeper of the Etazhi battle ledger
The Mebuza fatho was a network of artificers, purveyors, and merchants—guilds laid the law of the land where coin was king. To be Mebuza was said to be in talks with the God of Virtue himself. So their golden ring, Zharab'kel (ZHAH-reb-kel) drew nine members from the wealthiest and most well-connect guilds and families.
One role in the Zharab'kel was the that of the Thol'mebuza (THOL-meh-BOO-zah), or archive trader; the Mebuza's master of intelligence, responsible for maps, trade routes, and rival guilds' supply lines.
Another was the Vel'zharab (VEL-zhah-rab), who served as the Mebuza's senior diplomat.
The Sul'mebuza (SOOL-meh-BOO-zah) was the war quarter-master who controlled all military supply contracts; heralded from the most powerful of the weapons manufacturing guilds.
The Odu'mebuza (OH-doo-meh-BOO-zah), always three there were. Keepers of the Mebuza's intelligence—information brokers who masqueraded as scholars.
Arguably the most powerful position than being one of the two Vel'mebuza, the N'shom'buza (n-SHOM-boo-zah), "name-trade", was responsible for the Mebuza tradition of cataloguing the names, debts, and secrets of the other houses' leaders.
Random wealthy guilds people
The austere keepers of the sacred salt steppes, the Veloth were the most spiritually house. The Velakh's covenant, the Velakh'sul (VEH-lakh-sool), was guided by the Haluun'kel (hah-LOON-kel), a Veloth elder who advised the Velakh on spiritual matters and typically had connections with the College of the Flame and the Salt-Borne Archive. Other members included:
The Vel'sulath (VEL-soo-lath), the Veloth's senior omen reader, who determined the auspicious timing of battles; also led warriors in song.
The Thoru'sul (THOH-roo-sool) was a Veloth war-elder who had survived many battles. Their role was to read the bones of the enemy dead, preserved over a long period of time for strategic intelligence.
The Keth'haluun, the Veloth's war chief
The Sul'velakh (SOOL-veh-lakh), the deputy to the Velakh whose purpose was to manage the physical salt-stores
This next position both doesn't exist and does. Its occupiers are like "husks" for the salt to take control of. Other fatho condemn this practice as unholy; this greatly upsets the Namarûn and Serathu's leaders.
The Outer Ring, made of prominent traders, artisans, militia captains, and farmer-chiefs of the smaller fatho, essentially the most skilled N'daratha.
This law slowed the hand of tyranny. Monarchs who overreached were said to "ni'sul varra thol" (walk alone beneath the fire), meaning their souls were already considered unanchored. The ritual of passing laws or declaring external wars involved long public recitations, called Va'tha Zhorin, wherein Oduma Salla (oral memory-keepers and archivists) would summon ancestral rulings and chant binding oaths.
In Vesh'Ka, the Arakhme kept their own laws—many of which contradicted the central Circle. They rejected inheritance laws, crowned their leaders through public racing or fights to the death, and routinely challenged the authority of Serathu scribes. Yet even they bent the knee in war, sending their Shazurai to defend the realm from foreign invaders or internal insurgents...
⋘════════⚱═════════════════════⚱════════⋙
Chapter 1, Subsection 3, "The Khalu'mor"
|| Gods and Spirituality of the N'daratha ||
The N'daratha were not strangers to gods. They revered the Old Pantheon, known collectively as the Khalu'mor, or Those Who Take. Theirs was not a faith of comfort, but of sacrifice, appeasement, and transactional veneration.
Akhuru, god of flame and endings, was invoked at births and executions alike;
N'dema, the River-Mother, was worshipped in Enu'Raal and Tazallat, and her effigies were floated each solstice on the Velarathi;
Zôl, god of tolls, demanded offering before travel or enterprise;
Luseth, the moon-silent, ruled over dreams and madness, and was most feared in Vesh'Ka and Kushira.
Temples to these deities were not enclosed spaces but open-air stone circles, or water-gardens filled with fragrant oils and offerings. Sacrifices were common—goats, spices, even song. In Haluun, salt itself was ritually burned as an offering.
Yet even in faith, the N'daratha differed. The Serathu made worship into a scholarly rite, codifying prayers and standardizing rituals. The Arakhme burned religious texts, believing the gods did not wish to be known by pages. The Mebuza mixed foreign gods into their pantheon, and in some Tazallat cities, gods of the soul, feeling, sensation, and memory carved from other lands unknown, stood beside N'daratha idols, sometimes superceding them.
⋘════════⚱═════════════════════⚱════════⋙
Chapter 1, Subsection 4, "Wealth, War and the Shimmer of Salt"
|| General History of the N'daratha People ||
Before gold, there was salt. The Three Threads of the Earth were the pillars of economy: salt, cloth, and copper. These were traded along roads patrolled by joint military detachments, each bearing the banners of the Six. Cloth from Enu'Raal, salt from Haluun, and copper from the mountain trade passed through Zharabét, Tazallat's capital, before winding their way downriver to the coastal states.
But everything changed in the 960s, when a goat-herder in Kushira stumbled upon golden ore veins shining like fire beneath the rocks. The Etazhi exploited these finds with fervor, building gold-mines that would fund the greatest pilgrimage of the age: The Salt-Pilgrimage of Uriye.
Mansa Uriye, of the Etazhi fatho, and also a cadet of the Namarûn line, journeyed across three dominions bearing gold, salt, and relics of the Old Gods. Though not as lavish as later Veyr processions, his pilgrimage established the N'daratha as a gold-rich power. Caravans now crossed into the territories of the far coast, and even rumors of sea-bound traders reached Zharabét's docks. The once inland kingdom was becoming something else.
Gold reshaped the kingdom. The Mebuza grew rich on redistribution. The Veloth suffered, as salt fell from favor. Fatho Serathu worried, for spiritual scholars debated whether gold corrupted ancestral memory.
⋘════════⚱═════════════════════⚱════════⋙
Chapter 1, Subsection 5, "The End of The Beginning"
|| The Beginning of the Fall of the N'daratha; The Descension of la Thul ||
In the year of the flame, 1086, the old capital Makhed du'Raal was ransacked in a lightning raid by western rebels. The Namarûn court relocated to Takhen'Mora for ten years, disrupting ancestral rites and causing a brief religious crisis. During this time, the alliances between the Six faltered. Tensions between the Three Thrones (south) and the Three Horses (north) escalated. Trade slowed. The Veil began to stir.
Children were born silent. Voice-keepers forgot ancestral lines. In Kushira, miners claimed to hear weeping from the golden walls. In Haluun, salt turned bitter. The Oduma Salla ceased their public chants. It was then that the first signs of the Mist emerged. Purple fogs appeared over the Velarathi River in the dockyards of Zharabét. Rains fell for days in the whole of the arid North of the Arakhme. The Sun was said to be up so long in the day for the Etazhi that their gold would melt in the mines.
But before the Mist fell, there was still a voice. There were still names. And there was still the memory of breath.
Tari n'shomé, ka n'shomé ka shul. Speak the name, for the name is the soul.
Let this compendium preserve their flame, not in salt, but in word.
We were fire and clay, before we were mist. We were breath before salt. Voice before echo.
⋘════════⦿════════⦿════════⦿════════⦿════════⦿═════════════════════⦿════════⦿════════⦿════════⦿════════⦿════════⋙
Chapter 2, "The Shattering of the First Echo" (1091 ~ 1132)
Luhé a Su e Sha
"From existing to living."
⋘════════⦿═════════════════════⦿════════⋙
Chapter 2, Subsection 1, "A Crease in the Fold"
|| The Return of the Kingdom of the N'daratha; The Veil Opens ||
By the early 12th century, climate inversions decimated much of the N'daratha's land. Once perceived as temporary disciplines of the Gods, a generation absent of rain in the wet South and a flurry of persistent floods sweeping the arid North, suffocated the N'daratha's hope for swift consequence.
To make matters worse, the temporary relocation of the young Mansa Asja ("Ah-juh") and his Inner Ring to Takhen'Mora in Enu'Raal, weakened the Crown's legitimacy. When the Mansa reached the age of maturity, 15, in the Year of the Flame 1096, he opted to stay in the Serathu's capital until the turn of the century, because of infighting back home. This decision, combined with decades of decline of royal authority in association with the meteoric rise of the Etazhi and the Mebuza, significantly shifted the balance of power in favor of the Three Thrones.
Meanwhile, by 1105, caravans going to and from the salt steppes of the Veloth were returning to their home provinces less and less frequently. Royal decrees from Makhed du'Raal, which resumed being the Royal Capital after Mansa Asja returned, were largely ignored. The purple clouds, which had become a part of the N'daratha's strange weather patterns, started coalescing in the South during dry spells, which, too, became increasingly common. It wasn't long before people started pointing to the Veloth's strange practices as the reason for the plight of all the other tribes. Instead of rejecting this claim, the Veloth further isolated themselves in their flats. Angry at their non-response, several lesser fatho in Haluun plotted a coup. To quell fears, Mansa Asja partnered with Fatho Mebuza to send processions to the isolated province demanding answers. Upon return, royal messengers from the Namarûn and Mebuza fatho recounted that the circles of power in Takhen'Haluun, the Capital of the Veloth, were in a "deep meditative spell," and had accepted their "royal dictations with a profound air of quiet, like their souls had been sucked from their tongues."
Mansa Asja was struggling to rebuild Takhen'Mora as the Namarûn's coffers were very depleted from the lack of road tolls collected during this period, which had come to be known as: The Descension of the Veil. In his time of need, he sought out the Etazhi for loans in exchange for a royal sanction to expand west into smaller tribes. This would be the beginning of conglomerization, a process by which the six fatho started centralizing power in their respective provinces. From 940 to 1140, the number of unique tribes registered in the vocal chronicles of Oduma Salla (Memory Keepers and Oral historians) of Sethura decreased from four hundred fifty to just over two hundred.
With his newfound wealth, Mansa Asja replenished the military and started research investigations into the effects of the "Purple Cloud," which, as of 1110, covered most of the Southern half of the Kingdom. He also sent the Northern Tribes into the foothills of the Far North and Great Beyond to search for unorthodox knowledge and foreign scholars to help uncover the curse that had befallen his people.
In 1113, another attempt by the Rhü-Ki (Rhooh-Kie) (Barbarians) from the North to take Makhed du'Raal failed tremendously. The siege lasted four months, during which Mansa Asja refused to flee the city. He also rejected any effort to raise levies from other fatho, determined to win the battle with Namarûi might alone. At daybreak of the fifth month, Mansa Asja executed his brilliant strategy using knowledge of the unpredictable weather of N'daratha and surrounded the enemy in a typhoon of blades and thunder. Ultimately, 25,000 lives were claimed, of which only 4,000 belonged to House Namaûn. Taking this victory in stride, Mansa Asja pushed deep into the North, seeking to push the Rhü-Ki off the edge of the world. After a series of battles ranging three hundred miles, the Rhü-Ki were effectively run off the coast of the continent and eliminated as a threat for good. Mansa Asja returned a hero and was known henceforth as Mansa Asja the Thunderous, having won battle after battle in the northwest highland's hurricane season.
By 1117, the research was showing promising results. Serutha scholars had trapped remnants of this purple cloud, which they called le thul (the Mist) in jars and noticed that inhalation of it made one physically silent, to the point where speech looked painful. But more, le thul drove men mad. Mad of what, the thinkers could not uncover, but after the craze was beaten out of them, test subjects would recount seeing everything, everywhere, all the time. They claimed they could read people's minds. Comparable progress was made with Northern discoveries, which uncovered stockpiles of salt from the South in the foothills in abandoned mines and near the tributaries of the Velathi river. This was enough to convince Mansa Asja to suspend the Salt Trade. In the infamous Royal Decree of 1118, the salt trade was formally banned. Namarûi hoplites and Arakhme horsemasters patrolled the roadways into and out of Haluun, and the Veloth were to be deposed in front of the crown.
That same year, the climate inversion of the previous 40 years began to fade. Though many had converted to their new way of life by now, it was nice to feel reprieve from the worst natural phenomena. Most notably, a blanket of aridity descended upon the North, allowing for the harvest of grain, which had long been disturbed. In the East, gold production had restarted, and the newly crowned Khezare ("Stone Mother"), Kelathu Etazhi of the Etazhi, pledged her allegiance to the Namarûn in exchange for Mansa Asja's hand in marriage.
In the Namarûi-Velothi Meeting of 1119, Mansa Asja was said to have confronted the royals of Haluun over their secrecy and lies about the nature of the salt. Fearful of royal retaliation, the Haluun allegedly promised to reveal their knowledge of the salt's capabilities.
In the winter of 1119, which came after the best harvest in over three generations, Mansa Asja Namarûn the Thunderous married Khezare Kelatgy Etazhi the Golden Queen in the newly rebuilt city of Makhed du'Raal, signaling a new era of stability and unity for the N'daratha people. The ceremony, which saw all the Great fathos in attendance, lasted four weeks. The day of their marriage, it was said that the capital was filled with a river of people mightier than the Velathi; a grand sea of emerald and gold and black, the respective colors of the Etazhi and Namarû. Their child, it was believed, would unite their houses and end the curse of the N'daratha for centuries to come.
Chapter 2, Subsection 2, "Into the Wind There Be Drums"
|| Mansa Asja the Thunderous, His Death, The Prophecy, His Heir and the Brutal Decline of the N'daratha; The Veil Hums ||
The Salt Trade did not resume, and le thul began to fade. House Veloth was under house arrest in the capital while their home was picked apart by the other Great Houses. House Serathu took a particularly keen interest in Haluun.
By 1130, le thul only hovered over the salt flats of Haluun. The Southern Tribes began to experience normal rain once more. The Velathi flowed as it had in the old days, while the North returned to temperate plains and grassy hills, deserts spread where they once were, oases formed to balance them out; the N'daratha had accomplished: Green Paradise, and all was right in the land. With the end of their plight in sight, the N'daratha were sure the prophecy was being fulfilled.
The prophecy was infamous folklore that the N'daratha had amassed too much wealth from the gold, the trade, and the salt. For centuries, the N'daratha got to enjoy this pleasure, which some prophets decried as some of the N'daratha First Circle attempting to replace the Gods. For this reason, Serathu scholars admittedly opposed the marriage of the Mansa to his Etazhi warrior-bride. In their eyes, the Etazhi were heretics, despite their normal religious sanctity. The Suthar ("Keeper of the Collective Stories") and leader, Vanu'el, of the Great Serathu House, postulated that it was the Etazhi, not the Veloth, who brought pain upon their land, and that their gold was cursed with greed. Suthar Vanu'el decried that a house couldn't be both sanctimonious and safeguard such riches. So on the eve of the royal wedding, Suthar offered his daughter, Princess Ilathé, to Mansa Asja. Mansa Asja refused. For all his success as a leader, Mansa Asja had become blunt and had no time to placate houses when confronting others. Suthar Vanu'el knew he had presented the marriage late, and it was more of a test than a legitimate proposal, but to him, the Mansa had failed. From the Serathu leader's eyes, the Namarûi were as willing as any lesser tribe or village people to submit to the increasingly powerful Etazhi. And the Khezare, Kelathu Etazhi, was close to dismantling the prophecy and bringing the whole of the N'daratha down with her.
In 1132, Mansa Asja and Khezare Kelathu Etazhi were to have a son, Iluj (Ilê-oo-jah). A celebration was in order! Makhed du'Raal had festivities for a whole year until his son's birth. People not only from the Great Houses, but foreign lands came to give gifts, offerings, and blessings. A great yield was had that year, meaning the Namarûi could bring back their Bazaar, and what a festival it was. Overnight, the Namarûi capital was flooded with goods and luxuries: spices, herbs, silvers, and China from lands unknown. Mansa Asja assessed all his riches with a gleam in his eye. And the people were just as excited. The streets, flooded with people from home and distant lands, partied and celebrated for months on end, leading up to little Iluj's birth. Mansa Iluj Namarûn Etazhi would unite the houses, they said. Mansa Iluj would return N'daratha to a global power, as his father, Mansa Asja, had rescued them. Mansa Iluj would continue the green paradise. Mansa Iluj would defeat the selfish Gods. Everyone was excited, except for the Serathu.
Suthar Vanu'el was notably absent from all royal proceedings leading up to the birth. Instead, in the wake of the news, Suthar Vanu'el knew what we had to do.
The head patriarch and "Salt-Ward" of House Veloth was called a Velakh. The Velakh was a male guardian chosen by austere rites to interpret omens and oversee sacred salt. In 1132, that man was no other than Velakh Ravax Veloth. Velakh Ravax had been selected to lead the Veloth after the "Long Walk of Humiliation" that came with the decimation of the salt trade. Once a powerful salt wielder, Velakh Ravax had spent most of his teenage years away from home as punishment for the alleged crimes of his fathers in causing le thul. In 1130, the Veloth had been allowed to return home under the condition that they never mine for salt ever again. And the Veloth signed the treaty, vowing to never again engage in the trade of salt. In 1132, when Mansa Asja was about to have his prophesied heir, Velakh was forced to return to the Capital. Without the wealth of the salt pits, all that the once might Veloth could offer was forty pelts of desert fox fur. Mansa Asja rebuked the gift, but deemed it punishment enough that the Veloth had come to know their place. The other Great Houses laughed the Veloth out of the congregation. Velakh Ravax returned to Haruun exhausted. He had to have his vengeance, but had no idea how. Until he was approached by House Serathu. Suthar Vanu'el came to Takhen'Haluun in the middle of a dry winter night, when the wind blew peacefully across the soft desert flats. The Suthar brought a caravan that stretched for a mile, but was said to have moved as quietly as a desert mouse. In the Year of the Flame 1132, while Mansa Asja was preparing to have his foretold heir, the Serathu and Veloth were beginning a prophecy of their own: a union of sanctity and salt. On the last day of 1132, Mansa Iluj was born, and two hundred miles south, Velakh Ravax and Princess Ilathé were wed. 
