Erg Tribal Confederation
A loose alliance of seven major Erg tribes inhabiting the southern reaches of Eldaara Place Eldaara The equatorial middle continent of Elshore, between Tarkdaara to the north and Khaldaara to the south., the Confederation is not a state in any formal sense but a body that endures in memory rather than on maps. It emerged from those Ergs who refused or escaped the AC 1 resettlement decrees and have maintained self-determination ever since through oral law, ancestral remembrance, and a stubborn refusal to kneel to any empire. The Confederation stands between the encroaching Sovereign Maan Republic Faction Sovereign Maan Republic Born of exile and imperial fracture during the 250-year Throne War, the Sovereign Maan Republic, also known as Khaldaara, occupies the frozen south and governs as a stratified e... and the cultural erosion carried by Maan People Maan The most numerous people of Elshore and the baseline cultural reference of the age. missionaries.
Key traits
- Seven tribes, including Ochu, Batwa, Ametola, Datsadi, Etcheno, Quwetakwa, and the tenuous Malvauk, send elders to the meeting place of Aka'Ho-Ti for seasonal consensus.
- No crown Place The Crown A newer foundry like a wide crown, a ring of tall pale spires flaring around a central stepped tower of lit decks, the broadest of the network., no written law, no standing army; conflicts are settled through breath-duels, endurance contests, or deathless combat judged by firewatchers.
- The spiritual practice of Tir-Kul'ei Faith Tir-Kul'ei The Deep Remembering, the shamanic practice of the free Highland Ergs of the Frozen Highlands., the Deep Remembering, guides religious life; Randenism Faith Randenism The Flame Doctrine, dominant faith of the Maan and state religion of the Maan Empire. has never taken hold among the free southern Ergs.
- Distinct from the northern Ergs of Rafadin, who live under Iru People Iru The progenitors, and the only naturally evolved people of Elshore. administration and are dispossessed, assimilated, and bitter.
- The Sovereign Maan Republic encroaches from the south; some tribes accept Maan gifts not from belief but because their children die from cold and famine.
- A lone Meir People Meir The only people of Elshore not born of it. elder walks the southern trails warning against the Republic's reach, regarded by the tribes with suspicion: even quiet hands eventually open to ask or to take.