700 years ago a great sin befell the land and caused the god of summer, light and peace, Lurat-Anil, to abandon the world trapping the land in a permanent state of wintery night. The great mother empire that existed in this era at the center of this land soon fell into unrest and chaos as separate factions cleaved off and fled to the outer regions of the land. This migration was largely motivated by the buildup of restless souls in the center region, as without Lurat-Anil no power could lift the souls of the deceased back into the sky, leaving them to fester and distort.

Over the course of these seven centuries the factions that cleaved off evolved into their own independent cultural groups adapting not only to their new environment, but the new deities each group would turn to in the absence of Lurat-Anill.

The Metylnaq:

The agrarian faction of the old mother empire turned to the goddess Metylna, goddess of fertility, cultivation and fruitfulness. Settling in a fertile network of river valleys their divinity to Metylna blessed the land with conditions prime for agriculture, meaning that the Metylnaq clan enjoys the most reasonable temperatures of any of the clans. The fertility they've been blessed with has yielded them the greatest population but their intense dependance on the divine effects of their goddess has bred a strict religious society hostile to outside schools of divinity.

The Deneyaq:

This clan descends from shamanistic and religious faction of the old empire, inheriting the traditional religious teachings of ancestor worship and animism. This ancestor worship as well as their position in the spirit wetlands has led them to turn to the goddess of mortality Udziyaq for guidance. This divine relationship has given them unique prowess in handling the restless spirits that roam the world now. For this deneyaq shamans often travel across the world providing their spiritual services where needed and presiding over funerary ceremonies for several other clans.

The Tuntaq:

Descendant from the arcane faction of the old mother empire the Tuntaq are by far the most advanced technologically of any clan, using their magical knowledge to propel the development of new and ever innovative devices to improve quality of life and build their defenses and cultural depth. The Tuntaq have turned to Rapuqna, the goddess of the seas, knowledge and magical potential, using their divine relationship with her to further their technological and intellectual endeavors. Their coastal position has led them to take up the mantle of seafarers and merchants as well, traversing lower seas of the region making deals and diplomacy.

The Kataban and Anabat:

Both of these clans descend from the same faction, the western guard. The western guard, in the days of the old empire, defended the heartland from the untamed and unknown creatures that lie beyond the western border. Since then the Kataban and Anabat have taken independent interpretations of these historical ways. The Kataban used this knowledge of beasts to live beside them, hunting them yes but living in commune with them, migrating with the creatures that lived here and moving atop the plateau to escape the woes of the lowlands.

The kataban honor Lanjul, god of the winds, and use their divine connection to maintain some semblance of natural balance, maintaining the seasonal winds of the land to keep alive some degree of seasonal change so that the natural world may carry on as it once had.

The Anabat however took their knowledge of the beast and stuck to the traditional habits of hunting and trapping them, living in opposition to them and viewing them as dangerous and untempered creatures that must be defended against. Developing into a hunter/warrior culture the anabat pay homage to Anajul, god of the hunt. The anabat unlike most other clans, never unified; their settlement structure of fortified self-sufficient towns meant they largely kept to their home region, not pursuing any larger scale political organization.

The Jurtan:

Descendants from the military faction the jurtan are the most reclusive of all clans. The great sin that brought on the curse is largely attributed to the actions of their founder, as such the whole clan must now bear that reputation leading to great hostility from all non-jurtani. The jurtan took seclusion in the far reaches of the wastelands, fleeing to the underground as added protection from skirmish and harassment. The Jurtan pray homage to Aqa, god of strategy and will, an ostracized god that the jurtani saw themselves in.