Aqein
The Aqein are one of the legendary peoples of Spindle. Not much is known about their tribe. There are carved friezes, made by their own artisans, that depict them as the first to cross the channel to the North possibly in search of a land to call their own. They accomplished this feat with the help of a colossal creature, the head of which has been removed from its frieze, possibly worn away by the black sands of the Howl. None of the Aqein survive today, but their crypts are unblemished and have been preserved by the Talusians.
Aqeins were masters of architecture involving giant stoneworks which were tied into mountain ranges. These structures provided exterior and outer walls for their cities, which themselves were roofed with ceramic tile. During the winter these large buildings housed colonies of Aqein, who in turn grew indoor crops and cultivated livestock from the safety and warmth provided by the stone walls.
The Aqeins are depicted as having dark hair and dark skin in the few painted friezes which have survived under quarternions of Talusian rule. It's unknown when the Alyri split away from the Aqein to live in the coastal caves to the south but it is suspected that their time in the caves changed their physical appearance. The Aqein spent lots of time in complete darkness, as the winter months in Talus are devoid of sunlight from Idris and Idren and during that time, their physical appearance may have changed as well. None are sure; none are certain.
For the Aqeins, the darkness that fell upon them each winter was proof that they lived at the edge of the world. Life did not flourish beyond their mountains and all was an endless plain of snow and ice. Within their cities of warm stone, the pitch black and its howling wind seemed supernatural. They worshipped its arrival every year. Its darkness enveloped them and they celebrated until the coming of the first light of Idren. Then one year the celebrations stopped. The winds had changed and the darkness that the howling brought with it destroyed the Aqein way of life.
Diverged ethnicities
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