No one can understand the Ghantal and the starntor that populate it without understanding the effects of the elemental chaos inculcating both. This chaos comes across the Rift, the chasm that Loksentans call Borsen’s Gap. Loksentans think that the northern end of Borsen’s Gap extends into the Ghantal. However, the starntor have no more ability to cross the Rift than do humans. After heading due north from the western end of the Ghantal/Loksenta border, it gradually curves west. This portion forms the southern border of the Ghantal.
In Loksenta, this chaos only affects those who live or work too close to Borsen’s Gap. In the Ghantal, small crevasses extend from the Rift deep into the country. Only those who live in the extreme north do not have to deal with the influence of chaos. All of starntor society is built around the need to create order to battle the chaos.
Many Loksentans believe that the Ghantal is populated by several races. After all, this would not be unusual for those whose ancestors came from Glorien, a continent of humans, dwarves, elves, and dalibor. Those that the Loksentans mistake for different races are actually different kinds of starntor, members of a single race. The starntor call these variations fajta. One of the most obvious effects of chaos on the starntor is the inability of the fajta to breed true. A starntor child may or may not be the same fajtan as one of their parents. Even when the gross fajta physical and mental characteristics are shared, a child is very unlikely to resemble their parents in any other way. The starntor find the fact that human parents always bear human children that look like their parents weird and, frankly, boring.
Loksentans know of three fajta. Residents of the Marks that border the Ghantal and academics that study the Goblin Wars believe that there are other, rarer fajta which are kept secret from the Loksentans. The rtor are large, blue, and scaly. The zartk most resemble humans, although with reddish skin and pointed ears. The brdah are short and green. It is the brdah that the early Loksentans called “goblins”, after fae found in their homeland of Gwenddon. The differences between the strantor fajta are mental as well as physical. The rtor are the least intelligent, brutish and prone to violence. The zartk are intelligent and much longer lived than other strantor. They have an innate need for hierarchy. The brdah are the cleverest fajtan. They are also the most common, making up about three fourths of the strantor population.
Starntor society is very hierarchical. Starntor are assigned positions in society based on their fajta. In late puberty, they are given a series of aptitude tests, the results of which are used to assign them particular jobs. Civilian rtor are manual laborers. Zartk are managers, scientists, and architects. Brdah are everything else - store keepers, brewers, bureaucrats, merchants, krok lizard trainers, and the Ghan. Goblin Town outside Freyk’s wall is entirely inhabited by brdah. In the military, rtor are battle tanks. Zartk form the officer corps. Brdah are the infantry, krok-riding dragoons, and the irregular troops.
Not all starntor accept their assigned role in society. These starntor only have two alternatives, crime and asceticism. Those who take the latter path are often considered excessively chaos tainted. They are tolerated because it is also thought that they increase order for society as a whole by drawing chaos into themselves. The most common ascetics are stylites. A stylite lives on a platform atop a pillar as far from any community as possible. They maintain a rigorous lifestyle of meditation, fasting, and mortification of their body.
Location: The border between the Ghantal and Loksenta is in the far northwest of Loksenta. D’Tong is a few score miles north of that border. Otherwise, Loksentans do not know anything about Ghantal geography, other than that the country is “big”. The starntor only have a small population in the bogs and tundra north of Loksenta. Most of the Ghantal spreads west from D’Tong for many hundreds of miles.
Capital: D’Tong
Other notable towns and cities:
Quarshr: Home of the military headquarters and training academy.
Uzkng: The City of Silver. Location of the Unkng silver mine.
Balu: Trading hub for western Ghantal
Government: Bureaucracy, with an elected sovereign. Theoretically, the Ghan is an absolute monarch. In reality, the twelve departments of the central government operate as almost independent fiefs. The amount of power the Ghan can wield depends on the force of their personality or their cleverness in playing one department off against another.
Having a hereditary monarchy never occurred to a race for whom heredity means nothing. Instead, the Ghan is elected unanimously by the Secretaries of the twelve departments. Nominally, the position is meritocratic - the best brtah for the job gets the job. The best brtah always happens to be from the upper echelons of the bureaucracy. The best brtah is also the one who makes the most advantageous promises to the Secretaries. Perhaps that is how the starntor define “best”.
Head of State: Ghan Dr’Na
Economy: The chilly, northern climate of the Ghantal means that only a strip of the southern part of the country is suitable for agriculture. Arable land is devoted to growing grain for both starntor and livestock consumption. Summer pastures feed two herbivore species that have proven resistant to chaos taint - the wooly pig called mualar and the shar’ug, which appear to Loksentans to be a hybrid between cows and bears. Land north of this band provides lumber and game animals.
Production of most goods occurs in factories in the cities and larger towns. Unlike in Loksenta, where factories allow for the efficient use of large-scale mechanical and magical tools, factories allow zartk overseers to verify that workers are following the correct procedures and creating goods of consistent quality. The crafting process itself is primarily manual.
The Ghantal has abundant supplies of wood and stone. It has access to little metal, however. The country has several tin mines and a few copper mines. Bronze is the most common everyday metal. The only significant precious metal mine in the country produces silver ore. Silver coins and bars are used for currency in the Ghantal. Gold is even more prized than in Loksenta. The starntor believe Its inability to tarnish is an indication that it is highly resistant to chaos. The starntor do not know how to work with harder metals.
The Ghantal has a nascent trading industry with Loksenta. Much of this trade is in high-value crafts that are traded in Freyk’s Wall through Goblin Town. The starntor ask for gold and iron or steel tools in return. A brtah who manages to secure steel armor and weapons rises quickly in the ranks of the traders. The starntor legitimately trade lumber with the Marks on the Ghantal’s border for fruits, vegetables, and metal goods. They also provide unsanctioned goods, such as herbs that have narcotic and hallucinogenic effects on humans.
Relations with other nations:
Loksenta - The starntor maintain a tenuous peace with Loksenta. Neither side has forgotten the Wars of Glory. As these conflicts fade into history and as trade between the nations begins to flourish, relations are gradually improving.
Krondak - The Diplomatic Department sees Krondak as a balance against Loksenta. It is trying to form a mutual defense alliance with the Empire. More complicated interactions than talking and small-scale trading are difficult. The only route between the Ghantal and Krondak goes through Freyk’s Wall.
Den of the Red Wolf 