Arkaiun
Arkaiuns are a relatively new ethnicity among humans, a blend of other cultures that have been forced to flee or submit to others for most of their existence. Today, they are scattered throughout the southern coast of Faerûn, though Dambrath is their traditional home. Arkaiuns are generally short and stocky, with dusky skin and dark brown hair.
History
The Arkaiuns who came to the grass-covered plains of the region now known as Dambrath originally hailed from Shandaular, the capital of the kingdom of Ashanath far to the north. Shandaular uas actually two separate parts of the same city, each built around one of the termini of a two-way portal connecting the Council Hills region and the western shore of Lake Ashane. When the nentyarch of Tharos attempted to destroy Shandaular during his conquest of Ashanath in -946 DR, the citizens fled through their portal to the southern half of the city, leaving behind their king, Arkaius the Archmage, to close the portal and destroy it. The Nar people took the name of the fallen king, calling themselves the Arkaiuns, and continued to live in the shadow of the quiet portal arch for several more centuries. Though their identity remained intact, the glory of the people of Shandaular waned to a shadow of its former self. Eventually, the Arkaiuns were little more than numerous tribes of nomads who considered their former city a meeting place.
In the century leading up to Dale Reckoning, a second ethnicity of humans arrived through the same portal terminus, albeit from a different region of Faerûn. These were a lost tribe of Illuskans, having vanished from their homeland of Rauthym during that nation's expansive years. The Illuskans settled among the Nar-Arkaiuns and interbred, and eventually, the two groups became one. The mixed Arkaiuns continued to dwell in the Council Hills region for a couple more centuries, forming the kingdom of Eltabranar during that time.
After an ill-advised invasion of Unther and Mulhorand ended disastrously, the Arkaiuns fled south and west, eventually settling along the coast of the Bay of Dancing Dolphins. There, they began to farm the land and founded trading centers, remaining a presence in the region for a number of centuries.
Early in the ninth century DR, the Arkaiuns accidentally broke through into the Underdark and encountered the drow for the first time. Foolishly, their king ordered an army to march down into the depths of the mountains and conquer the drow city. It was a disaster of record
proportions - the tables were turned within half a century, and the Arkaiuns were the ones facing subjugation. The final straw came in the form of betrayal at the hands of a group of priestesses of Loviatar. Dambrath belonged to the drow, and the Arkaiuns became their servant race.
Outlook
Few Arkaiuns identify themselves on a nationalistic level any longer. They have long been an oppressed people, held under the thumb of half-drow and drow in what was once their homeland of Dambrath. Those who migrated to other regions before the coming of the Crinti have stayed there, and others have managed to slip away at opportune moments.
Arkaiun Society
Crinti rule overshadows Arkaiun society. Arkaiuns who still live in Dambrath are considered second-class citizens, suitable only for menial physical labor, unspecialized commerce work, and service in the military. Outside that nation, Arkaiuns simply blend in with the habits of those around them.
Some Arkaiuns live in the wilds beyond the immediate control of the Crinti and still uphold their traditional ways, insisting on observing the nomadic lifestyle and ceremonies they maintained before the coming of the drow. In these cases, Arkaiuns are a savage people, as is evidenced in their occasional veneration of Malar as the master of the hunt.
Language and Literacy
Arkaiuns who live in Dambrath speak Common and Dambrathan. This latter tongue is a combination of Old Illusk and ancient Nar, neither of which are spoken today. It employs the Dethek alphabet. Ordinary second languages include Illuskan, Halruaan, Shaaran, and Undercommon.
