Varang City-States

The Varang City-States

The Varang City-States are on a wide, wind-swept plain, the easternmost portion of the Southern Plains of Asherta. The Varangian Plains are well-known for their incredible summer storms, which sweep in from out of the wild prairie, on thunderheads the size of mountains. Varangia is the name for the fertile river valleys in the southeastern grasslands, home to the Varang City-States. There are seven major cities in the Varang City-States, each boasting between 50,000 and 400,000 residents. They control the trade routes between the central and eastern South, and even the Guild is forced to deal with them on their terms.

Culture

Astrology & Thaumaturgy

Astrology serves a deeply important role in Varangian culture. Every child knows the full details of his horoscope by the time he can read, and Varangians frequently share their natal charts with friends and relatives, frequently coming to understand one another's proclivities by this measure. The use of the actual Thaumaturgical Art of Astrology, however, is limited to two Castes: the ruling-class Pandits and the Daivaja caste of astrologers and star-watchers.

The other Arts of Thaumaturgy are considered caste-lore, fit only for members of those castes under whose aegis those techniques fall. The Arts of Alchemy and Enchantment fall to the craftsman classes: the Balekana (Craft: Air), Suuda (Craft: Water), Absat (Craft: Fire), Asutivala (Craft: Wood) and Murtikara (Craft: Earth) castes. The funerealists and morticians of the Anakti are the only ones permitted to learn the Arts of the Dead, and only the Vardhaki geomancers learn the Art of Geomancy.

The Art of Spirit Beckoning is the sole province of the Yajata, a caste of ritualists and priests. The wandering Krisi sometimes master the arts of Husbandry and Elemental Summoning in the aid of rural Varangians, while the martial occultists known as the Durnarendra teach all of their number capable of wielding mortal Thaumaturgy the arts of Demon Summoning and Weather Working.

Finally, any of the above castes may (and often do) learn procedures from the Art of Warding and Exorcism.

Castes

Varangian society is dominated by its castes, called the Celestial Ordinations. Caste is determined by which constellation their Ruling Maiden was in at the time of their birth. This combination of twenty-five constellations and five Maidens is combined to determine which of the 125 castes the Varang belong to. The various combinations have the weight of generations behind them, and Varangian culture has many texts on the meanings behind these combinations. Around each caste is an expansive body of lore, often with specialized rituals appropriate to the life progression of those who are part of that caste, taboos against certain behaviors, foods and associating with specific other castes. Varangians are marked by caste marks at their throats, elaborate designs that include the constellation in which their Maiden was found, and other iconography that marks the role and traditions of that caste.

With a single exception, because any child may be born into any caste, the caste system of the Varang is not something based in heredity or class. Every caste is theoretically given the same opportunities, but the societal class one's parents occupied will always play a role in determining things like education, contacts and similar factors. Thus, one of the Absat, who are the "Makers in Iron" who comes from a very poor background may find work for himself as a tinker and repairer of pots, while his much higher-class caste-mate becomes a civic or military engineer, commanding high fees for her designs. All the caste names are in a strange dialect that the Varang claim is very old, though no modern scholars can trace its origins to anything resembling any of the languages known today.

The Varang base their naming conventions on their caste system as well, using their caste name as a title (equivalent to "Mister" or "Lord" in usage). When dealing with those from outside their city, or when traveling, most Varang also add the name of the city they are from as an additional appelation: Pandit Yane Kanistha is the woman named Kanistha, who is a Pandit from the city of Yane, for example.

• Pandits: In the months of Water, when Jupiter rules the Heavens, if the Maiden of Secrets has settled into the constellation of the Banner at the birth of a child, that babe is destined for greatness. These children belong to the Pandit caste, whose name means "The Crown-Bearers," the closest thing the Varang have to nobility. When a child is revealed through astrology to bear the astrology of the Pandit class (which must be confirmed by at least two other astrologers), that child must be given up to live among the Pandit families, who raise him to rule from childhood. Pandit couples, frequently have families made up of their adopted heirs, and their natural-born children who often grow up to enter their adopted sibling's retinue.
• Outcaste: Children whose natal charts are too muddled to reveal their caste, or who were born during Calibration when there is no Ruling Maiden in the sky, are considered the Outcaste. Beggars and unfortunates who frequently make their livings by doing the filthy work no one else wants to do, the outcaste are untouchables, considered ritually unclean and universally (and possibly contagiously) unfortunate. Criminals who commit crimes against their caste are sometimes cast out of the Celestial Ordinations. All outcaste are marked with a simple black circle at their throats (sufficient to blacken out any old caste tattoos criminals may have once had), and it is a crime for an outcaste to conceal or cover over their mark of shame.
• Castes of the Varang People: An extensive (but not exhaustive) list of the Varangian castes.

Government

X

Religion & Sanctuary

X

Varang Culture-Code

X

Varang Military

Outsiders find the Varang customs incredibly exasperating, for their lives and traditions are based on extensive astrological lore. This astrological obsession colors everything they do: there are five castes in society, and interactions between those castes are tightly regimented. Moreover, a person's profession is determined by the astrological hour in which they were born. All of these factors can be determined at a glance by native Varang, but the assumed traditions and expectations between the citizens of this nation are a hopeless web of confusion for outsiders.

Moreover, Varang society is based on a plutocracy — the eldest hold the power, whether in a family, business or a caste. As a result, the intrigue and flat-out assassination that results from this is quite well know. Outsiders are viewed with suspicion, because those Varang who do wish to thin the ranks above them rarely wish to risk giving another Varang the sort of blackmail material that would come from having one of their countrymen performing a murder for them. So, outsiders are the most common assassins in Varang, and all Varang know it.

As a result of this, a tradition evolved long in the past of the Varang, the tradition of Sanctuary. A person could flee into a temple and claim Sanctuary, and the temple was required to grant it. Moreover, none could enter into that temple to work violence on those who'd claimed Sanctuary, lest they invoke the wrath of the gods and the priestly caste.

Of course, this tradition remains even after the Varang became a satrapy to the Empire. Actual worship in the temples ceased, with the Varang insisting that the temples must remain as cultural relics, and their priestly caste tenders as curators and keepers of Sanctuary. It is an open secret that the priests still perform the rites of their gods, but the Varang are notoriously dismissive of gods and religion in general.

Products

Thunderheads on the Varang Plains

Agriculture

The extremely fertile river valleys of the Varang, which flood twice a year, depositing rich silt on the farms and plantations up and down the four rivers of the Varang Plains, are the breadbasket of the South. Their outputs of rice and grains is quite impressive, and many specialty crops that could not otherwise grow in the South find purchase here. Among these are a variety of vineyards, easily half of which are owned and managed by House V'neef.

Clockwork

The Varang are also highly regarded for their clockwork craftsmanship, originally used to create orreries and other pieces of astrological and astronomical measurement, but which have since been applied to the creation of tall clock towers, which mark precise measurements of time. One of these stands in each official ward of a Varang city, tolling out the hours and decorated in a fashion that represents something about the nature of that ward.

Firedust

The merchants who travel to the south-easternmost edges of Varangia often come back with impressive hauls of firedust, acquired from the various tribes and gatherers who haunt the Great Southern Desert. This firedust forms the foundation of Varangian national defense and economy both; it is not uncommon for city guards to be armed with firewands and flame pieces, for instance.

Gems & Precious Metals

From the depths of the Summer Mountains come rich loads of precious metal and gemstones, mined in massive mining operations. Slave-operated, these operations are the equivalent of prison camps, in many instances: in fact, most of the citizenry who find themselves at the wrong end of the law are sentenced to work in mining camps, as the Varang do not believe in imprisonment without accompanying work.

Djala Slaves

At the edges of Varang territory are the roaming grounds of the Djala tribes. Only the Djala may be employed as slaves in the Varang City-States' urban centers; all other slaves must be kept on rural estates and the like. Small bands of slaver bandits, strange humanoids who speak broken Flametongue known as the jikari hunt the djala, and sell them to both Varang rich enough to own them, and to the Guild slavers who make their occasional way along the Great Coastal Road.

Printing

This clockwork technology has been put to other uses, including an incredibly complex clockwork printing press. Varang is famous for its rag-paper novels, sold on many street corners in the cities. Most of the people of Varang are quite literate, and take great pride in this fact.

Cities of the Varang

Varang cities can also be considered hopelessly confusing, for their layout are always according to some principle of cosmic and astrological perfection. They are known for their numerologically pleasing divisions into wards, each of which is marked with a tall clock-tower.

The Coastal Trade Cities

The Coastal Trade Cities are the only cities that foreigners are permitted entry into. As a result, both the Guild and the Realm maintain full-time presences in all three of them.

• Yane (Pop. 400,000): The capital of the Varang City-States, Yane is laid out in a precise radial plan, with the Great Celestial Gardens, the palace-complex of the ruling caste, in the center. Yane maintains a large and impressive Imperial Embassy, notorious to outlanders for the fact that the Varang invited the Realm, rather than waiting for the Realm to step in themselves. As a result, their interactions with the Realm are of cultured politics, without the influence of the Immaculate Order, as is so often the case with places the Realm takes an interest in first (which usually results in the arrival of Immacualte monks before any diplomats).
• Kriss (Pop. 180,000): Home to the largest Imperial garrison in the Varang City-States, Kriss is the western-most city of the Varang, laid out in a six-sided spiral which winds from the noble-caste palace in the center to the periphery.
• Talt (Pop. 140,000): The eastern-most city of the Varang, Talt is home to an Imperial garrison nearly the size of that in Kriss. Talt itself is laid out in a set of equilateral triangles, interlocking and confusing to visitors.

Cities of the Falucan River

• Jisal (Pop. 100,000): X

Cities of the Hokaj River

• Has-Kan (Pop. 180,000): X

Cities of the Fakal River

• Ulsan (Pop. 40,000): X

Cities of the Jighast River

• Volat (Pop. 200,000): X
• Tarcha (Pop. 70,000): X