Shandir Woods
The Shandir Woods are a state of the Northeastern coniferous forests, whose inhabitants broke away from the Republic of Halta long ago due to religious and political differences.
The Shandir Woods honour the standard Haltan pantheon, but the highest deity is Yesryk, God of Raptors and Arboreal Hunting. The Shandir Woods is very much Yesryk’s personal domain: its ruling royal family, a far more traditional institution than that of Halta, are descended from a frequently reinvigorated line of Yesryk’s Godblooded, its priesthood is open only to hawk Beastmen, its population is dominated by hawk godbloods, hawk beastmen, and ata-hawks, as well as humans with hawk companions who have come to love their birds above all things. The humans who reside in the Shandir Woods are subordinate to the hawk-beings dominating the land, and the common Haltan pairing of human with Tree Pard companion for military scout duty occurs in Shandir with hawk and human companion. Yesryk's own sanctum is located atop a tall redwood in the north of the country.
Relations with Halta are generally good, though there is some resentment in Halta that Shandir drains away nearly all of the Republic's (very useful) hawk beings. Likewise there are disputes with Ascending Spruce, a hawk-centric society being little different than a human-centric one to ata-beasts outside the favoured type. Skirmishes have occurred in the past between Shandir and its neighbours, and the country is quite militant... its capital of Kettleflock was once part of Ascending Spruce many centuries ago, but was seized in a particularly violent period, its treetop manse transformed into Shandir's royal palace. Shandir Woods is bordered to the south by the Gossamer Stockade, and while the River of Golden Branches provides a natural boundary, the two powers regularly assert claim and counter-claim over the Goldwood which lies just east of both territories.
While Ascending Spruce suffers difficulty in urban design, moving away from human-centric architecture but having few common elements to replace it, the Shandir Woods has benefitted by its focus on raptors. Shandir settlements are oriented more vertically than horizontally, with the better, upper-level buildings often demanding powers of flight to reach.
The hawk-centric nature of Shandir is a source of some difficulty, as it is not a society which attracts humans to immigrate… indeed, human emigration is an issue, as hawk beings are not common even in a land where they are highly favoured. The God of Arboreal Hunting, as one would expect from what is seen in Shandir itself, is quite willing to abuse his power, and most of those who hunt amongst the trees and/or partnered with raptors accept life in Shandir as the price one must pay to avoid the risk of one’s hunts suddenly starting to fail due to divine disapproval. Others, born in Shandir, are raised to idolize their hawk being overlords and find the thought of non-raptor government to be terrible and barbaric. But in the end, this leaves great difficulty in finding and keeping skilled human labour.
Because of this, the Shandir Woods is notable amongst the Northeastern forest states in that slavery is quite legal. One cannot own a hawk being, of course, but humans and other san- and ata-beasts may be bought and sold. With native humans for menial labour, and hawk beings occupying posts as educators, hunters, and warriors, the large slave class in Shandir are mostly craftsmen and artists. There is little need for chains, as most slaves dwell in places reachable only by flight, and those who escape know that doom is nigh: pursuit of escapees through the branches is, after all, the arboreal hunting the hawklords of Shandir live for.
Slavery has also enticed a few humans to reside in Shandir rather than Halta: those who, for whatever reason, wish to own or deal in slaves. Such voices, alongside those of battle-eager hawks, are a reason for the aggressive behaviour of Shandir in relations with its neighbors.
