Politics & Powerful Organizations · Minor Powers
Garshalla
- Status
- Not a nation. A collection of tribes with no diplomatic standing
- Leadership
- Warchief Zurath, who addresses the tribes only when they must act together
- Succession
- The Warchief names a Master of Honor from his honour guard, who inherits on his death
- Tribes
- One per Divinity. Eight paths are named; the ninth is not spoken of
- Livelihood
- Farming, fishing and raiding, in proportions that vary by tribe
Garshalla is not a nation and does not behave like one. It is a confederation of tribes occupying the northern island of Zingare, each following one of the Divinities its people believe once fought a war for the island, and each taking that Divinity's way of war as a guide to living.
That leaves it with no diplomatic weight at all and a great deal of practical influence, because the tribes raid, and everyone within reach of a Garshallan ship has had to arrange their affairs around it.
Who speaks for Garshalla
Warchief Zurath is held to be the last true line to the Divinities and to speak for them. He lives in seclusion in the island's central forests and addresses the Garshalla only when he judges the tribes must act together. The office passes by selection rather than blood. The Warchief names one member of his personal honour guard Master of Honor, and that man inherits the title on his death. The honour guard is the same body he sends across Garshalla looking for gifted children, so the man who succeeds him has usually spent years carrying out his will in person.
Between those occasions the tribes are their own. They are not a unified force and have never needed to be.
The tribes
Eight paths are named, and every tribe keeps to one of them while retaining some knowledge and reverence for the rest. Tribes of the same Divinity settle within travelling distance of one another, and each Divinity's followers hold a yearly celebration on their own day.
- Lord of the Soil — metallurgy and weapon-forging; swords, spears and axes, and the only stone structures on the island
- Wind Lord — nomadic and thought whimsical by the rest; stealth specialists who can empty a town's food stores before anyone notices
- Master of Tides — sailors and boatwrights, who take most of their living from the sea
- Mistress of Light — nomadic artisans and crafters, with some of the island's best medicine men
- Master of the Night — contemplative by Garshallan standards; the best tacticians and planners, who prefer cunning to force
- Followers of the Trees — the only tribes relying on agriculture, and holders of the most stable villages
- Lord of the Flame — few, and feared even here; they build nothing, taking villages by force and using them up before moving on
- Frost Mistress — the most robust and the most isolated, and the finest survivalists
The ninth Divinity is not named aloud, and its tribe is not spoken of at all.
Raiding
Sailing is common to all the Garshalla, and for most tribes raiding trade routes and plundering coastal villages is simply part of it.
Alvania has no enemies to speak of besides the Garshalla and the pirates who trouble the same shipping lanes. Caliharah takes the raids more seriously than anyone: it holds a substantial standing army in the west largely on their account, and some voices there have pushed to invade the island outright and end the problem. Rowlem's northern shore is raided steadily, which suits Curath well enough — it is content to let Rowlem serve as the buffer.
Kende
The relationship with Kende, the Alium nation at the far end of the same island, is the exception to all of the above: it is a partnership. Some event between the two peoples established a mutual respect that nothing else in the region enjoys.
The Garshalla are the Alium's link to the outside world, bringing trade goods and news. In return the Alium maintain an installation used almost exclusively by the Garshalla — a device that inks their tattoos — and questing to it is a rite of passage for the young. Where Kende needs the work of the Ion'cavar done, it hires Garshallans to do it.
Congruence
Knowledge passes from master to apprentice. Each tribe generally has at least one congruence user, and to be taken on as an apprentice is considered an honour.
The Warchief is himself a powerful congruence user, and sends his personal honour guard through Garshalla looking for particularly gifted children. Those found are brought to him and trained personally.
Tattoos
Most Garshalla carry at least one tattoo across the back, received on coming of age, marking acceptance by the tribe. More elaborate ones record mastery of a craft, deeds that protected the village, or — most coveted of all — heroism in battle.
They are placed on the back so that others may see what a person has done while the person cannot, which is held to guard against pride. Only a shaman may apply them, and the methods pass from one shaman to the next. The most skilled can imbue a tattoo with congruence and grant a new ability, though always at a price: where one capacity is strengthened another is weakened. A warrior may gain strength and lose his sense of smell, or gain intelligence and lose some of his certainty. Many regard this as a way of shaping themselves closer to their true selves.
Outsiders in Garshalla
Passage can be arranged, and is not undertaken lightly by anyone who has done it. Kende is effectively unreachable by land without it.
The Slaver's Syndicate runs full operations here, though almost all of it is informal and conducted through the tribes themselves.