Tefaruq

Nearly as ancient as and far more mysterious than the Injili civilisation, Tefaruq lies in the southeastern corner of Kerlonna, on a broad, mountainous peninsula. In this enigmatic and deeply magical land, the boundaries between the life and death are weak, and the holy dead walk among the living, revered as saints and emissaries of Rkagyu. Rkagyu, the supreme and deathless ruler of Tefaruq, meditates in the high wilderness, weaving a great net of plots and espionage throughout Kerlonna to serve his own benevolent, but inscrutable, ends. Thick forests of arcane growth blanket the Khezyal Mountains, broken only by the sacrosanct monasteries of the deathless Eternal Disciples. In the dry lowlands, the deathly-faced Black Priests rule with absolute authority in the name of Rkagyu their lord, and the secretive necromancers of the Votyursa study in their glorious university at Mustar-Qadin. So little is known of Tefaruq, yet so much is said, that in many ways the fables outweigh and outnumber the facts even in scholarly histories. There is likely more reliable information in the former Federation concerning Vrashtpkelya than there is of Tefaruq—and the distance between Marnoz and the Seven Cities is easily triple that between Marnoz and the Tefaruqi peninsula. Out of necessity, the following section, to the regret of the scholars involved, is as much conjecture as verified information.

=Founding Year=

Circa Pre-Marnic Year 450.

=Capital City=

The polycentric nature of Tefaruqi governance means that no single capital city exists. The Votyursa, which provides magical governance and the arcane elements of the military, is located in its university of Mustar-Qadin. The kurim’ahin, the Black Priests, rule the low people of the land from their city of temples, Sahruak. Both are subordinate to the reign of Rkagyu and his Eternal Disciples, which has continued unbroken since the land was unified around twelve hundred and fifty years ago. However, the exact location of Rkagyu is a mystery: even the Black Priests, who regard him as their lord and supreme teacher, do not know where he physically resides (with the notable exceptions of the Veil-Seers, who are the high priests; and the Masters and Archmaster of the Votyursa). Due to the location of most of the Eternal Disciples in the mountainous forests of Tefaruq, it is probable that Rkagyu dwells out in that wild region as well.

=Geography=

Tefaruq lies at the southeastern edge of the continent, at the termination of the Vrotispal Range. In far antiquity, Injili explorers were the first to follow its coastline to the southern regions of Kerlonna, and due to the torrid climes they found, they named the southern waters Sar-algittu: the Sea of the Sun. Beyond its eastern shores lie the Last Seas, and to its north is the Isogur Bay. Tefaruqi geography is sharply divided between the Khezyal Mountains (an extension of the Vrotispal Range) running from the centre to the north-by-northwest, and the lowlands which form a rough crescent about the highlands. The lowlands of Tefaruq are a fertile but dry land where summers are a time of drought and wildfires and winter merely manifests as cool rains. In the southwest, along the border with Ishkula, the lowlands gradually pitch downward until they merge with the vast swamps that dominate Kerlonna’s southern coasts. In the northwest, the lowlands gradually pitch upward towards the fields and limestone hills that encircle the Sea of Injil. Unlike the Sea of Injil, the coastline of Tefaruq is mostly made up of beaches rather than cliffs, and there are few swamps due to the arid summers. Olive trees thrive even in the dry season, while most other crops struggle to persist. Hardy cedars also grow along the upper regions of the lowlands, though their growth does not extend into the mountains. No major rivers are known to run through Tefaruq, but water that falls upon the Khezyal flows deep into the ground, forming underground lakes and oases throughout the plains. The Tefaruqi people themselves use systems of irrigation akin to those that surrounded the Tlankuram during the Federal Era, though the Tefaruqi extract their water from deep wells rather than from a freshwater sea. The most impressive irrigation exists outside of the city of Sahruak, where artificial caves have been excavated to better access the subterranean moisture and channels draw water through the local fields. At the centre of these fields, Sahruak sits in a lake, constantly fed by the irrigation channels, with floating bridges and a human-excavated river which flows down to the sea. Most amazingly, a vast metal gate has been constructed at the edge of the lake where the river begins. Through an astounding application of magical energy and human labour, this gate can shut fast the lake against any hostile naval force. Due to the extent of Tefaruqi isolationism, it is not known how many cities, if any, exist besides Sahruak.

Sahruak, the City of the Kurim'ahin
Most of our knowledge of Sahruak comes from the detailed records of Dra’un the Far-Wise, the famed Ishkula explorer. Through sophisticated magical disguises and an innate skill for foreign languages, Dra’un managed to gain entry to Tefaruq and journeyed deep within its borders, mainly through the wilds rather than risk unnecessary questioning upon the roads. He never dared enter the mountainous refuges of the Eternal Disciples, so he could only write of what he saw among the mundane low regions. His account of Sahruak is three centuries old, but in such a land as Tefaruq, it seems unlikely that the city has changed much at all in the intervening years. According to Dra’un, the city is built upon a rocky islet protruding from the lake, with just one small harbour along its eastern edge. He located the actual city as somewhere in the northernmost regions of Tefaruq, only several kilometres from the sea. Three bridges span from the north, west, and southwest, and they are lavishly built from some sort of arcane lumber (harvested from the forests of the Khezyal Mountains) which gives them magical buoyancy, literally floating upon the water. In the event of attack, the bridges may be detached from the mainland and floated towards the city. In addition to the natural defence of water, great walls have been raised about the city’s edge, rendering it impossible to see within Sahruak from outside. Within, the city is carefully ordered, with straight avenues and military patrols, gardens and parks that grow crops within the city walls, and dwellings for the low people built according to a plan rather than in the broad sprawl one finds elsewhere. But the dominating structure in the city is the Xelaan: the monolithic temple of the Black Priests, where they undertake the Blessed Alchemy and study the motions of the heavens. The Xelaan is essentially a palace set upon an artificial hill of stone and steps, its dark grey walls carved with over a thousand years of Tefaruqi history. It is the only place in Tefaruq where one can ordain as a priest of the kurim’ahin, and houses the libraries of the nation, which might even exceed the Vatheot Library of Cil Adasiga in size. Sahruak is ruled absolutely by the mandate of the Black Priesthood, and at the time of his observation, Dra’un approximated a population of about twenty-three thousand.

Mustar-Qadin, the University of the Votyursa
Dra’un never managed to gain entrance into the university of Mustar-Qadin, and it lies under complex magical defences against any scrying eyes. However, Dra’un was able to describe it from beyond its confines. Rather than from stone, the walls of Mustar-Qadin are built from what seems like a form of white ceramics, burnished to the smoothness of glass but harder than steel. Beyond the walls, the climate is quite like that of the rest of lowland Tefaruq, with shrubs, olive trees, and grass. However, within Mustar-Qadin, Dra’un observed that strange and wondrous trees grew among the buildings. He concluded that through their art, the wizards of the Votyursa had somehow managed to transplant the arcane trees of the Khezyal Mountains to Mustar-Qadin, where they closely studied the strange flora.

The Khezyal Forests
On the heights of the Khezyal Mountains, forests grow that are almost beyond belief. Dra’un never dared enter them, but he described them based on what reliable information he received from the Tefaruqi, and he described them from afar when he neared the foothills of the mountains. “No forest I had ever seen, nor any I was to see in the rest of my days, can compare to that wonder. Some of the trees indeed had leaves we might expect elsewhere, of a vivid green or a dark jade. But I also saw violet, crimson, and turquoise among the arcane canopy, and fruits hanging from the vine that glowed like stars even in the sunlight. The calls of unknown birds resounded from deep within, and beyond, I could see the rains falling upon the wood, though the land on which I stood was baked dry for five weeks’ want of rain.” He later had the fortune to meet and befriend a Tefaruqi ranger, one of those rare few permitted to pass over the edge of the forest (so long as he did not dare disturb the Eternal Disciples without their permission). The ranger told Dra’un that within the forests, some trees create great, flat roots that provide perfect pathways through the undergrowth, while others have wood with all the seeming properties of metal, yet which, without the proper treatment of juices and soil, would rapidly desiccate and crumble to rust. Night-blooming flowers hang from the branches, vibrantly coloured in white, azure, and many other hues besides. Strange mists coil amid the boughs and undergrowth, and when inhaled give one a strange acuity of the senses and concentration of the mind. The animals there were almost as fantastical: the ranger described “armoured mice” that scuttled among the ferns and sucked tree sap from holes they gnawed in the bark; rainbow-hued birds that could speak mortal tongues but were so madly capricious that they could not even maintain a conversation; moths the size of housecats that enjoy licking the warm dew from sleeping humans; and so on. According to the ranger, only he and his kind were allowed to harvest timber from the Khezyal forests, and then only with the explicit permission of the local monastery of the Eternal Disciples.

The Deathless Monasteries
As for the Eternal Disciples themselves, the ranger, despite his otherwise garrulous nature, remained withdrawn and careful with his words. He described them as totally secluded from “affairs of the flesh,” and according to him, the majority of their time was spent engrossed in observation of the motion of the heavens, meditations, and scriptural study. Without needs of the body and immortal, they might spend days on end studying a particular body of writing or constellation. He absolutely refused to discuss the physical dimensions of their monasteries, mentioning only that they were “utterly remote,” likely indicating that they hang along cliff faces or perch upon mountaintops. Dra’un was unable to extract any other particulars from the ranger, who seemed so discomforted by the Ishkula’s inquiry concerning the deathless that he soon departed. There are no other clues that can tell outsiders of the monasteries of the Eternal Disciples in specificity. From a few small sources gathered by historians, it has emerged that these monasteries are monumental in size, and are not constructed so much as they are excavated from stone. The dwellings of the Eternal Disciples themselves take only a small portion of the space: without the need for beds or food, the only purpose of their cells is to give a space to study and meditate. Rather, the space of the monastery is primarily devoted to the library and to the astronomical chambers, which can sprawl to the same degree of vastness devoted to temples in the outside world. What types of books might be studied within these monasteries, however, can only be conjectured, and the sophistication of their astronomy must be so far beyond that of outsiders that it is almost impossible to fathom.

The Northern Plains
Of the lands between Sahruak, Mustar-Qadin, and the highlands of the Khezyal Mountains, Dra’un wrote most prolifically of the north, which he enthusiastically explored during his journeys within Tefaruq. According to Dra’un’s records, the bulk of the population is in the central east, and that it diminishes as one goes either north or south about the highlands. There are vast statues erected in the north that honour and celebrate Rkagyu and his Eternal Disciples, created at the order of the kurim’ahin. These statues are linked by a common theme, being that of the unification of Tefaruq in the distant past, after Rkagyu had expelled the Injili invaders. Dra’un’s more fantastical reports suggest that these statues speak in some manner to one another that could not be understood by mortals.

=Population & Demographics=

Among the many tales told of Tefaruq, one in particular has persisted that Marnic historians disbelieved for centuries: dwarves, elves, and gnomes are not found within its borders. According to the fables that still circulate among the people of Kerlonna, the Tefaruqi humans and the halflings of that realm alone adhere to the strange religion of Rkagyu, and that during the founding years of Rkagyu’s reign, the dwarves, gnomes, and elves of the region were driven out for their refusal to obey the deathless. During Dra’un’s travels within Tefaruq, this was confirmed: without drawing overt attention to himself, he managed to determine that no saighes lay within the borders of Tefaruq, and that the Khezyal forests were devoid of elven inhabitants. The halflings of the region, apparently, do not communicate in any way with the outsider members of their race in Kerlonna, and fully adhere to the same deathless cult as the rest of Tefaruq. Dra’un’s travels occurred before the Great Orc-Wars, and since that time there have been no successful intrusions of Tefaruq by Kerlonnic adventurers. However, what is certain is that during those grim years, no orcs managed to round the Tefaruqi Peninsula and attack Ishkula by sea. But the effects this had on the Tefaruqi population can only be guessed at. Did the wizards of the Votyursa, with their necromantic power that the Guild had lost, and the kurim’ahin together use arcane and clerical might to simply destroy the orcish invaders before they even landed? Was the battle against the orcs instead a horrendous, years-long campaign that laid waste to Tefaruq’s north? Or, perhaps, did the deathless themselves arise from their holy seclusion in the mountains, to go forth before the orcs, who were so stricken with awe that they bent the knee and swore loyalty to Rkagyu for eternity? Until some intrepid successor to Dra’un manages to confirm any of this speculation, Kerlonnic scholars must be left to their guesswork. Furthermore, the distribution of population throughout Tefaruq is unknown, as Dra’un was more interested in the spectacular aspects of Tefaruq than the dry details of census.

=Government & Foreign Relations=

The governance of Tefaruq can best be described as a theocracy, although this does not entirely capture the unique nature of its society. At the supreme apex of power is Rkagyu himself, whose position cannot be translated to any outsider title. His edicts are more absolute than those of an emperor, his words are more studied than those of a prophet, and he is more beloved than a father. However, his interaction with Tefaruq as a whole is vanishingly rare. Since his unification of the nation over thirteen centuries ago, he has resided in the unknown wilds of the Khezyal Mountains, appearing only once every century at a particular ritual performed in the Xelaan at Sahruak. This ritual, the Agyija (“purification”), involves a recitation of the disciplinary code and canonical scriptures by the kurim’ahin in the presence of Rkagyu and the most senior of his Eternal Disciples, in order to assure that there has been no corruption in the lineage of the Black Priesthood. After this, he preaches to the people of Sahruak, who ritually prostrate themselves and clamour to grasp at the image of his light. He stands above the Eternal Disciples, above Lemuäzain and his Votyursa, and above the Eparch of the kurim’ahin as the creator of Tefaruq itself, who delivered it from Injili enslavement and taught its people immortality. The fanatical loyalty that the populace has towards Rkagyu himself exceeds even the most ferocious military devotion that the Vacani might cultivate towards Yenatar Malkerian, for Rkagyu is a living reality, an eternal fact of Tefaruq itself, while the Exalt-General is a century dead. In the day-to-day business of governance, Rkagyu is a figurehead, but in the great flow of centuries and of the destiny of Tefaruq, he is its glorious king, warlord, and god. Dra’un wrote of a strange story concerning the role of Rkagyu in the world: once, while he was in Sahruak and attending a sermon of a Black Priest, the zealot declared that “The Blessed One’s eyes rest upon every hall and every lord of the heathen, and he knows each deed they do.” Dra’un, reflecting upon this, attempted to research it by investigating what he could in the library of the Xelaan. Only cryptic passages awaited his quest, tantalisingly alluding to some sort of temporal omniscience which Rkagyu possesses, observing all that occurs in the outside world. Furthermore, they described Rkagyu as “the weaver of lights,” as if he were some benevolent spider, manipulating the world beyond in order to bring about some sort of beneficial end that is, as yet, unknown.

The Eternal Disciples
Below Rkagyu sit those who have attained the supreme goal of the Tefaruqi religion, and, indeed, its very society: the Eternal Disciples. These beings are deathless, with deep power in magic and a mind that has gone beyond all material concerns. According to Dra’un, most Tefaruqi commoners are under the impression that all Disciples are former members of the Black Priesthood. As he discovered, this is not necessarily the case. Both the wizards of the Votyursa and the kurim’ahin strive to attain the deathless state, but they do so through differing methods. The specificities of these methods will be discussed below, as they do not truly pertain to political structure. In terms of governance, both the Votyursa and the Black Priesthood have equal access to the deathless state, and former priests and wizards both occupy the ranks of the deathless. As concerning their political power, the Eternal Disciples are similar to Rkagyu in that they have very little to do with the daily matters of life in Tefaruq. Rather, they are living examples of the ultimate spiritual goal of all Tefaruqi, be they human or halfling, merchant or slave. Even the lowest Eternal Disciple is considered senior to the Eparch of the Black Priesthood, who is required to prostrate himself before the deathless. During the highest holy ceremonies of the kurim’ahin, some of the Eternal Disciples will depart from their solitude in the Khezyal Mountains, walking down among the people of Tefaruq. During such times, they are regarded as holy objects by the people of Tefaruq, and are garbed in jewellery, fine cloths, and holy amulets. Lemuäzain, as a deathless being, is considered to be both Archmaster of the Votyursa and an Eternal Disciple, and he is quite nearly as isolated from the common people of Tefaruq as Rkagyu himself. In matters of severe crisis within the Black Priesthood, in which even the authority of the Eparch no longer holds sway, the matter is brought instead to the Eternal Disciples, whose decisions are considered infallible. The common people of Tefaruq have a similarly worshipful attitude towards the Eternal Disciples: while wizards may be prideful and priests may be corrupt, one of the deathless students of Rkagyu is beyond all impurity and vice. The Eternal Disciples also play a deeply important role in the matter of the hierarchy of the kurim’ahin because they elect the Eparch of the Priesthood based on the list of candidates presented to them by the Veil-Seers. Since the Eparch possesses the great majority of temporal power in Tefaruq, this naturally gives the Eternal Disciples a critical role in the governance of Tefaruq. However, there is no corruption found in this role due to the particular nature of the electors.

The Black Priesthood & the Votyursa
Beneath the Eternal Disciples, the government of Tefaruq is divided into two branches: the kurim’ahin and the Votyursa. Some words should be said on the respective power possessed by these two bodies. The Black Priesthood possesses most temporal power: it decides the building of roads, the details of taxation and currency, and the gathering of mundane military forces. The Votyursa, on the other hand, strictly governs the wizards of Tefaruq as well as the wizardly elements of the Tefaruqi armies. Beyond this, the Votyursa has no decision concerning matters of government. Therefore, it is easy to assume that the Black Priesthood is more powerful than the Votyursa. This is erroneous. Both answer ultimately to the Eternal Disciples, and neither has a more firm grasp on the favour of Rkagyu than the other. Thus, both within and without the context of Tefaruqi society, they are equal.

The Votyursa
The Votyursa is the oldest surviving wizardly order in Kerlonna. Originally founded in Amvidra in circa PMY 510 (and thus the elder of the Guild by some two hundred and sixty years), it was founded upon principles of moral rectitude among its members, arcane investigation that worked for the benefit of the people, and profound piety towards the polytheistic religion of that city. It was never a particularly powerful order, and was confined to the city’s immediate environs until around PMY 250. Due to strong ethical disagreements with the newly-formed Guild concerning the practice of summoning infernal outsiders, the Votyursa utterly refused to acquiesce to the Guild’s demands of assimilation. This rapidly became disastrous as agents of the Guild attempted to assassinate the Votyursa’s Archmaster at the time, Lemuäzain, and many other orders simply gave in and absorbed into the Guild. Ultimately, Lemuäzain chose to flee the city of Amvidra rather than attempt to endure the ceaseless persecution of his order. After much travail, he came to Tefaruq, where he chose to convert to the strange religion of Rkagyu rather than remain under the shadow of the Guild. The Votyursa wizards settled in an isolated village in Tefaruq called Mustar, where they founded a new university (in the local dialect, a qadin), to replace the old library that they had abandoned in far-off Amvidra. After his death in PMY 205, Lemuäzain was resurrected as one of the Eternal Disciples, and he has led the Votyursa for a thousand years since then. The Votyursa have become deeply entrenched within Tefaruqi society, as Dra’un reported: “In the street, a wizard is given a respectful space from the crowd, and he may expect free room and board at any home in the realm, so long as he should not prove a threat to law and order. But it is whispered that those wizards that stray from the path of virtue are utterly destroyed by their former comrades.” The Votyursa has many customs similar to the Guild: it requires that its students leave their families to study at Mustar-Qadin rather than remain at home; it has analogous levels of rank; it is governed by Masters and an Archmaster; and it maintains a great deal of secrecy as concerns the magic that it studies within the confines of the university. Though Dra’un never investigated the matter himself, it is reasonable to conjecture that the Votyursa has collected the magical artefacts of Tefaruq much as the Guild has done with the arcana of Kerlonna. Though for most of its history the Votyursa has peaceably coexisted with the Priesthood, there have been periods of competition between the two: often, when the Votyursa Masters neglect to bring the matter to the attention of Lemuäzain, or corruption begins to creep into the ranks of the kurim’ahin. Magical experimentation within the Votyursa is not quite as liberal as it is among the Guild: creation of the evil undead is utterly forbidden, as is the summoning of infernal creatures of any variety, or experimentation of spells upon living creatures. However, the Votyursa does not seem to have had as difficult a time managing aberrantly-minded wizards as the Guild has. This might have to do with the all-seeing nature of the Eternal Disciples, or perhaps with the deeply ingrained religious nature of Tefaruqi society. After all, it is unlikely that a wizard would wish to imperil his chances of rising as one of the deathless through unethical research. In terms of temporal power, the Votyursa has absolute control over what goes on within Mustar-Qadin, and determines the training of the wizards independent of any influence of the Black Priesthood.

The Black Priesthood
The kurim’ahin, or the Black Priesthood, is almost certainly the most powerful religious organisation, proportional to the size of its congregation, in the world. Even the Slezdenodh of far-western Vrashtpkelya do not match its spiritual power over the populace (for they command the Myrktvil through intoxication and addiction, while the Black Priesthood’s followers willingly choose to obey). It is the temporal and spiritual government of Tefaruq, the link between the worldly folk and the transcendent deathless. Originally formed around PMY 300 during the foundation of Sahruak, it now governs every aspect of Tefaruqi life. After a certain point, a pervasive government ceases to be intrusive, and the society will adapt to it. Tefaruq is the most obvious example of this, as evinced by the investigations of Dra’un and other explorers. Courts of law are overseen by priestly judges; the tax collectors all bring their gathered wealth to the priests; the currency is maintained by order of the priests. Dra’un described that every human family will send at least two male children to train in the priesthood, and he stated that most families will produce around ten children. Among humans, that means the priesthood makes up forty percent of the male population! The halflings have a lineage of Black Priests who are independent from the human tradition (although still ultimately answering to the Eparch in Sahruak), and who maintain the same nomadic traditions as their ancestors. Unlike any other theocracy, too, the kurim’ahin have not succumbed to corruption, because of the unique nature of Tefaruqi religion. Every century Rkagyu descends from his solitude and assures, through the ceremony of the Agyija, that the priesthood remains pure, and faithful to his original instructions. The Xelaan serves as their supreme temple and the most consecrated ground in Tefaruq: according to legend, it is the site where Rkagyu revealed himself as deathless before the invading Injili and the natives who were resisting them. The complex hierarchy of the Black Priesthood is studiously maintained by librarians within the Xelaan of Sahruak in great scrolls and records that extended deep underground in their volume. Every single ordained member of the kurim’ahin is present somewhere in the records of the Xelaan, his name and date of ordination notated, as well as his ecclesiastical rank. Despite this, many of the Black Priests never even travel to the city of Sahruak, according to Dra’un: most remain within the regions in which they were born, serving their native village all their life. The more clerical aspects of their occupation are detailed below. As for their hierarchy, the pinnacle of authority is represented by the Veil-Seers and the Eparch of the Priesthood. There are six Veil-Seers at any time. When the election of a new Eparch is needed, the Veil-Seers determine a list of candidates from their own ranks and from those of the clerics immediately below them, and send the list to the Eternal Disciples, who make the final decision. Apparently, political manoeuvring for the position of the Eparch is unheard of among them: the decision is said to always have been easily made in the past according to Dra’un, and this is supported by the (admittedly scanty) observations of later explorers. The Eparch exercises nearly unlimited authority over temporal matters of Tefaruq, his power mainly checked by the fact that he requires the consent of the Veil-Seers before he can make a decision. The Veil-Seers themselves are much more obscure than the Eparch, remaining hidden within the confines of the Xelaan, whereas the Eparch will often journey across Tefaruq to make inspections of the Priesthood.

Foreign Relations
Tefaruq has no foreign relations whatsoever. Their carefully-maintained isolation began shortly after their expulsion of Injili invaders, and was not at all affected by the two ill-fated attempts at invasion by the Marnic Federation. Ambassadorial attempts made by entities as various as the Fahala Alliance, Ishkula, and Drecitou have always been rebuffed in the same manner: strange gifts of exotic lumber and gold are given, along with a sternly worded message that if the ambassador is seen again within the borders of Tefaruq, they will be killed in order to prevent them from “compromising the sanctity of our ways.” With no real trade routes entering Tefaruq, there have been attempts to scout out its coast by sea, but these have also failed. Some vessels have simply vanished, and their crews lost forever to outside records, while others were attacked by Tefaruqi vessels and pursued out of sight of the coastline. Most mysteriously, any orcish vessels that entered Tefaruqi waters vanished. Not one escaped. While this was a great fortune for the people of Ishkula that would have otherwise seen raids from the east, it is also rather worrying. Everywhere else orcs were capable of violently pervading the area and infiltrating its defences through their decentralised method of warfare. Even Marnoz eventually collapsed to them. But Tefaruq simply swallowed them whole. What became of those orcs is an enigma to this day.

=Economy=

Peculiarly, the otherwise reclusive Tefaruqi maintain a singular trade outpost on their border with Ishkula, known as Ligwaru. Why they do this is a mystery: it does not receive quite enough traffic to be considered truly lucrative; the process of maintaining their secrecy while also selling their wares appears extremely cumbersome; and such openness still presents a risk of infiltration by some foreign agent. It is an unassuming location in the hills, amidst a tall cedar grove which the Tefaruqi have zealously protected from being cut for timber. There are a dozen tent-covered stalls, where masked Tefaruqi humans trade their goods with Ishkula and peripatetic merchants. There is an encampment of outsiders that lies half a mile to the west, just far enough away to ensure that it lies wholly within Ishkula territory. It is believed that a similar Tefaruqi encampment lies to the east of the market, but nobody has ever had the temerity to investigate it and return. It is an extremely isolated location, with no paved roads leading to it, no nearby villages, and a red dragon roost just ten miles to the north. However, Ligwaru nonetheless draws the most intrepid or foolhardy of merchants in Kerlonna, because of what is sold there. The magical lumber of Tefaruq may be found there, with its gleaming bronze-wood, strange “voice-wood” that sings softly at night, and buoyant “sky-wood” that gently lifts against its restraints, trying to take to the heavens. There can also be found raw gold aplenty, in the form of gold leaf, and worked jewellery in alien Tefaruqi designs. Mundane merchants are usually only interested in gold and jewellery: the lumber is too expensive for their means, and they do not usually have a proper application for such strange substances. However, merchants in service of the Guild or the royalty of the north are reliable buyers at Ligwaru. Naturally, the Guild wizards are intensely interested in lumber that is inherently magical, while the Houses Zenali and Malkerian make independent investigations into such substances out of curiosity at their possible military applications. The more pragmatic rulers of Ishkula have not so great an interest in the magical lumber, due to its exorbitant price. Lastly, at least one Nyadegtaan sorcerer can usually be found at Ligwaru. They make their own (more mystically-inclined) studies of magic, and are usually willing to trade rare items of their people for the lumber of Tefaruq.

The internal functioning of Tefaruqi commerce is not well understood. Although Dra’un was happy to report on the goods sold at the markets, he was not particularly observant of the prevalence of such goods. He did not report on what taxes the Tefaruqi might pay, or on the economic disparities between rural villages and the markets at Sahruak. However, it does seem clear that the strange lumber of the Khezyal Mountains is no cheaper in Tefaruq than it is at Ligwaru. Apparently, Votyursa mages work magic upon it to protect it from any form of decay, and then it is reused. Dra’un reported with all seriousness that some pieces of lumber in Tefaruq have been in circulation for a thousand years. To possess anything substantial made from such lumber is considered a mark of great prosperity, and as part of the rituals for when an Eternal Disciple descends from the mountains and is celebrated by the living Tefaruqi, it dons a mask made of well-worked bronze-wood.

While the economy of Tefaruq seems to be quite stable, it does not appear to actually match the prosperity of Sraiyag Vacan, the City of Najivano, or Drecitou. Almost certainly, this is because there is no trade with the outside world other than Ligwaru. Another explorer, Sehera Maknid (who explored northern Tefaruq twice in the MY 450s, but vanished on his second journey), reported that currency is not commonly used in Tefaruq, and that barter is preferred. Sehera also noted that, “In truth, the Tefaruqi man has no passion for worldly wealth. The merchant may count his gold and be pleased with it, but he will never go to great lengths to increase it. The markets are placid, quiet affairs, and when I note haggling, I find that it has little spirit in it. It is an alien place in this respect. Every man, no matter how avaricious he might seem, pours wealth into the hands of the tax collector without hesitation; and taxes here are high indeed, to pay for their immaculate roads and reliable irrigation projects.” Sehera went on to muse that “the men of Tefaruq care not for worldly prosperity because they are assured of a life to come, whether it be through the rounds of rebirth or the ultimate attainment of the deathless state. As such, they become otherworldly, especially as age approaches. If he should have the opportunity to speak to a priest, a Tefaruqi merchant would gladly do that rather than form a business deal with another man.” It also seems that the economic disparity natural to civilised peoples is unusually narrow in Tefaruq. Slaves are well-fed and protected by law, and the serfdom system used elsewhere is unknown: all farmers own their farm outright. The people seem well-nourished, and the social classes are apparently quite fluid: Dra’un reported that, to his bafflement, wealthy merchant men have wedded peasant girls, and vice versa!

=Culture=

Tefaruqi society is the most alien human (and halfling) culture in all of Kerlonna. The greatest threats to the disguises of such explorers as Dra’un and Sehera Maknid were not ethnic appearance, language, or a false background, but adaptation to the Tefaruqi way of thinking. The cause for this strangeness is not, as some wizards and students of arcane theory have suggested, due to arcane emanations from the forests of the Khezyal, because such “emanations” have failed to manifest at all among the Injili to the north or Ishkula to the west who are just as close to those forests as the coast-dwelling Tefaruqi. Rather, it originates from their religion. Tefaruq is perhaps the only society in the world where those in power have been able to reshape the society according to their vision. Rkagyu has so transformed the Tefaruqi mind from the rest of humanity that in some respects, they do not seem human at all. Whether this is for good or for ill is the provenance of philosophical debate, not this document. However, to briefly summarise what makes the Tefaruqi so strange, the main points are: their utter lack of the fear of death; their high degree of social harmony, to the point that murder is an alien concept; their “long view” of the world and their greatly increased faculty for planning and thinking of the future; and their powerful restraint of their own sensual appetites, meaning that prostitution and addictions are unknown.

No Dread for the Grave
It may seem like one of the most alien features of the Tefaruqi soul, but also one of the least surprising, that the Tefaruqi do not fear death. Their entire religion, in fact, teaches them that everyone can attain a state where death and mortality are no more, and that this state exists within the material realm, rather than in some rarefied heaven or incomprehensible metaphysical condition. Of course, not all Tefaruqi choose to truly pursue the mighty goal of the deathless, yet at the same time, they always remember in the back of their thoughts that it awaits them nonetheless. Since rebirth is also a central part of their beliefs, that greatly strengthens their courage against death. All Tefaruqi know that they will return, in one way or another, to a sentient condition as a halfling or human in Tefaruq that will be able to focus their minds on the deathless. And they need not worry about being reborn in a foreign land: another tenet of the Tefaruqi religion is that Rkagyu bound the soul of every creature alive within Tefaruq to become part of his nation. Thus, one’s dog has as equal an opportunity as oneself to be born in its next life as a human being that will ordain as a priest and pursue the deathless. Without fear of death, funerals are radically different. There are only rarely tears (usually displayed when a person has turned to vice and thus their chance of attaining Final Death in their next life is greatly reduced), and usually instead there is an air of hopeful anticipation. Many people become happily intoxicated and sing to the memory of the dead, and to the hope that fortune will see them through. And without fear of death, the military fanaticism that can be displayed by Tefaruqi soldiers loses virtually all limits. This was the main reason that the Tefaruqi counterattacks during the Marnic invasions were so savage: the Tefaruqi were willing to risk their own lives far more than the Marnic legionaries were, because they knew that such virtue would carry them to a better life afterwards. Indeed, it is also known to the kurim’ahin that soldiers who valiantly died in combat, with hearts free of fear or doubt, have a very strong likelihood of rising from deathlessness when the Blessed Alchemy is applied to them. Furthermore, since they lack fear of death, the Tefaruqi do not worry about the effects of aging. Quite the opposite: as part of their religious practices, many of the Black Priests and some devout laypeople will undertake the Exaltation of the Flesh. This bizarre magical process, done by the wizards of the Votyursa, causes the surface of the body to assume the appearance of a deathless entity (total lack of body fat, greying and tightening of the skin, desiccation of the flesh and hair falling out). They believe that this renunciation of physical beauty brings their minds closer to the non-sensual nature of the deathless, and that thus it increases their chance of succeeding in the Blessed Alchemy.

A Realm of Harmony
When Dra’un first travelled to Tefaruq, he noted that the people walked with a measured, even pace that he typically associated with priests or highly powerful wizards. His superstitious early notes wildly speculated on the possibility of the nation being entirely made up of “witches” and “necromancers,” especially due to the fearsome appearance of priests that had undertaken the Exaltation of the Flesh. However, as time went by, he came to realise that everyone was simply calm and steady in Tefaruq, in such a way as was unknown in the outside world. Furthermore, he saw that there were no beggars, pickpockets, or violent ruffians at all. This, he assumed, was due to harsh penalties for criminals… and yet there were no cages, no public execution sites, and no prisons. As he and subsequent scholars of Tefaruq have puzzled out, legal punishment is extremely rare. Theft is enough to merit total ostracism by a community if it is discovered, while murder and rape are simply not understood. The Tefaruqi do understand the idea of military conflict, but never with each other: only against heathen outsiders. That the society can be so harmonious has made it an object of intense, if poorly researched, fascination for many, such as Lorkañe Malkerian, who attempted to fund an expedition into Tefaruq to discover its legal code (which was a failure; all four of the hired adventurers lost their nerve and fled to Drecitou). Unlike their lack of the fear of death, this harmoniousness cannot be quite as easily traced back to their religion. Perhaps, though, it has to do with the sanctified presence of the Eternal Disciples. Sehera Maknid was privileged enough to actually encounter such an entity while visiting the city of Sahruak. “As soon as I had heard of the procession which would bring the Eternal Disciple to the city, I was terrified, for I thought that it must have detected my infiltration, and that it had come to reveal me before the entire city! I could not flee, however, for everyone else was lining in the streets, and if they saw me remaining inside, they would have dragged me out. … When I saw it, my fear fled like clouds before a mighty wind. The masses went silent. Light, like uncoiling steam, streamed from its insubstantial body. It seemed to be nothing more than skin stretched over bone, yet from its empty eye sockets glowed an intelligence so wondrous and so perfect that I felt my eyes fill with tears. It raised a hand to greet us, and said, simply, ‘Life is already yours. Seek its glorious end.’ And with those unassuming words, my tears began to roll down my cheeks, and I knelt then and there out of adoration.” It should be noted that during his preparations for his second journey to Tefaruq, Sehera cut off all family ties, and said virtually nothing: his gaze was always turned to the south, so that he might better return to Tefaruq. He never came back from that second journey.

The Long View
The Tefaruqi are much like the elves and dwarves that they exiled in that they have a strong intrinsic understanding of the way events will play out in the future. This has commonly been referred to as the “long view.” It is, essentially, the ability to look at an action being performed in the present and see how it will unfold in the future. Humans are notoriously ill-equipped to use this perspective, instead preferring to consider how an action will unfold seconds after it has been performed. Not so with the Tefaruqi humans. This, too, has likely been imbibed from their religion, for if the purpose of life is to be fulfilled after death, then obviously one must consider in all ways how one will reach that goal at death. The Tefaruqi are so slow in their deeds that the explorers who have visited have said that a conversation with them is almost impossible to follow when one has first come to the land: the speakers will speak but one word at a time, carefully selecting their diction in order to make sure that their words are well-spoken and appropriate. Accidents are very rare among them, for they are not merely great planners, but are also sedulously observant of an action as they perform it. They apply this similarly to their own minds: rather than participate in some gambling and drinking, a Tefaruqi youth will often elect rather to take a seat by the fire and mull over his own thoughts. Dra’un observed, in his somewhat coarse way, that “it amazes me that these people are even capable of reproduction. Surely that must take some passion and spontaneity? I swear that I saw a husband simply watch his wife for a full ten minutes before he kissed her, and even then that did not lead to the creation of an heir, for he then left the house to work in his fields! It is truly bizarre.”

Dispassion to the Body
Lastly, the Tefaruqi understand that affairs of the flesh are but transient phenomena, all too soon turned into pain or burdens of the spirit. They idolise the deathless, who have no need of food, drink, or sleep, and possess no lustful urge. Therefore they also have little regard for sensual pleasures. Adolescent males and females are expected to not even touch one another before marriage, and eating excessively is regarded as filthy. Drunkenness, too, is usually frowned upon (except at funerals and weddings) to such a degree that even getting drunk once at an inappropriate time can permanently darken one’s reputation. Wealthy merchants are likely to sleep on nothing more than a small mat, and wear such clothes as simply keep them warm. Prostitution is alien to the Tefaruqi: when Dra’un once tried to implicate it to a Tefaruqi friend in order to find out about it, the Tefaruqi was so baffled and disgusted that he nearly had Dra’un arrested by the local priests as an insane deviant. Owing to their indifference to physical sensation, the Tefaruqi also lack regard for the sensitivities of their bodies to extremities of hot and cold. An observer from the first ill-fated Marnic invasion in MY 95 noted that, “In the steaming heat of noon, when our soldiers were so exhausted that they could barely stand, the Tefaruqi darted along like goats through the rocks, laughing wildly as they rained arrows among us or laid into us with their swords.”

=Religion=

Being a theocratic nation, Tefaruq places more importance on its religion than any other society in Kerlonna. Indeed, government and religious hierarchy are one and the same, with the Black Priesthood reigning as temporal rulers and spiritual guides of the Tefaruqi people. However, Tefaruqi religion is quite dissimilar to the traditional Marnic polytheism or the dragon-worship of Cagas Guapran. The closest analogue might be Sahullam, but whereas the ta’Ullami seek to achieve spiritual awakening and a deathlessness beyond the conditioned realm of existence, the Tefaruqi believe in an apotheosis of the flesh, and a deathlessness that can be found within the confines of materiality. Religion may be the most misunderstood aspect of Tefaruq by outsiders, which simply goes to show how little such outsiders can know of Tefaruq, if religion forms the crux of Tefaruqi society. The Tefaruqi, for their part, have no desire to spread their religion beyond their borders, and regard themselves as a chosen people, set apart from the rest of the world. The main tenets of the religion can be described as follows: first, the ultimate aim of mortal existence should be to attain the deathless state; second, the Lord of the deathless, master of Tefaruq, and true god among men is Rkagyu; third, the people of Tefaruq are the chosen nation of Rkagyu, whom he has set above all others, and whom he alone has entrusted with the secret of attaining the deathless state; and fourth, the way to the deathless is through scriptural study among the kurim’ahin or mystical practices among the Votyursa and the dajru.

Religious Tolerance
There is no such thing as religious intolerance to be found within Tefaruq: foreign religions such as Cagas Guapran or polytheism are entirely absent. The Black Priesthood lacks formalised dogmata, and as such, “heresy” is difficult to articulate. Generally, any spiritual path which reveres the deathless, worships Rkagyu as the greatest among said deathless, and regards Tefaruq as a “chosen people” is considered to be part of the Tefaruqi religion. Thus, the only heresies that usually emerge are when Tefaruqi citizens begin to lose faith in the deathless, or when they attempt to make an alteration to the ethical norms of behaviour (such as a new religious interpretation that encourages sexual activity outside of marriage). Such heresies are extremely rare, since the Eternal Disciples are known to leave their seclusion and renew their presence in the minds of the Tefaruqi. Sehera Maknid noted that, “Even the most heretical Tefaruqi deviant cannot defy the will of the deathless. When confronted by them, his blasphemies will die upon his tongue, and he will collapse at their feet, his mouth dry with the thirst to serve and repent.” Penances for heresy are unknown, due to the rarity of the offense.

The Twin Legacies
The divisions in government, between the Black Priesthood and the Votyursa, are reflected in the religion, for the Tefaruqi believe that there are two paths towards the deathless state. The first path is called quwa diyaat, which translates roughly as “the Legacy of the Sun;” its followers are called the Qu’ewas. The second path is called izrafi diyaat, meaning “the Legacy of the Stars;” its followers are called the I’ezras. The two paths may be briefly described as “priestly” and “mystical,” respectively. The Legacy of the Sun is the path of the Black Priesthood, and is associated with their approach towards the deathless state: namely, scriptural study, hierarchical training, and strict codes of conduct which govern every aspect of life. The Legacy of the Stars is the path of the Votyursa wizards and the homeless mystics known as the dajru, and it consists of intensive meditative practices, non-involvement in social affairs, and a strong focus on one teacher training one student, rather than one teacher training a group. Both paths involve strict sexual continence and careful observance of diet. The two paths are also expected to give teachings to the laity if they should request them. However, their ways of life are quite different.

It seems that despite their great degree of difference, the two paths have a healthy degree of mutual respect. The I’ezras are known to give the food which they work to gain for themselves to the Qu’ewas out of nothing but pure benevolence, which the Qu’ewas return with giving the I’ezras shelter in their temples and books which they may study for spiritual understanding. While commoners would rather that their children became priests rather than mystics, both paths are regarded with reverence, and both may be found in Sahruak during the Agyija, to exalt their lord Rkagyu.

The Legacy of the Sun
Priests dwell within set residences, usually adjoining the village temple, or, in Sahruak, beneath the Xelaan. They dwell communally, and only the very smallest villages have but one priest; a usual small village has three, being an elder and two novices. They are meant to be guides and teachers of the people, giving sermons at every phase of Aduämsol (waning half, full, waxing half, and new) on different aspects of moral life and spiritual practice. They survive entirely off of donations from the community (similarly to the monks of Sahullam), which is a way of ensuring that they will remain good teachers: villagers only give food to those priests whose guidance truly helps them. There is also a formalised, elaborate hierarchy which governs the entire body of the Black Priesthood, from the lowliest village-dwelling novices up to the Eparch himself. Priests are not only the guides of their communities, however, but the rulers. Matters of worldly governance generally only need frequent priestly oversight in large towns and in Sahruak. In villages, the priests are only consulted in matters of law and in disciplinary issues. As regards their overarching spiritual goal, to become Eternal Disciples, priests do this by seeking to break down their ego through service to others and through obedience. As they see it, when the desires of the ego are thwarted by the objectives of the true spirit, the ego is weakened. Some priests have taken this to such extremes that they go without sleep, preferring instead to explicate spiritual teachings to their lay disciples all night. There are legends of kurim’ahin that have died of exhaustion through this practice, only to rise again through the Blessed Alchemy. Generally, priests are regarded as the “saner” of the two paths: slower to achieve their understanding, but far more understandable and relatable than their brethren on the path of the Stars.

The Legacy of the Stars
Those upon the path of the Stars are mystics, who refute worldly affairs in favour of transmutation of the spirit. They seek, like the priests, to break past the confines of the ego and embrace the transcendent, but they do so through meditation and through ritual. Among the Votyursa wizards, this is done with arcane magic which covers their skin with mystical glyphs and allows them to survive on a minimum of food and water. Among the other group of mystics, the dajru, this is done with something more mysterious that is not tied to arcane magic, but remains magical nonetheless. The dajru are extremely mysterious to outsiders: the typical Tefaruqi keep a respectful distance, the priests refuse to disclose their brethrens’ secrets, and no explorers have ever encountered one of them. However, they are apparently able to reshape their own minds in order to bring them in line with their mystical practices, in some magical way that outsiders have no analogue to. The wizards and the dajru both emphasise seclusion and the joy of solitude, and are forbidden to enter the homes of the laity or accept food from them. The great majority of the wizards dwell at Mustar-Qadin, while they also have a few guild-halls in other rural areas of Tefaruq. In these closed communities, all of their food is grown and cultivated by themselves and for themselves. The dajru apparently choose to dwell at the very edges of the Khezyal forests, and are permitted to take pilgrimages through the forests in order to pay respects to the Eternal Disciples and gather strange plants for their rites. For food, the dajru survive on hunting and gathering, similar to the krolgashi or the Nrihat tribes. The training of the I’ezras, when it comes to the mystical path, is done by one teacher to one student, which allows an uninterrupted training and deep spiritual intimacy between the two.

The Blessed Alchemy
Both paths are meant to end in the same goal: the Blessed Alchemy. The precise procedure of the Alchemy is unknown to outsiders and the commoners of Tefaruq, but it is regarded as the holiest of all their rites. It involves both arcane necromancy and divine resurrection magic, which cleanse the body of any corruptions which killed it and ready it for the deathless state. The most mysterious aspect of the Alchemy is what determines whether the subject rises to deathlessness. The Tefaruqi tradition holds that those who were utterly pure of heart and possessed true spiritual understanding are transformed into the holy deathless; those who were pure at heart but did not achieve such understanding lie as incorruptible dead bodies; those who were “average” of heart and understanding continue the gradual process of decay; and those who were evil at heart rot in a matter of minutes, until nothing remains but dusty bones. Sehera Maknid was privileged enough to be allowed to witness the observation of a priest’s body after the Blessed Alchemy was applied, and he attested that it did not rot in any way whatsoever, but neither did it rise to deathlessness. The four results are treated accordingly. When a body rots suddenly, the reaction of the community is mourning, for the dead spirit will be reborn badly as punishment for its vices. The dust and bones are buried beyond the town limits, with the skull placed above ground and the name of the dead carved above the brow. Such burial sites are shunned by the Tefaruqi. When a body rots normally, they are given a typical funeral within the town limits, behind the temple, and the funeral consists of the priest making ritual exhortations to the dead spirit, advising them to strive in their next life to better purify themselves and thus reach its true, holy goal. When a body lies incorruptible, the funeral has a festive atmosphere, for the Tefaruqi believe that in the dead person’s next life, attainment of the deathless is inevitable. An incorruptible body is buried under the temple floor, and at certain holy dates these bodies are exhumed, and pieces are cut off and burned, with the resulting ash fed to the people so that they may imbibe of its holiness. Lastly, when a body rises to deathlessness, the occasion is celebrated for seven days if it was Qu’ewas or I’ezras. It should be noted that, on extremely rare occasions, laypeople have achieved deathlessness. When this happens, the occasion is celebrated instead for twenty-eight days, and the “one who arrived secretly” is celebrated for many miles around.

=Language=

There are two separate groups of languages spoken in Tefaruq, and the two are unrelated. In the northern and eastern regions of the nations, the Urmansr languages are spoken, while in the south Paswreg languages are spoken instead. Urmansr languages are related to the Injili tongues and have a similar cadence and grammar, while Paswreg languages form their own group and are not analogous to any other known dialects. There appears to be no “common dialect” in Tefaruq, due to the wide variety of dialects within the nation. However, the kurim’ahin use a scriptural language known as Gawwaf for their records and for communication with one another. Gawwaf is an ancient Urmansr language believed by the Tefaruqi to be the language which Rkagyu spoke when he was still alive. Dra’un said that “merchants use a bastardised form of the dialect of Sahruak for communication across the distances of the nation,” and most people who work with merchants (such as jewellers and leatherworkers) have a moderate grasp of this trade language in order to communicate with those that purchase their wares. The halflings of Tefaruq speak their particular tongues as well, and use the ground-tongue for their religious ceremonies as followers of the Tefaruqi path. For their writing system, the Tefaruqi script is distantly related to the other systems of eastern Kerlonna. Like other eastern Kerlonnic scripts, the Tefaruqi is ultimately descended from early Injili pictograms. However, it split from the rest of the known world’s writing about twelve centuries ago. Tefaruqi writing today has been adapted for the paintbrush and papyrus rather than the quill and parchment, and as such it has fluidity to its form which outsider scripts simply lack. Literacy is confined to the priesthood and the wizards: they are the only Tefaruqi who have any need of writing at all.

=History=

The Life, Death, and Rebirth of Rkagyu
It is quite difficult to assess historical records of Tefaruq because none of the previous explorers have ever discovered a definitive historical account of the nation. For the Tefaruqi, the personage of Rkagyu holds much of the same historical quality as the founding of Marnoz did for the people of the Federation: there was no true history preceding it. In the case of Rkagyu, he is the reason that Tefaruq has a nation exists. Apparently, the record-keepers of the Black Priesthood count their history from the day when Rkagyu was born. It all begins, then, thirteen hundred and forty-five years ago, in PMY 542, when Rkagyu was first born. As the story goes, his birth was a miraculous event, the fate of which was written into the bones of the world. His mother carried him for but half of the normal gestation period, and she suffered no physical pains or emotional disturbances usually associated with pregnancy. With a pure heart and a mind free of any distress, she gave birth to Rkagyu just as the first rays of dawn fell upon her body. The child did not cry, but instead roared out with a lion’s voice, proclaiming itself so mightily that the earth shook and quaked. In the lands of Injil, this brought chaos as one of the cliff-cities fell into the seas, and thus began a great war among the Injili cities. In time, the Injili came to invade the lands to their southeast, desiring access to their gold and their strange lumber in order to bring that wealth back to their war-torn cities.

Thus during his youth Rkagyu endured warfare and struggle as Injili soldiers and settlers threatened to take the land from his people. His father was slain in combat when Rkagyu was only thirteen, and after this Rkagyu became a devoted warrior against the invaders, with such preternatural skill that many of his comrades-in-arms came to consider him some sort of earthbound god. There are many tales that speak of Rkagyu’s deeds in the military at this time: stealing a hundred horses from the enemy by perfectly impersonating the keeper of the stables; defeating an enemy general in single combat, the enemy armed while Rkagyu was not; and even having sunk a ship on his own, and then having swum to shore with two arrows in his back and surviving. The veracity of these tales do not really matter, for they help to illustrate just how the Tefaruqi regard their lord. They regard him as other peoples regard the heroes of their epics. He is a living hero whom they can all emulate through becoming one of the deathless.

However, despite his struggles against the enemy, ultimately he fell victim to treachery shortly after he reached his thirty-fifth year. One of Rkagyu’s closest friends, a man known only as the Bat, betrayed his battle plans to the Injili, for the Bat’s mother had been taken captive, and her release was promised if Rkagyu was betrayed. In these times the high forests of the Khezyal were not yet held sacrosanct, and therefore Rkagyu was in one of these forests, preparing to strike against soldiers whom he had driven into the area. As he prepared to ride down a valley and attack a group of Injili soldiers, Rkagyu’s horse stumbled over an invisible wire that had been strung through the grass. Rkagyu was thrown from its back, and his body broke against the rocks. Letting forth their keening laments, the remaining Tefaruqi soldiers fought savagely to attain their retreat, and they bore his body away, fleeing into the deep wilderness. As they journeyed, they lost their original trail and instead chose a newer, stranger one. They found themselves upon a road made up entirely of tree roots, with glowing mists curling about their heads. Slowly they ascended a hill, guided by faint lights in the distance that looked like lanterns. At the height of the hill, the trees had been cleared back, and the soldiers saw a miraculous entity that made them cry out with alarm and wonder: the spectral form of the fallen Rkagyu. Behind him lay a stone table, deeply carved with strange signs that they did not know. At the spectre’s bidding, they laid Rkagyu’s corpse upon the stone. As they watched in amazement, the spectre entered through the body’s mouth and nose, and then a voice emanated from the fallen body, saying, “Give unto this body the sign of its victory, and behold life unending.” The soldiers, confused but wonderstruck, created from twigs a hooked cross, which they laid over Rkagyu’s heart. At that precise moment, the sun was setting, and its last rays struck the hooked cross, which burst into flames. For a moment they cried out, thinking that their leader would be lost. But then, as suddenly as it had caught aflame, the hooked cross was reduced to ash, and Rkagyu rose. He was not alive, but he did not need to be, for in his eyes was the holy fire, and light shone forth from him bright and strong as the sun. He then went forth from his hill unto the soldiers that had ambushed him, and he let forth his full radiance. The thousand Injili went blind, while the Bat burst into red flames and died there.

In the wars that followed, none could stand before the glory that was Rkagyu. One by one the Tefaruqi tribes bent the knee before him, while the Injili slowly made their retreat. It came to pass that some among the fallen soldiers he administered to, and they rose up again, deathless as he was, and he named them his Eternal Disciples. Some among the Injili repented and swore fealty to this strange entity, and to their surprise, he accepted them and raised them up. He did not commit any atrocities, forbade his followers to slay women and children, and took frequent leave of his followers, going forth deep into the forested wilds in order to meditate. In PMY 460, the last Injili military governor surrendered his post, recognising the nation of Tefaruq and returning to the city of Tarok Mezalin. After this, the nation began its seclusion that has continued to this day. There is very little information about the following years, although it was alluded by some sources that it was a period of unification as Rkagyu turned against the warrior tribes of the far south and slowly bound them to his collective vision and will. However, this period seems to have only lasted several years before Tefaruq was entirely unified. This is also the period during which the Black Priesthood began to take shape as the day-to-day government of Tefaruq, as well as being a group of spiritual seekers who chose to devote their entire life’s purpose to achieving the same state as their master.

The Coming of the Votyursa
During the foundation of the Guild, two centuries after Rkagyu’s unification of Tefaruq, one of the wizardly orders of Kerlonna refused to assimilate by the edict of the Brethren of Shilva, due to a fierce ethical disagreement with the Guild over the possibility of summoning fiendish creatures for the study of conjuration. This ancient order, the Votyursa, fled from its traditional college in the Tlankuric city of Amvidra in PMY 248 into the southeast, arriving first in the Sea of Injil and then moving onward, harassed by the Injili, who had no desire to earn the disfavour of the newly-formed Guild. Desperate, the Archmaster of the Votyursa, Lemuäzain, drove his order onwards, to the northwestern borders of Tefaruq. In only two centuries, Tefaruq’s borders had shut fast against the world, and it had become a place of mystery and no little dread (the Injili had spread lurid and mostly deceitful tales of horrific atrocities committed by the hill-folk at the command of their undead prophet). Therefore, Lemuäzain approached with some trepidation. However, he had no choice: the Guild had put a bounty on his head and accused him of “the same factionalism that has always troubled us.” The wizard sent out an arcane message, hoping beyond hope that his order might be granted refuge against its destruction. He waited for a full season (while many of his fellow members of the order abandoned him to seek the Guild’s pardon). However, as autumn faded into winter, a return message came from Tefaruq, heralded by the thunder of drums and marching steps. A thousand Tefaruqi soldiers came to greet the Archmaster, and at their head rode a man who had clearly died long ago.

As the stories explain it, this man had been a warrior in the service of the Injili during the rebellion of occupied Tefaruq. His name had been Kigandu. However, he had witnessed the destruction of most of his fellow soldiers during a battle in the northern mountains, by what had seemed to be clouds of burning light. Kigandu himself had been unharmed. As he had fled into the strange forests of Tefaruq, he saw the clouds of light growing brighter, until they coalesced before him into the withered visage of a man whose eyes glowed from out of a wasted face. Rather than shriek out in horror at what seemed to be an undead monster, however, Kigandu sank to his knees and pressed his forehead into the earth. The deathless creature raised him up and said, “Clear are your eyes. Sacred shall you forever be.” It spoke a word, and Kigandu felt the warmth of life flee from his body. Yet he remained standing, aware, and clear-eyed. This was the miracle of the Blessed Alchemy, Kigandu swore. Rkagyu had granted him eternity. Lemuäzain, shaken by this story, agreed to follow Kigandu and his soldiers. Some among the Votyursa were filled with horror at Kigandu’s tale, and they turned their backs and left Tefaruq. But the greater numbers of the Votyursa were filled with hope, for they saw something holy in the words of the deathless warrior.

Kigandu led the Votyursa deep into the wilds of Tefaruq, where Lemuäzain saw many strange and wondrous things. Tefaruq, he realised, was a land of wild and extraordinary magic that he knew not, and his heart raced. Through daylight and rainfall, through wind and night, the Votyursa went forth, slowly ascending the rearing heights. At last, they found themselves at a temple carved from a sheer cliff face, looking out upon the forest. As Lemuäzain entered, he saw that there were twenty men seated before him, still and silent as stone. All were deathless, and neither breathed nor blinked. At the centre, one of them stood, and light flared behind him like the noontide sun. Lemuäzain fell to his knees. Rkagyu, smiling with boundless compassion, accepted the Votyursa and offered them his protection and patronage.

The First Marnic Invasion
The next notable historical event involving Tefaruq came centuries later, during the early years of the Marnic Federation. In Marnic Year 95, the Senators of Marnoz were flush with victory. The ancient peoples of the Sea of Injil had fallen to them fifty years before, and they had at last defeated the Jailyurenni tribe that had dwelt to the northeast of Herarzä. Military expansion was the destiny of their people, and it was only a matter of time before they came to rule the entirety of Kerlonna, they thought. There was one politician in particular who stood out for his vociferous demands for military expansion: Livara Riġuzan, who had invested a great deal of his wealth in the markets of Tarok Mezalin. As he saw it, there was a great swath of territory waiting to be accessed, which the Tefaruqi had superstitiously failed to take advantage of. This, of course, was Tefaruq. Furthermore, as an ardent nationalist and believer in the destiny of the Federation, Livara was deeply offended that the superstition of the Injili seemed to have infected the legionaries and made them reluctant to bring war against the strange death-worshippers of the southeast. For five years, Livara had built political alliances, bribed legionary officers, and journeyed to the Sea of Injil, all in service of his great plan to bring down Tefaruq. In his private diaries, he wrote that “I hope ultimately to achieve a transmutation of the Federation through this victory. With myself as its triumphant leader, the High Senate will have no option but to enthrone me as the King of Marnoz!” Clearly, his ambitions were not limited by substance. In MY 95, after Livara’s relentless advocacy, the Main and High Senates agreed to decree a military infiltration of the Tefaruqi borders, “to expand our territories and end the blasphemies practiced in that land.” A full force of six thousand Marnic legionaries and Injili soldiers assembled in Tarok Mezalin in the summer, and in the autumn they set forth, prepared to at last complete the conquest in which the Injili had failed more than five centuries before.

The results were simply disastrous. Hundreds of Tefaruqi soldiers (many of them Black Priests who used their deathly visages to terrify the invaders) streamed out of the forests and hills, attacking without war cries and literally throwing themselves upon the enemy’s weapons in order to break their spears. Some simply threw aside their weapons and bit at men’s faces with their teeth. There was no single, decisive battle, only a long stream of skirmishes as the invader’s pressed deeper into Tefaruqi territory. Several of the commanders were killed. One was dragged from his horse and savagely dismembered by the Tefaruqi, who then hurled his limbs at the fleeing soldiers that had previously been guarding the man. The dead silence of their enemies was so terrifying to the legionaries that many wept as they saw the enemy approaching. After only penetrating sixty miles beyond the Tefaruqi border, the invaders abruptly turned around and began their retreat, still pursued by the Tefaruqi attackers. However, as they crossed the Tefaruqi border and returned to Federal territory, the attacks abruptly ceased. Of the original six thousand invaders, more than a third of them were dead. Many of the survivors were too badly traumatised by the experience to continue serving in the legions, and were honourably discharged. As for Livara Riġuzan, he was so humiliated by the failure of his vaunted campaign that he resigned his seat as a High Senator and prematurely commenced his retirement in a villa near Cil Adasiga. His name remained a byword for foolishness and underestimation for centuries afterwards in Marnic political discourse. The Tefaruqi, meanwhile, were content to return to their homeland, and made no retaliatory strikes against the Injili or the legions. In the following centuries, very little new information reached the outside world about Tefaruq. During the drow raids that sparked the Marches of Smoke, there were likely similar attacks upon the southern Tefaruqi coast, but all that was witnessed of this was the wreckage of a drow raiding ship which was discovered washed up on a remote beach in the spring of MY 193. Its soldiers had all been killed by battle wounds, but there were no signs of bodies from any other side of the battle. It has been guessed by historians that this battle was between wizards of the Votyursa and the drow, but truly, it is unknown.

The Second Marnic Invasion
As time passed, men forgot, as they do, and the veracity of the disaster of Livara’s campaign came to be doubted by the prideful, headstrong military commanders that emerged after the overwhelming victory of the Marches of Smoke. The Injili population grew as trade roads lengthened and prosperity increased. The outpost at Ligwaru was opened in Ishkula, allowing those willing to take the long journey to gain access to the alien lumber and plentiful gold of Tefaruq. However, despite this unprecedented allowance of access to the Tefaruqi world, it was not enough to placate the nationalistic generals of fourth century Marnoz. In MY 340, a general named Hauraza of House Navgarst was placed in command of the Twenty-Second Legion, stationed in Tarok Mezalin. Being of particularly strong nationalistic sentiments, Hauraza was offended at the fact that Tefaruq continued to lie beyond Federal borders. That summer, he sent forth an expeditionary force of two hundred men, who crossed the border and were ordered to scout out the region. They returned with one hundred and twelve men: the rest had been slain by the Tefaruqi, who had attacked them from the forests.

Incensed, General Hauraza sent a formal and eloquent letter to the High Senate, requesting their permission to supply him with reinforcements and military forces from the Guild, so that he could “protect the interests of the city of Tarok Mezalin against those that could, and will, do it harm.” This first letter failed, so he instead decided he would draw on regional support. He worked to earn the favour of the governor of Injilres Province, who then presented the case to the High Senate independently in 341. Permission was granted (especially due to the ascendancy of High Senator Lainna Olituros, an expansionist), and General Hauraza began to plan his incursion. Drawing on the records of Livara’s disastrous campaign, he chose to train his soldiers in recognising the local terrain and using it to their advantage, as well as training them in morale to face the terrifying Tefaruqi. When he was sure that they were ready, in the winter of 342, he crossed the border with a full force of five thousand men.

The military response of the Tefaruqi was to at first make the same rushing attacks that had destroyed the invading force in MY 95. However, this failed: the legionaries were not intimidated by the silent attacks, and they handily fought back using the same tactics that the Tefaruqi employed. Hauraza made his way twenty miles past the border and stopped, established an encampment, and began to build a crude road that would connect the camp with those on the border and with Tarok Mezalin. The Tefaruqi seemed confused by this, making light attacks on the encampment some days and other days coming just beyond shooting range and silently scoping the palisade. After a month of Hauraza’s encampment, the Tefaruqi assaulted the location with some twenty-eight hundred warriors and seven wizards. To this Hauraza responded with his twelve wizards, resulting in a devastation of both sides. All seven of the Tefaruqi wizards were killed, and five of Hauraza’s were as well. The Tefaruqi suffered a thousand casualties, and the legionaries nine hundred. Hauraza then made an orderly retreat back to the border encampments, where he gloatingly reported that he had truly “made the death-cultists bleed, for the first time in their depraved history.” Hauraza called for reinforcements, and the request was granted: while the casualties had been high for a mere camp battle, the campaign seemed far more promising than its ill-fated predecessor.

Then, Hauraza simply disappeared. The guards at his camp saw nothing, and there was no sign of a struggle in his tent. The governor of Injilres Province ordered the mobilisation of the encampments, and sent in a force of three thousand specially trained legionaries and twenty wizards with the sole mission of tracking down the missing general. All of them went missing as well. Terrified, the governor declared a state of emergency… but there was never a Tefaruqi attack. There was only silence across the border. Hauraza’s fate, and the fate of those sent to save him, is unknown to this day.

Present Mysteries
Though explorers have retrieved vital scraps of information about Tefaruq, there remains a fundamental gap of understanding between it and the world beyond. In the centuries that have passed since Hauraza’s disappearance, there has been endless speculation: how did the Tefaruqi fare against the drow attacks? Just what became of the captured Hauraza? What do the deathless plan? What could have so utterly stopped the orcish invaders that they did not even reach Ishkula? Yet all of these remain unanswered, and, perhaps, unanswerable. Perhaps we outsiders must instead remain merely content with the mystery.

=Military=

For all their daring, explorers such as Sehera Maknid and Dra’un the Far-Wise were not quite foolhardy enough to actually attempt to spy on the Tefaruqi military. However, they reported that the system used by the Tefaruqi is a militia rather than a standing army, and that all grown men have at least some military training. Based on the Marnic experiences of the two campaigns, it would seem that their approach towards war is based on shock troops and attacks on morale, meant to compound Tefaruq’s intimidating reputation with terrifying military assaults. When these fail, as with the second campaign, it seems that the Tefaruqi become far more investigative and probing, attempting to manipulate the situation to their advantage rather than simply bulling their way through it. The chain of military command is unknown. Sehera Maknid conjectured in his writing that the Black Priesthood simply assumes martial authority when Tefaruq is at war, and that perhaps part of priestly training is education in military tactics. It is surprising, indeed, that the Tefaruqi were capable enough in war to so effectively defeat two separate incursions by the Federation, considering that they otherwise had no contact whatsoever with the outside world and thus had no opportunity to learn of new outsider tactics. It may be, however, that the Votyursa use sophisticated scrying in order to gain more information about the outside world, seeing as how the Tefaruqi were somehow able to both kidnap Hauraza and cause his rescuers to simply vanish. Naval capacities of Tefaruq are unknown, and how the Great Orc-Wars affected their people is, as mentioned above, also an enigma.