Qal (Call)

The Qal are the native inhabitants of the Shutallpa, a verdant expanse north of the Brackish Coast. They are an insular people, almost entirely uninterested in the goings-on of outsiders and preferring to tend to their own affairs whenever possible. As such, little is known of their customs and traditions. The Qal peacefully submitted to the Lagonan Empire several centuries ago, agreeing to provide annual tribute in the form of grain and livestock in exchange for protection against Makkalindi slave raids.

Accounts from outsiders emphasize the Qal’s secrecy and self-containment. In his treatise on foreign philosophies, Sangspi scholar Kalsang described the Qal as “a people of the deep marshes, always half-hidden, always distant, whose eyes seem to follow the water and the shifting grass more than the visitor.” Kalsang also remarks “the Qal move like the reeds themselves, bending with the wind yet never breaking, leaving their presence known only by faint traces of smoke and the occasional call of their queer livestock.”

Major Settlement

Only one Qalic city (if one could truly describe it as such) has been encountered at the time of writing. Some time early in the 3rd Century AU, Meluvrati merchants stumbled upon a Qalic settlement nestled among the outer marshes of the Shutallpa. While barred by the local inhabitants from entering, the Lagonans reported a spread of low, reed-and-timber dwellings atop raised mounds, linked by narrow causeways spanning the marshes. In conversations with the locals, the name of this 'city' was given as Turuma.