Alchumena

Alchumena
Type	Talmithen Great House
Leader	Alchumena Velathri Velathri
Capital	None
Scope	Talmithe

The Alchumena (pronounced all-coo-MEH-nah) are an elven tribe and one of the Great Houses of Talmithe. Unlike the other Great Houses, the Alchumena maintain no estates or permanent settlements. Instead they travel Talmithe in their caravans of sauropods, gaining wealth and status by connecting the tribes through trade.

History

The Alchumena hold that their history begins with the first arrival of the Banished elves from Eita. In these early days before the formation of the Great House system, their ancestors remained itinerant even while the other elves settled down and established new communities across the region. To the Alchumena, they were the first Great House, an alliance of necessity to protect the traveling merchants that eventually took the form of something new and grander. While the modern lifestyles of the Alchumena certainly began many thousands of years ago, other Great Houses dispute their stories that hold themselves as the first, pointing to the many names by which the merchants called themselves before adopting the title the Great House holds today.

Location

Alchumena caravans are found not only across Talmithe but also outside of the region. They travel widely between the settled communities of other tribes, Great House and otherwise, as well as between gathering places frequented by nomadic peoples in the area. Though they once enjoyed excellent relations with Oscan, often venturing far past the Gray River that traditionally marked the western border of the kingdom, after the rise of the undead in Y9940^* the Alchumena have stayed far away from the communities they formerly frequented. Still, they remain trading partners with the lizardfolk of Xatabra to the north of Talmithe as well as with the smaller communities around the A'as River to the west.

Culture

Religion

Like the other Great Houses, the Alchumena worship the gods of the Elven pantheon. They particularly favor Thalan as a god of trade, though they downplay his importance as a god of cities in light of their own nomadic lifestyles. Nethans and Hurtate are also an important deities to the Alchumena.

Members of the Great House, lacking in permanent temples or shrines at which to pray, typically carry small carved idols of the gods with them. These are then worshiped or even given offerings while on the move.

Society

The Alchumena interact with outsiders to Talmithe far more frequently and readily than the other Great Houses, both out of a general sense of gregariousness and as they rarely turn down opportunities for trade. The tribe is critical in tying together the disparate peoples of the region and connecting them to the broader world. They often serve as messengers and diplomats, mediating between feuding or warring parties not out of the goodness of their hearts but because they believe conflict limits interest in the vast variety of goods they offer.

Leadership

In Alchumena society, wealth demonstrates strength and virtue, and therefore the most affluent amongst them lead the Great House. Ostentatious displays of wealth are a common way of showing one's status, as is the practice of giving generous gifts to those outside the tribe. No self-respecting Alchumenan would ever accept a gift, however, especially not from their peers, as to do so shows that one cannot attain prosperity independently.

Each Alchumenan athumi leads their own caravan, traveling Talmithe with an entourage, their pack animals, and as much of their wealth as can be carried. While the athumi have the authority to make decisions regarding their own caravans, matters that affect the entire Great House are instead the responsibility of the single wealthiest athumi. As of Y9976^*, and indeed for the last two thousand years, this figure is Alchumena Velathri Velathri, a patriarch who has greatly extended his life supposedly through the consumption of a plant whose location he has kept secret.

Foreigners, members of other Great Houses, or those from non-House tribes of Talmithe can and have all become Alchumenan athumi through amassing personal fortunes large enough that the Great House was forced to take notice.

Subjects

Unlike the other Great Houses, the Alchumena have no subject tribes. They see themselves as rulers of only their own people, with no one above or below them. Yet they still demand tribute of a kind. Those that wish to trade with the Alchumena are required to provide payment to even see the goods carried by their caravans. There is no set or consistent amount that they demand, but the Alchumena adjust their prices and the availability of their goods depending on how much they are initially paid, seeing it as both a test of sincerity and as a measure of assessing the worthiness of potential trade partners.

Migration

There are no permanent Alchumenan settlements. The Great House maintains certain locations in which they seasonally congregate, most notably at the base of Vindius Peak near Irsuri and outside Sherakanda, but otherwise the members of the tribe keep to nomadic lifestyles. Their caravans are primarily composed of large sauropods, upon which they travel the land in luxury inside of richly decorated howdahs. Dinosaurs that do not carry the tribe members themselves are instead used to haul resources and trade goods. Smaller creatures, particularly raptors, are trained to guard the caravan as it moves across the landscape.

Alchumenan caravans range in size from three sauropods to upwards of ten. These dinosaurs are cared for extremely well, watched with a close eye for any ailments and tended to gingerly whenever such a misfortune befalls them. The sauropods are crucial to the success of the Alchumena, and they will do anything to ensure their survival and health. In addition to the howdahs they carry, the sauropods are bedecked with massive sets of decorative barding, tapestries depicting the stories of the Alchumena under sheets of metal armor.

Dinosaurs, and especially the sauropods, are raised by Alchumenan herders from birth. They bond with the massive creatures as they grow and rarely leave their side - nearly all herders accompany the caravans as they move. The herders are some of the few in Alchumenan society whose social status is not tied to wealth, as they are simply so important to their people for their knowledge and role that the normal method of determining one's position within the Great House is irrelevant. The role of herder is commonly passed down from parent to child.

The fortunes possessed by Alchumena athumi are too large to carry with them, and so most resort to hiding them in secret stashes. The locations of these are known only to the leaders themselves and the most trusted members of their family, but even if other Alchumena knew where they were concealed, they would not steal from them - thievery, to the Alchumena, is a behavior of the lowest kind of people, as only those lacking in any means of attaining wealth for themselves would resort to such activity.

Multiple related families usually travel with a single caravan. Those within the caravan are permitted to leave at any point, but such splits generally only take place in lean times or when the party grows too large and disagreements with the leading athumi begin to surface.

Food and cuisine

Eggs are central to the Alchumenan diet. They prefer dinosaur eggs, but will eat just about any they come across, cooking the protein-dense sources of food in a myriad of ways. Other foodstuffs are gathered as they slowly travel, or else traded for. Many Alchumena have a taste for the black rice grown on Larthial by the subject peoples of the Hathna, paying great amounts for the grain in order to make it into a kind of sweet pudding.