For countless years and generations the semi-nomadic tribes of desert people in the Naxi desert warred with one another over land and over old slights. Tribe fought with tribe, sometimes several joined together against a common enemy, though alliances changed like the drifting sands of the Naxi. Occasionally the desert people would raid the towns of the agrarian people's on the northern boarders of the desert, such as the people of Atav. For the most part the desert people ignored the northerners, who were unable chase the raiders into the desert.
This changed with the rise of a great warlord and conquerer from the plains to the north of the desert. This great conquerer was Tarnost. Tarnost and his soldiers conquered all people north of the desert, he took their small towns and great cities alike. He then lead his armies into to deserts and slew the desert people as well. His swift horses chased down the caravans that passed through the desert. His armies took the oases and made them their own. He destroyed the great temples of the desert people and violated all of their holy places. The vile northerners even took the desert people's women to use as their playthings.
For many years the desert people lived in terror and their blood turned the white sands of the Naxi red. Countless numbers of the desert people were killed, many too were enslaves. Entire tribes of desert people perished forever. Tarnost's reign of terror lasted for almost sixty years, and the desert people barely survived it. With Tarnost's death his mighty empire crumbled and fell to infighting as his hundreds of royal grandchildren fought among each other for ruler ship of the empire. This allowed the desert people to recover and regain their strength as a people. It also gave them a chance to seek revenge for all of the wrongs inflicted against them.
With the Nostians fighting against each other, many of the foreign enemies used the opportunity to strike out against the Nostian Empire. Nostia was attacked from every side as its nobles and soldiers fought each other as well. The desert people were among the most fierce in their attacks against Nostia. They sacked towns and cities, killed civilians, and used torture and cruelty when ever they could. They also struck from the safety of the deserts and then retreated when major forces tried to attack them in return. Soon the once great Nostian Empire was in ruins, having been reduced to a few small territories on the banks of the Atav river. The attacks from foreign nations diminished over the years as the importance of Nostia shrank and the Nostian Empire faded from memory. The desert people still remembered the cruelty the suffered at the hands of the Nostians and continued to raid Nostian villages on the southern borders of the Nostian kingdoms. This continued for generations.
One particular tribe of desert people, one of the smaller and poorer tribes, made tentative contact with the much feared "barbarians" to the north. This tribe was the Yetsheh tribe. The Yetsheh were nomadic like their many of their fellow desert people. The Yetsheh held no land of their own at all, no oases to stop at and water their herds or strong soldiers protect them from the attacks of other desert people. This particular year, the Yetsheh were experiencing particularly bad luck as many of their animals had died and their food supplies ran low. They journeyed to Tarnost City in the southernmost part of Nostia, hoping to be able to trade or barter with the Nostians, knowing that they would receive no help from their kinsmen.
When the Nostians found themselves visited by desert people, they considered simply destroying or enslaving them all. It was Paxia Gharus, Patriarch of the Paxia family, that persuaded the Nostians to do otherwise. He suggested that perhaps the Yetsheh could benefit the Nostians in some way, that by helping and perhaps even allying themselves with the Yetsheh that they could profit or perhaps even strike back against the other desert peoples who so often raid Nostian cities. The Nostians allowed the Yetsheh to drink their water and rest in their city. They also traded with the Yetsheh. The Yetsheh, it turned out, had many interesting and exotic items that they had come across in their travels through the deserts and the lands beyond. In exchange for their exotic goods, the Yetsheh were fed and even received some money left over. The Yetsheh were allowed to leave in peace and planned to come back with additional goods with which to trade with the Nostians.
From that point on, the Yetsheh became regular traders with Nostia. This arrangement helped both Nostia and the Yetsheh. The Yetsheh began to grow in strength and wealth compared to the other tribes of desert people. Their wealth began to truly grow when the Nostians decided to begin trading opium with them. The Yetsheh would travel the deserts and the lands beyond selling opium to the people's they encountered. In exchange for opium, they got a product even more precious to the Nostians - slaves. They Yetsheh began incredibly wealthy through this arrangement. Because of addiction to opium and the steep prices that the Yetsheh could often charge, the people with whom the Yetsheh traded with experienced a sharp decline.
When the Nostians began to have an inkling about the damage caused by the sell of opium to those foreign peoples, particularly the desert people, they were delighted. They made laws giving the Yetsheh special privileges in Nostian territory, including the ability to enter Nostian cities as free men and to travel through Nostian territory unmolested as long as a tax was payed for goods being transported. This allowed the Yetsheh to have greater mobility and access to new lands and for the Nostians to get a greater share in the profits that the Yetsheh were generating.
After a while of this, the other desert peoples began to grow envious of the wealth of the Yetsheh. They also began to realize that the source of the Yetsheh's wealth was a close trading agreement with the Nostians - the most despised enemy of the desert people. Because of this many of the desert people began to attack the Yetsheh when ever they could. Many of the other tribes would not trade with them, sometimes multiple tribes would even join together to ambush the Yetsheh as they traveled through the desert. The Yetsheh suffered a great lose of numbers as well as money as the desert people seemed to unite against them.
At the same time, Nostia was experiencing troubles of its own. Some of the Nostian peasants had declared independence, while at the same times the Nostian nobility fell into civil war and foreign armies from the far north began marching on the northern boarders of Nostia. In retaliation for their interaction with the Yetsheh, the other desert people began stepping up their attacks against Nostian settlements and travelers. Things looked bleakest for both the Yetsheh and Nostia when Nostia fell into a full fledged civil war. The desert people united in a full out assault against Nostia in the hopes of finishing them forever. Unfortunately for the desert people, the Nostian civil war came to a rather quick and unexpected end - and a new unified Nostian Empire was reborn.
The new Nostian Empire was able to fend off its attackers fairly easily. It then began to expand rapidly, retaking areas that Tarnost had conquered many centuries before. Within a few decades the desert people had been pushed deep into the Naxi and the people of the far north had been crushed. The Yetsheh helped the Nostian army to find travel routes and hiding places of the desert people, and their raids against the Nostians were put to an end.
Over the next several decades the Yetsheh reestablished their trade routs through the desert and beyond. The other desert people were too afraid of reprisals to launch any major attacks against he Yetsheh or Nostians, but still struck out against them when they were able and never lost an opportunity to show their hatred for the Yetsheh. Despite this, the desert people are still occasionally forced to trade with the Yetsheh for rare foreign goods or for much desired opium.
As the new Nostian Empire expanded and grew in strength, so did the influence of the Yetsheh. The Yetsheh began traveling far and wide to the far corners of the known world, meeting new people and establishing trade with them. The Nostians with time became quite unpopular for their militarism, but the Yetsheh could trade with people who despised the Nostians. The Yetsheh would grow vastly wealthy from introducing opium to foreign people, who would have no where else to go for the rare substance. The Yetsheh would then gradually increase the price, getting richer and richer as opium use grew in popularity and addiction became common place. Some nations became so weakened by the use of opium that they became prime targets for conquest for the Nostian Empire.
Odds and Ends
Yetsheh tend to have dark caucasian skin, baring some resemblance to Dravidic Indians. Their hair is usually black or very dark brown and tends to be straight or slightly wavy. Yetsheh women tend to wear their hair long and let it flow naturally, sometimes in a pony tail. Men on the other hand usually cut their hair to shoulder length or slightly shorter, though they also tend to have natural hair styles. Men also usually shave their faces, though older men will sometimes grow a mustache. Some men prefer to adopt the Nostian style of growing a short beard along with short head hair. From frequent interaction with the Nostians, it has become a common practice for Yetsheh women to shave off their body hair. The Yetsheh have brown eyes that ranges in color from a medium brown to almost black. Their eyes have a slightly exotic look about them, perhaps like an American Indian or Meztico person. Their lips tend to be full and their mouths on the large side. Many of the Yetsheh have Nostian blood and bare a closer resemblance to them. Yetsheh tend to vary a lot in build and stand slightly short than Nostians at an average of about 5'7" for a man and 5'3" for a woman.
The Yetsheh have a tradition of wearing concealing clothing, mostly things that will protect their skin from the blazing sun in the day or the freezing cold in the night. They usually wear very dark shades of gray, green, or blue. Standard dress for a man consists of a long robe with slits up the middle between the legs to allow for better leg movement along with a cloak and hood and perhaps a face scarf. Women instead wear a two pice garment the consists of a long flowing skirt, usually of fine material and a long sleeved shirt on the top, along with the same cloak and face scarf. Usually in hotter weather more sheer clothing is worn, and often summer garments will contain numerous cuts in the fabric so that it can breath more easily. In the winter thicker materials are worn, often in layers. Of course, since the Yetsheh to so many places their clothing style can vary tremendously from place to place depending on the climate as well as the cultural values of the people they are interacting with. When in Nostia, the Yetsheh are required to wear a yellow sash to show that they are Yetsheh - no other race in Nostia has such an option.
The Yetsheh love to show off their wealth. Its not uncommon for Yetsheh men and women alike to have gold or silver necklaces, rings, bracelets, and other assorted pieces of jewelry. They also like to have precious metals and jewels sewn into their clothing. To the Yetsheh, wealth is the ultimate measure of a person's worth and showing your wealth shows your value as a person. For the most part Yetsheh clothing tends to be rather concealing of flesh as well as the shape of the wearer. The one exception are breasts - Yetsheh women usually do all that they can to emphasize and draw attention to their breasts, usually just stopping short of exposing the nipple. Bigger is better to the Yetsheh, so garments that squeeze and push up are very common. This fashion trend combined with the love of jewels has lead the Yetsheh have have interesting clothing choices - such as large gems sitting between the breasts or used as pasties to cover the nipples. Of course, when traveling in foreign lands sometimes more conservative garments are worn. While in Nostia, Yetsheh tend to wear less and/or slightly more revealing clothing as is the Nostian way, though they usually try to keep the gold and jewels to a minimum.
In Nostia, Nostian men are allowed to marry Yetsheh women. This is something extremely rare among the Nostians, most cases of a Nostian and non-Nostian marrying or having children is punishable by death. Because of the long standing alliance and close association between Nostians and the Yetsheh, this tradition has started. It can also be extremely beneficial for both the Nostian and Yetsheh who get married. Within Nostia, the Yetsheh people have limited rights and suffer from racism - despite being the most accepted non-Nostians in Nostia. By marrying a Nostian man, a Yetsheh woman gains a connection to a Nostian family - a family which has power and influence in Nostia as only true Nostians have. This allow the Yetsheh family to have privileges within the boarders of Nostia that other Yetsheh do not have, such as additional legal protections. For a Nostian, this arrangement usually means greater wealth and great prestige amount the Yetsheh. Typically it is poor Nostian common men who marry a wealthier Yetsheh girls - the man is then a member of a wealthy family and a big shot among the Yetsheh people while the girl and her family gain a true Nostian and the status that brings. The children of such a coupling are legally considered to be Yetsheh by the Nostian government.
The Yetsheh are divided in to clans that can trace their lineage back to the nomadic desert peoples from years ago. Each of these clans has sworn an oath of allegiance to one of the 17 noble families of Nostia. All members of the clan receive a tattoo showing which of the Nostian noble families they are sworn to. This arrangement allows the Yetsheh to have rights within the Nostian Empire - all other non-Nostian within Nostia's boarders are considered to be property. The noble family takes responsibility for the Yetsheh clan and provides legal protection of that clan and its members' rights, wealth, and property when in Nostia. Of course, the noble family also gets a huge cut of the wealth that the Yetsheh clan brings through Nostia. A Yetsheh must bear the mark of one of the Nostian noble families to be able to walk freely through Nostia - without it the Yetsheh is property for the taking.
The Yetsheh traders make most of their wealth by selling opium to various "barbarian" cultures - those who do not know the dangers of the substance. The Yetsheh buy opium from Nostian opium farmers and then transport it across Nostian roads and water ways to the edge of the Nostian empire and then travel off to take the opium to foreign lands. When making early contact the Yetsheh will sell the opium for almost nothing, or sometimes even give it away for free. Then as it grows in popularity they steadily increase the prices as the buyers become more and more willing to pay high prices. The Yetsheh prefer precious metals or slaves in exchange, but any valuable substance or rare good will be acceptable. Of course, any group of people can offer slaves and most poorer cultures do once they develop a taste for opium. Some people even sell their own children to the Yetsheh if the become desperate enough.
Some wiser nations, and those that have seen the effects of trading with the Yetsheh, will ban trade with the Yetsheh, prohibit them from entering towns or ports, sometimes even kill them on site. Of course, the Yetsheh will avoid such communities as they always avoid direct conflict when ever possible. Though the Yetsheh greatly resent being banned and will often bribe Nostian officials into putting military pressure on people who bar entrance to the Yetsheh. They also frequently ally themselves with pirates and smugglers.
The Yetsheh marry for money more than anything else. Marriages are arranged between a woman's parents and the husband to be. He pays a certain amount of money to the parents based upon the wealth of her family, her beauty and personal merits, and what every influence or benefits he may be able to offer the family as an in-law. If the groom's offer is satisfactory he is allowed to marry the daughter. She is then adopted into the husband's family and takes his family name. Sex before marriage is strictly taboo to the Yetsheh, as is marital infidelity on the part of the husband or the wife. A husband is considered the head of the household and is the one who has ultimate authority of the family's wealth, but women do have personal rights to come and go as they please and do not have to be obedient to their husbands - though public lack of respect for a husband or father is thought to be unseemly and scandalous. Daughters do not receive an inheritance from parents, the wealth of a family is split between the sons when a parent dies. A daughter who goes unmarried carries with her the stigma of being an old maid, and is usually given food and shelter by her brothers or their families.
The marriage between a Nostian and a Yetsheh woman is handled a bit differently. Instead of the husband paying the bride's family, the reverse is done, the Yetsheh family will pay the family of the Nostian groom. Then the Nostian will be officially adopted by the Yetsheh daughter's family and will be treated as one of their own sons. He will receive an inheritance like is wife's brothers and will be considered to be part of the family. Sometimes there can be some tension, since the brothers will feel unhappy about having to share their inheritance with a Nostian. Its can also cause trouble if the Nostian sees himself as superior to his new Yetsheh family or if he cheats on his wife, which is not uncommon in Nostian households but highly frown upon among the Yetsheh. For the most part, Nostians who decide to marry Yetsheh women know that it will involve a major change in lifestyle and realize that they will have to become a part of Yetsheh culture.
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