Overview

Baswa is an old culture and an old people. It is known that they have existed in their homeland since prior to the Turning, however not many Baswa people remain. The dry and rocky landscape makes permanency a difficult reality to attain, and the Baswa move themselves in their never ending quest for grass and water to sustain their herds. Life in the desert has always been tough. The Baswa maintain large herds of horses, camels, and goats. The nomads depend on their animals for their food, their clothing and their wealth. These animals provide their owners with milk, meat, furs and hides.

Located in the southwest of Ashriya, the Baswa are a nomadic people found throughout the desert that stretches along the coast of southwestern Ashriya. They traverse the deserts and sand dunes that are wedged between the wood and water, making stops at the farthest reaches of their territory to trade and graze their herds. They once roamed the vast desert that covered much of the land running alongside the Dragon’s Maw Mountains, traveling between the fire-blackened stones that have been used to mark camp sites throughout the desert for generations, but the arrival of forests manifesting in this land once unable to support much life at all, has pushed the Baswa people to stay closer to the coast. They shun the woods that sprouted amidst the desert they once called home, in fear of the Glibben court that lives there. “The Hidden Court,” is unknown to most of the tribe, but leaders of the past have warned that interacting with them brings no good. Without fresh water neither they nor their animals can live so they travel along the beds of Sanctuary River, and to the water holes that seep up from the desert sands that are still accessible, and have begun to use methods of desalination to make the abundant seawater potable. They harvest the salt once removed from the water and use it to preserve their meats as well as to trade with Myra. It is near Sanctuary River’s delta that the Baswa built their ancestral home of Kulrai.

Commonly referred to as “the Eye of the Desert,” Kulrai has only one permanent structure known as the Citadel. The Citadel is a two tiered building, constructed with plain sandstone and dried mud brick, and is home to several notable figures. Here the Chief of all Baswa, referred to with the honorific “Foremost,” lives, as well as both the oldest and the youngest of all the Baswa. Within the walls of the Citadel, children are taught basic skills, the customs of the Baswa, and listen to the stories and teachings of the Elders.

Culture

The Baswa are less a country than they are a culture and community. The barren landscape produced a people that placed the Tribe above all else. While there are individual communities that break apart for their own needs, there is no fracturing between this smaller unit and the Baswa as a whole. No matter how far from the tribe you are, you are still a part of the tribe, according to the Baswa. Ownership is not a concept that factors into the Baswa’s interaction with the natural world; everything from food to animals and temporary lodgings are used and cared for collectively by the tribe. This is part of the reason loyalty is so revered; the tribe exists above family, gods, or even self to the average Baswa. Coupled with this group identity is the reverence for nature and the world around them, and a recognition of a force that guides all life on Ashriya in a cyclic fashion.

Directly blood related or not, the Baswa refer to one another with familial titles. Children and adults will refer to one another as “Sibling,” “Brother,” or “Sister.” When referring to a non-related older individual, people might say “Elder,” “Grandfather,” or “Grandmother.” All children, or younger members of the tribe are spoken of as “My Child.” In this way they recognize their common origins being taught in the Citadel, and acknowledge themselves as one people, or one family. Some Baswa elect to undergo a process called “Dal’bacha” in which the person willingly leaves the homeland for an extended period of time, either alone or with family. These people are not looked upon harshly by the Tribe and are considered still Baswa, no matter where they go, forever a Sibling regardless of distance or time.

When a new member of the tribe is born, diviners will chart the night skies with the intent to glean your purpose in the great cycle. Generally your name is based on the results of this reading, and the original star chart is made into an ornate gift for the child. The family with the child will then stop the next time their group reaches Kulrai, where the child will join the Citadel, and their elders will educate them in history and customs as a community until they reach 10 years old. Once they leave the Citadel with their parents, they are granted a keffiyeh, and their birth star chart. The star chart signifies them as a full member of the community, and the keffiyeh marks them as having graduated the Citadel’s education. The keffiyeh represents the Elder’s knowledge and wisdom protecting the child in life, physically protecting them from the sun and elements in different configurations around the head. Once the family leaves Kulrai, the child learns to ride and herd various animals such as horse, camel, and goat. They may learn some other craft from their parents or others, such as leather tanning or salt production.

When a Baswa gets to be of a certain age, or have died and resurrected multiple times, they make a pilgrimage to the Citadel to live out their days as teachers to the youth that reside there. They add their star chart to the storeroom of the Citadel, as a signifier of their readiness to teach. Elders live out their days passing lessons of those before them onto the next, completing their responsibility in the cycle of Ashriya that they believe in.

Their government is a loose organization of Elders and one Foremost of the Baswa. Elders can range from the eldest of a particular group of Baswa who then travel to the Citadel, to younger individuals of renown and great respect among the Tribe. Elders are marked by having two armbands on their left arm, compared to the one brandished by most Baswa. All Elders participate in an election of the Foremost every five years in between the Second Rise of the Star Terres and the Third, though there are no limits to how many times a person can be elected Foremost. The Foremost is the highest ranking leader, though there may be leaders of smaller groups, depending upon size. Leaders generally have three armbands on their left arm, but the Foremost is the only Baswa with four armbands. The current leader of the Baswa is Foremost Corvus Argadall. This Dagon male has been serving as Foremost for the last 8 years, uncontested after the first election. While he appears to be aging, into his late 60’s, he is a proficient swordfighter and psionicist, as well as an accomplished Astrologer, who has a tremendous amount of respect given to him by the Tribe.

Disputes are settled by the closest Elders present at the time of offense, and the highest form of punishment is exile. When exiled, one is stripped of their keffiyeh, their armband, and their star chart. To be a known exile still brandishing these marks of the Baswa is taboo, and Baswa will violently attack exiles still brandishing armbands or keffiyeh.

The One is among the gods most commonly worshiped by the Baswa people. Known as being the source of all existence, the Baswa view all things on Ashriya as an extension of the One. Alongside the One, Simone is a widely revered god among the Baswa. Due to their lifestyle with animals and living nomadically, Baswa feel a certain affinity with Simone.

Baswa have good relations with their neighbors Myra, who provide water as trade for various Baswa goods on a regular basis.The primary exports of Baswa are furs, leathers, meats, and sea salt. They use these to trade with Myra for water, grains, and most importantly, weapons and metal.

Mull and Baswa have had a contentious relationship in the last several hundred years. Raiders from Mull have attacked Baswa groups that traveled too close to the coast for centuries, usually to steal herd animals. Mull also attacked Kulrai once during the drought, sending a full battalion force. The soldiers honorably did not attack the elderly and children but they did pillage the settlement. Since then the Baswa have trained their people as warriors, making sure that the children and elderly of Kulrai are protected. Having found the Baswa unsuitable opponents in war, the soldiers of Mull have not returned to Kulrai, but the Riders of Kulrai watch over the Citadel. All young adults are Riders of Kulrai at times, taking shifts between defending the Citadel, and taking the herds out in search of grazing lands.

Horses, Camels, and other herd animals exist at the core of Baswa life as they are their means for food and travel. Most people are experienced riders, and have no need for saddles or harsh metal bits to skillfully ride. As a nation of riders, the Baswa are famed for their skilled warriors, fighting from horseback. Commonly using compound bows, crossbows, or spears, they are also known to cast magics and psionics. A fearsome sight is a Baswa rider, carrying a sword in one hand, casting in the other, controlling the reins with their teeth, charging to meet an enemy.