The Lands of Dolornjaa
Land of a thousand suns and a thousand cultures. From the ochre dunes to the jungle’s green shadow, Dolornjaa interweaves with colors and customs. Its Sykari tribes are poets and traders, warriors and mystics, whose spices tell the stories their tongues cannot.
There is a king-like leader called a Mizojj who is appointed by whoever takes the title by force. The current leader’s tribe nation occupies the Koltai Raj, a beautiful oasis and castle on the eastern side of the Tuahnk’am Desert, located in the Red Stones region. Historically, the Mizojj has always believed in a strong and forceful rule and does not believe in queendoms.
In the past, the behaviors of the Mizojj are chiefly emphasized by the persistent disparagement of women, though this has changed for the better over the past century.
Despite some cruel rulers and outward harshness of the people in this realm, all peoples practice kindness to one another, especially within their own tribe. This comes from the religious practices of the Hepist Palnai, or the Fist and Palm. The Hepist Palnai doctrine teaches balance, karma, and give and take. Surprisingly, many tribes also revere and often worship the goddess Njaateso, for whom this land was named for in honor of striving through difficulty and hardship to create excellence. Many have abandoned worship of the Old Gods despite the many ruins of ancient cities and temples dedicated to them.
The Five Tribes of Dolornjaa are split across five ecological regions of this vast eastern half of the continent: Lowlands, Jungle, Savanna, Desert, and Red Stones.
Lowlands
Krahsyk Tribe
Swift, cunning, and politically shrewd, the Krahsyk thrive where the rivers braid into the sea. They are known for their river-palisade cities, built on stilts with dazzling painted slats that shift like scales when viewed from afar.
Values
Adaptability — water teaches them to change course when needed
Memory — nothing is forgotten; every choice is written like river silt
Subtlety — they prefer tactics involving traps, diversions, and diplomacy before battle
Culture
Serpent Masks: During rites, they wear coiling masks carved from driftwood, representing the Great River Serpent Nisshara, a guardian spirit who “swallows lies whole.”
Flood Festivals: They dance on rafts linked by ropes, celebrating the river’s rise as a rebirth.
Ink-Skin Tradition: They mark themselves with indigo tattoos that look like flowing water or serpentine curls, showing personal history.
Specialties
Best trackers and spies in Dolornjaa
Mastery of poisoncraft from river plants
Ambush warfare using shifting marsh trails only they can read
Jungle
Drusyk Tribe
The Drusyk are guardians of Dolornjaa’s densest jungles, living among colossal kapon trees whose roots hum faintly with old magic. They believe the forest holds memories, or, as they say, “green ghosts.”
Values
Patience — every hunt is done with stillness and observation
Reverence for the Unseen — they commune with spirits in the canopy
Balance — the jungle gives and takes equally
Culture
Tree-Kin Settlements: Entire villages built in woven platforms suspended by living vines that respond to ceremonial songs.
Beast-Twin Trials: Each Drusyk forms a lifelong bond with a single jungle creature (panther, hornbill, serpent, boar, etc.) through a ritual vision quest.
Verdant Woad: A green pigment drawn from bioluminescent fungi marks their cheeks before entering sacred zones.
Specialties
Silent hunters, unmatched in camouflage
Herbal medicine, especially potent antidotes
Song-speakers who can calm wild beasts through rhythmic chant
Savanna
Lohsyk Tribe
The Lohsyk are fierce, open-hearted warriors, known for their loud songs and thunderous celebrations after a successful hunt. They see the savanna as a proving ground where the brave earn their names.
Values
Courage — only deeds earn respect
Kinship — your clan is your spine
Endurance — sun teaches them resilience
Culture
Lion-Mantle Cloaks: Warriors wear cloaks made of hand-dyed golden fibers mimicking lion manes. Only the chosen may wear actual lion pelts.
Challenge Circles: Duels, dances, and even marriage proposals occur within chalk circles drawn in the dust.
Drum Road: A tradition where each village maintains great war-drums that can send coded messages across miles of plains.
Specialties
Long-range scouts with exceptional eyesight
Spear warfare and mounted combat (riding swift savanna runners akin to ostrich-horses)
Communal storytelling and oral history traditions
Desert
Vyssyk Tribe
The Vyssyk survive in Dolornjaa’s harshest deserts. They are nomads who “read the sand like scripture” and follow wind-carved paths. Their tents are made of desertglass threads that shimmer like mirages.
Values
Discipline — the desert punishes the careless
Honor in Oaths — promises sealed in sand are sacred
Silence — they speak rarely but listen deeply
Culture
Scorpion Sigils: Each warrior bears a mark resembling a scorpion’s curve, representing survival and precision.
Mirage Dances: Spiritual dances at twilight where performers move in wavering patterns, honoring illusions as teachers.
Salt-Silver Trade: They are famed traders of crystalline salt and desert silver used for ceremonial blades.
Specialties
Deadly precision archers
Masters of stealth and long-distance endurance
Mirage-ciphers: a coded language of shifting cloth signals used between dunes
Red stones
Riesyk Tribe
The Riesyk are quiet, solemn, and spiritually intense. They live among Dolornjaa’s red stone giants. Cliffs that ring with echoes like drums. They believe the stone remembers every footstep.
The Tribe of Princess Talia Rrohar.
Values
Stability — stone teaches permanence and calm
Ancestral Duty — ancestors dwell in the red mesas
Ritual Precision — their ceremonies are choreographed like sculpture
Culture
Earth-Oiled Skin: They coat their skin with red clay and aromatic oils, representing unity with the land.
Echo Priests: Sacred elders trained from childhood to interpret echoes in the canyons as messages from ancestors.
Obsidian Relics: Each family keeps a shard of volcanic glass said to contain the memory of their lineage.
Specialties
Stone-shapers: artisans who carve monumental guardian statues in cliff faces
Gravity-defying climbers
Resonance-combat: a martial art using vibration, stomps, and slams to disrupt foes
Royal House Rrohar
Current Mizojj: King Soraak Rrohar the Mighty - commonly called “Usurper” and “Iron Fist” by rivalling tribes for his betrayal to his brother, Brakk Rrohar, the former Mizojj.
Rrohar Heraldry utilizing the blue color scheme of their familial Riesyk Tribe.
The new Rrohar Heraldry rebranded by Soraak Rrohar utilizing the color schemes of the Lohsyk Tribe and Vyssyk Tribe to create his own new sigil.