The mountain folk of the Taman Busuk region comprise
the greater proportion of humans living in the Khalkists
and the valleys snaking through them. The civilized
Nerakans have good reason to fear their savage cousins,
for while the two groups share a common ancestry, the
mountain nomads of the Taman Busuk have no patience
for those who do not respect the land nor live directly
upon it. Although the Queen of Darkness recruited most
of these bloodthirsty people for her armies in the War of
the Lance, alongside the men of Jelek and Sanction, the
Dragonarmy officers soon learned to keep them as separate
as possible from their city-dwelling neighbors.
Mountain life is rough, and the Khalkists are home to
a host of terrible and fierce creatures. Ogres, goblins, and
trolls are the least of a nomad’s worries. Even before the
Cataclysm, when the natives of the region were ignored
provincial subjects of the Kingpriest, each nomad lived
and died in the basalt spires of his homeland, and each
generation has grown progressively stronger. Death is
quick and sudden for the Taman Busuk nomads, but
the nomads across the plateaus and peaks have survived
tremendous challenges already.
Ethnically, the Taman Busuk nomads are related to
the Abanasinian Plainsfolk and the Ergothians; Ackal
Ergot was from this region. They are rugged, swarthy
folk with skin ranging from light to dark, depending on
the individual tribe. Nomads organize themselves into
extended family tribes with individual totems, icons,
ancestor spirits, or other quasi-religious trappings; those
who live near the ancient ruins of Godshome adopt one
of the true gods as a tribal patron, assigning the deity a
measure of ancestral honor. Therefore, it is common for
outsiders to find extraordinarily detailed shrines and
temples in the middle of nomadic settlements.