Haltiok

• Capital: Samori
• Population: approx. 1,280,000; 86% Human
• Government: Oligarchy
• Religions: Beltar, Erythnul, Hextor, Olidammara
• Alignment: Evil
• Crime: Medium (4.1)
• See Crime in Therra
• Medium of Exchange: Seardeenian sanctioned coinage

Life and Society

• The Haltioi are a nomadic group of warrior horseman.
• Haltiok has a loose alliance with the Kingdoms of the East but is not a trusted ally. The Lords of the Horseman are evil, power hungry men who would just as soon stab their allies in the back then come to their aide in times of need.
• Even though the Horsemen are not trusted, they play a crucial role in the life of the Eastern peoples
• They do not allow any to pass by land through their kingdom to the North or West. This makes the port towns of Seardeen and Khazeed extremely wealthy.
• Those traders that do make the journey through the fields of Haltiok reap huge reward for it cuts the traveling distance significantly.
• Haltioi cities are usually small and built on top of hills
• Haltiok is not a resource rich kingdom and its cities are not grand. They are very jury-rigged, usually consisting of a central fortress surrounded by hide tents and wooden walls
• Haltiok has no source of metals. Their warriors are very rarely armed with metal weapons. Instead, most of the Horsemen armies carry stone tipped spears and hide shields. They typically wear leather or hide armor with officers wearing studded leather. The Haltioi are very found of equipping the armor and weapons of their foes. Finley wrought weapons from Khazeed and Abudir are usually wielded by officers.
• Life in Haltiok revolves around fallowing the migrating animal herds as this is the only substantial source of food.
• The Haltioi are ruled by a line of kings that legitimize their power by killing the previous king.
• The Horsemen clans have the names of various desert dwelling creatures
• The Haltioi are not a pleasant people.
• Murder and torture are common place.
• Crime is dealt with according to the philosophy of Moriyama: "Kill and be killed, wrong and be wronged"
• The streets of Haltioi cities are not safe because there is not effort by the kingdom to regulate crime.
• Laws vary from settlement to settlement and are upheld if the ruling lord decides to make an effort to do so
• Murder is not viewed as amoral. If the perpetrator announces their action, the act is accepted and life moves on. It is perfectly acceptable for the family of a murdered man to exact revenge on the wronging party thus creating a long line of blood feuds between Haltioi clans.

The Arts

• Art: The warrior society of Haltiok enjoys pictures of fighting and hunting. The Haltioi particularly enjoy painting scenes of battle on their armor and shields. In addition, tattooing is a very common practice. Tattooing is a sign of skill for tattoos are only given for a successful hunt or battle.
• Music: The Haltioi favor large drums. Bands in Haltiok are characterized by a large assortment of percussion instruments with the occasional horn. The Haltioi are heavy drinkers and enjoy loud music to supplement their drunkenness.
• Dance: If you survive long enough to actually get drunk enough to want to dance in Haltiok, you don’t have to learn much. Any time Haltioi are dancing they are far too drunk to do anything more than moving to the beat of the drums.

Important Sites

• Samori (Small City): Capital city of Haltiok and home of the King. Samori is built on a rocky outcropping at the foot of the Desert's Gate Mountains. It boasts 25 foot walls and 6 fortresses built into the city. The layout of the city resembles an isosceles triangle, with the base being the wall and the acute angle being the location of the King's citadel. The wall extends in a 90 degree arc from the mountain and the city itself protrudes into a narrow valley.