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Haruninki

Appearance

Haruninki, informally known as Haruchi, stand about as tall as an elf, but rather than the soft flowing features which possessed by elves, the Haruninki have a strong and solid build. Typically rugged in appearance, square jawed, and a well muscled frame of a body. Most Haruninki have a sandy blond or light brown hair, the same can be said for their complexion. As they age they become more rugged looking; fine lines carved by wind and dust make their faces and bodies etched like stone. Their women are as beautiful as they are rare, and many are masters of etiquette and intrigue. Their children are strong willed and obedient; practiced in hunting and combat, only the barbarian children of the Jarik Wastes can match their athleticism.
    It is rare for a Haruninki to go without a dagger. Often, for those who do not pursue martial training beyond elementary practice, the dagger is the only weapon one ever needs. It is custom that many Haruninki carry the same dagger with them, for both practical and combative use, by which they were circumcised. They refer to this weapon as their birthing dagger. To lose it is a serious wound to any Haruninki's honor.
    Most adult Haruninki are proficient in several weapons. Bows, short swords, quarter staves, and flails are among the more common weapons. Haruninki who are the head of a household may carry a katana blade for which there are special rules of engagement. Most Haruninki who are the heads of the household are at least 5th level fighters or monks who have specialized in the katana.
    Unsultanlan, the priests and mystics of Haruninkian Elder Gods, also wield the katana. Unsultanlan are never be encountered outside of the Homeland and are usually only found within the cities of the Haruninki. Unsultanlan should be treated as priests and monks.

Combat

The Haruninki prefer hand-to-hand combat above ranged weaponry. Ranged weapons are fit for the hunting of animals and food, and so many Haruchi consider it an insult to engage an opponent with weapons that are not fit for close combat.
    Haruninki use carefully planned pack tactics to bring down larger prey. They are brave, valiant fighters.
    Direction Sense (Ex): Haruninki receive a +4 racial bonus to Survival checks made avoid becoming lost. All Haruninki have a natural sense of true north which they can use to assist them in navigation while traveling. A Haruninki knows the direction of true north as naturally as a human knows up from down.
    Skills: Haruninki gain a +2 racial bonus to all Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Survival checks. Haruninki are trained from an early age to survive and hunt in the wilderness. These bonuses reflect this childhood training and a natural predisposition to excel in these areas.
    Feats: Haruninki receive the Weapon Focus feat with daggers and short spears. Haruninki are trained from an early age in these weapons use for hunting and self-defense. Haruninki have weapon familiarity with the dagger and short spear.

Habitat/Society

Haruninki live in a rigid caste system dominated by males who have gained great Pa (roughly translated as honor, or a upright lifestyle) and are head of a household. The leading woman of a household also has significant political power. The vast majority of Haruninkian families have several husbands (the more husbands the more respected the household) and a single wife. This is due to the scarcity of women born in Haruninki society. Honor, Pa, is an important aspect of society as well. The way to gaining Pa is a complicated spread of traditions and social rules which have been present in their society for ages. Most Haruninki live their lives as best they can and attempt to adhere to The Way. Usually the higher ranking a Haruninki is in society, the more important The Way is to them. The Haruninki claim these traditions are sacred and handed down to them from the Elders.
    The Elders are the gods of Haruninkian society. They have no name other than this. All Haruninki recognize the presence of more than one Elder, but no one is worshiped more than another and the Haruninki do not distinguish between one Elder and another. It is said by some that the Elders are the spirits of dead leaders of Haruninkian society, but only the Unsultanlan know the truth and they are sworn to secrecy.

The Unsultanlan
The Unsultanlan are the equivalent of priests in the Homeland (that is how Haruninki refer to their native realms). The Unsultanlan are the only members of Haruninkian society who can carry a Katana publicly without the intent to shed blood. Haruninki who become Unsultanlan are a special kind of person. They adhere to The Way with fanatic devotion, only becoming Unsultanlan after having completed a lifetime of tasks which condition them for this elite and special social position. Unsultanlan are have no family ties (Wah) and are untouchable. Certain special holy grounds in the Homeland are only accessible to the Unsultanlan. Haruninki respect and follow the Unsultanlan not because of any law which requires they do so, but because the Unsultanlan are the sages of The Way and the mystics of the Elders.
    The Unsultanlan came to become the Haruninkian spiritual leadership in reaction to the fall of old blood thirsty traditions. When these traditions failed and resulted in the Breaking of the Sultan-Lan, the Haruninki looked to those who had achieved spiritual power by adhering close to The Way and respecting the Elders. These spiritual leaders were named Unsultanlan, a word meaning two things. First its older meaning, Spirit Beyond, standing for the sacred lands where spirits of past Elders dwelt. It also means Not-Sultan-Lan, indemnifying the Unsultanlan from the crimes committed by past Haruninki leaders.
    These new leaders, an elite class of spiritual advisors, hold great respect in Haruninki society since only a true Unsultanlan can set foot within the sacred lands of the Elders. They are permitted to enter these lands only bare foot, with shaven head and ashes upon their brow, and in silence. It is said that the Unsultanlan travel into these sacred lands to listen to the whispers of wisdom spoken by the Elders.
    The Unsultanlan are held by a different set of social laws than other Haruninki. They are not able to lead a Wah (family). Further, they are immune to the accumulation of Tor (debt) and their justice is considered to be divine. Every action taken by them is said to serve the purpose of the Elders. Though an Unsultanlan could slay a person in the middle of a busy street without fear of even a word being spoken against them, most prefer to explore the lost ways of mysticism and knowledge, learning what they can of the universe, excepting those parts concerning magic which are forbidden by the Elders. It is considered to gain extremely bad Tor to invade into the sacred lands of the Unsultanlan or to contradict their words.
    Unsultanlan though, hold little domestic authority. Since The Fall, Haruninki society has placed most of its authority into the hands of Wah leaders. The Unsultanlan are then like wise ghosts who dwell within Haruninki society, but apart from the peoples in most all ways. It is punishable by death to spill a Unsultanlan's blood upon ground that is not Unsultanlan, by this respect, only an Unsultanlan can slay an Unsultanlan upon sacred Unsultanlan land without fear of dire reprieve.

The Wah and Society
The Wah is the basic unit of society within the Haruninki way of life. The leader of the Wah is usually a male Haruninki, though in times where the head of the Wah is slain, the female takes control until the other husbands of the Wah resolve who is the most fit to rule the household.
    To understand the Wah, one must first understand how it is formed and the beliefs and traditions of Haruninki society. First of these is the suspicion that to have a firstborn be a girl is bad luck. All first born in Haruninki society are male, those which are born female are taken into the woods and left in the night. Before the Fall, first born females were hideously slaughtered for the magic of their blood. This factor contributes greatly to the fact that Haruninki society is predominantly male.
    Women in Haruninki society take multiple husbands. The leader of the household is the first husband, or whomever has been destined to succeed him. The social honor of a given Wah is determined by how many husbands compete for the wife, thus to be the head of a household under which many suitors vie for marriage to the wife is to hold great social standing. The head of the household decides who is fit to join the household and who is not. Haruninki who have achieved great Pa through skill as a warrior, intellectual recognition, many offspring, official standing, or other means are more likely to be accepted into a Wah of greater social standing as well as in a higher position in that Wah.
    Daughters are the responsibility of the women of a Wah and a son's training is the complete responsibility of the various husbands. Mothers rarely see their male offspring she has borne as they are sent abroad to become hunters and to harden their bodies. All sons are trained from infancy to learn the use of the knife in both combat, in matters of honor, and in matters of survival. The head of the Wah, or whoever is recognized to be a huntmaster, trains the sons in all manner of tracking and hunting skills. Daughters are trained for beauty and intellectualism, both being desirable traits to find in a woman. Very careful consideration is given as to which suitor will be a daughters first husband. The head of a Wah gains great Pa for having founded another socially desired Wah by the marrying of a fine daughter to a fellow Haruninki with great Pa.

Justice in the Homeland
Haruninki Justice is very lenient in many respects and very strict in others. The caste system is designed so that a rogue Haruninki who is unable to be rid of Tor or even worse, a Haruninki who constantly accumulates Tor is undesirable for marriage, destined to enter a Wah of little importance, possibly not even as a husband, but as a servant. Many Haruninki will kill their rebellious sons on a hunt rather then loose Pa and gain Tor over a disgraceful son. Daughters who are troublemakers are destined to attract undesirable suitors and eventually form a Wah of little repute and importance as well. For women the threat is slightly less since at least their lowest station is that of wife on an irrelevant Wah, while troublemaking men are killed or become servants.
    Murder and other nefarious crimes of Haruninki society are reason for imprisonment in the mines of Bithralania and execution by being tossed to the Demons of the Sand. Most controversial matters are settled by honorable combat between a chosen warrior from each Wah or between the two Haruninki who have the disagreement. Combat is sanctioned by The Way and either opponent is allowed to use his knife. Dirty fighting and other crimes are judged by the Unsultanlan, though there is no law requiring an Unsultanlan's judgement to be carried out, most Haruninki do so out of respect for the Unsultanlan's knowledge of The Way and communion with the Elders. Most conflicts are settled by knife duel, by imprisonment and execution, and very rarely by banishment. Haruninki fear banishment the most since it condemns the Haruninki from the caste system, forever curses them with irreparable Tor, forcing them to dwell forever more in the strange and deadly world outside of the closely knit Haruninkian society. Heads of the household gain Tor for punishment of their offspring.
    Haruninki who voluntarily leave the caste system lose their connection to their Wah more or less permanently. To come back to the Homeland with nothing to show for it is to come back a beggar in a society that has no compassion for the unfortunate. Once a Haruninki has made the decision to leave the Homeland on his own and leave his Wah, the Wah is immune from any Pa or Tor that the freed Haruninki accrues.
    The simple nature of the Haruninkian caste system is admirable for its successful self-government.

The Katana
The Katana is an extremely important symbol of intent and power in the Haruninki society. Only the Unsultanlan can carry a Katana in public without the intent to kill. Other then the Unsultanlan, the head of the Wah is the only member of society who can wield a Katana in combat which draws blood. Only the first son of a household can be trained in the use of a Katana, but he is only allowed to use it in practice.
    When a head of a household carries a Katana in public it is a pronouncement of impending conflict. The carrying of the Katana into public symbolizes one's intent to kill. Any combat entered with a Katana must result in the death of the opponent, to fail is to gain Tor. It is not until the killing has been done that any controversy over the killing is settled, the importance of respect to the Katana must come first.
    To be recognized as being a master of the Katana is to hold great Pa. The Katana symbolizes the fine edge between life and death, its use must be either all one or the other. The making of the Katana and its secrets of use are considered to be secrets from the Elders bestowed upon the Haruninki. To trivialize the use of the Katana is to trivialize the importance of the Elders and their gifts to the Homeland.

Ecology

    Haruniki are a rarity outside of the Homeland. Few ever leave their native realms and most of those who do are outcasts from society. There are some though who leave the caste system before their rebellious tendencies lead to banishment, and then there are some who possess an adventurous spirit. Some return to the Homeland, the outside world being too alien, while some never return at all. The Haruninki rarely trade with other nations, except occasionally with the remote dwarven Kingdom of Thean which spreads across the mountains to the east.

Variants and Resources

Haruninki Player Characters
Urharulan, the Homeland of the Haruninki
The Breaking of the Sultan
Haruninkian Words and Phrases