Steppes, savannahs, and deserts punctuated by hills, mountains, and a few rivers and lakes make up the harsh terrain of Syrkarn. Unnatural weather and roving planar disturbances reinforce the inhospitable nature of the place. But life survives there nonetheless, in small villages and nomadic tribes. Most of the residents are ogres, goliaths, or humans descended from Riedran refugees. These races live and trade on the plains, in the mountains, and in permanent settlements, interrupted by intermittent intertribal wars usually fomented by the Inspired.

Four kingdoms of old Sarlona once claimed portions of Syrkarn, and Unknown ruled there before humans ever did. They named the land Syrkarn, and the remnants of their civilization linger among the ruins of the four kingdoms and those from the Age of Demons. Ancient lore suggests that a rakshasa rajah once escaped a prison in Syrkarn, only to be bound again. This legend, combined with the ruggedness of the land, explains why the Inspired never conquered Syrkarn.


Five thousand years before the arrival of the Inspired and the present age, the nations now known collectively as Syrkarn were the jewels in the imperial crown of old Sarlona. Today, only ancient stonework and half-forgotten legends mark the fall, passing, and rebirth of this land. Still, to those who have inherited this seemingly inhospitable kingdom, Syrkarn offers a gift denied to both the warring nations of the past and the Inspired-dominated lands of the present. To its people, Syrkarn is the promise of freedom.

Five Common Syrkarn Legends

  1. Syrkarn is free. Though nominally a protectorate of Riedra, Syrkarn and its people owe no fealty to that land or its Inspired overlords. When occasional muttering chalks this fact up only to Riedra's apparent lack of interest in Syrkarn. a pint or two of ustah and a toast to the past will drown it out.
  2. In the past, greatness lingers. The eneko are descendants of ogres and half-giants, the latter thought to be the progeny of Sarlonan humans and giant explorers from ancient Xen'drik. From this lineage, the mongrel tribes believe that the blood of both the mighty titans of Xen'drik and the former sorcerer-kings of Sarlona flows in their veins.
  3. The yuan-ti once held this land in the iron grip of dark magic—and seek to do so again. The yuan-ti empire that rose in the ruins of Khunan is one of the few pieces of old Sarlonan history still predominant in the age of Riedra. Some speculate that this is so because Riedra wants it that way, and many Syrks question whether the yuan-ti are a force to be fought along with the Inspired, or a potential ally in the fight against Sarlona's masters.
  4. The giant-based faiths of the mongrel ogres hide dark secrets. The eneko tribes follow religious traditions drawn from the faith of ancient Xen'drik. However, it is said that dark cults among the mongrel ogres use the veneration of Karrak (thought to be an aspect of the Keeper) to conceal the practice of dark magic.
  5. Beneath the beauty of Syrkarn, dark things abide. No one who has ridden the Itzaina range or spent a night within sight of the Whitewater can deny the natural splendor that is Syrkarn. At the same time, whispered rumors speak of a nameless darkness in the desert, and of voices that call to those who walk the plains alone. Some who seek to define this darkness speak of connections between the fragmentary legends of the yuan-ti and the lore of the Age of Fiends. What the truth is, none can say.

The Syrks

The population of Syrkarn is largely a mix of eneko and human clans descended from Riedran refugees. Half-giants are common in Syrkarn, but the nomadic lifestyle of the Sandstrider family in the Andnemun Desert keeps them removed from the affairs of the tribes and clans. Human and eneko settlements dot the plains, and seminomadic clans wander regular hunting grounds in the forests and river valleys with the changing of the seasons. The clans and tribes both see themselves as the only truly Sarlonan culture left on the continent—avoiding the stagnation of Riedra and the rigid culture of Adar as they build their lives in the shadows of the past.

Whatever their race, Syrks are thoughtful and hardworking folk who believe that celebration should be the end result of all honest labor. Their love of freedom leads Syrks to respect privacy and the individual, but they balance this with a sense of community that allows them to thrive in the sometimes hostile plains. A Syrk neither seeks to lead nor to follow. He does the job to the best of his ability, and expects the same in return from those he trusts and depends on.

The love and celebration of freedom is central to the Syrk spirit, and nearly all disputes between Syrks concern obligation, restitution, or a sense that someone desires power not rightly his. Such disputes are not infrequent, but rarely lead to more than threatening standoffs. Those unfamiliar with Syrk customs can sometimes find themselves caught off guard when angrily accused of some affront by a Syrk native. Those who don't know the appropriate Syrk response (be fierce, be truthful, and apologize when truth turns against you) sometimes needlessly respond with violence that the other party never anticipated.

Syrkarn is a rural and agrarian nation, but that nation is built on the bones of old Sarlona. As a result, Syrks appreciate art, architecture, and formal music that contrasts with their humble lives. From field laborers to nomadic hunters, Syrks take as much pride in their appearance as they do their work and skill. Textiles are one of the primary trades of Syrkarn, and those too young or too old for harder labor spend their days at the loom or with needle and thread.

Nearly a third of Syrk society leads some form of nomadic life, but no great differences can be seen between the Syrk nomads and their brethren who settle in villages and towns. In fact, many Syrks live a cyclical life—wandering the steppes in their youth, later settling in a community to raise children or pursue a formal vocation, then breaking away to take up the life of a nomad or trader in their twilight years.

Likewise , the harmony between Syrkarn's two main races is remarkable, given Sarlona's long history of conflict. Though the human clans and eneko tribes maintain their own separate ways and traditions, little sense of division exists between the races, and virtually all settlements and nomadic groups feature members of both races living alongside each other. Humans and eneko often form lifelong romantic bonds, but they cannot interbreed. Mixed couples do adopt orphaned kin of either race.

Syrks typically define themselves by vocation and deed. A majority of traders and herders happen to be eneko; most farmers and artisans happen to be human. Still, these happenstances are unimportant next to the quality of the artisan's goods, the shot that brings a bison down, or the strength that drives a plow. Syrks take great pride in their work, and they spend as much time as that work allows celebrating the wealth and heritage their land has bequeathed them.

Syrk Religion

Derived as it is from Riedran refugees and their descendants, Syrkarn's human population is uniformly contemptuous of the Path of Inspiration. Nearly half of all human Syrks follow no gods at all, instead placing their faith and devotion in the land itself. For Syrk clerics, the spirit of Syrkarn is treated as a neutral force that provides access to the Animal, Healing, Plant, Sun, and Travel domains. Its favored weapon is the sickle.

In much of Syrkarn, humans have reclaimed the worship of the Sovereign Host from contact with Lhaazarites. At the same time, the eneko have always invoked aspects of Arawai and Balinor, naming these Rowa of the EnduringTrees and Banor the Bowhunter. Human Syrks thus focus their own worship on Arawai and Balinor, with this accidental meeting of traditions underpinning the long-term social stability in the region.

Among the eneko, some worship Karrak the Final Guardian. No analogous faith exists among the humans, and Karrak's sects are among the few eneko-only enclaves in Syrkarn.

Syrk Names and Speech

The mongrel ogre tribes typically use a first name and a clan name. Because clan names are fixed in number, eneko traveling outside their homeland often add their place of birth or vocation as a de facto third name.

Male Eneko: Alimbida, Ametzama, Baraxil, Eusko, Iker, Kaxen, Kusko, Perutxo, Txartiko, Urtungo. Female Eneko: Agosti, Denlilla, Eninnuta, Immasa, Iziaka, Jhaszuurra, Nahia, Ospinu, Szagani, Urumea.

Eneko Clan: Dgatumdut, Galgalmemean, Garranan, Hrursaggat, Ididignaam, Lagaskiaker, Maraandun, Numanigar, Tartarredar, Tumagin.

Humans: Humans newly fled to Syrkarn bring their names with them from Riedra. The long-established human clans maintain Riedran surnames, though human given names have evolved a Giantinflected flavor over time.

Half-giants: The half-giants of Syrkarn originated in the deserts of Andnemun, and they use the standard names for their race (EPH 12).

Phrases: The following turns of phrase are unique to Syrkarn, and are expressed in both Giant and Riedran.

"Serpent's eye." A catch-all expletive or curse, as in "The serpent's eye take you!"

"Arch-strong." "Long as a column stands." General expressions of praise or commitment are often drawn from the long-lasting architecture of old Sarlona.

"Shackled." Cowardly, vacillating, a general term of contempt. All Syrks value freedom, and while the realm is far from lawless, being beholden to the will of others is seen as a sign of weakness.

Syrk Style

A nation of farmers and hunters would seem an unlikely place to seek the highest artistic traditions of an empire. Syrkarn is the only place where the legacy of old Sarlona still lives—a legacy that spreads through Syrk culture on every level.

Art

The cloaks and clothing of the Syrks are decorated with intricate line-art patterns in a style reminiscent of the architecture of old Sarlona. The images are created using long-lasting red and black inks created from the berries and leaves of the hardy hilp bush. Given most Syrks' dismissal (or outright distrust) of Riedra, the modern artistic style of that land, with its flowing lines and curves, is all but unknown here.

Architecture

Because Syrkarn has never been subject to Inspired rule, it has been spared the cultural purges the Inspired used to build monolithic Riedra over the nations of old. Syrkarn is thus one of the few places in Sarlona where a significant portion of the architecture of the past survives. Across this land, derelict castles stand atop windswept tors, their stark lines seemingly thrust up from the living rock. Where the villages of the mongrel ogres have been built on the central plazas of the ruined cities that came before them, ancient avenues and neighborhoods (called "corners") still radiate out through the surrounding grasslands like ghostly spokes. Along isolated mountain passes and long-lost wayroads, fortresses stand whose foundations are as solid as when they were laid two thousand years before.

Dominated by columns, straight lines, and square arches, the architectural style of old Sarlona still affects this land and its people. Even the most utilitarian structures are built to a standard of stark beauty, and whether of wood or stone, are typically buttressed, arched, and reinforced to last a lifetime. The nomadic tribes are no less inventive than their brethren in Syrkarn's fixed settlements, building their mobile homes from elaborate frameworks of interlocking poles and light beams over which decorated hides are stretched and sealed.

Cuisine

Food in Syrkarn is plentiful, well spiced, and served with copious amounts of ustah—a potent liquor brewed from honey and wild berries, reportedly from an ancient ogre recipe. The demands of rural life limit the choices available to the Syrk palate, with meat, fruits, and vegetables all typically dried for storage and transport. However, Syrks treat cookingwith the same reverence as their other arts, and need no excuse for a feast.

Fashion

True to Syrkarn's reputation as a land of freedom, the fashions of its people encompass an eclectic range of styles, and a remarkable artisanship can be seen in the textiles, cloth, and weaving of Syrkarn. Among both the mongrel ogres and the humans, a wild aesthetic predominates, combining utilitarian function and the simple beauty of old Sarlonan design.

Despite their nomadic lifestyle, the half-giants of Syrkarn hold an edge over both the human clans and ogre tribes in armorsmithing and weaponry.

State of the Nation

Syrkarn is a vast expanse of arid plains where four nations of old once stood. Its history is rich with conflict and conquest, and it is one of the few places in Sarlona where the devastating effects of the ancient magewars can still be seen, untouched by Inspired reconstruction. A land surrounded by Riedra yet distinct from it, Syrkarn has long been left to its own devices for reasons that none but the Inspired understand.

Nearly all settlements in Syrkarn are agricultural centers—communa l farmsteads (daabi in the Giant tongue) that trap the windblown soil of the steppes behind vast networks of berms and stone walls. However, nearly a third of Syrkarn's population lives on the open steppes. Though most are nomadic herders or hunters, a distinct class of traders (mostly eneko) are the lifeblood of commerce across the nation. Regular trade roads carry goods, laborers, and knowledge between the larger settlements, allowing the Syrks to maintain a social infrastructure that belies the land's isolation.

Who Rules Syrkarn

According to the Unity of Riedra, Syrkarn is a protectorate of that nation, and ostensibly owes fealty to Riedra and the Inspired. In truth, however, the Inspired's last act of governance in Syrkarn was to order the land emptied of its human population in the aftermath of a victorious purge of the yuan-ti more than twelve centuries ago.

"Sahar" is a general term of leadership common among both humans and eneko, but it can cover a wide range of power. The sahar of a nomadic tribe might rule only two dozen people, half of them her immediate family. The sahar of a large settlement might rule a mixed population of a thousand humans and eneko, and have ultimate authority over security, trade, and commerce in a wide region.

In larger settlements, sahar are usually elected to fixed-year terms, the exact length of which is set by tradition. Among the tribes and clanholds, leadership is a matter of strength or will, with warriors, spellcasters, or manifesters often taking up the mantle of power. Whether by social accident or design, no central leadership exists in Syrkarn, though the sahar of Nderitese—at 5,000 inhabitants, the territory's largest settlement—is sometimes asked to broker disputes between other settlements and larger clans.

Smaller disagreements on trade, tariffs, and power sharing are typically handled by the time-honored tradition of threats and force, but the reality of Syrkarn means that its people typically have little reason to fight. Resources and land are plentiful, and the common culture forged by eneko and human has created social customs and a rule of law unheard of in agrarian tribal societies.

However, those Riedran exiles who monitor the activities of the Inspired in Syrkarn often claim to see signs of subtle manipulation of the clans and tribes that hint of psionics. Rival chieftains who have long histories of being at each other's throats will suddenly declare a mutual commitment to peace and allegiance. Smaller factions will suddenly gain tactical sophistication that allows them to thwart the expansionist plans of more powerful nomadic tribes, or force the larger settlements into a defensive stance.

The least populous (and most mysterious) residents of Syrkarn are the yuan-ti. Descended from the few of their kind who did not flee to Argonnessen when their nation was overthrown, these serpentfolk keep themselves well hidden. Even after twelve hundred years, the utter destruction of the yuan-ti at the command of the Inspired remains a potent reminder of the power the lords of Riedra can bring to bear.

Foreign Relations

Syrks are content to leave others alone and hope for the same in return. For all intents and purposes, Riedra is the nation's only neighbor, and the monolithic and isolationist bent of that land means that Syrks frequently define themselves as its antithesis.

Riedra

The Inspired in Riedra clearly have the resources and the military might to take Syrkarn in a heartbeat, driving its people into the sea if they so chose. Although desert and mountain marks much of Syrkarn's inland frontier, unlike Adar, no natural or mystical defenses protect this land from invasion.

The fact that the Inspired have chosen not to invade suggests that they have strong reasons to leave Syrkarn as it is. The Thousand Eyes has agents throughout the land, but these seem primarily focused on maintaining the status quo among the tribes and clans. Isolated skirmishes are sometimes made against the human exiles, but clear benefits can be seen in Riedra's allowing the exile clans to survive as a beacon to the like-minded. No matter how many exiles swell its population, vast Syrkarn will never have the resources or the population to challenge the Inspired. Better to have those who oppose Inspired rule flee for the "freedom" of the barbarian frontier than to disturb the Riedran peace.

Riedran agents harass the mongrel ogre tribes with greater frequency than they do the human clans. Some speculate that this behavior marks a fear that the ogres are more apt to pursue dark magic, as has been seen in the recent rise of the Karrak cults. It is known that the Horned Shadow has sought to recruit both half-giants and eneko from Syrkarn in recent years, but whether any connection exists between the rebellious ogre mages and the cults remains to be seen.

More than anything else, Inspired agents seek signs of magic use in Syrkarn. They are especially watchful for any sign of the Heirs of Ohr Kaluun in the steppes and the yuan-ti ruins. When it is found, the arcane is exterminated. Riedra is intent on seeing that Syrkarn's lost lore stays that way.

Sharing a desert border as it does with Borunan, Syrkarn has a more open relationship with the former ogre kingdom than with the other Riedran provinces. Just as the ogres made their way south centuries ago, more than a few eneko make the trek north today. The eneko in the Savage Legion are drawn from the ranks of such Syrk exiles.

Adar

The lands of the mountain refuge border Syrkarn to the southeast, and the outposts of that frontier are firmly in Inspired hands. For the Syrks of the border territories, the land along Jathara Sound, guarded by a series of coastal forts, is merely another part of Riedra, and that nation's business with the folk of the distant mountains is none of their concern.

However, for those Syrks who actively oppose the rule of the Inspired, the Adarans are brothers in arms. The treacherous seas and inhospitable cliffs of Adar channel those seeking to enter the mountain refuge to Syrkarn, where they land at Ardhmen or the smaller fishing villages of the western coast. They then make their way inland, crossing into Ada r between Riedran outposts and patrols.

Syrkarn is also the departure point for the goods that Adarans trade to Khorvaire, and a steady flow of couriers passes along the Summit Road throughout the year.

Other Nations

Outside of academic circles, few non-Sarlonans even know of the existence of Syrkarn. Unlike the Adaran monks and the kalashtar who have established enclaves on Khorvaire, Syrks have little reason to leave their land.

Since the end of the Last War, Lhazaar traders have made their way to Ardhmen in order to barter for spices and dreamlily. However, with the Inspired now actively directing trade between Riedra and Khorvaire, Syrk merchants are seeking contacts among the Riedrans, hoping to broker more profitable trade in mainstream Khorvaire. The merchants of the Lhazaar Principalities have largely turned their own trade to Syrk art, antiquities, and textiles—their quality as high as Riedran goods, but their design incorporating an old-Sarlonan aesthetic lost to Riedra.

The Eyes of Riedra

The great nation of Riedra spreads around Syrkarn like a dark shroud—or at least this is the belief of the exiles who have fled that land. The more cautious refugees are ever watchful for signs of Riedran influence in Syrkarn, and what they see is cause for fear.

Far from Riedra maintaining only a token watch along the borders, more than one exile claims that agents of the Inspired move freely within Syrkarn in significant numbers, and with dark purpose. They believe that the Inspired have reasons to keep Syrkarn as it is—isolated, fractious, and never rising to a higher level of political union than the thousand-year tradition of tribes and clans. Rebel agents point to the deaths of a number of promising eneko and human leaders, and of the strategic precision with which land squabbles and intertribal raids undercut any movement toward central authority in Syrkarn.

Still, even those who believe these claims are forced to wonder why. Since the Riedrans clearly have forces and numbers that would allow them to easily claim Syrkarn as their own, what purpose can this subtle manipulation serve?

Getting the PCs Involved: Characters might find themselves working with a popular local sahar who is attacked by a rival tribal leader. Signs of psionic control in the rival seem to support the idea of a greater power behind the clandestine assassination attempt. The Inspired are not the only ones in Syrkarn capable of such control, and rogue half-giants or yuan-ti might become suspects—or diversions leading the PCs away from the truth.

If the PCs investigate, an intricate web of Inspired espionage might lead to their uncovering tantalizing clues to Syrkarn's darkest secret. Are the Inspired's actions in this land driven by the knowledge that a rakshasa rajah is bound beneath the yuan-ti ruins of Sustrai Mor? And if fear of this fiend has seen Syrkarn stand all but empty for a thousand years, what will happen to PCs who interfere with the Inspired's plans?

The Yuan-Ti

An almost pathological fear of the yuan-ti still runs rampant across the territory that bears the name of the serpent kingdom that preceded it. Today, purebloods are virtually the only yuan-ti that a Syrk ever encounters, but such meetings are almost never recognized as such. Purebloods in human form act as emissaries for secret enclaves in the Kushtuar Hills, and some have even been known to live full-time among the human clans. Some such yuan-ti act as spies for their brethren; others simply seek a life in the wider world denied them by the fear and contempt that dogs their kind.

Tales abound of enclaves of halfbloods and abominations a round the Whitewater and in the Itzaina Plains. Whether these are simply the fears of the past given voice, or new rumors started by the Inspired to keep that fear alive, remains to be seen.

In contrast to the legends, what little contact has been made with the yuan-ti (mostly by half-giants seeking psionic training) suggests that they tend toward neutrality, in stark contrast to the evil race of legend. This observation is consistent with scholarly speculation that the yuan-ti of Xen'drik turned to their rapacious ways only after migrating to that continent by way of Argonnessen. According to legend, the shulassakar believe that all yuan-ti were originally descended from the couatls. This might suggest that the yuan-ti of Sarlona were created not by fiendish corruption, but by the as yet unknown benevolent magic that helped put the Syrkarn rajah down—or even from some unique combination of the two forces.

Many Syrks believe that the Sarlonan yuan-ti want nothing more than to be left alone. Others, however, suspect that the isolation of the yuan-ti has a very specific purpose—giving the Inspired no reason to take notice of them while they rebuild the numbers and power necessary to one day reclaim their nation.

Getting the PCs Involved: Finding actual yuan-ti in Syrkarn is rare, and those encountered are typically purebloods passing as human. PCs might ally with a faction of Syrks opposing Inspired rule, only to find themselves dupes of the yuan-ti. Before the motivations of these yuanti can be assessed, PCs who are familiar with the evil yuan-ti of Xen'drik might jump to their own conclusions.

PCs who come to understand the nature of the neutral yuan-ti of Syrkarn might discover evil yuan-ti enclaves tired of hiding in the shadows. These yuan-ti seek to make the Inspired pay for past slaughter. They could be uncomfortable allies for PCs seeking to do likewise.

Alternatively, the number of yuan-ti hidden in Syrkarn might vastly exceed even the Inspired's most paranoid guesses. Breeding undetected for twelve centuries, these yuan-ti are a force capable of tipping Sarlona's balance of power if they ever emerge from hiding.

The Syrkarn Rajah

From fragments of yuan-ti lore and contemporary human records, some scholars assert that a rakshasa rajah exists in Syrkarn, possibly beneath the ruined yuan-ti city of Sustrai Mor. The eneko Karrak cults are said to be numerous within the wasted plain that surrounds the ruins. Among the Syrk nomads, the city has a reputation for being haunted or overrun with secret sects of yuan-ti. Whatever the truth, the Syrks avoid the place.

Whether the Inspired or the Dreaming Dark have reason to fear the might of a bound rajah is an open question. It seems likely, though, that the Inspired's unwillingness to risk the resources necessary to destroy the Syrkarn fiend drove the decision to simply empty that land—denying the fiend (and its inevitable Lords of Dust allies) the followers it would inevitably seek.

At the same time, the Inspired show little of the same concern for the rajahs thought to be trapped in the Tundra and Adar. Perhaps the lords of Riedra have some plan for keeping these other fiends in check, either before, or preferably after, they run rampant in those lands. At the same time, the fall of Khunan and the subsequent rise of the yuan-ti suggests to some that the Syrk rajah was once unbound—and that whatever act saw it put down might not have bound it as strongly as the Inspired would like.

Land of the Far Horizon

Syrkarn is an arid landscape of harsh deserts, lush grasslands, and endless steppes sloping up from the southern extent of the Sea of Rage. Its population consists of an almost equal mix of Sarlonan human clans and tribes of eneko—the mongrel ogres who trace their lineage back to the nation of Borunan.

Though the climate and the isolated life of this land are never easy, the coastal steppes and inland savannah of Syrkarn offer limitless range for animals and agriculture. Herds of wild bison and domesticated goats, deer, and horses roam the grasslands, while cultivated fields of oat grass and flax spread across the Itzaina plains and the steppes of the Lamecha lowlands. The natives grow a range of vegetable crops, including the gnarled root known as sepse, native to Sarlona and prized for its high nutritional value. Exotic spices found nowhere outside Sarlona thrive in the heat of the savannah, as does dreamlily. Use of the drug is rare among the Syrk humans, but the eneko (who are immune to dreamlily's narcotic effects) grow it for its medicinal value. Harvests are hard in some years, but the clans and tribes of Syrkarn know bounty more often than not.

Though the ruins of great cities dot the landscape, modern-day Syrkarn is predominantly a land of hamlets, villages, and nomadic town sites. The remnants of human cities are common in the former lands of Mae Khree, Sunyagir, and Lamecha, but the plains and savannah that were once Khunan are marked exclusively by the ruins of the yuan-ti. Shulassakar and yuanti ruins are especially common on the Hailana Islands, said to be the site from which the yuan-ti launched their desperate voyage to Argonnessen and left their homeland behind.

Planar Elements: Wild zones linked to Fernia, Risia, and especially Lamanni a are found throughout this land. Like all of Sarlona, Syrkarn is beset by storms whose force borders on the unnatural, and planar disturbances flare and flood across the steppes like unnatural wellsprings. Still, these rifts are seldom as haunting or destructive as the reality storms of the Tundra. The prominent planar connection in Syrkarn is the Whitewater, the crystal-clear lake believed to mark a manifest zone linked to Lamannia. The rocky land surrounding the area remains wet and cool yearround, even as the sands that give the lake its name burn white beneath the equatorial sun.

Getting There

As with any other destination in Sarlona, travel to Syrkarn is never undertaken lightly. The direct sea route from eastern Khorvaire covers the entire length of the Sea of Rage. Ships embarking from Khorvaire's western shores must ply the Barren Sea and the Sea of Lost Souls. In either case, the journey is long, and ships must pass through the waters of unwelcoming Riedra. Most ships traveling to Syrkarn are privateers from the Lhazaar isles making trade runs, and the majority of adventurers arriving in Sarlona take passage on a Lhazaar ship.

The privateers' destination is almost always the southern port of Ardhmen, but explorers expecting to find themselves landing in the Stormreach of Sarlona are in for a somewhat muddy letdown. Even after decades of Lhazaar trade, Ardhmen remains little more than clusters of fishing huts, transitory nomadic trader enclaves, and the ancient stone dock remnants of the port city that was leveled in the ancient magewars.

Khorvairians attempting to travel to Adar make landfall at Ardhmen, for the coastline of that besieged mountain land is all but impassable. Attempting to land an unauthorized ship in Riedran-controlled territory is almost as dangerous. As a result, travelers who have secret dealings often enter Riedra across the Syrkarn frontier. Likewise, kalashtar pilgrims and refugee Riedrans seeking to escape the gaze of the Thousand Eyes usually make their way to Khorvaire by way of Syrkarn.

Khorvairian ships traveling east often stop at Stormreach before returning to Sharn, seeking to maximize their profits on the long voyage with a quick pickup of Xen'drik goods. Those half-giants who leave Syrkarn typically book passage on that route, seeking to experience the lands of their forgotten giant explorers.

A Day in the Life

Batukuam sits alone beneath the endless darkening sky, the bonfires of the night-revels just visible in distant Maszani. The village is a sprawling mass of farmsteads and stone buildings flanked by raised berms of rock and earth. There have been settlers here since before memory, building alongside the low hills that catch the spring rains and slow the ever-present wind.

This night, the wind blows warm. Batukuam can smell the sweet tang of the dry grasslands, already dark to the east. He feels a thousand memories wrapped in that scent, of boyhood on the steppes and years traveling the trade roads. At the end of this harvest, his two-year term as sahar of Maszani is up, and Batukuam will be glad to get back to those roads. He takes pride in what the settlement has accomplished under his leadership, but he knows that both pride and accomplishment are fleeting in the end. The beauty of the steppes and the sensation of weightlessness as the ground falls away beneath the winged steed you ride—these things are eternal.

As in any Syrk settlement, life in Maszani is equal parts toil and reward. The crop of sepse and flax has been good this year, but bounty does not pick and dry itself. The overflowing sun racks spread behind the windwalls. The woodcutters and carpenters of Huaja Corner work day and night to build the crates that will seal and pack the harvest once dried. It is a good harvest, more than enough for the winter and the spring beyond. The weavers' output will be sent to the trade roads, bartered for salt bison and cheese. This season, they have enough of the finer cloth to send to Ardhmen, where the pale sailors come to trade from across the Raging Sea.

As he has done every day since midsummer, Batukuam arrived in the fields before dawn and worked alongside his people to the sound of laughter and song. Today is done, tomorrow would come, tonight is here now. The bonfires are burning. Still, he is troubled. Laurendi had come to his thoughts that morning, her voice arriving unexpectedly as it always did. Where she was, he didn't know. She had been bound for the clans of the hill folk close by the seaway and the Riedran forts when he'd heard from her last, but that had been months ago. The message had been brief as always, but even now, Batukuam felt the darkness in his friend's voice.

Thoughtstealers have crossed the sound. Word of the alliances and the Concord of Maszani has reached them. They will kill you if they can. Batukuam is proud of what he has done.

He loves this land and its people, but even after the bounty of the last two years and the grasslands turning gold now under the late summer sun, he sees the better future that he has seen since he was a child. For him, the infighting and bickering of the Marrah Plains tribes has always carried a greater cost. A drain on precious resources, a drain on lives thrown away to bravado and petty raiding. Along the trade road, he has heard dark rumors that place the cults of Karrak behind the recent rise in aggression that has seen Maszani post sentries for the first time in memory.

Posting the sentries was Batukuam's decision in the end, just as it was his decision to call the Maszani Concord—a meeting of tribes and clanholds from across the steppes. It was his passion, his dream, his vision of the future that he set out over that winter-long month of feasting and negotiation. A better future.

Before him, old Abdiri had spoken of the future. She had spoken of Syrkarn growing strong as the nations of old once had. Abdiri had urged that Ardhmen be rebuilt as the great port it had once been.

Then Abdiri had been killed by an upstart thug. Laurendi had told Batukuam the Riedrans were behind Abdiri's death. Their thoughtstealers used mind power to corrupt a boy into committing murder, because Abdiri's dream of Syrkarn growing strong was something the Riedrans could not abide.

As he stares at the fading sun, Batukuam feels a restlessness that he cannot name.

As a rule, he puts little faith in conspiracy and rumor.

As a rule, he neither hates nor fears the Riedrans. Syrkarn is free and has always been. Syrkarn will endure.

The sun is red-gold, slipping down across the endless line that marks the sharp edge of the sky.

No matter what might happen to him, Syrkarn will endure.