The Krmar Taxeni (pronounced krr-MARR ta-KSEN-ee) are a primarily, though not exclusively, human people who live in the cities of Amshan. They are the descendants of a religious sect from Tirione, modern-day Tamkaranu, who long ago made the trek across the Taizzan Expanse.
History
The Krmar Taxeni began as a small cult following the Hasameli prophet Taxeni, from whom they take their name, who began her public teachings in Harkek around the middle years of the eighty-fifth century, when Tirione was a fledgling nation attempting to recover and rebuild from the Eastern Crusade. Her lessons, spiritual and political alike, were unorthodox to say the least, and she soon found herself at odds with both the nascent monarchy and the entrenched temples to Hasamel in the city. As the persecution mounted, increasing from censorship and imprisonment of the prophet to outright violence against her followers, Taxeni and her cult made the difficult decision to flee, heading east along the Golden Path into the desert of the Taizzan. Weakened from the adventure, Taxeni died not long after her arrival in Hashkaman, where her remains are buried. Upon her death her community split, most remaining in Kuaxares, Hashkaman, and Drayahya while others went south to Zura-Kara and elsewhere around the Ashara Peninsula.
Geography
There are two broad groups within the Krmar Taxeni, known as glaives for the the weapons they once used as improvised flagpoles during their journey across the Taizzan Expanse. The larger of them, known as the red glaive, is found in the Amshani province of Marhasi, with prominent Krmar Taxeni communities in the capital city of Hashkaman and other important cities along the Golden Path. The smaller, the white glaive, lives in the cities of the Namar province, and especially in Zura-Kara, Oxeian, and Hanigalbat.
Culture
The culture of the Krmar Taxeni is inextricably tied to their unique religion, which retains nearly complete the lessons of their prophet from centuries ago. They worship the god Hasamel, known after their adoption of the Asharan language as Hximel (pronounced HKS-ih-mell), but just like how their name for the deity differs from that used around the Chaska Sea so too have their beliefs and traditions. Their leaders are the glaive-priests, local priests in each city in which they live, who maintain and protect the original banners used to guide the cult as they crossed the Taizzan.
In keeping with Taxeni's lessons, the Krmar Taxeni hold skilled craftsmanship in devotion to their god to be the highest calling, something to focus one's entire life around without distraction. As a result they maintain almost a taboo around engaging in livelihoods of other kinds, to the point that they abhor involvement in simple necessities like farming or other means of food production. They may make the tools used by farmers around them, but they would never use such an item themselves. Nearly all Krmar Taxeni live in urban environments, therefore, where they can make a good living through their trades without sullying themselves through engaging in impure professions.
The Krmar Taxeni are especially renowned as glassblowers and glass-smiths, highly respected trades in Amshan. Many also find callings as architects designing the many windcatchers, windmills, yakchals, and other structures found throughout the nation, though never laying a brick in their construction themselves.
So great is their devotion to their crafts that many Krmar Taxeni embrace celibacy so as to avoid being distracted by the raising of a family, a factor that has contributed somewhat to their continued small population despite their centuries in Amshan.
Unusually for followers of of Hasamel/Hximel, the Krmar Taxeni eschew money, which was a major factor in their initial exile. To them the creation of their works is all that is necessary to their faith, and to collect currency is a pointless waste of time. Needless to say, this is not a trait that was received well by the tax collectors of their former rulers in Tirione, or by those from the Amshani clans. To avoid conflict the Krmar Taxeni have developed a unique workaround on this prohibition. A portion of all they produce is given to the glaive-priests who then regularly "donate" these items to local dynast-princes, neatly sidestepping the problem.
The split between the red and white glaives is both theological and cultural. Their differences in doctrine, while inscrutable to outsiders, are nonetheless significant to the Krmar Taxeni. In short the red glaive tends towards traditionalism, refusing to stray from the teachings of Taxeni, while the white glaive has preferred to be more adaptive, sometimes reinterpreting ancient principles as their situation demands it.