Though it would not be until the expedition proceeded significantly further into the depths of Shdustu that I became sufficiently confident in my observations of the Kharal to speak on their lifestyle with authority, it seems pertinent to present an overview of that grand coalition of peoples at this juncture. As any party proceeds into the heart of the steppe the Kharal become a consideration and contact that, while not continuously present, never truly leave the traveler's mind. Even in the deepest wild regions their influence can be felt, and so long as there is sufficient pasture to support their animals or game to feed their warriors they will express an interest in the territory. The Nikkad, by contrast, though in some sense a more potent force, are much more confined in space.

To begin, the Kharal have resided in Shdustu for many, many generations. Yet, it is a certainty that they were not placed here by the Divines and are instead immigrants from elsewhere. This truth is revealed by the contents of the tomb mounds that may be found scattered across the steppe and in some places gathered into vast grave sites. Though overgrown by soil and grass and in almost all cases long since ravaged by the greed of robbers, artifacts from these ancient tombs appear on occasion in the markets of the great cities, and some excavations by sorcerers have led to collections of artifacts stored in the chapter houses, often with observations recorded. The bodies found within these burial chambers from millennia past bear little resemblance to the features of the Kharal, but rather share traits with the Linqi peoples of the distant east beyond the desert. The style of golden ornaments laid beside the fallen, provides other strong evidence, for gold is as ever proof against the ravages of time. These jewels and figurines feature the motif of the phoenix, a sign not found in Shdustu, and they do not utilize the falcon and garuda motifs that dominate among the symbols favored of the Kharal. Additionally, no grave mound has ever yielded a divine disc. Clearly these ancients were an unenlightened people without understanding of the world's proper nature who lay in thrall to base mysticism and may well have been ruled by wizards as so many were before the revelation spread. The Kharal, quirks of belief aside, are a properly faithful people, a trait retained in their oldest tales, though they have never properly purged mysticism from their lands.

Physically, Kharal are dark-haired, dusky-skinned individuals with compact but tightly muscled frames. They bear a strong resemblance to a more sun-lashed version of the inhabitants of Nla-Shdrash, save for the absence of beards on the men. This, and a correspondence of words left in the accented speech of the mountain-bordering outer province, suggest the Kharal initially came from the west. Their legends claim they were led to Shdustu by a great conqueror, a man known only as the Falcon Khan, who followed a Lightning Eagle sent by the Divines to the center of Shdustu. While I am dubious as to the existence of such a figure, there is an interesting correspondence of times based on the genealogy of some of the long-lived Kharal clans. It seems possible that they came over the mountains in much the same era as when the First Emperor unified the Core Provinces of the Sairn and drove his defeated foes east. It is suggestive that the Kharal may be descended from those who traveled furthest east in the hopes of escaping the endlessly expansive aggression of the First Emperor. If this theory is correct, then the Kharal succeeded in their aims, as whatever claims of suzerainty the empire may have advanced on parchment regarding Shdustu, they evaporate to nothing in crossing the Shdus Desert. The Kharal live and control a land larger than all territories and tributaries of the empire, beholden to nothing but the cruel dominion of their Khagans.

The tale of the conquest of Shdustu by the Falcon Khan, who I believe may be a composite of several military leaders who ruled in succession, perhaps a group of brothers, is well known and repeated at celebrations with great frequency. Legend claims he led a host of heroic warriors – hundreds of names are recorded in the songs, and most Kharal clans claim at least one member of this host as a founding ancestor – against a dissolute horde of both natives and monsters alike who were ruled by foul wizards in thrall to a mighty demon. This is sensationalized, but not impossible. Rule of ancient lands where the revelation has not spread by wizards is commonly reported in history, and while demons are rare, they can take root in lands where no priests remain to gather divine energy and cleanse away their foul taint. It is all too easy for those lacking enlightenment to fall into false understandings regarding the Lord of Death and in seeking to avoid the inevitable confinement prior to rebirth turn to foul practices and the production of monstrosities.

Wizards remain present in Shdustu to the present day, as do many of the mystic beings mentioned in legend, or at least they have left behind their bones. That the local wizard kings and those who served as their minions would consider new arrivals from the west a threat, especially a people of martial heritage as the Kharal surely have always been, seems certain, and they would surely have deployed every resource they possessed, no matter how foul, to oppose them. The Kharal legends claim the Falcon Khan gathered his shamans, invoked Nakiet's favor, and called the Thunder Eagles from the mountains to join his riders in battle and bring victory. This is both unlikely and heretical, though the beasts in question are quite real and still dwell upon the high cliffs scattered about the steppe. More likely, I suspect the khan had wizards of his own to aid him, and their craft proved superior.

Whatever the truth of such allegiances, no single battle would have served to secure control of a region so massive as Shdustu, especially given that the shifting, mobile patterns of life on open grassland does not lend itself to decisive engagements. I believe the Kharal conquest took several generations at least, slowly driving their predecessors eastward until they perished in the desert there. Rather than the aid of mystical beasts or specific tactics, the artifacts of the graves suggests a metallurgical reason behind Kharal triumph. The old mounds yield blades and spearheads of bronze, and the Kharal, while their forges are few and they are more inclined to trade for steel, retain the critical knowledge of working and shaping iron. As anyone who has read history knows, the triumph of iron over bronze has played out many times across the face of the world, and its patterns demand no stories of legendary conquerors or heretical intervention by the Divines.

Whatever unity the Falcon Khan may have offered to the newly arrived masters of the steppe, it did not persist following the departure of the legendary figure from the stage of history. The Kharal divided thereafter into small clans bound into the regional associations that became the modern territories of the Khagans over time. In those early days the numbers must have been limited and they claimed only the best pastures for their herds. Though they have since multiplied in number and spread across all of Shdustu, many of these divisions remain. Significant subgroups of the Kharal include: Takeb, Anucab, Zahgush, Manugshu, Dabatuh, and others, including those who take the names of their Khagan rulers as their own. Thankfully, it is not expected that foreigners recognize the distinctions between these groups. These are primarily expressed through differences in dialect, and chosen predatory birds and feather patterns used symbolically on ceremonial garments. All such persons will answer to the label of Kharal or the Children of the Falcon Khan.

From the beginning of their arrival in Shdustu, the Kharal did not practice agriculture. The steppe is not suited to the plot, and though enterprising clans may sow grain, primarily barley, in open areas such as floodplains in order to improve future forage, they do not plow. They chose the pastoralist life from the moment of their arrival in Shdustu, if not before, and have never abandoned it. The riverine areas suitable for cultivation were, at this time, being claimed by the forerunners of the Nikkad, and it seems the Kharal, though they had thrown down the fortresses of the Wizard-Kings, ignored these settlers, feeling no need to compete while wide open pastures remained. It seems the steppe, with its combination of abundance and hardship so different from a life tied to field and turf, called out to them alone. At least, the histories of the Nikkad do not speak of any great conflicts as they settled and built in the early days.

Stolen story; please report.

Such a life has steady rhythms and changes very little across the march of centuries. The Kharal welcome this endless turning of the years, the next same as the last. They are proud of the teachings and practices of their ancestors, value them highly, and change little over generations. The history of their people contains few tales of substantial change. One group may grow and another shrink, clans shuffle territory and Khagans war. Marriages unify the disparate while blood feuds rip families apart. Occasionally invasions from the east or west or raiders from north or south appear, but they are generally easily repelled by the masters of the steppe. Uprisings by cultists or wizards face the same swift destruction. Though such incursions produce casualties, they also offer an opportunity for glory, and many songs speak of such things vastly out of proportion to their historic importance.

Weather is similarly cyclical. Hard years follow good ones and wet periods follow droughts. Any alteration sufficient to make an impression upon the record is very rare. The dynasties of the Khagans are better recorded, with long chants of these lineages memorized by skilled poets, though they too reflect little real change. As the Khagans remain deep in the steppe for most of the year, and only move about to ride to war against each other, it is rare that foreigners should have any interaction with these rulers. The Dragon Expedition was an exception, and the features of the Khagan's court will be related in due course.

The operational unit of Kharal life is not the Khagans or the dialectical divisions but rather the small to mid-sized clan groups unified by placing their tents close together. These range in size from a few dozen to a few hundred persons, all loose subordinate to a noble family granted the responsibility to gather and lead their warrior contingent should their respective Khagan call them forth. Descent unites these clans, as generally all members can trace their ancestry to some signature warrior of the past through blood or marriage. The authority of Kharal nobility is modest, as without ties to cultivated land, there is nothing to prevent dissatisfied or rebellious herding families from simply leaving and joining another clan. A cruel or wasteful leader soon finds all save his own family have deserted him and the Khagan will dissolve his rank if his life is not forfeit first due to the aggressive raiding that inevitably preys upon those known to be weak. This seems to prevent many abuses found among settled peoples, but it also means any leader with true vision for the future struggles greatly to find the support needed to implement such plans. I suspect this contributes heavily to the unchanging nature of the steppe's history.

Each clan has its own territory, though it is not easily mapped and rarely contiguous, consisting of a series of pastures, hunting grounds, forest patches, water sources, and other resources they rely upon year after year. Though most, including the Kharal themselves, call their people nomads, and they can in truth move their home and hearth quite swiftly if forced by disaster or warfare, in ordinary times they are liable to shift the locations of their yurts merely a few times each year as part of regular shifts between seasonal pastures. The immense fields of rapidly growing grass are essential as fodder for the vast livestock herds they keep. Even a poor family will be outnumbered nearly twenty to one by their stock, and therefore pasturage is contested just a vehemently as farm fields among settled people. There is little difference between feuding Kharal herders and Sairn farmers beyond the landscape backdrop.

Most clan members are related, though these chart convoluted paths of blood, marriage, divorce, and re-marriage I struggled to parse when faced with explanations. Such bonds assist in holding associations of felt-walled tents together, but as I mentioned departure from such groups is easy and there is no sanction among them against it. Mixing is therefore fairly common and serves to keep bloodlines mingled across the steppe, insuring they remain fresh and hale.

The tribes, which bear names taken from ancient ancestors, stand above the clans but have little everyday function. Their leaders, called chieftains, hold little power outside of ceremonies unless they issue a call to war and even then though they muster large units to fight they are likely to be made to serve beneath a general appointed by the Khagan. This role is somewhat similar to that of a county manager in the empire, though the territory is much larger while the number of people is greatly reduced. Tribes are numbered in the thousands, with roughly four thousand being both the most common and seemingly the average. Tribes may combine, perish, or separate, so their number is never truly constant, but it seems Shdustu hosts nearly two hundred Kharal tribes most years.

Unless desperately pressed by warfare or some other disaster, each tribe holds an annual gathering centered on the summer solstice – the Kharal borrow the calendar of the Nikkad and rarely keep it with scrupulous accuracy, but they are steady in marking the four sacred dates – for feasting, sport, arts, and the ceremonial coming of age of their youth.

While Kharal clans may raid independently or in informal coalitions, which the chieftains often lead, they answer the Khagan's call to war as a tribe. Such large scale conflict is relatively common, and the Khagan's send out the call to either war or a great hunt nearly every year, but generally call forth no more than one tribe in ten unless committed to a serious conflict. Raiding of their rivals for cattle, of traveling merchants for spoils, or of the Nikkad for riches is far more common.

Everyday life among the Kharal centers around their animals. Men lead the march and tend the herds, work the dogs, and conduct hunts. Women maintain the clumps of yurts and conduct household work. Both sexes milk animals during the appropriate seasons and gather vegetables whenever they happen upon them, and they work together to produce the felt essential for their tents and clothing. During the long winter months when the herds are kept close and forage beneath snow, the men hunt, trap, and work to produce tools – especially the composite bows which they use in work and war alike. The women weave and perform other tasks necessary for the production of clothing.

In their diet meat, especially horse and camel flesh, is highly prestigious – though that of a wolf who has been slain preying upon the stock is considered a gift from the Divines. Despite this, dairy and vegetables are both more common, and the majority of meat consumed is either mutton or various captured small game such as marmot and hare. This is not obvious to outsiders, as the Kharal will prepare high prestige meals for honored guests as a way of demonstrating their prosperity. Though much meat and milk is consumed immediately following harvest, the rest will be preserved. Nothing is wasted. Drying, used for both meat and dairy in a variety of creative methods, is the most common preservation method, though clans dwelling near salt sources will not hesitate to utilize that approach as well.

Regardless of weather conditions, and Shdustu can be brutally harsh in all seasons, a great portion of the day is spent caring for livestock. Much of the remainder is spent in food processing or the production and care for garments. In this, the Kharal differ little from a farmer in the Sanid Empire. It is a steady, simple life that follows the seasons and fears bad weather just as those bound to their fields do. Most Kharal are poor, holding no wealth beyond their animals. In order to obtain goods not easily produced in their wandering lives, primarily metal tools, they must rely upon trade. Felt, hides, leather, and meat are the primary goods they produce for trade, but they are more like as not to trade away their plunder from prior raids. Neither the Nikkad nor foreign merchants register any objection to this practice, especially as while the Kharal are formidable warriors they are not skilled merchants and a canny bargainer can usually do well in commerce with them. Cheating them openly, however, is death if they discover the deception.

If called by their Khagan all Kharal will ride to war, from the poorest who have no weapons beyond their bows and skinning knives and no armor save layered furs to the rich nobles clad in many-layered mail and wielding sabers made by master smiths. Most are reasonably well-armed, with bows, spears, and lamellar of hardened and layered leather to protect them. All who make use of Shdustu pay a toll to the Kharal at some point, and they are happy to take it in implements of death whether it be given freely or pried loose from beneath a cloud of arrows.