Keshal'i

One of three peoples (the others being waygar'i and sammonish'i), the keshal'i were the dominant culture of the continent of Doma in the Second Epoch.

The name means, quite literally, people of the forest (keshal = forest, the 'i is possessive and the 'folk' or 'people' is implied).

Given the archaeological finds to date, the region that encompasses the kingdom of Syvvarn appears to be the locus for keshal'i civilisation, though most of the north-east of the continent appears to have been keshal'i territory. What is also clear of the record is that the keshal'i were far more advanced than the waygar'i of the Second Epoch, having mastered steel-craft while most of the waygar'i were still using tools and weapons of knapped stone and easily formed bronze.

Little is known for sure about the keshal'i, save for what the physical record, myth and fire-side stories can tell. We do know that prior to the end of Second Epoch, when Miran united the keshal'i under his banner, creating a single empire, the keshal'i existed in several independent kingdoms throughout the north-east of the continent. Of note are the keshal'i of the mountains (which mountains remain a mystery.  There have been no finds to date that would indicate keshal'i settlements in any mountainous areas), who were ruled by the Snow Queens (a hereditary rule passed entirely through the maternal line), under whose rule the Hassan, an independent all-female fighting force, were created**.

From what can be gathered from the stories, and what information we have gleaned from our sammonish'i neighbours that the keshal'i rulers met infrequently at a council to discuss and decide upon matters that affected all keshal'i kingdoms together. They were, unlike the waygar'i of the same epoch, rarely engaged in conflict with one another. It was not difficult, therefore, for Stran of the Deep to acquire their aid when the time came. Nor was it difficult for Miran to then unite the keshal'i beneath his banner.

Like the sammonish'i, the keshaly'i used batlatl as their beasts of burden, preferring those flightless dragon-birds over the horses and oxen preferred by the waygar'i. Interestingly, the batlatl seem to have vanished form the continent along with the keshal'i, indicating that perhaps the beasts were entirely domesticated with no wild members of the species at all.

During the Second Epoch, the keshal'i built in stone, as did the waygar'i and sammonish'i. They abandoned such practices that quite late in that epoch, discovering instead that it was possible to train trees (specifically, bower trees) and other vegetation in a way that created natural shelters. The tales say they managed it with song, though such a thing does seem utterly impossible. By the Battle for the Dawn, the keshal'i were exclusively living in such arboreal dwellings; entire cities made of nothing but interlinked trees. The forests of Syvvarn, woodsmen have claimed, maintain that the remnants of such cities, though the trees have grown wild again without the songs of the keshal'i to guide their growth.

The keshal'i believed that they were descendant from non-corporeal beings they called the Shen. Sometime well before the first peoples appeared on Doma, something happened in the Palace of the Heavens, and the majority of the Shen were expelled, punished by being sent to the earth and made creatures of flesh that their imperfections be made more obvious. The keshal'i, then, have committed their lives to achieving perfection so that they might ascend once more, and rejoin the sacred song and dance in the Palace of the Heavens, essentially re-becoming Shen. Souls are reincarnated in accordance to how they have lived their lives. Lives lived well, in accordance with keshal'i virtues and striving for perfection will be reincarnated as something better with each life. Lives lived poorly, if the person was cruel or lazy, their next reincarnation will be worse than their last, and so forth. Eventually, the soul will be too pure to be contained in a physical form and will ascend to the heavens**.

It is interesting to note that the sammonish'i origin story has very similar elements, and even the waygar'i origins as laid out by the Church of the Sun draws on vaguely similar themes.

Following the Battle for the Dawn, the keshal'i appear to have vanished entirely and suddenly from the continent. They were said to have gone to a land so protected by spells and incantation, that it was possible for sailors to sail through the land, seeing and experiencing only ocean. All that remains of them on Doma are the ruins scattered throughout the continent, and smaller finds that date to well after the ruins were abandoned.

** The author here cites folios given to the University of Brueia by the sammonish'i as gifts. Those folios, if they did indeed exist, were lost in the Great Fire.