Excerpt from a work titled “Domains and Dealings”, written by Temple scholars in the late 7th century CR. The work focuses on the organizational structures of Domains within the Heartlands.
The Northern Valley
In the northernmost part of the Heartlands lies the great northern valley. The valley itself is a relic of time – a land trapped in a constant cycle of wetness and wars. Three Domains dominate the valley. Lorithal and Thalaneth belong to the Visari, easily identified by the large stands of giant trees and dense forest. They are separated by a space referred to only as Khuldinai territory, for we have not yet come to a consensus on what it should be called. On the borders, war has brewed for generations, and uneasy peace rarely lasts. Pockets of violence erupt periodically before people eventually come to their senses. The people living in the valley are very different than the humans of the Heartlands, and the differences are beyond simple choices.
Incompatibility of the People
To date, there has never been a successful known mating of human and either Visari or Khuldinai, nor have they been known to mate with each other, though many have tried. Physically, none of the groups look much different from one another, though generalizations can be drawn from observations made in the field.
The Visari have a tendency toward leanness, with smaller frames and a color to their skin that is more similar to the desert peoples. Curiously, their tanning does not seem to have come from the sun; it is often blotted out by fog, cloud, and tree. Rather, it is something within them that persists from an earlier time in history, passed down through blood.
The Khuldinai, by contrast, tend toward the pale. They often have shorter frames but are much more muscular. We can surmise this is a consequence of their ancestral lifestyle of living in caves and carving through rock, but as with the Visari, this is something that passes from one generation to the next through blood.
It is worth stating that these are not immutable rules for either people as exceptions exist in all cases. However, it seems that within this world, the gods themselves have decided these are people who will remain distinct.
Visari Domains
Whether we speak of the Visari who live in the great tree villages, or the ones who live on the soil, there are general characteristics common to the Visari as a people. They organize themselves around reverence for the land, the dead, and the weight of what came before. The great trees are not just resources, they are living beings the Visari live in relation with. They build their homes within the tree canopy on platforms strung between enormous limbs, with bridges that connect one platform to the next. It is rumored that whole generations might live in the heights without ever touching soil, and at first glance one might be inclined to believe such a story. But only at first glance, and then one gets hungry and realizes the trees do not provide everything needed for survival.
The Visari people are among the most poetic-minded in the Empire’s lands. Their elders often speak in metaphors rather than directly, because they believe the metaphors to be more precise. Their legends travel in the bodies of their singers, and this is perhaps a response to the constant war in their territory. An enemy can burn their settlements but cannot burn their history if their history lives in the people who survived.
Political Complications
Leadership in the Visari falls to the women. They are like the Somari in that way, and perhaps the Nirashi too, though the Nirashi are notorious for letting outsiders believe things that aren’t true. For these peoples, women are the ones who understand what needs remembering and carry the weight of the people between conflicts. Matriarchs are charged with passing wisdom to future generations. This is a sensible way of living when wars erupt sporadically and can erase an entire generation of men.
While the Visari organize themselves into many loosely connected tribes as a means of preserving their living sanctuaries, they must still deal with an outside world that does not understand their nature. As such, they have elected to present themselves as a Dominion with a central leadership structure that, they believe, is what outsiders expect and respect. There is a nominal King and Queen who serve as liaisons to the Empire and make treaties on behalf of the Dominion. Truthfully, it is simply an arrangement to cater to outside influences, and within the Dominion they hold very little real authority.
Trade and Dealings
The Visari economy is closely intertwined with the forest. They work with the land rather than shaping it, which places them in direct conflict with the Khuldinai and their appetite for the redwood. The trees are dense, sacred, and vast enough to lure the Khuldinai out of their mountain caves as not everything can reasonably be made with stone or iron. The Visari carefully manage their home forest by carving dead or dying trees, then use the wood and finished products in trade. It is a rare and precious commodity however, as the trees themselves take generations to grow.
More common goods produced by the Dominion include other woods beyond the redwood, saps, and rare dyes or pigments. They also produce fantastic honey, as well as preserved foods like dried berries and mushrooms. Some of the dried root is even known to cure dysentery when ground into a powder and made into a tea. In fact, many herbalists pay exorbitant sums for rare and exotic ingredients found nowhere else within the Empire. Several Merchant Houses have established outposts in the region, though they do not have the same influence in the valley they may have in other Domains.
A lesser-accepted aspect of the Visari are what are commonly referred to as the cartels. While the Dominion presents a face for the Empire, beneath the surface is an elaborate network of traders that might rival the Merchant Houses were they to organize under a single banner. The cartels operate without regard for Domain authority, or even Imperial authority, and like the Merchant Houses they extend beyond the Empire’s reach. The cartels engage in all manner of business, including smuggling, and even assert influence over non-Visari groups when it benefits them.
Officially, the practice is denounced, but the Visari individually do not see it as something forbidden. They simply believe in the interconnectedness of all things and recognize it as a natural mechanism of connection.
Ancestral Reverence and Beliefs
As mentioned earlier in this text, the Visari have a tradition of reverence for both the natural world and their ancestors. They bury their dead among the roots of trees, believing that the life of the person buried will add to the life of the tree. Some tribes engage in another practice which most outsiders would find at least mildly disturbing. When a tribe member dies, especially a respected elder, the remaining elders will consume a small bit of flesh from the deceased’s body. They claim this is a show of respect, a means of ensuring the dead will stay with them. It is a practice that has led to accusations of outright cannibalism, at least among those who wish to make villains of the Visari.
Temple associates have been sent to live among the Visari with mixed results. In some cases they have been able to convince small groups to give up these pagan beliefs and follow Temple doctrine. More often, the associate fell under some spell and abandoned the Temple to live among the Visari. As a consequence, it is recommended that any further attempts to expand Temple influence into the northern valley be exercised with caution.