The Tashana Tundra

Tashana means "many waters" in an ancient, nearly extinct shifter dialect. The plains are dotted with hundreds, if not thousands, of small glacial lakes. Many of these remain frozen year-round, but the southern waters thaw in summer. In these months, the Tundra is a place of pure and unspoiled natural beauty. The landscapes are regularly interrupted by huge mounds of rocks and boulders, some miles wide, that seem to have fallen from the sky. Remnants, presumably, of an earlier glacial age, these rock mounds have a strange and otherworldly beauty.

The majority of the Tundra is covered with frosty grasslands. To the north the Eska Mountains rise, and the northern foothills of the Paqaa Mountains encroach upon the southern border. In the far north, the dreamlike and ghostly Tashyvar Islands reach into the Sea of Rage. Finally, the mysterious Krertok Peninsula extends northeast of the Eska Spines.

The climate is mainly subarctic, with true arctic conditions in the northern plains and mountains, and short summer months of near-temperate conditions in the south. If anything definitive can be said of the Tundra as a whole, it is this—it is a land of strange weather. Blizzards, snow squalls, and whiteouts sometimes descend in an instant, but also common are strange heat waves, downpours of inexplicably warm rain, and savage lightning strikes.

Planar Elements: The southern border of the Tashana region is marked by a gradual elevation shift and what appears to be an intermittent manifest zone tied to Risia, the Plane of Ice. All along these borderlands, planar manifestations of ice and snow have given the appearance of a land of perpetual winter to those south of the border. This geographical isolation has resulted in a land that is remarkably insular and self-sustaining.

The Tundra is well known for reality storms (aukaraks in the ancient Shifter dialect), rogue planar breaches and manifest zones that drift over the landscape.

Although no more difficult to travel to than other locales, the Tashana Tundra had few visitors in the past. The austere beauty of the place and its peoples drew little interest. Recently, however, things have changed.

Intercontinental trade on a significant scale has developed on the western Tashana coastline. Exports of medicinal and magical lichens from the Tashanan interior have resulted in expansion of the port communities of Winterstead and Whitetooth, at the respective openings of the Qonama and Tiiki rivers. Although the Tundra does produce some unique herbs and spices, the true reason for this rapid growth is less savory—coastal Tashana produces a particularly potent strain of the fatigue-alleviating lichen known as muqqa, or icewild. Also, Tashana shifter art is currently in vogue among a few wealthy collectors in Zilargo. As a result, there's a great demand for brave souls willing to discover and barter for genuine artworks.

Recent years have also seen a significant influx of shifters from Khorvaire—both individual pilgrims and entire communities. Khorvarian shifters have been arriving by boat in greater numbers since the end of the Last War, with charismatic leaders often at the head of entire naval convoys of pilgrims. Individual shifters might want to travel to Tashana for personal or spiritual reasons; other characters might sign on as escorts and defenders of the larger shifter migrations.

And as with any place, not all visitors arrive by choice. The Akiak people maintain their community-inexile in the northern foothills of the Paqaa Mountains. While the shifters of the southern Qiku are careful not to overtly oppose the Riedrans, they are providing material support to the Akiak fighters and harboring some civilian communities. Internal travel is not difficult despite the lack of good roads. Shifter and dwarf communities have long traded among themselves, and limited trade exists between the shifters and the northern border communities of Riedra.

The southern border of the Tashana region is marked by an intermittent manifest zone tied to the Plane of Ice, giving the appearance of perpetual winter from south of the border.

Tel-Marq wakes as the morning light shines through the small opening of his sealskin tent. Exiting into the bright glare of snow and sky, he squints to survey the horizon. Subtle indications of wind, light, and scent tell him that a storm is coming. It will be white snow, dry and cold. And much of it, indeed.

After feeding himself and his team of sled dogs, TelMarq gathers his gear. About 200 yards away, a hole is cut into the ice of the frozen lake upon which the camp is set. The dogs guard the equipment and the meat gleaned from the hunt so far. They and the sad bundle—the remains of his hunting companion, Tel-Ruq.

No time to dwell on such things, Tel-Marq tells himself as he sits next to the hole in the ice. It is only a matter of time, he knows, before a seal or walrus spots the hole from below and takes the opportunity for a breath of fresh air. Then Tel-Marq's spear will fly, and another kill will be added to the take for this hunt. Tel-Marq braces himself against the cold and begins what could be a long wait. He lets his eyes gaze off to the horizon and feels the calm and patient spirit of the land flow through him. Ice and sky. Wind and snow. Emptiness and endlessness . . .

Tel-Marq reacts in an instant as the water before him erupts, his spear flying straight and true as an old walrus breaches the surface.

Tel-Marq secures the carcass with the others. It is enough; the hunt is finished. He lets his eyes fall again on the bundle of Tel-Ruq's remains frozen among the carcasses. Tel-Marq had found him the previous day, by one of the more distant hunting holes, felled by wolves. Tel-Marq had driven off the lone, wounded creature that remained, then gathered up his friend and brother to return him home to the tribe.

The dogs bristle with anticipation as Tel-Mark mounts the sled. Looking again to the horizon, he squints into the glare. Could it be? Yes, there. A hundred yards away, the spectral wolf regards Tel-Mark with utter calm. A sense of peace washes over Tel-Mark as he acknowledges the presence of the spirit animal. It is a benediction of sorts, a sign from the animal spirits that the hunt has been well and proper. Tel-Marq drives the dogs hard through the afternoon, hoping to return to the village before nightfall. The predicted snowstorm arrives. There is little wind, but the large, dry flakes drift gently to the ground as if an entire ocean of snow were falling to earth. Navigating by instinct alone, Tel-Marq rides though the blinding white.

The snow begins to taper off slightly when Tel-Marq rounds a large rock mound and catches a scent in the air that makes his blood freeze. He halts the dogs, calming and quieting them with a series of hand signals. Convinced that he is safely upwind, Tel-Marq clambers up the glacial rock pile and peers down the other side.

Two figures clad in fur and skins—shifter skins, TelMarq notes with fury—are fighting over the scraps of a fox carcass. Sharpened bones pierce the barbarians' skin in multiple places, entire strips of flesh deliberately pulled and torn. The faces are a ruin of scars and dead or dying flesh. They are Kalaak.

Scouts, Tel-Marq thinks, and there were likely more, hidden by the swirling white. The wind and snow meant neither Tel-Marq nor the raiders would likely be able to follow a trail. Slowly, Tel-Marq nocks an arrow in his massive bow. They would not be able to scale the rocks before he felled them both. And they would not flee. Kalaak never fled. Tel-Marq gathers the cruel metal morningstars from the arrow-riddled bodies. Best to return to the village and warn the elders. Kalaak! This far south! A bad omen, indeed. Time to move the village again.

That evening, the tribal drummers whirl in a frenzy of celebration as other hunting parties return. Around the fire in the large black sealskin tent of the elders, TelMark makes his report—the death of Tel-Ruq and the appearance of the Kalaak raiders. Having done his duty by his tribe and his family, Tel-Marq sets off for his own lodging. Time now for sleep.

1. The Way of the Brothers: A practical code at heart, The Way of the Brothers is imperative in the harsh lands of the Tundra. This code has only strengthened in recent generations as Tundra shifters have learned the value of cooperation and peaceable relations.
2. How to Live off the Land: Even in unfamiliar climes and surrounds, tundra shifters persevere. All Tundra shifters have high ranks in the Survival skill, which is crucial in their home environment.
3. Flee the Planar Breaches: In the Tundra, planar breaches are particularly wild and unpredictable. Most of them drift over the landscape like small weather fronts. The unnatural sensation of planar leakage within these zones is profoundly painful and upsetting for tundra shifters, who feel a spiritual bond with the land.
4. The Betrayal of the Southern Shifters: Tundra shifters' feelings for their martial Riedran cousins fall somewhere between loathing and pity, depending on the individual. Most shifters neither know nor care about the particulars of the Riedran nation, but they feel their distant relatives who serve as Riedran enforcers have sold their souls to the corrupt humans. Attempts in the past to "liberate" their brothers from their human handlers have all ended tragically—the Riedran shifter samurai like what they do. To shifters today, they are lost causes, and a tundra shifter might kill a Riedran shifter out of pity as much as anything.
5. How to Play Music: Tashana shifter tribal music is at once an art form, a style of meditation, and a powerful source of magic. All adult shifters craft their first instrumentusually a bone pipe or sealskin drum—as a puberty rite, and this act, along with one's first hunt, signifies passage into adulthood. The Tashanans have developed ingenious collapsible drums made of bone and hide, and virtually every Tundra shifter keeps drums or pipe with her at all times.

No single civilization graces the Tashana Tundra. The people of the Tundra include numerous races, each separate and distinct. Other nomads include many independent neutral- and good-aligned human barbarian groups. 

Eschewing technological and industrial advancements, the majority of Tashana shifters choose instead a path of simplicity and union with their natural surroundings. Although much of this choice is strictly a practical matter, it is also a defining spiritual aspect of the shifters of Tashana. Where a foreigner might see the Tundra way of life as primitive, the native sees it as pure and spiritually powerful.

The central nations of the Qiku and the Saartuk have enjoyed relative peace for many generations, and as their communities continue to grow and prosper, the shifter mind has turned inward to more spiritual matters. They are no longer driven by a struggle to survive, and now their shamanistic traditions grow more advanced with every generation. This advancement is evidenced by the shifters' sophisticated use of medicinal and magical lichens native to the Tundra (see page 138).

Of the peoples of the Tashana Tundra region, only the shifters of the Qiku and Saartuk tribes have developed a cohesive culture that can be effectively chronicled. The dwarves of the Dorann Holds have isolated themselves for generations, and only the occasional artifact finds its way out of the Eska mountain passes. The culture of the Akiak clans has been all but destroyed by the genocidal machinations of the Inspired.

Art

Currently in vogue among a small circle of influential collectors in Khorvaire (Zilargo in particular), Tashanan art is surprisingly sophisticated and powerful for such a "primitive" culture. "An unmatched sophistication of simplicity," says Morgrave art scholar Mentarion Palinostrum.

Most prized are animal sculptures made of ivory, whalebone, antler, and stone, often found as ornamental parts of utilitarian objects. These figurines reveal a highly developed aesthetic style, with a meticulous exactness of anatomy and proportion. Tashanan paintings employ natural oils and pigments with hide canvases, and display complex techniques that are the envy of many a Khorvairian art student. The popular dreamscape style features dense and surreal landscapes of the natural world with an overlay of strange shapes, colors and images.

Architecture

Virtually all Tashana shifters were at least seminomadic until only a few generations ago. Now, many tribes of the Qiku and Saartuk nations have established permanent settlements and a nascent architectural tradition. In the central plains, sprawling villages built in and among the strange rock mounds combine stonework and tunneling with traditional shelters of seal or caribou skins. This dreamscape style features odd, otherworldly totems and ornamentations. In the coastal settlements of Winterstead and Whitetooth, increased trade has resulted in a riot of improvised architectural styles.

The nomadic and seminomadic tribes still employ collapsible tents of seal or caribou skins, supported by frames of bone and driftwood. Larger structures typically have raised sleeping platforms and a simple flue to release smoke. It's thought that the Chuniigi tribes of the far north maintain several hidden ice fortresses and storehouses carved directly into glacial formations.

Cuisine

The Tundra is not the place for cultured cuisine, but in terms of resourcefulness and ingenuity, Tashanans must be admired. In coastal and lake areas, the diet consists primarily of fish, waterfowl, and sea mammals, with some varieties of harvested seaweed. Inland, meat is provided by the vast herds of caribou, supplemented by fox, bear, and the occasional mammoth in the far north. Many tribes also harvest various types of lichen and algae that cling to the glacial rocks of the plains. Tashanans are renowned for finding utility in every possible part of the kill—examples are foxsnout soup and the infamous Chuniigi blubbercake. Some larger southern tribes employ a limited system of agriculture for winter grains.

Fashion

Materials and clothing among the Tashanans are almost entirely animal-based. Males and females both are likely to wear trousers and parkas of polar bear hide, with great fur-lined hoods. Boots are made of caribou or seal skin. Dressing in layers is the rule, since the weather of the Tundra is famously unpredictable. The hareskin socks and gloves of the Tashana are greatly prized for their warmth and comfort. Clothing is typically stitched with narwhal or caribou sinew.

When the Akiak clans split from their Dorann forebears hundreds of years ago, they initially settled in the passes and valleys of the Paqaa mountain range. Leaving behind the destructive clan violence of their forebears, they made great leaps in metallurgy and alchemy. The psionic-tending duergar in particular developed advanced techniques for working with the abundant metals and deep crystal found in the mountains of their adopted home. Previous to the rise of the Inspired, the Akiak were in great demand as technicians in all Sarlonan nations, and some clans migrated even farther south, approaching Adar borders. During this period, the Akiak began building dalnans, small structures of crystal and steel designed to harness the psychic energy of a community. Many of these early monoliths can still be found throughout Sarlona.

When the Inspired came to power, they hired many of the Akiak—who functioned nearly like a guild in this period—and the clan coffers swelled with Riedran gold. The Akiak and the Inspired worked together to build the first of the massive hanbalani, with the dwarves supplying the basic alchemical and metallurgical building blocks. Although the basic framework was derived from the Akiak design, the Inspired also brought quori insights to the work, ensuring that the monoliths could be used in ways the Akiak never considered. Once the Inspired had appropriated the knowledge they needed to build hanbalani on their own, they turned on the Akiak in a massive coordinated betrayal that has come to be known as the Night of Razor Dreams. Planned assassinations, both physical and psionic, wiped out nearly all the Akiak leaders, engineers, and skilled technicians in the hanbalani construction facilities. Meanwhile, the shifter samurai of the Taaskan legion—already garrisoned near many of the clan homes as "protection"—swarmed the Akiak villages and towns in the Paqaa Mountains, killing or enslaving all who remained. Only a fraction of the once-great Akiak nation survived this horrifying betrayal, fleeing to the northern foothills of the Paqaa Mountains and the free lands of the southern Tundra. The Night of Razor Dreams burns in the heart of every Akiak, a terrible price paid for an unwise and greedy collaboration with the Riedran leadership.

The Tashana Tundra is better understood as a geographical region rather than a nation. Although the Tashana shifters are the dominant people in terms of a semiunified culture (and sheer numbers), they do not recognize political borders, and they have no diplomats or delegations abroad. The dwarves of the Dorann Holds are closer to being an actual political nation, but their isolationist policies have kept them all but invisible in their distant mountain holds. The Akiak refugees and the Icebinder half-giants remain essentially nomadic peoples, and little is known of the mysterious Inana maenads. The Tashana Tundra is simply too big, too wild, and too sparsely populated to qualify as a nation in any but the loosest sense of that term.

Among the various peoples of the Tundra, relations are generally peaceful. The shifter nations keep to themselves, having successfully averted large-scale war for hundreds of years. Isolated tribal skirmishes still occur regularly when resources become scarce, particularly involving the warlike Chuniigi tribes of the north.

In recent years, the refugee people of the Akiak and the tribal leaders of the Qiku shifter nation have joined in alliance. This alliance has historical roots: When the Akiak split from their Dorann forefathers hundreds of years ago, the shifters of the Qiku nation helped the dwarves in their migration from the Eska Mountains across the Tashana Tundra. After the Akiak established their new clanholds in the Paqaa Mountains, the two groups remained friendly and engaged in significant trade. After the betrayal of the Inspired, the Qiku shifters provided refuge and shelter to the desperate Akiak refugees in the northern foothills of the mountains, where they remain to this day. While there is no formal military alliance, the Qiku provide Akiak guerrilla raiders with supplies and mercenary warriors to assist in their campaign to retake clanholds in the Paqaa range.

Along the western coast of the Tashana, the Saartuk nation coexists with colonies established by the Inana maenads of the Tashyvar Islands. There is certainly no shortage of space or resources along that shoreline. The port communities of Winter stead and Whitetooth are an intriguing mix of maenad and shifter culture, along with a smattering of various Khorvarian influences brought by increasing sea trade.

In the far north, lowlying Dorann clans have a tradition of trading worked metal and weapons with the Chuniigi, typically for prepared meats and anima l products. However, relations have soured in recent years.

The Chuniigi are enduring relentless raids by the savage Kalaak barbarians, and these are desperate times for the northernmost shifter nation. Chuniigi now regularly raid Dorann dwarf settlements, and even northern roaming Qiku and Saartuk tribes when necessary. The nomadic Icebinder halfgiants generally have good relations with all three shifter nations, in that they leave one another alone. The scattered and self-sufficient human barbarian and Neanderthal tribes of the Tundra have no overarching organization, and conflict arises only when competition for resources heats up.

The human barbarians known as the Kalaak are an entirely different matter. Of these terrible raiders, little is known—and of that, little is spoken. Some say the savagery of the Kalaak has earned them a reputation entirely out of proportion to their actual power and numbers. There is no doubt, however, that the Kalaak represent a grave threat to all peoples of the Tashana.

Riedra

Riedra and Tashana have long had a mutually beneficial policy of ignoring one another's existence. It's unclear to what extent the shifter leaders know of the Riedran government, and all indications are that the Inspired consider the shifter nations harmless primitives. Several passes break through the strange planar-influenced border between the lands of Tashana and Riedra, and limited trade exists between individual shifter tribes of the southern Tundra and northern Riedran settlements—proximity trumps politics in these cases. The upper reaches of the Paqaa Mountains represents a significant exception, due to direct hostilities between the refugee Akiak fighters and Riedran occupiers. Although there exists no state of war between Riedra and the Qiku, it is common knowledge that the shifters support the Akiak in their struggle to reclaim their homeland. Tashana tribes and Riedran military shifters harbor a deep enmity toward one another. Extremely bloody incidents in the past have led the leaders of both Riedra and the Tundra nations to avoid direct conflict.

Syrkarn and Adar

Tashanans are, for the most part, unaware of the distant nations of Syrkarn and Adar. It's probable, however, that leaders of the shifter nations have some knowledge of these lands. In fact, there are those who suspect that emissaries have been dispatched in both directions, and that secret talks are under way to assess a possible alliance against Riedra.

Other Nations

It's a fact known to only a select few, but Tashanan coastal communities and pirates of the Lhazaar Principalities have maintained secret trading and smuggling routes across the Lhazaar Sea for many years. Initial trade was probably in certain exotic spices native to the Tashana coast, but much of the commerce now revolves around trafficking of medicinal and magical lichens, especially icewild. Other commodities include native Tashanan art, and mineral and crystal exports from the Eskas.

The vast lands of the Tundra offer a different flavor for an ongoing campaign. Life might be simpler in the Tundra, but it certainly is not easier. Resources are scarce, and even the most wilderness-savvy PCs could find themselves challenged by the cruel weather and savage natural predators. Trekking these barren lands also means chancing encounters with the unpredictable aukaraks. Still, there are story beyond mere survival to be told in the Tundra

Escalating trade has brought bustling commerce and growth in the unlikeliest of places—the wild and rugged coastline of the Tashana Tundra. The port communities of Whitetooth and Winterstead are two of the strangest settlements in all of Eberron, a mix of shifter and maenad, with pirates, smugglers, and other unsavory elements from Khorvaire added to the mix.

Getting the PCs Involved: Merchants in both Whitetooth and Winterstead are actively recruiting for help in acquiring and transporting Tashanan lichen harvests. Some expeditions are simply looking for protection as they move inland to barter with the shifter tribes. Others might be looking for a small team to make contact with remote tribes and discover new sources and suppliers. High-end art dealers are also operating in both settlements, paying handsomely for any authentic shifter art that can be acquired—no questions asked.

Rogue manifest zones, called aukaraks or reality storms, drift throughout the Tundra. Aukaraks can manifest planar crossover effects from any of Eberron's twelve coterminous planes. Some aukaraks warp the very fabric of time and space, teleporting travelers great distances, or trapping them in temporal loops. 

Ask anyone on Sarlona about the vast open spaces of the Tundra, and you're likely to hear the same refrain—it is a land of strange weathers. The native shifter tribes can tell you more specifically: The Tundra is home to aukaraks or reality storms.

Aukaraks are actually free-floating planar breaches, remnants of a long-ago era in which terrible magics rent the very fabric of the planes. They move about the Tundra, blowing in just as a rainstorm might, and blowing over again just as quickly. In terms of game effects, aukaraks usually function as small, temporary manifest zones to one of the twelve planes that have coterminous phases with Eberron (see ECS 94). Aukuraks tend to be more intense and powerful than typical manifest zones, but they are unpredictable and impermanent. Reality storms also have a chance of "porting in" natives of a particular plane, as if summoned—these creatures are effectively unsummoned at the end of the storm's duration, and return to their native plane. DMs can choose to create an encounter with the suggested creatures listed, or assume a 10 percent chance per hour of a random encounter. Finally, some aukaraks simply produce bizarre, random effects that have an apparent connection to any individual plane. Consult the accompanying table for descriptions and effects. When traveling in the Tundra, PCs have a 5% cumulative chance, per day, of encountering an aukarak (on the second day of travel, the chance is 10%; on the third day, 15%, and so forth). If the roll indicates an aukarak encounter, use the table below to determine when in the course of the day the reality storm descends.

An aukarak takes 1d10 minutes to fully manifest, sometimes simply materializing overhead, sometimes rolling over the horizon and toward the characters at the appropriate speed. The duration of an aukarak is 2d4—1 hours, with exceptions for burst storms. Encountered aukaraks can be chosen from the table or randomly rolled.

Herds of mastodons freely wander the untamed hinterlands of the Tashana Tundra on the continent of Sarlona. Occasionally these enormous animals are captured and brought to Riedra, becoming beasts of burden for the Inspired. Frost giants living in the mountains of southern Xen’drik use Gargantuan mastodons as mounts. Many ivory hunters have been lured to their deaths in Xen’drik by rumors of great mastodon graveyards fi lled with tusks. A tusk from an adult mastodon can be sold for 500 gp or more in Khorvaire.