Dark Sun Wiki
Explore
Main Page
Discuss
All Pages
Community
Interactive Maps
Recent Blog Posts
Popular pages
Most visited articles
Borys
Athas
Mul
Elf
Thri-kreen
Kalak
Tyr
Geography
Valley of the Last Sea
Valley of the Cerulean Storm
Trembling Plains
Tablelands
Sea of Silt
Deadlands
Anattan Wastes
Creature
Silt Horror
Ravenous
Aviarag
Baazrag
Cilops
Crodlu
Dagorran
Community
Recent blog posts
Forum
FANDOM
Fan Central
BETA
Games
Anime
Movies
TV
Video
Wikis
Explore Wikis
Community Central
Start a Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Sign In
Sign In
Register
Dark Sun Wiki
276
pages
Explore
Main Page
Discuss
All Pages
Community
Interactive Maps
Recent Blog Posts
Popular pages
Most visited articles
Borys
Athas
Mul
Elf
Thri-kreen
Kalak
Tyr
Geography
Valley of the Last Sea
Valley of the Cerulean Storm
Trembling Plains
Tablelands
Sea of Silt
Deadlands
Anattan Wastes
Creature
Silt Horror
Ravenous
Aviarag
Baazrag
Cilops
Crodlu
Dagorran
Community
Recent blog posts
Forum
Editing
Nibenay (City-State)
(section)
Back to page
Edit
Edit source
View history
Talk (0)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
== Culture == The culture of Nibenay stressed self-discipline, quiet acceptance of authority, reverence for the elderly, and politeness to strangers. Nibenese expected decorum in all things. Slaves and commoners knew their place and showed courtesy and deference to their betters. All the while, people of higher standing remained cool and distant to their inferiors, for to demonstrate anything but calmness and serenity was to reveal a character flaw. The politeness of the Nibenese is a double-edged sword, however, and is often a cover for ruthless dishonesty toward anyone outside of a person’s own family. Common wisdom states that a Nibenese merchant may well grovel as he offers you a spear, smiling and nodding at everything you say, only to then swindle you out of your last bit and as he scurries away, the spear breaks apart in your hands. Newcomers may find the local customs curious and even bizarre compared to what they’re used to. In Nibenay, betrothed couples tie long scarves around their wastes to express commitment. Friend’s pull at each other’s hair as a common greeting. Children drag life-sized straw dolls around as a representation of their mothers. Cats are revered as vessels of unknowable wisdom, but dogs are considered vermin. And then there’s the never-ending music and dancing, as well as the uninterrupted displays of public art on every available wall. Though all of these practices are old, no one knows how old they actually are. They certainly predate the city’s founding, but the truth has vanished to history. That Nibenay himself would never have instituted some of these customs voluntarily proves their antiquity. The Nibenese have seen the forest as a resource to be exploited so this attitude was one of the contributing factors to the problems with [[Gulg]]. === The Ancestral Cults === ''“May you be worthy of your ancestors”'' was a common greeting among the nobility of Nibenay. This simple phrase served to prove the absolute veneration of the ancestral cults among Nibenay’s nobility. These cults served to promote social authority, conservatism, and order. The nobles had many rituals and traditions surrounding the veneration of their forebearers, and they believed that their ancestors possessed the power and influence to intervene on their behalf to protect them, the hot springs, and the fields surrounding Nibenay if they were ever endangered. Because of the nobility’s long and prosperous history of control over the hot springs and the rice fields of Nibenay, non-traditional businesses were considered risky, as well as affronts to the ancestral spirits. The ancestral cults also required sacrifice in the form of slaves. This was done whenever the leader of a house passed on, as the spirit of the slave was expected to carry a promise of sound stewardship on the part of the new leader to the ancestors. Similar acts of ritual sacrifice occurred whenever the living needed to send a message to the sprits of the family’s forebearers. Each noble house maintained its own library containing the history of their family, as well as display cases filled with death masks of these ancestors made out of wax. These masks were worn during ceremonies such as the ritual of declaring an heir or at funerals, and even at public games in the local gladiatorial arena. While the free citizens had a tendency to adopt certain fashions and practices of the nobility, the ancestral cults was one such area that they never adopted, as they were more concerned with style over family pride. === The Elemental Cults === The elemental cults played important roles in Nibenese society, and each layer of society was engaged with the cults in a myriad of different ways. The nobility venerated the cults of earth and water, for they have long been the benefactors of the hot springs and fields surrounding the City of Spires. Many of the rituals conducted by the nobles centered around the earth of the fields and the water of the springs, and were always conducted in connection with those of the ancestral cults, as the nobles believed that only the spirits of the ancestors held sway over the remote and impersonal forces of the elements. The free folk of Nibenay were far more concerned with the mastery of the elements than the appeasement of them, and hoped to gain personal and dynastic power by gaining control over these forces. In the countryside, the cults of air and fire were more prominent, as the farms and villages were victimized by the sun and wind. The elemental temples received many contributions from citizens in need of the services of a cleric, and the citizens of Nibenay give the elemental cults decidedly pragmatic attention. In the years following Kalak’s fall, there existed one major temple dedicated to each of the four elements in Nibenay, overseen by a high priest or abbot. The human High Priest Hanathos, and his twenty acolytes at the Temple of Air, were often called into the countryside to tamper the windstorms that threaten the livelihood of the tenant farms. The Temple of the Earth, carved into the bluff to the north of the city, housed forty priests, including the dwarven High Priest Orolon – the Prophet of the Stone. Orolon was not only a powerful cleric, but also possesses incredible psionic abilities that allowed him to foresee one aspect of a person’s future upon first meeting them. The Temple of the Sun was led by the half-elven High Priest Fettch. He, his twenty priests, and just as many followers aided the people of the city-state in matters concerning the forces of elemental fire. Fettch, at one point, rather aggressively promoted a new clerical service involving the collection and cremation of the dead that raised a few eyebrows. Finally, High Priestess Kira Tin oversaw the Temple of Water, attended to by her twelve husbands who were all also priests. The husbands were often called upon to assist with problems at the hot springs, and the temple was entirely supported by the contributions of the noble houses. Kira was a pensive human woman of regal beauty, who highly valued the traditions of her cult and was fairly removed from the day-to-day life of the citizenry. None of the temples demanded sacrifice, and actively disavowed such practices, but such things still occurred in the countryside. People were on occasion immolated on biers to appease the wind and sun, and the common belief was that the spirits of those sacrificed would intervene with the elemental forces on behalf of the community. However, there was also a fear that an unwilling sacrifice would curse its killers upon entry into the Elemental Planes. To circumvent this bitter incrimination, a small bird was ritualistically imbued with the pleas of the community and then placed within the still-living victim’s mouth. Now, as the spirit passed through the Elemental Planes, instead of a curse leaving its mouth, the bird would instead bring the message of the community to the elements. === The Monastic Cults === At one point in the city’s history, the monastic cults served as an integral part of Nibenese society. The cults were once the training grounds for Nibenay’s original [[Templar|templars]], where they were taught the quiet acceptance of authority, and that all suffering could be eliminated through mental discipline and the extinguishing of self. This state of internal peace was known as ''vihear'', Nibenese word for “sanctuary”. As time passed, new opportunities arose for the free citizens of Nibenay, and they became less inclined to submissively accept their lot in life. This led to the monastic temples diminishing in importance and power, and for centuries the monasteries were left to become a refuge for eccentrics and psionicists. By the end of Kalak’s rule, however, Nibenese society had grown more stagnant, and the young of Nibenay had grown jaded and begun to flock back to the monasteries. They viewed their elders as materialistic and despised the lack of opportunities that society afforded them, and instead turned to the monks to hear teaching that would pacify their frustrations. This monastic resurgence involved both free citizens, cynical merchants, and bored nobles, and citizens of the time venerated the monks, and they were once more enjoying the respect with which they were regarded in the past, rather than just idle curiosity. Despite the many new faces that sought enlightenment among the monks, and most monks not being psionicists themselves, students of the Way still remained. Those young psionicists who had no interest in the practical and profit-minded emphasis on psionics taught at the School of Augurs had turned to the monasteries to pursue their mental disciplines. That being said, these psionicists cared little for the teachings of the old monks, and viewed the monastery only as a place to advance their psionic abilities. This small subculture within the population of the monastery was a concern to both the monks as well as the officials at the School of Augurs. ==== The Exalted Path and Serene Bliss ==== There are two monastic temples in Nibenay, the temple of the Exalted Path and the temple of Serene Bliss, located at each end of the city, and home to male and female monks, respectively. Regardless of gender, the monks shave their heads and eyebrows and dress in bright orange robes. Their main duties, apart from rigorous meditation and study, involve growing food to feed the monastery. Some also train in stonecutting or painting and go on to become artisans in these fields. Both orders pledge allegiance to the Shadow King, and many monks of the temple of Serene Bliss petition to join or serve the ranks of the templars. The king, in turn, allows the orders to operate with amused tolerance. He views their philosophy as something a child might do, willfully ignoring the world and its troubles, but realizes that the monasteries provide a valuable social function as it turns would-be dissenters into willful, if ignorant, servants. ==== The Dwelling ==== Among the many practices that has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, one stands above the rest: the Dwelling. This is a period of 30 days, during which a child is sent to the monastery to live and learn. The free citizens have begun to return to this practice, and some of the most reactionary citizens have allowed their young slaves to be sent on a Dwelling, yet the nobility hasn’t caught on. Historically, the children of nobles, free folk, and slaves could freely mingle as equals during the Dwelling, and was then, as is now, a phenomenon unique on Athas. === Soldier slaves === Servants used to bolster the regular army units of the [[Sorcerer-Kings|sorcerer-kings]], nobility, and even some of the [[Trading Houses|merchant house]]. In Nibenay there is a [[Half-Giant|half-giant]] legion. === Architecture === Nibenay was renowned for its extraordinary architecture, and at first glance it appeared that the entire city had been carved out of the hillside it rested against. Here, all permanent buildings, as is made law by royal decree, were constructed in sandstone, granite, or laterite, and each one was decorated with elaborate images carved right into the stone. For the Nibenese, there was no distinction between architecture and sculpture, and the people invested tremendous amounts of power into the carvings. The expansive friezes detailed the history of the city, its many legends, and its ruler through the language inherent in Nibenese dance. Similarly, the most affluent and prominent families decorated their homes with life-sized carvings of members of their house to tell the family’s own history. Beasts of the nearby Crescent Forest were also represented, and these carvings were said to guard the city and its inhabitants against attacks from such beasts, and huge faces with opened, fanged mouths served as decorations around windows and doorways. The many spires and minarets that gave the city its moniker stood tall above the rest of the city, jutting across the skyline. The design of these was as gruesome as they were grandiose, as they seemed to have been formed out of many thousands of stacked skulls. It's unknown when or why this tradition began, but it was certainly as ancient as the city itself. Some attributed this to the practices of an ancient cult of elemental earth, and the city remained a favored residence for earth clerics, who delighted in this city of dancing stone. The most prominent local elven tribe, the Sky Singers, believed that the Shadow King was actually a great basilisk who was slowly turning his city to stone. The elven name for the city of Nibenay was the same word they used for these monsters. The homes of the less grand families of Nibenay were simple structures made of clay bricks and wood. Families dwelled inside these single-room homes, partitioned by decorative and functional papyrus screens that created various living spaces. Rock gardens, laid out in intricate patterns, also complimented many homes in the city. The wealthy also enjoyed the company of pets, such as birds and lizards, which they housed in small mud houses called ''milla''. The number of milla built around a home indicated a family’s prosperity. === Art === While all building facades were covered with sculptural art, the interiors of Nibenese homes weren’t any less decorative. For their interior art, the Nibenese favored murals, intricately woven carpets, detailed frescoes, and decorative screens. This was especially true in the homes of free citizens, that furnished their large open area homes with nothing but carpets and screens to separate the “rooms”. The carpets were often decorated with geometric patterns, while the screens and frescoes often featured stylized images of the Crescent Forest. Artist slaves were employed to decorate the homes of the wealthy. === Astronomy === The Nibenese harbored an ancient love of the study of the night sky and pursued astronomy with a passion unequaled among the other people of the Tyr Region. This understanding of astronomy and astrology had an impact on all things Nibenese. Astrologers were often retained by noble families to plan harvests and other major projects, while caravan masters used it to navigate. Even Nibenese children were taught to identify the constellations of the Athasian sky. One of the greatest examples of astronomy being a part of society as a whole came from the fact that Nibenay, by the time of the Liberation of Tyr, was the only city-state to officially adopt the Merchant’s Calendar. The heavy amounts of trade occurring in the city, which needed to be efficiently coordinated, and the calendar’s astronomical basis made it very appealing to the people of Nibenay. The festival weeks of Desselia, Assalia, and Zenalia, which marked the middle of each of Athas’ three seasons, were celebrated throughout Nibenay. While these festivals were considered holidays, many merchants and vendors remained open to cater to the free citizens who flooded the streets during these weeks. Games were held every day of the festival, and noble families and merchant houses vied to become sponsors of the games. === Dance and Music === Dancing was a fundamental part of Nibenese culture, and the people of the city-state saw dance as their gift to the world. Day and night, music and movement permeated the entire city – even the facades of the buildings were decorated with images of dancing people. The first thing visitors to the city were greeted by was the sound of music and merriment, and as they entered what was metaphorically known as “the Dancing Gates”, they often became spellbound by the near-constant hypnotic music and dancing. This distinctive style of dance consisted of hundreds of specific stilted postures and stylized gestures, each of which was part of a complex code which the Nibenese could actually use to communicate nonverbally, all through the metaphors of dance. So engrained in their culture was dancing that the Nibenese often used gestures borrowed from this traditional codex of movements to punctuate conversations. The dancing was accompanied by small orchestras that included woodwinds, drums, and xylophones. Actors, some of whom were wearing masks to represent certain monsters or supernatural forces, silently moved along with the dance to comment on the dance as it developed using facial expressions and hand gestures to enhance the experience further. While dancers rested between appearances, jugglers and acrobats entertained the audience. There were three major styles of Nibenese dance, each one reflected certain aspects of their culture – joy, tragedy, and warfare. Dancers learned all three, but usually favored one over the others. The by far most popular style of dance in Nibenay was ''Priytu-ih'', which was meant for celebrations and joyful events. The themes of this dance were often comical, and the dancers decorated themselves with tiny bells and blew whistles to elicit laughs from onlookers. ''Liaka-ih'' was a dramatic style that saw the dancers wrap themselves in veils, scarves, and ribbons that whirled while they danced. This dance was meant to reflect tragedy, a comment on the inherent suffering of existence. To mark this, dancers often painted themselves with red pigment to symbolize blood. The ''wriquo-ih'', or “war style”, had dancers wield decorative wooden swords and daggers in a violent choreography. This was done in honor of warriors and their battles, and to commemorate military life. Dancers and musicians often accompanied caravans on their trips. These entertainers performed for the caravan crew as well as for the residents of the places they visited, and sometimes made use of psionics to heighten the hypnotic power of their music. This also allowed less scrupulous members of a performing troupe to lighten the purse strings of the audience. ==== The Starlight Pageants ==== So revered was dance that it was used to mark all ceremonies, feasts, and gatherings in Nibenay. The most famous of all these Nibenese dance performances were the ones that occurs during the Starlight Pageants. These all-night festivals marked the beginning of each of the three season and were the culmination of a week-long celebration. Dozens of young female dancers, called ''aspara'', performed a dance that lasted from the gates of the Naggaramakam, down the High Road, all the way to the Reservoir Garden where they performed a meticulously orchestrated series of dances drawn from a repertoire of 231 ancient dances passed down through the generations. The stories told through these dances celebrated the city, its history and lore, and the Shadow King. The Starlight Pageants were accompanied by the usual setup of instruments, but also included the ''khong'' – a circular wooden frame lined with copper gongs, which the musician sat inside of. Only Nibenay himself owned a khong, as it was close to being priceless due to its heavy metal content. To further enhance the performance, and despite the fact that the sorcerer-king never attended the festivals himself, he nevertheless provides his people with a show, as his state-sanctioned defilers used magic to dazzle the onlookers with magic. These grand performances of arcane magic drew power from a collection of ''Trees of Life'' found in the gardens, and a slave druid was often on hand to secure that the trees’ energies didn’t diminish too much. === Dress === The Nibenese were renowned for their good looks, with round faces, tan skin, and black hair. Most free Nibenese complemented these natural features with brightly colored and loose-fitting linen shirts and skirts. They wrapped their heads with long, checkerboard-patterned scarfs called ''krama'', and most wore sandals on their feet, unless they worked with large animals, as then, heavy boots were preferred. Among the more well-to-do, and especially in the fashionable merchant districts, imported shirts, shoes, and jewelry were frequently worn. Nobles preferred traditional garb, but often omitted the krama, or wore a headdress that featured a pattern related to their family. However, despite their demand for the highest quality garments, the leaders of a house often wore little or nothing at all. This was part of yet another old tradition stating that clothes were meant to shelter a person from shame, and the more influential and richer you were, the less you had to be ashamed about. This practice also extended to the templars, where only the lowest ranking templars remained fully dressed at all times. As one advanced within the hierarchy, the less you were required to wear. High-ranking Templar Wives were known to not wear anything at all while undertaking their civilian duties, even though all military personnel on active duty wore protective gear and tabards. Some of Nibenese oldest inhabitants had blue-stained teeth, a result of a lifelong habit of chewing the local ''betel'' nuts. === Literature === As was the norm on Athas, literacy was a luxury and a privilege only afforded to the nobles and templars of Nibenay. Each noble family kept extensive libraries of hide scrolls and hardwood panels containing the history and memoirs of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the house, and the study of these documents was an integral part of any young noble’s education. Beyond this, many young nobles also indulged in amorous poetry as either a part of a rite of courtship, or to amuse their friends with humorous tales of their lustful adventures, regardless of if they were true or not. The traditions and history of the city wasn’t lost on the illiterate common folk, though. The intricate system of dance used in Nibenay was its own language, and all Nibenese knew the postures and gestures associated with the traditional codex. As almost every building in Nibenay was beautifully decorated with reliefs of people dancing, the city itself became a series of stories for the populace to enjoy and wonder at. However, as these reliefs could be constructed as a written language, it was illegal to recreate any of these symbols on anything but the walls of a building. === Marriage === As with many other things Nibenese, the city’s marriage customs were also quite unique. Marriages in Nibenay were usually polygamous, and only the poorest citizens had only one spouse. Marriages were also powerful political tools, and were almost always arranged as if they were business deals or political agreements. While marriages born out of the love between two people did exist, known in Nibenese culture as “love matches”, they were often scorned and labeled as fruitless in terms of what could be gained from them economically and politically. Regardless of gender, the head of a household was referred to as the “master of the marriage”. The master had one primary spouse with whom they produced heirs, in an effort to limit the dispersion of property and wealth. The master of the marriage had complete discretion over the lives and property of their spouses and children. The heir of a family always assumed the position of master of the marriage, and marriages between heirs only occurred when a specific alliance needed to be forged between two families. Children of subordinate spouses were married off for financial and political gain if possible, or to relieve debt or get them out of the house if necessary. Marriages also became important when it came to land holdings, as only married people were allowed to own land. Nibenese commoners had a propensity for desperately grasping at anything that would increase their family’s standing and wealth, even if was over the course of many generations. Because of this, they tended towards patriarchal marriages that had the potential of producing several children that would eventually contribute to the household. Some citizens, on the other hand, favored the customs of the nobility. Historically, each child born to the master and their primary spouse were entitled to an equal cut of the estate. In an effort to prevent the unnecessary dilution of a family’s property, matriarchal marriages became the norm, as they typically yielded far fewer children. By the time of Kalak’s demise, the holdings of a noble family were usually passed on solely to the heir of a family, with only small parcels bequeathed to the heir’s siblings. This came with the provision that these gifts may only be sold back to the family. Who became heir was never a given thing, however, and the children of noble families spent much of their lives currying favor with the heads of their house for the chance to be named their heir. The role of heir was usually passed on to the child that had proven to be the most conservative or capable among their siblings. Consequently, this led to many nobles not being married off until they reached middle age. In the meantime, young nobles were encouraged to pursue many free-floating polyamorous relationships outside the formal institutions of marriage. Nobles were also expected to marry outside of their own extended family, a means of overcoming political differences between the divided noble houses. Because of the traditions regarding both inheritance and the arrangement of marriages, there was an entire subsection of Nibenese society that had no real property or power of their own. These people were essentially slaves within the confines of their own marriages or families. Despite all of these caveats and heavy cultural and societal implications, marriages were still occasions for celebration – and lengthy ones at that. One month before a wedding, the master of the marriage spent an entire week joined to the betrothed by a long scarf attached at their waists, and as the month progresses, the would-be mate devoted at least one day bound to each of the other spouses. This tradition served as both a public sign of commitment, and provided all members of the marriage with the opportunity to get to know one and other. Each wedding was then celebrated by the master of the marriage providing the family of the betrothed with a often substantial gift, meant as compensation for the loss of the betrothed’s productive capacity. === Funerals === The dead of Nibenay were traditionally buried, and a large district of the city was completely dedicated to the interment of deceased nobles. Upon death, the family called for a priest of the particular elemental cult the family served adherence to. The cleric oversaw the funerals and ensured that the dead were protected from rising as undead creatures, this was the same for all people of Nibenay, from the wealthiest noble to the lowliest slave. Burial among the free citizens of the city was mostly a simple affair conducted by the cult of elemental earth, while funeral pyres of the elemental cult of air or fire were often erected in the countryside beyond the city walls. Slaves had been buried in shallow graves in fields outside of the city for centuries, but at one point not long after the Liberation of Tyr, the abbot of the Temple of the Sun began offering somewhat less costly cremations. In contrast, the funeral ceremonies of the rich and noble were naturally far grander, and all followed the traditions of the cults of earth and water, as these noble families were so reliant on the rice fields and hot springs for their wealth. The ancestral cults of the nobles, prescribed a number of observances, including the wearing of ancestral death masks in the funeral procession, and the sacrificial killing of slaves upon the death of a house leader. In the cemetery district, each noble family had several blocks dedicated to their house, and rows upon rows of mausoleums and tombs sat atop each other, forming the walls of a maze of narrow alleys measuring 20 feet tall in places. The dead were laid to rest on slabs within the tombs, which were then sealed before being flooded with water – a process overseen by clerics of the elemental cult of water. Despite the clerics best efforts, the protection from undeath wasn’t always perfect, and visitors were advised not to venture into the maze-like district of the dead without the aid of clerical magic. The Templar Wives had their own unique funeral practices. The death of a templar was commemorated by a somber ritual in which twelve templar mourners carried the body of the deceased to an underground temple beneath the Naggaramakam. This temple connected to miles of catacombs that extended deep beneath the palace of the Shadow King. In the temple, the mourners washed the body and then laid it to rest upon a platform teeming with ock’n snails that would cover the body with a thick resin that later hardened to seal the body inside. During this process, the twelve templars mourned in silence outside of the room, and it’s believed that the sorcerer-king himself arrived at the temple to mourn the loss of his wife. Once the resin had hardened, the mourners began to sing an elegy that resounded of the walls of the catacombs, as they carried their dead sister to a tomb where the body was sealed within a warded sarcophagus. === Sacrifice === Human sacrifice was far more common in neighboring [[Gulg]], and instead, the Nibenese often sought to appease the supernatural forces by appealing to ancestral spirits, monetary contributions to temples, or by seeking help from the Shadow King’s [[Templar|templars]]. Despite this, the practice still persisted in the traditions of the nobility of Nibenay and the elemental cults of the countryside. In addition to this, at several times in the city’s history --at cyclical intervals, slaves and criminals were brought to the [[Naggaramakam]] and never heard of again. It’s believed that these people were used as sacrifice to strengthen the [[Sorcerer-Kings|sorcerer-king]]’s magic, and while the Nibenese feared the staggering cost in human lives necessary to provide the Shadow King with magic, they were also thankful for the tremendous power that protected them from the warriors of Gulg. ==== The Dragon’s Levy ==== Every year, captives, criminals, and slaves all over Athas were used to pay the Dragon’s Levy, and Nibenay was no different. When the time came for the levy to be paid, a thousand of these unfortunate people were taken into the salt flats by the king’s templars and then never seen again. Legends tell of a time when the city wouldn’t be able to provide servants to the Dragon, and at that time, the springs would boil dry, the fields turn to dust, the forest wither, and the walls of Nibenay crumble and fall.
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to the Dark Sun Wiki are considered to be released under the CC-BY-SA
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Follow on IG
TikTok
Join Fan Lab