Hathna

Hathna
Type	Talmithen Great House
Leader	Multiple
Capital	Cahinias
Scope	Talmithe

The Hathna (pronounced HATH-nah) are an elven tribe and one of the Great Houses of Talmithe. As they view performing any type of labor themselves to be distasteful, the Hathna extensively employ servants, mostly conjured from other planes, to maintain the coastal retreats in which they live.

History

Of the current four Talmithen Great Houses, the Hathna are the most recently formed. The tribe split from the Thevrumines around Y9100^* over disagreements regarding their responsibilities towards their subject peoples and other elven tribes. While most of the Thevrumines held that they were responsible for the defense of all Talmithens, a stance the tribe broadly maintains to the current day, the families that would become the Hathna instead believed their obligations stopped at those who paid them tribute and fealty. Though this split was mostly amicable, relations between the two Great Houses are commonly strained over what the Thevrumines view as the Hathna's shortsightedness, and the Hathna view as the unnecessary risk-taking of the Thevrumines.

Location

The Hathna almost entirely live on the island of Larthial, in the Tabaha Bay off the coast of mainland Talmithe. There they reside in settlements along the shores, or in some cases out in the water, maintaining a distance from the communities of their subjects in the interior. Some Hathna remain on the southern coast of Talmithe as well, primarily to the east of Ortess.

Culture

Religion

Like the other Great Houses, the Hathna worship the gods of the Elven pantheon. Celens is especially important to them, and the goddess has a shrine in nearly all Hathnan stilt-palaces. They place great emphasis on the worship of Satres as well. Despite their pursuit of lives of bliss, the Hathna are vehemently opposed to followers of the goddess Vanth, as they view the acceptance of ignorance that is associated with the deity to be an undermining of the enlightened state that, in their eyes, separates their own tribe from their subjects.

Society

To the Hathna, engaging in any kind of work or labor is objectionable and beneath their status as a ruling caste. Instead they occupy their days through leisure as well as the in pursuit of artistic and scholarly endeavors. Hathnan communities are essentially large estates in which their inhabitants' every whim can be indulged by their many servants. Though they do keep some mortal workers in their service, recruited from amongst their subject tribes, summoned creatures of varying levels of intelligence are the preferred servants of the Hathna, as they require little to no upkeep themselves and can be dismissed and brought back at will. Some make use of eidolons, while others prefer creatures to which they have no particular bond or connection. These summoned servants take care of everything from menial tasks to the defense of Hathnan stilt-palaces.

Despite their reliance on magical labor, the Hathna view constructs, especially those like clockworks that are mechanically-driven, to be affronts to the beauty of the world. They hold very similar views towards undead, and efforts to destroy these creatures provide one of the few motivations that can draw the Hathna away from their lives of luxury.

Leadership

The Hathna have many athumi, each of whom maintains their own estate and collects tribute independently. These figures are often, but not always, heads of family, yet they do not derive legitimacy from their age or experience. Rather, Hathnan leaders base their status on their knowledge and accomplishments in life. They hold great respect for masterful scholars and artists, and all with ambitions to lead their people devote their lives to prolific contributions to these fields. Any who can demonstrate mastery of the arts can rise to become a Hathnan athumi, whether from within the lower ranks of the Great House, amongst their subject peoples, or even foreigners.

Cahinias is usually considered to be the capital of the Hathna, though it has no official status as such, as most Hathnan athumi congregate there to convene their regular councils.

Subjects

The subjects of the Hathna are the primarily nomadic human, grippli, and to a lesser degree elven and half-elven tribes that inhabit Larthial. Despite the often extortionate tribute the Hathna demand in order to support their lavish lifestyles, these tribes actually tend to prefer the overlordship of the Hathna over that of the other Great Houses, as even copious amounts of raw resources are more tolerable to provide than the conscription or corvee labor that the Thevrumines and Velparun demand, respectively.

Architecture and urbanization

Hathnan estates are almost always built either directly on the shoreline, straddling the land and sea, or entirely over the waters of the Tabaha Bay. These complexes, known as stilt-palaces, consist of multiple structures built on top of stilts or pillars and connected by floating walkways. Interiors and exteriors alike are richly decorated with paintings, carvings, and statues. These largely wooden buildings have dramatic upswept roofs, rather similar to those used in parts of Kea Racha.

The Hathna strongly believe that every room, and moreover every building, should have a single purpose. Using a building for something other than this purpose is thought to bring about disorganized thoughts, and therefore to interrupt the lives of contemplation they value so much. Though this approach to their design means that Hathnan estates are typically extremely clean and well-organized, it also contributes to the sprawl of their stilt-palaces and the expense of their maintenance.

Food and cuisine

Hathnan cuisine is heavily based around seafood. Fish, lobster, crab, shrimp, sea cucumber, and certain types of barnacle are all commonly eaten, all prepared in dishes that make heavy use of black rice, peppers, eggplant, lemongrass, galangal, and other vegetables, herbs, and spices. Many guests of the Hathna have remarked on the hospitality they were given and the elaborate dishes they were served, but in truth all Hathnan meals are multi-course affairs, not only those prepared for visitors. It is not uncommon for a single meal to last for many hours.

Despite the popularity of coffee within both the other Talmithen Great Houses and their subjects, the Hathna by and large eschew the drink, as they do alcohol and any other drink or food that alters one's mental state.