Sefid Ruhd

At a tributary of Alsur just south of the Mun-Hadar Rapids lies a small village. The waters cut into the rising bones of the Badlands and eventually delve underground. Mashaya believe that the river is the god, and where there waters and the land first become one there lies a settlement of nomads and Spice Rangers who care for the wilderness that drinks the holy river. 

Though many have moved to the large cities, still a great many clans adhere to the old ways, living nomadically. Sefid Ruhd is where they prefer to bury their honored dead, at this holy place where wanderers gather. 

The bones of some ancestors can be consulted at need, if that was their will. Much is forgotten from the oral traditions that are fading, and much has yet to be transcribed. Through the Rite of Dayiman, the honored dead keep their history alive as dhikrah. 

Where the rising rock meets the river as it infiltrates the land lies the entrance to the Cave of Ponders. Dark and uninhabited, this is where the dhikrah remain. There is no actual rule against their leaving or staying elsewhere, but the living do not love their company and the feeling is often mutual. When an ancestor is petitioned for guidance, they are most often brought books or new stories. Less generous ones may make a special request in exchange for the information they possess.

On one occasion, a man seeking permission to marry was commanded to quest to Melkarmë for a poetry book. By the time he had returned, the dhikrah had arranged another suitor in his place. As the decrepit scribe recited the poems the heartbroken man was sent to retrieve, he lost his mind and dove into the river, brought to rest by Alsur.