Seitch Tribes

Appearance
Contrary to popular opinion, the Seitch are human, albeit a very insular and war-like band of humanity. The majority of Seitch are blonde headed and have gray or blue eyes. They are slightly taller than the average human, and have rather pale complexions for desert dwellers. They also speak their own language, and have more respect for the Latrani orcs whom they share the desert waste of Djaraha with than for the opulent and soft civilized nations that surround the desert.

History/Background
The Seitch have been in the Djaraha desert for as long as they can remember. There are folk tales of the first of the Seitch traveling a great distance before finding the sacred places among the blasted rock and sand. They made major settlements, such as Seven Bridges Sept, Bitter Water, and Cold Rocks Sept, each of which is estimated to be three to four thousand years old.

During the first generations, they were largely alone in the wastes, as there was little there besides the wandering tribes of the Latrani orcs, and the rare giants known as Cyclopes. It was not long, perhaps ten to twelve generations later that the first civilized folk appeared. They created the fortress city of Balador, and quickly spread. These civilized folk used organized tactics, steel weapons and armor, and drove the Seitch away from the coast, and into the truely harsh plateau of the interior.

As resources dwindled, the Seitch were forced to begin raiding the soft peoples of Balador, as well as the Latrani, and even other tribes of Seitch. The Seitch entered a period of time they record as the Crucible Years. They learned the arts of metal-forging from the cyclopes who were in steady decline. The inhabitants of Balador had made sure that all of the Cyclopes encountered were either empressed into work gangs to build temples and walls, or were slain in the desert, their bones left for the jackals and the sun.

The Years of Tribute followed as King Setzer, last King of Balador instigated the Tribute. Rather than manning the walled defences of the city, and maintaining the legions of cavalry and spearmen, he offered the Seitch a ransom of fresh water, gold, and slaves to not raid them. This tribute helped swell the strength of the Seitch, and made them stronger than the other tribes. The Seitch organized a great moot, and drew all of the tribes into alliance. They even found willing allies in the now hunted Latrani orcs, who had refused the offer of the Tribute.

Together, this horde moved south, passing unseen under observation towers abandoned. Inside Balador, the court of King Setzer reached its pinacle of decadence and debauchery. Prostitution, gambling, and even the manufacture of recreational potions was common place. The Kingdom was slowly going broke under the lavish banquets, and gifts of gold given to other kingdoms. The Tribute was even being cut short.

The Seitch swarmed over the poorly manned walls of Balador, and King Setzer himself was taken prisoner and the golden hall of Balador was looted down to the sandstone it was made of. Thousands upon thousands perished and the Seitch declared the end of the water loving Baladorians.

It would be over a decade before the Water-lovers were able to regroup, but they did so with a vengeance. A new King was raised, a bitter warrior who had lived among the outriders of the Seitch during the Tribute years. Knowing their ways and tactics, this man Xana D'Mord lead the war. Mounted on desert bred horses, the Xanadi warriors cut a swath through the unprepared Seitch and put several smaller septs to the sword and killing several hundred seitchmen.

D'Mord would oversee the reconstruction of Balador, though it would be later named Xanadu in his honor, post-humously. King D'Mord ordered that the Tribute was over, and that the only gift the Seitch would recieve from the city was the point of the sword, and the kiss of the arrow.

In the modern setting, King D'Mord is several centuries dead, and the Seitch have fallen into decline. Infighting between the tribes, and with the Latrani has decimated their numbers, which were never plentiful to begin with. Modern Seitch refer to the current time as the Shallowing Years and consider them to be their greatest test. Many yonug Seitch have been lost to the desert, and others have gone to the Water-Lovers, taking brides and husbands among them.

Special Equipment
Seitch gear has a unique patina from constant exposure to wind and sand. None of their steel has a shine to it, and their clothing blends easily into the rocky terrain of the desert. They favor leather armors taken from the exotic wildlife exclusive to the depths of the vaste sea of sand, and for weapons spears, throwing knives, and stone carved daggers are common. Swords, axes, bowes and arrows are rare to non-existant. They do excel in the use of javelin-thrown spears, as well as larger bladed war spears. Seitch warcraft is as much an elegant dance of evasion and deflection as it is bloody thrusting and hacking.

Roleplaying Notes
The Seitch are arrogant, made hard by their life in the desert. They view all other forms of humanity as beneath contempt, though will breed with captured women to keep the blood of the isolated septs from becoming polluted by inbreeding. When dealing with non-seitch they remain aloof and silent, distaining the use of what they consider barbarian tongues.