Common Ethnic Traits:

• Suggested naming conventions: Swahili

• Hair color: Varies

• Eye colors: Varies

• Complexions: Medium dark-Very Dark. Never burns, tans well (If at all). Skin behavior changes depending on a shongarian's home culture.

• Height average and build: See below

• Polycultural, yet Alien: Similar to Mezzoramians, Shongari who have traveled past the firebelt are observed to have a strong knack for picking up new cultures and languages. Although they aren't known to blend nearly as seamlessly as the Mezzoramians, and will always appear alien to us Estellonians in their mannerisms, ways, and religious practices... If you could even call it that. It's clear that their homeland is such that knowing and learning of a peoples is necessary for survival, and yet keeping a piece of themselves is just as important, even if it causes trouble or misunderstanding.

• Potential Sorcerer Bloodlines: Aberrant, Accursed, Aquatic, Div, Djinni, Elemental (Any) Efreeti, Ghoul, Marid, Martyred, Infernal, Salamander, Serpentine, Scorpion, Shadow, Shaitan, Stormborn, Undead, Verdant.

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Synopsis:

The shongari are an ethnicity of human from the heart of the southern continent of Nomeria. Though they could be seen all throughout the continent, even in Darsian lands. Though they have many empires of their own, most of which are rumored to be far older and larger than any seen in Estellon. Their politics are far removed from the Northern Peoples, and as such, these great empires are not seen on any maps available north past the firebelt. Though their lands are unknown, the Shongari themselves are not. They are occasionally encountered in the north as Mercenaries or Assassins, who have no care for the political backlash of their actions. As traders with exotic goods from lands unknown even to them. As adventurers, eager to explore the firebelt, and as Sorcerers with perplexing, yet captivating ways. One trait that all Shongari are known to share is that they are conquerers with a humble arrogance. Though rather than conquerers of land, they regard themselves to be conquerers of challenges and trials. Thats not to say that all Shongari are this way, but its safe to assume that any who have traveled as far north as to be encountered in Falamore must have a level of self confidence in their abilities to have survived the long journey. Hence the northern stereotypes. No human ethnicity is known to possess a darker skin tone than the Shongari, though just how dark or light their skin tone can range from varies, since like the Darsians, they are a collective of cultures and peoples, each with their own traits. Perhaps the most exotic encountered thus far are a race of Amazonian females who bare purple eyes which seem to emit a glow in the dark. Though none could be sure if these eyes are natural to them or even if there are males in their race. We have simply never seen them if there are. 

 

Very little is known of Shongari society south of the Firebelt, and it’s very likely that if two were to encounter one another in the far north who doesn't call him/herself indigenous to Darsian lands, who have appeared to have been assimilated by the Shiori Empire, and just as ignorant as to what the Shogari empires hold as any of us are. But those rare individuals who have braved the firebelt and emerge even as far as Estellon would tell us very different and at times, contradictory stories pertaining to their homelands. They do however do a marvelous job at conveying the diversity of their homeland's cultures. And this contrast of cultures in their own homeland is often what provides Shongari a certain level of ease when exploring cultures as alien to them as they are to the North. And as such, you will rarely ever encounter Shongari who look out of place. They move about large sprawling urban centers, untamed wilderness, and the courts of elvin leaders with an adaptability that is amazing even by human standards. Mimicking even the sociological body language of how they carry themselves to disguise their foreign presence. The Shongari, like all humans have no bias toward particular ethical behavior as a whole, and their religious beliefs are generally outside of the northern and Eastern faiths. Although Ascentionism has a strong presence in the northern part of their continent, most of the Shongari empires are far too south from its influence to be familiar with it. Though its far more likely for Shongari who have assimilated through the Darsian nations to be of the Flame Faith if such structured religions resonate with them. Further south however, most of the home-brew Shongari faith known as Toshuma. A more shamanistic form of spiritual worship which does not prescribe names to the forces of nature they revere.

 

They paint their homeland in central and southern Nomeria relatively clearly. Beyond the Firebelt, more sand. Then a vast sea of tall grasslands and sparsely placed flat canopied trees, that they call the Savannah. The land gradually grows wetter, and the dirt turns a reddish hue, as rainforests of green weave a maze of rivers through to the south part of the continent. And mountains and steppes break apart the otherwise flat lands into a diverse place of beauty. But survival is hard here. After all, the Shongari humans are not the only ones who live in these lands, nor are they the only ones who seek to build kingdoms and empires. Nature is an ever dynamic force in southern Nomeria, and empires must be fluid as well. Even entire cities must pick up and change location, leaving many vast abandoned cities to the jungles, waiting for their next inhabitants. There are many who have abandoned empires altogether, and return to the tribal structures that they view as a far more practical way of life. But those empires who have mastered the flow of land even people, have established lasting cultures that some even believe might predate the oldest known empire of northern Nomeria, Sheqadah. But those that have fallen dot the lands, with many strange secrets and treasures just waiting to be picked for themselves.