Notes

Kha'zar Tribes

POLITICS:
The so-called capital of these tribes is Jodžar-Töbe. Situated on a hill overlooking the surrounding flatlands, the settlement - made up of colourful nomadic tents - is built upon ancient elven ruins.
There dwell the artisans, healers, priestesses, sorceresses and settled herders of the Kha'zar. Albeit the wolflike race usually shows no respect for settled folk, their reverence for those who inhabit Jodžar-Töbe is indeed high, for they are no weaklings of other races, but instead skilled and professional individuals gifted by the Kha'zar gods.
Whenever a clan loses its leader - its Kagan - it sets of forthwith towards Jodžar-Töbe. There, under the watchful eye of the warrior priestesses, a new chief is elected.
Otherwise, however, the Kha'zar fight each other ferociously. Although they disdain other races, they have no scruples of attacking each other to gain in power. Currently, the biggest clans of Razar, Kök Aspan and Q Qülan are the main competitors in the area, with the lesser clans changing their loyalties to them every fortnight.
Note that both clans and tribes exist and mean different things. Tribe, for the Kha'zar, is more of a religious alignment than one of blood, which is clan. The Snake Tribe - to which belongs Q Qülan - reveres the great snake Qoršap-žer and the tribe is usually thought to be one of leaders and shamans, having the strongest connection to the spirit world.
Kök Aspan and Razar are both in the tribe of the horse - which, as you can see, makes the relations between them no warmer. The last two clans are Wolf and Bull, but only lesser clans belong into those currently.
CULTURE:
The Kha'zar are nomads; thus, their culture deeply values strength and freedom. Orange of the land and blue of the sky are the colours most often displayed in their traditional clothes.
Land extending beyond the horizon and endless azure sky can be truly bewitching, but as night and darkness fall, the surrounding being of nature seems to envelop a puny human with ease. As of such, albeit the religion of the Kha'zar is polytheistic in essence. However, they claim that each of their deities, which usually take the form of animals or weather phenomena or the like, are but parts of the infinite all-being who lords the land.
It is believed that this all-being can be glimpsed in its true form amongst the stars, and sometimes sends messenger spirits down from them. When Kha'zar see a falling star, they can indeed wish for something, but only after a blood sacrifice and a ritual involving the whole clan.
The Kha'zar stories also tell of a great messenger who came to take them to the Plains Beyond, a great aferworld that represents the true being of the Allgod - although everything in this world represents that, too, so non-Khazar mythologists are quite befuddled by this concept.
In any case, the elves to the south used their dark magic to distract the messenger and capture it. Kha'zar elders claim this as the reason for the eternal war they wage on the mongrel race. They believe that if they burn down the elven rainforests they will come to where the messenger is entombed under the earth.
Water is sacred to the Kha'zar. It is the living place, essence and gift of spirits and demons, and before taking and crossing water permission must always be asked lest the spirits become angered. The elves, whose deepest areas are protected by a river, have promptly learned to make use of it.
GEOGRAPHY:
The Great Plains are a rocky highland on which the Kha'zar dwell. All but a desert, it is a hostile place inhabited by creatures such as Zilants, Chaks, Azmyks and other vicious supernatural beings, who stand outside the natural order of the Allgod according to the Kha'zar.
To the east of the Plains are the Claw Mountains. Kha'zar legends say that in ancient times, demons built the mountains in an attempt to reach and kill the Allgod but their power fell short. Now, the soulless corpses and tormented spectres of the builders rove there.
A great savannah forms the unclear border of the Kha'zar area. In the central or western parts, elven cavalry often skirmish with Kha'zar foragers. Elves and humans, to be said, are also outside of the natural order according to the Kha'zar. Erbörüs, Yarboghas and Qoltõraws and Pils are the malevolent spirits that reside here.
In the east, great sharp hills start jutting the land and betwixt those run the roads of the Order of Rage. As their main settlements are on the foothills of Claws, the Kha'zar view them as demons trying to reenact the legends of old and their roads as dark magics, thus being at endless war with them.
The lush greenlands beyond the savannah are only for the true warriors and the foolhardy, for the most dangerous creatures and elven squads roam the place, ready to snatch an unwary rider from their direwolf and suck them dry of blood.