Kessung

The 'Kessung (pronounced keh-SOONG (ng as ŋ)) are a nomadic people who live in the margins between the northern edge of the Sangora Desolation and the southern edge of the more temperate zone on the southern and western coasts of the Chaska Sea. They are renowned for their skill and speed on horseback, and often serve as messengers between other communities living near the lands they frequent.

Geography

The Kessung travel across a remarkably wide stretch of territory, all the way from near Chytroi in the east to Adroveer in the west. They rarely travel to the coast, however, or particularly far into the desert either, instead remaining within the often quite narrow band of shrubland between those two regions where their horses can still graze. Due to their constant movements it is unlikely that any group of Kessung will be in a particular stretch of this landscape in any given time. Contrary to what many outsiders believe, the Kessung are not people of the desert, for their horses cannot survive there.

Culture

Almost always on the move, Kessung bands and clans eschew all shelters save for tents they can construct with haste, as they rarely stay more than one night at any given place. This is for reasons both practical and cultural. Most importantly their horses upon which they travel, and upon which their livelihoods depend, would quickly overgraze the local shrubland if they were to remain. They train from young ages on horseback, to the degree that most are capable of riding quickly and effectively without saddles or reins.

Kessung religion centers around a unique fusion of the Chaskan and Khapeshan pantheon that has diverged significantly from both. They worship Ussu (Usumu) and Mitang (Maahes/Mithrai) as diarchic consorts and the foremost of the gods, with others less important and under them.

Most Kessung support themselves through hunting. They prefer the use of traps when possible, but they are skilled archers should the need arise.

The clothing of the Kessung consists primarily of loose robes and overcoats, usually reddish in color. Extra padding is sewn in for warmth in the winter months and as a form of armor. Wide and flat woven straw hats are worn year-round to protect from the sun. Many Kessung clans dye the skin of their arms and faces, typically orange but sometimes white, in patterns that have traditional and spiritual associations. Most often these are intended to reflect the patterns of the sun and moon, which they associate with Mitang and Ussu, respectively.

In Kessung society, poets and other word-smiths are prestigious figures. They are frequently hired to carry messages between distant communities on or near the Chaskan coast, which they transform and deliver in a poetic form. Kessung rarely give either insults or compliments, as they believe only the gods can pass judgement on other people, but instead find elaborate ways to make their points through metaphor and indirect language. They speak a language related to, but not quite, Chaskan, with some vocabulary that has survived remarkably intact from Old Khapeshan.

Kessung leaders are trader-kings whose wealth lies not in material goods but rather in the connections they cultivate with other clans and with the settled peoples on the margins of the ranges in which they travel.