Location: Chi'Hamak
Belief System: The Shendolin have a very dark, even disturbing, belief system based on necromancy. Its origins unknown, the power of their shamans include the ability to call and enslave spirits, and inflict curses and damage from afar. Sacrificed offerings are often given to favored spirits by bands or individual Shendolin in trade for fortune to smile upon them.
Architectural: Much of the common Shendolin live in ramshackle housing, consisting of wood construction, occasionally of other shoddy materials. Few but the wealthiest have access to the materials and skills that have built their few cities and temples, though that does not stop the Shendolin from striving for the day when they all live in such splendor. Shendolin splendor, meanwhile, is defined by large-scale stone construction using a black basalt, and very angular.
Political Structure: Little is known in-depth of the Shendolin leadership structure except for the fact that the loose bands of Shendolin were brought together fairly recently under a council of immortal elders and their leader, a wise and all-powerful king. Decrees are sent from their isolated palace, reported to be located in the region known as The Top of the World, via sacred messenger to elders and warlords to do the bidding of the council, which they obey without question.
Cultural Personality: Shendolin culture is very rough to those who are not Shendolin. Punishments meted out by the band elders is harsh and swift even for rather minor offenses. Indifferent to their own hardships, they show no sympathy for those who are in similar or even worse plights. Legend has it that they were once kept as slaves, and since a rebellion some hundreds or even thousands of years before, have sworn never to be subjigated again. This would have been readily accepted by their neighboring Fringers, except for the Shendolin penchant for becoming slave masters, travelling into border territories to carry away Fringers to various fates.
While technically allied to the Bokarans of the Stellar Corporation, they are rather dismissive of them in general, though some of the more enterprising Shendolin see opportunities in the far more advanced off-worlders. The elders and the King, in their wisdom, summoned the Stellar Corporation to help create revenue from their western lands, which were too large for their small numbers to take advantage of, and they have since benefitted from an infusion of technology and money, to the detriment of the Fringers and their Charkritian allies.
Politics Pertaining to Other Factions:
Stellar Corporation: Allies in the political sense, the Shendolin have very little understanding of their culture, and prefer to keep a respectful distance from the strangers with whom they do business. They readily interact with them in business and military matters, though see little advantage to learning from their customs or behavioral norms.
Kandi’Kana: The Shendolin have no known ties or position on the Kandi'Kana.
Fringe Clans and the Charkritians: As related and close allies, the Shendolin are content to lump the two together in their worldview. In that view, these peoples represent a roadblock standing in the way of Shendolin greatness, though despite their efforts in upgrading their technology and allying themselves to the Stellar Corporation, they have been unable to bypass it. Should something occur that radically shifts the balance in their favor (the Pandemic almost did that), they will surely take advantage of it.
Regional Descriptions: Coming Soon...