Mereshnari

The Meresh ethnicity is defined by the Mereshnari tribe, but there are Meresh enclaves that are culturally and physiologically connected to the the Mereshnari but are politically distinct.  

Physical Traits

  Physically the Meresh elemental ethnicity is made up of a relatively even mix between earthy, fiery, and airy traits. They tend to have thick, somewhat messy hair that is usually light brown with a wide variety of shades and undertones. Men and women alike tend to keep their hair fairly short. Meresh have a wider variety of body types than most other ethnic groups, they could be thin or stocky, tall or short, and everything in between. Skin tones tend to resemble real world Earth Mediterranean people. Noses are fairly large compared to other humans. Eye colors varies tremendously but grey is the most common. Meresh tend to age gracefully for humans. They usually keep their hair, their skin and hair coloration doesn't change much, and their muscle tone tends to hold up, though their skin does lose it's smoothness at a very young age.  

Mereshnari Culture

  The Mereshnari are a nomadic tribe of humans hailing from the deserts and steppes of East Colassia. While they are technically "barbarians" they have a amiable relationship with the human nations of East Colassia and are full members of the Colassian Confederacy.   The Mereshnari are loosely based on the real world Bedouins. Mereshnari are nicknamed Desert Runners or just Runners. This is a nickname most Mereshnari dislike but the name stuck. The ancient Meresh didn’t just run across the deserts. Millennia again, the Meresh used to claim all the lands south of the East Colassian Mountains as their roaming grounds, not just the desert.   Over millennia the fledgling civilizations on the coast grew from collections of mud huts to advanced civilizations which eventually grew large enough to gradually push the ancient Meresh into the desert. Sometimes this was violent, but more often the Meresh who lived near the coast assimilated with the emerging kingdoms. Many civilized people claim to have Meresh blood in their veins and more than a few Meresh customs and terms permeated the Colassian Confederacy’s culture. Mereshnari refers to the old school Meresh who keep to their ancestors nomadic ways.   Sometimes the Mereshnari fought with the other humans, sometimes they cooperated, more often than not they kept their distance. Eventually the Mereshnari and the southern nations realized they had common enemies. After the Colassian Confederacy formed, the Mereshnari, the Meresnari were informal allies of the Confederacy for a number of years before they were formally included.   Mereshnari clans typically number between one and three hundred members. Typically, the women, children, elderly, and the rare full time craftsmen will set up a tent city base camp near a localized water source while the men ride out to hunt and forage. In two to five weeks, the tribe will tap out the area’s easily exploitable food resources at which point the tribe packs up their tents and rides to another water source.   The Mereshnari are patriarchal though the opinions of women, especially elders are respected. Once they marry, women become full members of their husbands’ clan and cease to be members of their fathers’ tribes. One of the reasons different tribes of Mereshnari tend to get along very well is that they are linked together through intermarriage.