Editing Acrozatarim/Gazetteer (section)

==Grum-Tarath==

'''Icons''':  The Eagle King

The origins of Grum-Tarath are hazy; it appears to have existed even during the time of the Drakkath Empire, although then only as a barely-tolerated coalition of tribesmen and highlanders who lived in regions of the Sarokeans that were too remote to bother conquering.  However, the isolated mountain clans acted early in the Dawn War, throwing in their lot with the Younger Gods and beginning a campaign of terror and raiding on the lowlanders of Drakkath.  Tradition has it that Grumand spoke to the Grum-Tarathi early in the War as they were the great spirit's favoured people; even today, Iron Prophets claim to hear the faint whisperings and rumblings of Grumand's thoughts from deep below the mountain range.

Grum-Tarath spans a number of loosely interconnected valleys, plateaus and high mountain enclaves scattered through a portion of the southern Sarokean mountains; it's easy for the nation to become isolated even from itself by attacks, bad weather or geological activity.  In the face of this, the nation's culture focuses on order, a place for everyone, duty and responsibility; even if cut off from the greater kingdom for months or years, a Grum-Tarathi town will operate autonomously and yet not diverge from the wider nation's society.  Young Tarathi are assigned to a caste and role during their coming of age; aptitudes and character play a significant part in this, but so do the needs of the greater settlement.  Grum-Tarath is ruled by a Potentate, currently the wily Kurshan Umh-Drage; the royal family is hereditary in nature, forming a caste unto themselves.  Something that outsiders can find confusing is that the Five Waterfall Kings are not, in fact, kings of the nation; the Potentate is the ruler and has no equals.  Below him or her, society is governed by Elders, many of whom are Grumand clergy.  These Elders are all part of the Stone Assembly, although a full meeting of the Assembly is rare and small groups of Elders will gather and discuss matters as is necessary.  This shifting, ad-hoc nature of Grum-Tarath legislature is anchored by the Potentate, whose word is final on the Assembly's requests or demands.

This mountain nation is home to an unusually high concentration of monastic and martial traditions, particularly those focusing around the Four Elemental Paths.  Grum-Tarath has little in the way of actual military forces, raising a levy from the common people when necessary; instead, the elemental sects are expected to provide their acolytes and adepts to help deal with conflicts.  This has resulted in a certain amount of tension between the Stone Assembly and the cloister and sect leaders, in particular the heads of the five most powerful sects, called the Waterfall Kings.  The Assembly rules society but the Waterfall Kings are the most highly respected figures in the world of martial practice and elemental focus, and it is they who hold the key to Grum-Tarath's military defence.  The Five Waterfall Kings are not beholden to the Assembly nor the Potentate; and these old masters and mistresses include certain capricious or whimsical personalities shaped by a lifetime of dedication to a philosophy or esoteric practice.

Even today, Grum-Tarath remains relatively isolated.  It is not entirely cut off from the world, and there is a steady trickle of petitioners seeking the tutelage of the elemental sects and traders seeking the rich mineral wealth of the high mountains (and the ivory feathers of the rare araki-bird) but for most of the Drakkath, Grum-Tarath remains a remote and distant place.  Visitors often marvel at the major settlements; Tarathi take great pride and honour in the carving and decorating of rock and stone, and since their larger towns are generally excavated and hewn out of the rock, this can result in some breath-takingly beautiful and ornate structures.  The sheer amount of excavation necessary means that it is commonly believed that the Tarathi Elders are sitting on a cache of Elder tunneling technology or some other sort of eldritch science, and some of the deep cathedrals and defensive fortifications hint that there may be truth to this claim.  Many settlements have been designed so that, in case of great danger, the entire population can retreat into their chambers and galleries and seal themselves off from the surface world entirely, or escape via long tunnels that emerge leagues away in the mountains.  Grum-Tarath culture includes many tales of isolated settlements that held out for generations against outside threats that could not pierce the surface defences.

Another common claim about the Tarathi, this one far less savoury, is that they practice ritual cannibalism.  It's true that in such remote landscapes, the supply of food and resources is a tenuous thing that must be carefully balanced; it's also likely that, at some point, towns and villages that have been cut off probably have resorted to such in desperation.  However, these claims probably stem from the Tarathi custom of bone-carving and ancestor ivory.  There are various ways by which the dead are reduced to bones; some Tarathi ethnicities offer their dead up to the beasts of the skies atop small sky-burial towers, while other settlements undertake ritual mortuary rites to boil and strip the flesh away.  The resulting bones are taken by family members or friends and carved with marks of reverence and memory of the life of the dead figure; these are installed in subterranean ancestor galleries, carried as charms or used as adornment on furniture and other decoration.  Promising one's skull to another person not of the family is a major Tarathi show of respect, love and gratitude; several Potentates have, through history, promised their skulls to heroes in thanks for their actions.

Tel-Turathun, the most holy of sites in Grum-Tarath, is said to be where Grumand spoke to the first Iron Prophets and ordered them to take up the banner of war against the Elders.  Tel-Turathan is where the Stone Assembly itself is located, an immense subterranean parliament-chamber hewn from the rock (by Grumand's own hands, as per the legend) and is also site of a large temple-complex that makes up the largest centre of Grumandic worship in the entire Drakkath and probably far beyond.  It is one of the most accessible and most visited by outsiders of all the Tarathi settlements, and offers a host of wonders for those who come to pray; glorious stone temples filled with gleaming gemstone decorations, vast carved trenches and chasms that split the city into tiers, the rising bulk of the Potentate Fortress and, most shockingly of all, the Conquered - four massive orbs of rock and metal hovering in the air over the settlement, with no obvious means of suspension.  The Tarathi say that the Conquered were hurled by the Elder Gods, but Grumand's mastery over iron and stone exceeded even theirs, and he caught them before their moment of impact.  Now, the Conquered serve as the most holy and protected of Grumandic sanctuaries, accessed by balloon or the lifts that have been built into them; inside, they have been hollowed out into structures, rumoured to be filled with secure vaults, warded meeting rooms and the personal chapels of the Iron Prophets themselves.