Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

that the Rashemi glorify personal strength and shun people
who are not like them.
Races and Cultures
Given their remote location and the natural barriers that prevent
easy communications with other lands, it is not surprising
the people of Rashemen are almost exclusively human.
Although of the same racial stock as the Rashemi of Thay,
they spit at the suggestion that they are related to weaklings
who allowed themselves to be enslaved. The people of Rashemen
are taller and paler than their Thayan cousins and can
easily recognize someone from the land to the south.
As a warrior culture, the Rashemi see competition as a way
to define status and honor, as well as to release pent-up aggression.
Rashemi compete in nonlethal tests of strength, skill,
and endurance, leaving overt hostility for their enemies.
Rashemen would never host a gladiatorial arena, but many
settlements have regular athletic competitions where contestants
pummel one another into submission in hopes of
achieving higher esteem among their peers.
For a country that always has a male leader and laws enforced
by an exclusive group of female spellcasters, Rashemi
are surprisingly egalitarian. Most warriors and berserkers are
male, as are most craftsfolk in demanding fields such as blacksmithing,
but women with the necessary skill are not
shunned or ridiculed, and the lodges that train Rashemen’s
berserkers welcome anyone with an interest in fighting.
While martial skill is respected among the Rashemi, the
ability to go berserk against one’s enemies is the mark of an
elite combatant. Berserkers have the highest status of any class
or group in Rashemen other than the Witches. Fangs (military
units of ten to fifty berserkers) practice similar fighting
styles. Each village has one or more fangs, each tied to a particular
berserker lodge (see the Berserker Lodges sidebar).
This dark reddish brew is made from certain grapes, fruits,
and herbs grown near the city of Urling. It is a common
drink for wealthier berserkers. Like alcoholic drinks, jhuild is
technically a poison, and a character who drinks it must succeed
on a Fortitude saving throw (DC 12) to avoid its effect;
those who desire it may voluntarily fail this saving throw.
Upon drinking firewine, the character takes 1 point of temporary
Wisdom damage. One minute later, the drinker gains
a +2 bonus to Strength, which lasts for 2 hours.
Once the Strength bonus wears off, the user must make
another Fortitude saving throw (DC 20) or immediately fall
unconscious for 3d4 hours. Whether or not that save succeeds,
the user takes a –2 penalty on attacks, saves, and
checks for the next 12 hours. It is not possible to become
RASHEMEN
137
Life and Society
Jhuild (Rashemi Firewine)
The people of Rashemen prefer to live their own lives without
interference and invasions from hostile neighbors. However,
as long as the Red Wizards control Thay, that is not
likely to happen, so the Rashemi spend their lives in a nearconstant
anticipation of attack. This makes life very tense, so
the people throw themselves into work and recreation to
forget about the constant threat. Rashemi work hard to survive
in their harsh and beautiful home, and they play hard to
lighten their hearts.
Even within their own land, the Rashemi are surrounded
by strange and potentially hostile powers—spirits in the
very rocks, trees, and waters. A Rashemi is trained at a very
young age to avoid certain landmarks, to leave gifts for
helpful spirits, and to ask permission of the telthors before
touching anything in an unfamiliar place. The relationship
with the spirits is a strange one, for while Rashemi fear offending
them, they also love the spirits for their power to
protect the land.
The people have a similar relationship with the Witches.
The hathrans are mysterious, always wearing masks when in
Rashemen, and have the power of life and death. They wield
powerful magic that can burn out a man’s mind or reduce a
woman’s body to dust in an instant, and they are feared for
these things. The hathrans also commune with the spirits and
placate them when they are angry, sparing the common folk
their wrath. They defend against the magic of the Red Wizards
and name the Iron Lord, the face of leadership in
Rashemen. These earn the people’s respect. But most of all, the
Rashemi love the Witches because they come from the ranks
of their own sisters and daughters.
Among the Rashemi, berserkers are universally honored.
In a warrior culture that values strength, endurance, and
skill, the berserkers embody the highest ideal of those things,
primal and powerful. They lead the fight against enemies
addicted to jhuild or overdose on it (although a person might
incapacitate himself by drinking enough to reduce his
Wisdom score to 0).
A bottle of jhuild costs 70 gp in Rashemen, but in other
countries, it can cost 100 gp or more because of its scarcity.
Nonberserkers are usually content to drink a weakened form
of firewine diluted with ale, which sells for 2 sp a tankard in
Rashemen, 7 to 15 gp elsewhere. This weak brew has almost
the same flavor as the true drink but does not grant a Strength
bonus or cause unconsciousness. Visitors to Rashemen who
believe themselves accustomed to jhuild are surprised to find
they have been drinking the diluted version. This causes no end
of amusement to the Rashemi, especially in a drinking contest
with a berserker.