The Doulakki
by Matthew LevyThe Doulakki are the Mystaran equivalent of the Hellenistic Greeks; their language is related to Halav's Traldaran and to Milenian but not directly related to modern Traladaran or Thyatian. The Doulakki lived in the coastal areas that would later be Thyatis before the Thyatian tribes arrived there, and were eventually assimilated into the Thyatian empire, which is the source of some of the more Greek-sounding Thyatian names; although Milenian influence was probably much stronger. The Doulakki also spread into Dythestenia and Nicostenia in the period of the decline and collapse of Nithia, and their language would have been spoken in Cynidicea in the time of King Alexander and Queen Zenobia, and a derivative of it is probably spoken by modern Cynidiceans (whose names are still Greek). Thyatian sages probably still are taught to read and write Doulakki, and even educated adventurers might understand it (explaining how they could interact with the dwellers of the lost city). It probably also is well-known to Alasiyan intellectuals.
They are linguistically related to the Traladarans, Antalians (and Quasi-Antalians, such as the Dunael), and Sindhi; they are an offshoot of the Neathar race, and they most likely originated somewhere in eastern Brun, perhaps having migrated into the southern regions after being driven out by the Ethengars circa BC 1700 or thereabouts. At any rate they became a distinct group sometime between BC 2000 BC and BC 1000. Some of them were forcibly resettled by the Nithians along the southern coast of Brun; this group has mistakenly been associated with the modern Traladarans, who speak a distinct language but have appropriated Traldar/Doulakki cultural symbols.
The Doulakki lived along the southern coast, in the northern foothills of the Cruth Mountains, in the Alasiyan basin, and on the southern islands. They stretched from Athenos in the west to Borydos in the east and as far north as Tameronikas and Selenica (Salonikos). Possibly they also had trade networks as far as Yavdlom (Tanakumba, named Thanopolis by outsiders, could have been a Doulakki trading post at one time) and may have built Akesoli and Akorros. They never had a unified imperial government, but were based around city-states with occasional larger confederacies.
In the southwest, a powerful kingdom under Halav was destroyed by gnolls, and the city-states of the southeast were destroyed and assimilated later by the Sea Reavers (i.e., the Thyatian tribes). In the Alasiyan basin, Cynidicea collapsed under Antalian attacks and the other city-states were later conquered by various groups and became so cosmopolitan as not to be associated with the Doulakki by any except the learned. The states within modern Darokin were gradually absorbed by the Tumans (whose own city was founded circa BC 556) and then later annexed by the Eastwinds after the collapse of Tuma in BC 130 to attacks by chaotic forces.