The Arafir

The Arafir, children of Khotia, the Defier

Those who seek power always face opposition. Some seek power for the sake of having power, and some oppose power solely for the sake of opposing power. Among the gods, none were more oppositional to or defiant of the powers that be than Khotia.

Khotia was always the unorthodox strategist, likely because he frequently found himself cut off from resources by the entrenched powers he opposed. He created his children, the Arafir, to be innately defiant much like he was. This trait, he surmised, would make his children less likely to submit to the children of other gods, and would also make them more likely to provoke conflict with the other children of the gods. As a people, the Arafir were not unified by a set of beliefs, rather a shared collection of rituals, many related to conflict resolution. The most “sacred” of these rituals was the Imio. The Imio consisted of an arbiter who would hear statements related to the conflict, and issue a decree based to the part at fault to make amends for his or her wrong. The at-fault party would then either comply, or challenge both the arbiter and the prevailing party to combat. If the at-fault party survived the combat, the decree would be rescinded. The Imio is rarely invoked except for matters of grave importance to the community. Lesser matters are dealt with through less extreme but no less ritualized means.

After the Silence

Before the silence, the Arafir were united in opposition to the gods. But without the gods as an authority to rebel against, infighting quickly developed among the Arafir. Factions would form, gain power, and split before order could be restored. While the constant conflict sometimes left the Arafir vulnerable, it also made them superb warriors. The combative nature of the Arafir combined with their warrior skill made them seem much more barbaric and animalistic than they truly were. Many great Arafiri thinkers emerged after the silence, including Nolma the Wise. The need for better weapons with which to fight spurred advances in engineering and the need to treat wounded fighters led to developments in medicine.