Exalted: Anaathalay

History
In times long past the tribes of the desert at the southwestern tip of the Firepeak Mountains, southwest of benighted Dajaz, were no more than humble tribes of goatheards and rice farmers, at the mercy of bandit kings and avaricious warlords. As these tribes began to consolidate together for mutual protection the depredations of their enemies increased in scale accordingly, until at last one warlord in particular sought to crush them out entirely, pushing them west against the edge of the savannah and at the foot of the mountain ranges that cradle the swamps south of An-Teng. But as his armies closed in on their prey a miracle that would come to be known as Mahadevi Kalang ("Great Goddess' Gift") sprang forth from the dry earth - a great shallow lake, miles long in each direction, that engulfed the army bearing down on the tribes.

As thanks to their shared mother-goddess Mahadevi - whom scholars versed in such matters speculate is some emanation from, or personification of, Gaea - for answering their prayers the newly liberated tribes forsook their old ancestries and declared themselves the Anaatha, or Orphans, and named the city they erected overlooking the new lake Aanaathalay - The Kingdom of Orphans,. Into this city the tribes and their descendants would flock over time, shoring it up into a bastion that their persecutors could never take from them, and at its center was the Temple-Fortress of Aastha ka Mahal ("The Palace of Faith") that administered the growing city and officiating the worship of Mahadevi.

For an age all was well, as the Anaatha wove themselves a new shared culture and civilization fueled by the fertile bounty of Mahadevi Kalang's shores. In time, however, there came the question of how to expand the borders of Anaathalay to accommodate its swelling population. There still remained those few tribes who had not joined the Anaatha, as well as the barbarians and now-declining warlords that had once preyed upon them. Surely these unenlightened pagans that spurned the gifts of Anaathalay deserved none of their mother's blessings? Such was the argument formed by the scholarly classes and lawmakers of the city.

Would their lives not be enriched by serving those who could civilize them? In this way the scholars were convinced.

And would their labor not be better served pushing the wheel of progress onward to the benefit of all, not just themselves? In this way the merchants and lawmakers were convinced.

And surely to embrace them in this way would be to eliminate any future threat to the peace of Anaathalay and its people? In this way the soldiers and the commoners were convinced.

Thus began the era of shackles.

And as so often happens when wickedness is justified and made a necessity, in time the need for slaves outweighed the rationale for their acquisition, and before long the minds of the city's rulers turned to those tribes who had never stood against Anaathalay, who were Anaatha by blood but not by culture, and whose territories lay in the path of Anaathalay's expansion. Though these tribes were not pagans, they still clung to their old nomadic ways and paid no tribute to the capital... did they not also stand as an affront to Mahadevi and her gifts? And could they not someday become a threat as the barbarians once had?

And so the city fell further into iniquity, as those in chains outnumbered those who put them there.

For a time it was so, until one man would stand against such injustice - a slave named Ismail, though history will come to know him by a different name: Jagganath the Irrigator. Unifying the slaves and lower classes of Anaathalay's outskirts into a revolt that took aback the rulers with its unity and singular purpose, Jagganath's rebellion was held together much as the Anaatha's ancestors once were by devotion to Mahadevi. "The waters of Mahadevi Kalang swell with mother's tears at the iniquity of her children" according to Jagganath's ethos, "and as the banks rise no wickedness may resist its tide. Man and his works, his flesh and even stone will eventually be worn down and swept away. One must welcome these waters, bathing and cleansing yourselves of your sins, or be crushed into dust."

These teachings, known as The Creed of Heavenly Waters, spread quickly among populace of Anaathalay, buoying aloft those who were held down and echoing the old legends of Mahadevi saving her children by engulfing their enemies of old. And, just as the Creed predicted, those who embraced the tide and renounced their wickedness were washed clean, and those who stood against the tide were washed away. It is said that when Jagganath arrived at the gates of Aastha ka Mahal its garrison threw down their arms and opened the gates at his request.

But what does this mean for the Anaatha, now that their shackles have been cast off and their mandate as a civilization has been so radically shifted, and what does this mean for the nations surrounding it?

Locations
Aastha ka Mahal ("Palace of Faith") - The Capital of Anaathalay, on the shores of Mahadevi Kalang

Baaz Ghonsala ("The Falcon's Nest") - A mountain fortress that keeps watch at Anaathalay's northwestern border

Pathar pa Havar ("Wind on Stone") - A Town to the north of Anaathalay

Kaanton par Dundh ("Mist on Thorns") - A Town to the west of Anaathalay

Akash ka Sanskar ("Rite of the Sky") - An ancient heritage site where sky burials are still sometimes performed

Pakana Ghatee ("Baking Valley") - A village to the southwest of Anaathalay

Chataree Hain ("Place where goats are fed") - A Village to the Southwest of Anaathalay

Mahadevi Khalang ("Great Goddess' Gift") - A great lake that is said to have sprung out of the desert to swallow up the enemies of the Anaatha's ancestors