Ayaroi
Ayaroi lies to the south of Taira, to the east of the Grey River. The north of Ayaroi is an unsettled area where mountains rich in tin and copper rise above the lush jungle. This area is controlled by bandit lords in the aftermath of the Tairan invasion sixty years ago. However, the bulk of Ayaroi civilisation lies to the south, in the uplands and jungle valleys. The taint of the wyld lies heavy in many areas of this land, and Ayaroi imports much silver to fend off the depredations of the chaos princes.
If fate had been a little different, Ayaroi would have been just another conquest of the Tarian empire. However, the wyld-polluted jungles of these lands spawned the folk known as the kamurbu, who combine the features of man and the greater sicklebirds of these jungles. The arrogant northern cataphracts commanding the armies of Taira found to their surprise that the lords of this land dwelt in stone cities in the jungle surrounded by fertile clearings farmed by slaves, and ventured forth to war riding trihorns and tyrant toothbirds. Their hardwood lacquered armour was painted bright colours and they wielded weapons of keen bronze. Cut off from their supplies by the mountains, the Tairans were surrounded. Those who surrendered were enslaved; those who fought were cut down to their last and their hearts sacrificed to the great Sulin Watus, the ever-burning eye that watches from the sky.
Government & Society
In Ayaroi, only the kamurbu are free, and everyone born to their clans is equal. So say their laws. The sicklebirdmen form an oligarchic elite who are shockingly egalitarian among their own ranks, but treat all other races - whether human or beastman - as inferiors. Kamurbu tribes are extended matrilinear family groups who each hold an area of land; men marry outside their tribes, binding them together with ties of interrelated kinship. Day to day administration of their provinces is done by those elected to the positions by the rest of the tribe. While those who have proven themselves have more of a say, in theory everyone's voice is equal.
The same applies to their government as a whole; rather than having a single ruler, the Great Meet within the the capital is composed of chosen representatives from each tribe. On a day to day basis each tribe is broadly independent, as the hills of Ayaroi break up their holdings, but during times of war the Great Meet votes on selected generals to lead their people.
The kamurbu's egalitarianism among themselves - where all have a say and all are guaranteed meat - stands in stark contrast to the way they treat others. Outsiders are forbidden from most tribes' lands, and restricted to trading enclaves at designated points. Foreigners have certain things they must wear to denote that they belong to no tribe, and are viewed with suspicion. Things were more liberal before the Tairan invasion, but reflexive xenophobia has consumed the kamurbu tribes since then. For those who dwell here, at best one is a serf; the possession of a tribe, but by tradition having more rights than the alternative. Slaves, by contrast, are no better than livestock under the laws of the carnivorous kamurbu. That is not to say that they casually eat their slaves, who are pricey - but it is always an option.
The system of serfdom was inherited from the former lords of this place, and the kamurbu do not acknowledge how much of the culture of the former nobility they have assumed. The serfs are the ones who grow the crops to feed the animals the sicklebirdmen consume, for the kamurbu idealise hunting and disdain farming. It was not always this way, but as they have calcified and their elaborate code of warrior nobility has developed, their separation from the serfs has grown. The presence of kamurbu blood in many serfs is ignored - a mistake, perhaps, because some of these half-blooded serfs have the same pack instincts that bind the sicklebirdmen together.
The faith of Ayaroi is a blend of their traditional tribal beliefs, mixed with things they have reconstructed from the ruins of the Dragon King cities within their lands. While they cannot actually read High Holy Speech, the pictures are what taught them that Sulin Wactus loves the sacrifice of hearts to him. After all, in the art lizard-like men built these cities, so must be kin to them and they are the rightful inheritors of this land. Attempts to reconstruct what their believed-ancestors did in these holy places have only calcified their culture further.
Economy
The kamurbu population has boomed since they rose up and seized this land one hundred and sixty years ago. Increasing amounts of the farming land within Ayaroi are devoted to raising cattle and other meat animals for the hungry kamurbu. This has lead to increasing clearance of the jungles, and the jungle soil - seemingly so lush - has become worn and thin by the grazing of cattle. Many tribes also grow cotton and hemp, but these are used locally rather than being an export good with the exception of a few river tribes.
The major exports of Ayaroi are coca leaves and tropical hardwoods; trees are cleared and coca is planted. Some mining of tin and copper occurs, but most of that is used internally. There is a flow of slaves both exported and imported; some tribes close to the river have started buying large numbers of slaves taken in the civil war in Taira.
The Sunken City
The capital of Ayaroi, Draroi, was once a city of the Dragon Kings, though it was abandoned long ago. Some great calamity caused the earth to give way below it, though, and the centre of the city descended into a great pit. However the magical architecture of the ancient lizards meant that the structures survived the collapse intact. It was a city of great domed coliseums and strange lecture halls which were larger than entire villages, and now these sunken hollow places lie scattered through the depths, arranged at strange angles.
Since Draroi was discovered, humans have built upon the still-solid structures of the Dragon Kings, turning slanted walls into floors and building staircases through misaligned doors. Underground rivers flow through tunnel-streets and descend into cenotes. Some of the waterways flow all the way down to the Grey River, and so traders travel up through unlit caves to reach crystal-lit Draroi. Most of the traders who interact with Ayaroi do so in Draroi, or on river posts, for most of the capital is a place where foreigners are permitted to roam freely.
The Great Meet of the kamurbu is mistaken for a palace by other nations. It was once a great temple of the Dragon Kings, and within its halls meet the representatives of the tribes. Sicklebirdmen in sheer cotton shifts dyed many bright colours and bedecked with silver and gold jewellery argue with each other, before uncannily coming to agreement. The sun shines through the crystal roof once again, for a great shaft has been dug down from the surface so that the burning eye of the sky may look down on his chosen people once more.
Military Affairs and the Wyld
Within Ayaroi, there is a near constant threat of the wyld. Strange hillsides blossom with bright red flowers, and when the petals blow towards the settlements animals are born deformed, children go missing and dancing witchlights are seen in unseasonable fogs. The locals know to lock their doors and never leave the house without wearing silver - and never open the door at night, not even if you hear a familiar voice calling out. When wyld-beasts break down the door, the kamurbu are expected to hunt them down and slay such monsters, hanging their heads up as trophies. Failure to catch a monster is the most reliable way of producing a serf revolt there is. In the northern reaches of the country, where the influence of the kamurbu is weaker some of the villages have taken to hiring mercenaries from the Tairan civil war.
The civil war itself draws the attention of the young among the kamurbu. With the population boom, land is growing scarce for many tribes and young hotbloods call for the reconquest of the north - and to push past the mountains, into Taira. There is fertile land to seize there, they argue, and this would be a just revenge for their unprovoked aggression. Some of the elders wonder if it might be wise - since, after all, there are an awful long of hungry youngsters these days - but others fear that the unique ties of their society might be broken by such a decision. Several large bands of young men and women have already pre-empted the collective decision and hired themselves and their trihorns out as mercenaries in Taira.
The sicklebirdmen are obligate carnivores, though their teeth are small enough that they do not use them in battle. Some of them have the long foot-blades of their animal kin, but most of them find them too underdeveloped to use as weapons. Instead they wear bright armour - even the women, for female soldiers among their ranks ritually assume a male role - and wield bright bronze blades. A few famed champions among their ranks have salvaged strange crystal blades from the ruins of the Dragon King cities they control and strapped arcane stone armour to themselves and their trihorn mounts. Such champions can break a spear formation, screaming their warcries as they push on.
Kamurbu, the Greater Sicklebirdmen
Human
Twisted by the Wyld
The kamurbu were once human tribesmen living in the hills of the centre of Ayaroi, but the influence of the wyld led to them taking on the features of greater sicklebirds. These ferocious creatures are feathered toothbirds as tall at the shoulder as a man, and much longer, but their most prominent feature is the sickle-like blade on each limb. Despite their size and ferocity, they hunt in packs and this way they can take down a serpent-neck lizard or even a tyrant toothbird.
The kamurbu have their size and their hunger, but most notable is their pack instincts that leads them to be terrifying foes. They have facial features that combine man and greater sicklebird, downy feathers covering most of their body and longer feathers on their arms, thighs and a crest on their head. Even the smallest adult of the kamurbu stands two metres tall at the shoulder, and it is not unknown for them to reach two and a half metres tall. Men and women are about the same size, but they are easy to tell apart. A woman of the kamurbu has dull brown feathers, and a smaller crest; a man is black with iridescent streaks that shimmer like oil. The men are exceptionally vain - and for good reason; the women prefer their men as brightly coloured as possible. The same applies to their dress. While a woman can get away with just an undyed cotton shift, men are expected to cover themselves in bright cottons and jewellery.
Breed Baseline
Cosmetic Mutation (0) - Crest of feathers on head, feathers on limbs and torso, scales on feet, features that hybridise human and sicklebird, teeth that are sharp but not sharp or prominent enough to mechanically count as different for most individuals (some have more developed teeth).
Large (1) - Are the size of a very large human being, averaging just over two metres tall.
Pack Instincts (1) - Clever girl...
Greedy (-1) - Need 25% more food than a normal human
Picky (-1) - Are carnivorous
