Jen (Nation of)

Location: Continent of Skothar, east of the Esterhold Peninsula.

Area: Unknown (nomadic jennites roam much of Skothar's eastern and central regions).

Population: Unknown (estimated at 100,000 jennites, in clans of 50-1000 individuals).

Language: jennite.

Coinage: The people of jen rely on barter for trade.

Government Type: Tribal; clans are headed by a clan chieftain, who is advised by the clan's most powerful shaman (cleric).

Industries: Herding (cattle, sheep, goats, and horses), hunting, raiding.

Description- The Land of jen encompasses most of the grassy steppes that stretch across the central region of the Skothar continent, from the western coast and the Esterhold Peninsula to the Nentsun Plateaux far to the east. This land is ringed by mountain ranges to the north, the east, and the southeast, and by the forested hills of the Minaean Coast to the South.

The people of jen are copper-skinned nomadic herders and horsemen. They rely on New Stone Age technology (well-crafted tools and weapons made of wood, bone, and Stone), as the art of forging metal was lost tu their ancestors. jennite craftsmen know how to beat and hammer gold and copper, which they can find in a natural, almost pure state. Most jennites worship the Immortal Rathanos, although some clans follow other Immortals. Women rarely hold a high position in jennite society. Masters of the horse and of the steppes, jennite warriors sometimes raid Alphatian or Minaean communities in Esterhold and along Skothar's southwestern coast.

Notable Sites: There are no known permanent settlements in the Land of jen. Along the Minaean Coast, there are rumors of a distant valley where jennite chieftains have been buried with their wealth.

History: Four millennia ago, Oltec men reached the fertile shores of Skothar and colonized the continent. They called the new land jen, meaning "green." Most of these newcomers established farming communities near the coast. Others discovered herds of wild horses and aurochs (an ancient breed of enormous, aggressive cattle) and became herdsmen. Ultimately, the nomads began to prey on the settled farmers, raiding their towns for food and gold.

Eventually, the nomadic jennite clans formed separate subcultures. Two of the most prominent subcultures found themselves at odds with one another. While many clans worshiped Tarastia, patron Immortal of justice, some clans turned to the worship of Rathanos. Tarastia took offense to Rathanos's insistence that his followers should keep women subservient to men. She incited her own followers to war. Generations of war followed and threatened to destroy both subcultures. Around 1600 BC, Tarastia spirited her followers to the Hollow World, to keep their culture intact.

The outer-world jennites prospered for a time belote a series of natural catastrophes weakened their culture. These disasters included a deadly plague that decimated their herds of aurochs, and this loss, in turn, decimated the nomads. It was some time before the Jennites were able to build up herds of a smaller breed of cattle. The nomads gradually regressed to stone-age technology, their former glory all but forgotten and their ties with the agriculturalists and craftsmen of the coastal lowlands severed.

With the exception of the disastrous encounter with Alphatians on the Esterhold Peninsula, the Jennites' nomadic wway of live-herding, hunting, and occasionally raiding settlements-has remained unchallenged for centuries.

Important Figures: The jennite clans are divided by great distances and differing customs; each clan bas its own important figures, but none has yet become an important figure in Known World politics.

Flora and Fauna: To the Jennites, the only animals that truly matter are their cattle and their horses. Likewise, the only plants that matter are the endless grasses on which their herds graze. Many other animals share the steppes with the people of Jen, however. They include gazelles, marmots (rodents related to woodchucks, whose pelts are prized by the Jennites), wild two-humped camels, wild asses and horses, and antelopes. Birds abound on the steppes, especially partridges, larks, cranes, and falcons (sometimes captured and trained by jennite hunters). Rivers and lakes of the

steppes teem with fish, including trout, perch, and pike.

See Also: Dawn of the Emperors Boxed Set.