Redgrah was a loose federation of northern humans located in Asiri Asa from about 323 AH to 1027 AE. Redgrah people were a group of ethnically similar tribes governed by three petty kings. They were known for practicing Animism, the most famous of these being the Southland tribes who inhabited the many swamps they worshiped. Researchers know relatively little about the Redgrah prior to approximately 460 AE, when the first events recorded in Solomon's Cartographers occurred. Very few native documents dating before have survived. The few known facts come from archaeological digs, foreign travelers' accounts of the land, and linguistic comparative analyses of Dichotic B languages. In addition, their religious ceremonies used to be forbidden to be recorded in any physical way, though some examples can be found in letters and documents from travelers. Their language is built on a mix of Dichotic B and Strong, making it more slightly more accessible than the solely Dichotic languages.
Geographically
History
Culture
Religion
As Prt of
Geographically
Located in northern Asiri Asa, Redgrah consisted three large territories ruled by petty kings. The fifth century explorer Solomon referred to these as the Westlands, the Eastlands, and Southland, likely due to his ineptitude for Dichotic languages. Of the three, the Westlands was the largest and strongest from both a financial and military sense.
Redgrah shared borders with Erah, Dakra, and Ticatn. Several mountain ranges in the west and the general weakness of Dakra in the east allowed moderate protection from outsiders.
Most of the country was flat with little elevation save for the western border. A sizeable portion of Redgrah’s terrain would have been rolling open planes, deciduous forests, and large areas of everglades and swamps along the coasts.
In the north, Redgrah had an oceanic climate whose summer highs and winter lows are heavily moderated by its relatively isolated position. Even though heat is rare, the climate is sunny during summers and rainfall is generally sparse for a climate of this type. Further south, the weather is still temperate but would experience much more rainfall and hotter, wetter summers than the larger northern region.
History
Prior to the Age of Enlightenment, little is absolutely known about Redgrah society and culture. Evidence from archeological digs and traveler's records indicate that Redgrah was home to nomadic peoples, more often going by tribal names than national identities. Sparsely populated, most of these tribes were self-governing while paying taxes to their local rulers called Kings or Heds. At some point prior to the fifth century AE, the numbers of unique entities within this tribal union dwindled and three prevailing families came to power. The Heds would meet several times a year at some of the few permanent structures erected for governing and religious purposes. Judging by the size of these meeting arenas, the most frequently visited location was the Westland territory.
By the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment, the three kings (sometimes called Three Families) had become insular not only from outsiders, but from one another as well. Redgrah had also not yet developed much of a written language, relying instead on symbols and the context of symbols to communicate. This created further confusion as separate territories needed to communicate over longer and longer distances. The lack of information shared among these secretive cultures would ultimately became a major reason behind Redgrah's collapse.
In the mid 300's AE the Westlands family attempted to call several meetings with the heads of the other tribes, hoping to prevent further abductions. While there was a time a fully unified Redgrah seemed possible, in 364 plans were destroyed with the abduction of Westland Prince by the Southland family, who had promised the boy to Ticatn mercenaries in exchange for safety from their nation. The prince was soon sold at auction and disappears, for a time, from record. These events led to civil war in Redgrah, thoroughly destroying much of the culture and possible texts from earlier civilization. Quarrels were fed by false promises of safety from both Ticatn and Trovian emissaries who continued to pillage the country for goods and slaves. In an attempt to wipe out their enemies from history the original names of most Redgrah leaders, ceremonies, locations, and religious practices were lost.
The Westland Prince reappears in 374 AE as Králotrok Západ. After being bought and sold an unknown number of times he was acquired by the newly crowned Queen of Tapiape, Yardagr I. The young ruler renamed the boy, about four years her senior, to reflect his vocation. By 378 the two had become lovers. It is commonly believed that the surnames Kweslav, Quinla, Oza, and similar, all came from the translation of the Prince's new name/title; Queenslaaf.
Yardagr I (357-425) became so enamored with her noble slave that not only did she legitimize his name into a legal one (allowing him to have children with another woman if he wished), she also led a campaign to reclaim land lost by Redgrah as well as ending to practice of slavery. Her success in these endeavors halted significant trade between the eastern and western countries that surrounded her, allowing her empire to remain the largest and most powerful of the time. However, despite what was likely more to do with her own country's strength, she did help to reconstruct Redgrah's historic kingdoms.
Support of Redgrah by Tapiape dwindled from Yardagr I's death in 425 AE over the next few centuries. By 800 the two were no longer associated and long-standing conflicts arose once again.
In 1027, Redgrah became one of the first countries to peacefully absolve into the growing Iokiurus. They were soon followed by the entire western half of the Bay Coast.
Culture
Because of harsh conditions and lack of unification, the people of Redgrah stress familial (usually four or five extended families living in a unit) ties instead of the personal or national. Thus, ceremonies involving related persons were a main event in Redgrah society.
"Coming of age" is a religious and magic ceremony involving the entire community held on children’s 15th birthdays. Festivities include dancing and drinking around bonfires, a lot of chanting, often with the persons to be celebrated painted in bright green and pale blue.
The people of Redgrah are of average or slightly shorter stature with pale skin and light brown hair. An uncommon but highly valued trait in Redgrah culture is blonde hair or yellow eyes.
The buildings in Redgrah mostly comprised of temporary structures made of various materials; mud, clay, grasses, stretched animal skin, dried palms, etc., were all used to construct basic housing. However, many tribes had 'plots' made of low stone walls that served as a raised base or floor for these structures. Plot stones were marked with family crests so they could be claimed at any time of the year.
Their art is a mix of geometric and organic shapes having to do with animal life, the change of seasons, and the movement of the sun and moon, and of course family lineage. Complex images of family crests and familial trees are commonplace by 250 AH. Artists in the south, where the climate is more humid, were known to carve these images deep into adolescent trees. Because of the cave-like interior of some of these colossal trees and generations of maintenance, several excellent specimen still exist today. Recurring colors in Redgrah art are a pale blue and a bright, basil green. Both were (and remain to be) easy colors to create from local plants. Less common are warm tones. Notably, despite having the ability to create black tints, the preferred color is instead a dark blue. Some theories guess that the lack of black pigments in Redgrah art is a reaction to the dislike of Erahan culture, famous for the 'blackweed mouth'.
Religion
Demographics
Religious Beliefs
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