The last rank has no title, encompassing all other Makadan and allowing their internal ranks and social strata to organize by achievements and skills On the fringes of their villages and cities are the Plemecs, a blue-veined subgroup known to be excellent farmers Only an oganekat, or firemaker, makes any fire; others may tend it and add logs and kindling, but the sparking of a new blaze is sacred The cuvarna, or custodian of the wells, is equally revered in finding water or being the one to dig a new well; they gravitate toward the growing Raetann, or Water Guild, emerging across Khitus, but universally warn against the use of the water spice hesheyel, pointing out its dangerous side effects Customs & Culture Most assume that the Makadan organize their people along martial lines, preferring strength of body as a measure of a fit leader While this is at least partially true, it is an oversimplification that avoids much true understanding of these people Many nuances and peculiarities remain in Makadan culture from their history before the Kod, though the warrior culture dominates much of what outsiders see All Makadan greet each other with a hard slap to the shoulder Their warriors never look directly at a superior when he is speaking, as this can be considered a challenge to his authority Any who fight together with Makadan are considered like brothers, though this does not transcend tribal exclusion (i.e friend but not Makadan) One must be born into the Makadan tribe or marry into it; men doing so must endure a brutal scarification that leaves the cheeks and arms forever marked When the head of a Makadan household dies in personal combat, the victor can invoke the Krvash, the family-claiming blood rite, and assume leadership over his survivors and properties Krvash rites scar the length of the left arm Slaying a Makadan warrior in single combat and claiming his family is another way for an outsider to gain unquestioned entry into the tribe, though that entry may be short-lived due to almost-certain vengeful challenges Tribal newborns are named by village consensus around the age of five years Prior to that, newborns gain family nicknames or numbers for identification Formal education is the exception rather than the rule in Makadan society Only the Bokata and Sovetnik youth destined to become government officials are fully literate, though most people can accomplish reading and writing critical to their functions All Makadan youth 54 have marriages arranged by their families; if the first marriage ends for some reason (usually a death), they make subsequent pairings by choice For this reason, many view any deaths in wedlock as somewhat suspicious Makadan dead are commonly buried in sand or earth, but leaders receive a fire burial—a day-long celebration of their deeds ending at their funeral pyres, centering around the roasting of entire uludur beasts Most humans who claim Makadan ancestry also adhere to these traditions: • Tent Camps: Makadan field camps are made of enormous canvas tents, erected against the rocks whenever possible for better protection • Fullet Calls: Makadan in the open desert commonly mimic the fullet’s cry to draw them close to hunt their precious store of water (see Chapter 7) • Marble Builders: When such resources are available, the Makadan also fashion their cities out of marble with plastered stone buildings as well, making their settlement a broad swathe of white or brightly painted surfaces In good times, hanging vines and flowered gardens adorn every external surface • Qath Manhar Enmity: Makadans hate the Qath Manhar and sometimes insist all others are in league with them and must prove otherwise • Krikis Enmity: They face off against the Krikis Hivelands to the west, and so bear an almost universal hatred of the insect men, regardless of what color chitin bears the glint of the sun Rumors & Whispers While many who trade with them know much about the Makadan, there are those who spread rumors with jealous intent Even the Makadan spread lies about their own kind to foment even more fearsome reputations • Makadans mutter to themselves, their camps always abuzz with noise, to distract themselves and drown out the ghostly whispers of all those they kill • Makadans only look into the eyes of those they either plan to kill or consider too weak to be a threat • Makadan make their metals immune to the Iron Virus (see Chapter 5) by quenching forge-hot metals into the blood of those they capture and enslave • Among their own kind, Makan prophecies speak of a genderless Plemec child who will be born to lead the Makadan in a cataclysmic struggle against all other races that eventually leads their tribe to world supremacy