"Hurral" (HUH-rull) means "felt tent", and it is in felt tents that the nomads here live. Hurral is landlocked.

Life among the People of the Felt Tents, the Hurralin (huh-RAH-lin), follows a yearly cycle of taking their herds of cattle and goats to the best grazing land: north in summer, south in winter. Water rights are jealously guarded. No tribe’s claim to land is recognized unless it is backed by force.

Families live in felt tents that are easy to disassemble, and that can house up to twenty people.

Tribute is exacted from the farmers who fringe their territories: usually food, but also metals. Raids provide still more.

Large domestic animals are horses, cattle, sheep, and goats. Dogs and falcons are popular pets. These animals provide all a tribesman needs. In their inhospitable land, horses provide transport, and cattle give meat to eat, skin for clothes and armor, bone for weapons, dung to fuel the fire, and so forth.

The Hurralin are a collection of nomad tribes, who only agree that house dwellers are provided to become slaves and loot. It takes a strong Chief to get even a few of the tribes to federate and make united policies. The leader of each tribe is a Khan; one who controls many tribes is Great Khan.

The major tribes are: Tangled Hawk, Creeping Spider and Roaring Otter in the northwest; Black Boar in the mountains of the northeast; Painted Snake, True Mouse and Red Bee in the south. Cold Pony lands (now occupied by Vindrus) were south of the Red Bee tribe, Bright Owl lands were south of the Roaring Otter tribe. The Hawks, Spiders and Otters are constantly raiding each other, as are the Snakes, Mice and Bees. The Boars are protected by mountains and rivers from their powerful neighbors, but raid the smaller tribes to their south.

The lesser tribes are: Mighty Bull, who live in the northern mountains. Sky Hare, Tall Goat and Raining Fox who live in the hills south of the Black Boar. Feathered Squirrel and Bright Owl, sandwiched between Roaring Otter and Long Snake. Dancing Duck and Long Bat, in the barren hills of the southeast.

The Bright Owl tribe is the remnant that fled when Vindrus expanded its borders. They still dream of the day when they will get back their ancestral lands.

Each tribe is named after one aspect of the animal spirit it holds in greatest esteem (and usually claims descent from). It is a great sin to kill the tribe’s totem animal.

War is a way of life for these people: raiding of both fellow Hurralin and neighboring settlers is something that happens all year round. Normally a raid consists of a sudden strike against an enemy to run off with as much booty as possible, though occasionally there can be bloody battles.

Hurralin will only trade for what they cannot capture. Hurralin livestock, leather and slaves are in some demand, and Hurralin-trained horses are in great demand. There is little apart from weapons and armor that Hurralin want, though bronze cooking pots, gold ornaments, colorful cloth and similar items have a market among them.

Their diet is rich in flesh, and animal products such as milk, cheese, kumas (fermented mares’ milk), and blood. The women and children pick roots, berries, and nuts around the campsite Men say that eating seeds is for women, a man should live on the milk and blood and flesh of his herds. None the less, the men actually eat as much unleavened bread and boiled rice as the women do. The normal drink is kumus, although beer is also drunk when it can be imported.

Theft inside the tribe is considered a very serious crime, and the Council will banish from the tribe anyone caught, usually without horse or gear.

Murder in the heat of the moment is punishable by a fine, paid to the family of the deceased. Pre-meditated murder and oath-breaking are punished by a slow lingering death by torture, usually staking out over a fire or an ants’ nest. These punishments only apply within the tribal group, not to the murder of non-tribesmen away from the camp.

Guests are sacred, so people invited into the camp can expect the same treatment as tribe members.

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