The People and Customs of Ald’Hin – Some Facts
1) All Ald’Hin citizens must serve in the military, and receive military training.
The Ald’Hin military is deeply entwined with the Ald’Hin social structure. As soon as a citizen reaches puberty, they are evaluated for their physical and mental abilities, after which they are given martial and tactical training to complement their evaluated skills. After training, citizens are then assigned to either the Ald’Hin Guard (The Lath’Alt) or the Legion (Ser’Alt). The mandatory period of service for the Lath’Alt is 2 years, and 2 to 5 years for the Ser’Alt.
Lath’Alt Guards patrol the major districts of Ald’Hin in pairs. They are expected to know the way to every important public area of Ald’Hin, and must be able to provide directions to anyone who asks. Guards are trained in the usage of bows, as well as a short, double edged sword. These two weapons are to be carried by active city guards at all times.
Guards must observe the Kon Lath’Alt, a pair of tenants considered binding above all other rules:
First, a patrolling Lath’Alt guard must never part with their weapons unless they are dead, or their weapons are broken.
Second, the Lath’Alt must be prepared to defend any innocent citizen of Ald’Hin against harm, even at the cost of their own lives. Against overwhelming force, suffering any injury short of death, a Lath’Alt will stand firm between their citizens and danger.
Ser’Alt Legionaries are, more or less, soldiers of fortune. Ald’Hin subsists not only on trade, but on martial skill. Because of the extensive training undergone by the Ser’Alt, they are in high demand throughout Nakti.
The primary weapon of the Legion is the Ser’Alt long bow. These bows, crafted from the sturdy wood of Ald’Hin’s swamp trees, are of exceptional quality. Arrows are crafted using the teeth of the Althin fish, which are straight, heavy, and razor sharp. Of course, these arrows aren’t always available to soldiers abroad, but their bows are quite capable of using any arrow.
In addition to a bow, most Ser’Alt soldiers carry either a spear or a sword. These two weapons are much more varied, as they are typically supplied by whatever nation the Ser’Alt is serving at the time.
2) The Swamp Forests of Ald’Hin are considered sacred, and are carefully maintained.
The dense clusters of trees that rise from the swamps of Ald’Hin are the primary building material for the city. However, the trees are harvested in carefully monitored cycles. At the start of a cycle, patches ready for harvesting are marked, then cut down and distributed. All other patches of forest must be left alone until they are deemed ready for harvesting, and selected. Because of this careful process, the swamp woods have actually spread since the rise of Ald’Hin.
Every part of a mature swamp tree can be used. The trunk is refined into all manner of building materials, and the somewhat more malleable branches are used to craft tools and weapons. Because of their usefulness, the trees are considered a gift from the gods. Mistreatment of the trees by an outsider is an act of war, and by a citizen is a capital offense.
3) While the Aldites recognize the pantheon of Abunese Gods, the gods of Ald’Hin are indeterminate.
Ald’Hin and Abun are allies (sort of), and part of this is the Aldite recognition of the Abunese gods. However, the Aldites do NOT worship the Abunese gods. The Abunese gods are considered to be the manifestations of the gods to the people of Abun alone.
The only manifestation of the gods that is corporeal to the Aldites is that of the Sacred Equation. The Sacred Equation is a numerical pattern that is found all throughout nature. It is more or less the same as Earth’s Fibonacci sequence. The people of Ald’Hin consider the Sacred Equation to be undeniable proof of the divine.
There are no specific gods in the Ald’Hin religion. They are considered unknowable except through the Sacred Equation, and are simply referred to as “the gods”. Many faithful citizens have the Sacred Equation permanently marked on themselves, either through tattooing or branding. The equation itself can be depicted in written form, or a spiral diagram (the golden ratio) may be used instead.
4) The vicious Althin fish still patrol the waters around Ald’Hin
In ages past, the violent and powerful nature of the Althin made the waters they inhabited off limits to most exploration. The arrivals of the Travelers changed that, and lead up to the formation of Ald’Hin*. While their numbers have dwindled considerably since then, the Althin are still a threat to unwary sailors. In fact, the Althin are so aggressive, that they have been known to leap from the water up onto the paths of the city and attack passerby. Such occurrences are rare, though. Killing an Althin is difficult and time consuming. Althin skin is valued as a fabric, and their teeth are used to make tools and arrows.
*The name, Ald’Hin, is a derivative of the word Althin. The exact nature of the acquisition of this word by the city-state has been lost to time.
