The Vlaanites

Before the war with the altered and the eventual alliance between the five kingdoms, there exists the Vlaan, a race of born hunters living in the desert. Blessed with natural heightened dexterity and strength by their patron godess, the godess of the hunt, and their hardy constitution further tempered by the harsh landscape they lived in. Both male and female vlaanites focused on military training and excellence. Vlaanites underwent rigorous training and education regimen, and Vlaanite hunters were widely considered to be among the best hunters in existence.

At age 14, all Vlaanite males are inducted into a cabal with fifteen members each. A Vlaanite ceremony was performed where the blood of each man is mingled together. The process usually provides a participants with a heightened symbolic sense of attachment with another participant. soon, each individual learned how to trust and rely on their battle brothers. If one member of the cabal falls, there usually would not be a replacement for the fallen brother. Vlaanite females were allowed a greater degree of freedom. They could choose to pursue a career in the military, or possibily the other social sectors. Vlaanites are only allowed to leave the military after 20 years of service, or if they recieve a wound that would impair their strenght in battle. Once they have left the military, they are to pursue a life as a merchant, or other services.

Vlaanite cities are usually built underground, with easily colapsible entrances and tunnels to deter invaders.The Vlaanites used a consolidated scheme for city planning, developed mostly for military defence than civil convinience. The basic plan consisted of a central forum with city services, surrounded by a compact, rectilinear grid of streets, and wrapped in a wall for defense. To reduce travel times, two diagonal streets crossed the square grid, passing through the central square. An aritificial river usually flowed through the city, providing water and sewage disposal. They would lay out the streets at right angles, in the form of a square grid. All roads were equal in width and length, except for two, which were slightly wider than the others. One of these ran east–west, the other, north–south, and intersected in the middle to form the center of the grid. All roads were made of carefully fitted flag stones and filled in with smaller, hard-packed rocks and pebbles.

Certain areas inside the city were open as farmlands, using special stones to provide the sunlight needed for the crops to grow. The Vlaanites reared cattle, sheeps and pigs as well, providing them another important source of nourishment. The usual Vlaanite meal consists of several Meat Cutlets, usually Beef, acompanied by a small loaf of bread as well as a generous ammount of salad, and a mug of their specially brewed Vlaanite black wine to wash it down.

Each city is usually connected to other cities via a unique way of transportation, a mechanical marvel only known as the clockwork. Brass cabins are whisked through the massive tunnels by the use of a complex system of gears and pulleys. The means to create such a complex system is a closely guarded secret.

when a Vlaan man went to war, his wife or another woman of some significance would customarily present him with his bow, or crossbow and say: "With this, or under this" , meaning that true Vlaanites could only return to their cities either victorious with their bows, or crossbows in hand or dead, the bow or crossbow laid on top of the corpse. it is fair to say that it was less of a disgrace for a hunter to lose his helmet, breastplate or greaves than his bow, since the former were designed to protect one man, whereas the bow also protected the entire race. Thus the bow, or crossbow was symbolic of the individual soldier's subordination to his cabal, his integral part in its success, and his solemn responsibility to his blood brethren.

In battle, Vlaanites usually perform surgical hit and runs, targeting the weakest link of the enemy army, usually the supply carts. Cabals would stalk the enemies silently for hours, days or even weeks. Raining down a hail of arrows when they are the most vulnerable, then quickly retreating in the chaos. Vlaanite campsites are usually extremely dark, as any lighting is forbidden in the campsites to not betray their position. Fighting in these dark conditions at night had also allowed the vlaan to improve their eyesight, allowing them to take out a man at 200 meters with their crossbows, or bow in extreme darkness.