Fiction:Car'reh'hal

"You wander into the jungles of the Caha'ril. What do you want?"

The Car'Reh'hal collective is a small collection of villages in southwestern Koldenwelt. While the colelctive has no official leader, the Athac'Illa'Pathar priesthood are conidered a de-facto leadership for the tribes.

Geography
The Collective consists of eight tribes of Caharil dotted around the southwestern jungles. To outsiders, travel between the villages appears impossible as the Caharil do not use pathways to travel. Instead, travellers must rely on a network of branches, posts and ropes between the trees in order to get around. These tribes surround an ancient tree called Coret'vilo'aboro or ''"Great Life Tree". The village built into this massive hardwood tree is the largest of the of the eight with a population of 650 permenant residents and many visitng to trade all the time.

Travelling the jungles on foot is very difficult. The region rains constantly and the undergrowth is thick with dangerous animals that most locals avoid by keeping to the trees. The collective's Villages are built within clusters of trees. Some of the larger trees are hollowed out while in other cases Caharil build their homes out of mud, wood and vine which stick out from the trees. Fro ma distance the broadleaf layering used in vollage rooves can be mistaken for canopy.

Culture
Caharil are mostly hunter-gatherers. They cultivate various mosses, fungi and berries from the canopy, often using herbal remedies to improve the bounty. Caharil hunters are dedicated protectors and providers of their respective villages. Hunters are some of the few people in the region apart from other ground-dwelling animals who can navigate the undergrowth with relative ease.

The Collective is nominally ruled by the Athac'Illa'Pathar priesthood, who act as mediators between the eight cheiftans. The High Priestess is considered a representation of . it is not uncommon for tribes to fight amongst each other and very few times has there ever been a full-scale war between tribes. The chieftan of Coret'vilo'aboro is in most cases the consort of the High Priestess and can only claim to be cheiftan if he agrees to this condition. Other tribes have different conditions for becoming chieftan but each one must be recognised by the priesthood as a legitamate claimant before he or she can engage in politics.

Music is a core part of the collective's lifestyle. Many instruments - primarily wind and string instruments - form a core part of Caharil rituals and festivals.

Religion
In the religion of Athac'Illa'Pathar, The Source is interpereted as an all-pervading vibration that "allows the fabric of the world to exist". Areas with 'Harmonising notes' (such as Coret'vilo'aboro) are considered beautiful and serene palces while areas with 'sour notes' are dangerous and malignant, often being breedign grounds for disease or sorrow.

It is said that everyone exists because of Kikh'Thaleed and it is considered a life-force. Caharil priests regularly undergo rituals and practices in the hopes of harnessing their share and more senior priests can posess formidable magical powers.

Technology
The Collective is not an advanced society. While posessing the ability to make rudimentary tools, bows, arrows and water lifts. They largely lack objects made of metal. Metals such as gold and copper are of intensely high value due to their rarity within the region and Caharil prefer not building mining infrastructure. As a result, mot of their technology is built out of wood, stone and plant material.

Caharil are excellent users with plants. Able to make rope, various herbs and tonics and due ot the diversity of their homeland they can make elixirs for jst-about any purpose. The tips of spears and arrows are often doused with powerful toxins that can cripple or even kill in varying degrees of pain depending on the intended use.

Hunters and warriors ore often equipped with primitive armour made from either cloth or leather. It is often baggy and flexible to give its wearer complete freedom when hunting or fighting. Shields are typically made of wood coated in a resin and bound or layered with leather for enhanced protection.