An Introduction to Sri Raji and Experiences By Phillberte Gatteux

[Freydaelyn]

[A new scholarly publication written by the Assistant Curator of the Musee du Port-a-Lucine is published in light of the chaos within the city]

"An Introduction to Sri Raji and Experiences" By Phillberte Gatteux

Sri Raji is a land of humid jungles, filled with deadly predators and dangerous flora. The jungle has been fought back in a few areas, leaving refuge for man to live. The cities within Sri Raji are all densely populated, with each city following an extremely rigid caste system.

* Climate
The jungles of Sri Raji are enormous. The days are filled with the growls of predators, the cries of their prey as well as the buzzing of blood-drinking and disease-carrying insects. Temperatures are comparable to those within the arid land of Har’akir though much more humid. There is little variation in this no matter the season. As the day turns to dusk dark clouds will fill the sky as well as the coming signs of a storm swiftly approaching. By the time the sun sets these storms usually pass. At night the temperatures drop to something much more tolerable. An interesting phenomenon of Sri Raji is that there is no moon in the night sky. Given this the nights within the jungle land are absolute darkness.

Besides the jungles there are a few rivers as well as mountains. The Yahasha Mountains serve as a border to the northwest portion of the land with Mount Yamatali being located southeast of them. This mountain stands a good thousand feet over the jungle canopy. Coming from the mountains are the three rivers though through my research only the Damuhm River (The River of Blood) is named specifically; It is on this river that the city of Tvashsti is located. Another feature besides the jungle is lake Veda. It holds the settlement of Muldi on it’s northern shore. Within the south western part of the land is the settlement of Pakat. The final location of note within the jungles of Sri’Raji is Bahru, the Accursed city.

* The Cities
The people of Sri Raji are dark skinned with dark hair and they densely populated their cities. Located on the  Damuhm river’s west bank the smallest is the previously mentioned settlement, Tvashti, rests. Though smallest is a slight misnomer as there are at least a few thousand people living within it.The city is surrounded by rice paddy. Most of the population are farmers or fishermen. Within the Center of the city is a great temple dedicated to Tvashtri, the Rajan god of science and technology. The buildings around the temple is the great university. Knowledge and intelligence are highly valued within Tvashti.

The settlement of Pakat is the second largest city within the jungles and is also ringed by Rice paddies though not as much as the jungle around Pakat is much more savage than near the other cities. The wild of the jungle always making it hard for the citizens to keep the city from being reclaimed by the wilds. Poverty and famine is quite common in Pakat for these reasons. Near the center of Pakat is a temple to the Rajian goddess Ratri tough it has fallen into disrepair.

The final populated settlement is of Muladi, a city of around 8,000 people and it is quite a good deal larger than the other two settlements. Muladi does not have an issue with hunger as Pakat does but it does have a large presence of crime and violence. This city is located on the northern shore of lake Veda and is also surrounded by rice paddy though my reading has found the rice crop is seldom good. Reports have also shown that  parasites and disease affect the rice crop here with an alarming regularity. Cuisine among the Muladian’s often consists of seaweed and fish. On the waterfront of Muladi a large temple to the goddess Rudri sits. The local belief is that Rudri’s influence is why the farmers have such poor luck but also that Rudri keeps the depths of the lake as well as the local jungle free of dangers and that without her mercy the city would be overwhelmed by nameless dangers.

* The Caste System
The Caste system of Sri Raji is ,as previously stated, extremely rigid. There is no moving between castes as it is set at birth and is seen as a culmination of the aspects of their past life as according to the rajian beliefs of reincarnation. Those who distinguish themselves either positively or negatively will be rewarded or punished in their next life. There are many factors that determine the placement of an individual within a caste including place of birth, wealth and piety. There are a countless number of castes and to fully understand them without being Rajian would arguably be a field of study in and of itself.

A simple overview of casts from my research goes as follows; The Brahmin caste consists of priests and sometimes great heroes and it is an extremely rare sight to meet one of this caste. The Kshatriya is the caste of nobles and heroes of the Rajian people, it is also rare to meet one of this caste. The caste of most common folk is called the Vaishya. This would include merchants, craftsman and so on. The class of the poor and the bottom caste is classified as Shudra. This includes farmers and others that society feels is easily replaceable.

* Bahru
The Accursed City of Bahru is the last location of note to speak of. It is in the northwestern reaches of the Rajian jungle atop a plateau within the mountains located there. It is worth noting that this plateau has been carved. Within Bahru stands the temple of Kali though the city itself lies in ruins. There are rumors of great wealth to be found there though the horrors of the jungle itself are said to be quite thick there. Within the temple of Khali the Maharaja, Arijani lives. It is considered to be a place of great evil though the people hold Kali in awe as they believe the goddess has power over their daily lives.

In that regard there is a tradition where once each day a different city selects one of their own to be sent to the temple. The method for each city varies, within Tvashsti the priests have a mechanical device that selects. In Pakat the High Priestess of Ratri decides who is chosen and within Muladi  the high priest of Rudri chooses. The person chosen leaves at dawn in a grand Howdah on the back of an albino elephant. If it does not rain in the evening the selected individual is returned home for some reason of import decided by Kali. The belief is that those who do not return from the temple have passed onto the next life. Due to the belief of reincarnation being absolute within Sri Raji they see this as the start of a new life for the individual chosen. If that rebirth comes at the hands of the gods then the individual is to be blessed with a life of great splendor and happiness.

The Rajian people see death simply as another part of life. They are adamant in their belief that life is constantly being renewed. If someone lives a good life will be rewarded with a better life in their following one and those who are less true and faithful will be reborn in a lesser one. This cycle ends should an individual achieve a complete understanding of the universe and a unity with the gods themselves. Upon doing so the cycle of reincarnation is broken and the spirit is allowed to join the enlightenment of Nirvana.

* My Experiences
My time in the Verdant Lands, though short was eventful. To begin the crew consisted of Myself, Aidelina Gatteux, Minawa, Maitre Alexandre Vaillant, Xelvos Silverkin, Snow Erraverunt, Sapphire Nightingale, Serna Rhea, Warden Lynette Midwinter, Vika Von Voytz, Xelvos Silverkin, Blake de la Rochenoire and Alusand Fersquing. Beyond the field crew we had the pleasure of having traveled with the single greatest helmsmen on the sea of Sorrows Nathan Blake. I do not give him this praise faintly either; beyond his sailing outside of this expedition he also was able to traverse the dangerous ship graveyard known as Saragoss not just once, but twice. Our voyage took the mistway known as the "Emerald Stream" so called this because the mists themselves are an emerald green. We arrived in Sri Raji at night and as the rumors have shown, the sky is indeed pitch black with no celestial bodies being seen at night. Upon landfall in Sri Raji we encountered both hostile Fauna in the form of Tigers,and Locals. The crew was able to dispatch them with ease. As day began to brake we had our only non-hostile encounter with the locals. It is my assumption that we were perceived as either being equal or higher than the merchant we spoke with as he was most cordial. I made a trade arrangement of 400 crates of Rajian rice to be brought back with us, this same rice as of this publication being used to offset the food shortages within Dementlieu. It is worth noting that this far in to the mists has proven to be safe from the volcanic activity darkening the skies as of 776.

Beyond this dealing the only human activity we saw was of a splinter sect of the cult of Kali. All interactions with them were hostile and resulted in us having to protect ourselves as we could. We witnessed them defiling shrines to other gods as we traveled. We progressed further in to the jungles and encountered extremely large fauna, Giant insects and even a tiger as large as a small house. Given the nature of the wilds in Sri Raji it is likely that with how hard it is to cut back against the jungle predators are able to grow to sizes thought unlikely by scholars before. Eventually we discovered the Celestine Observatory within the jungles, the splinter sect of Kali using it as a staging place for their war against the Maharaja of Sri Raji. As with our previous encounters with this cult we had to defend ourselves with lethal force for our own protection.

Upon dispatching the leadership of the cult we had time to examine the observatory, it was in shambles but the grand telescope was still intact. It was then we experienced something that was thought impossible. A comet across the Rajian sky, the Celestines and the locals called it "Durga" after the Rajian god of War, Strength and Protection. To my knowledge my team and I may be the only non-Rajian's to see this Phenomina. As we were departing Sri Raji the crew was thanked by the Maharaja Arijani for our service and allowed to trade with the nation so long as such interactions are brief.

In conclusion, I would not advise travel to Sri Raji without a HIGHLY experienced crew, both for landfall and for the voyage itself. The heat was not quite as bad as the deserts of Har'Akir as previous reports had led me to believe but it was still noticeably hot and traveling within the Jungles was difficult. Having trackers or people able to navigate hostile forested terrain is a must should you seek to travel there as well as a trained linguist as all we encountered only spoke Rajian. For those looking to make coin in trade their rates were more than reasonable, even when it came to Saffron and other luxury items. Brief, swift trips will always serve best to avoid being chosen as a sacrifice as well. I hope to return to Sri Raji one day and spend more time within the cities but that is for another time.

P.Gatt