The Iron Dragon

Chapter 37. The Qunari

*I am sorry that I am writing so much about the Qunaris at the moment but I find this breed just incredibly interesting and have always been interested in their culture. Also, I have always wondered how exactly the Qun is structured and so I just wanted to have it as detailed as possible in my story. There might be another chapter about the Qunari, but after that you will never hear so much about these horned giants again xD.**

In my life I had already met some Qunari and could learn from them first hand, but these tribes had all passed away with the centuries that had passed. As much as I was fascinated by dragons, I was also fascinated by the Qunari. Of course I had always been very interested in all races, but none was as similar to the dragons as these. I could also say that they had an interesting past, which I had studied thoroughly during my life. Especially the story about the triumvirate of the Pillars of the Qunari had fascinated me. In the language of the horned people, which was called Qunlat, these pillars were also called Salasari and meant as much as "triumvirate". For them this triumvirate represented the perfect unity and they embodied body, mind and soul or as the Qunari called them Arishok, Arigena and Ariqun. These three pillars regulated everything under the Qun and guided all the peoples of the Qunari. Each column led a certain group in this people, the Arishok led the soldiers, the Arigena led all those who were involved in a trade and the Ariqun led the priests.

The Arishok had special characteristics, because this was not only a column but also a title that could be awarded. The Arishok embodied in the military of this race the leader of a large number of warriors. Since under the Qun only men were allowed to become warriors, because they believed that only one man could meet these requirements, only one man could become an Arishok.

The Arigena represented the industry, agriculture and commercial aspects of this people, it guides the mind of each individual and for this particular rank only a woman could be chosen, as men had no place in this room. Merchants and craftsmen were responsible for all the things this people needed to survive and for the fair distribution of these things to all who attended the people.

The priests, also called Ariqun, were responsible for everything that had to do with their religion and took care of all the believers. Both men and women could be elected for this rank.

Of course, there were ranks among the Qunari themselves, and when I thought about it, I found myself comparing them with the bull to find out what rank he represented or had represented. I didn't know if he was following the Qun or if he had become one of the Qunari who had renounced the Qun. Both were possible and again something I wanted to find out. The Arishok was the one who led the warriors who were called Antaam under the Qun. He was a great and mighty warrior, whom everyone respected, and those who did not, well, they did not live long. The Kathaban was the leader of a large naval fleet of the Qunari, something like an admiral they commanded the ships and were mostly on the water. The Kithshok were something like generals who were responsible for the lively exchange between foreign traders and their people in ports. A Karasten was something like a commander of a smaller group of warriors. Fighting with these people was a bit like attempted suicide.

Particularly interesting, though for many people terrible, were Arvaarad and the Saarebas who played quite important roles in the ranks of this people. Arvaarad in the language of the Qun meant something like "Keep evil away" and evil in this context meant magic and this was disturbing for many people, especially for those who were magical themselves. Their role was to rein in the magicians born in their own ranks, to guard them and keep them on a very short leash, even literally wiping out those who left the Qun and enlightening those who had not yet joined the Qun. The Qunari were not friends of magic and that's why they didn't trust those who themselves were born with magic among their people. For this race the greatest goal and achievement was to master their own being and be one with themselves and the Qun, and so they leashed those of them who were known to lose themselves the fastest and to fall prey to the whispers of a demon in this case the magicians and it was Arvaarad who held the leash. You could see that they played a role like the Templars in different cities because they were also there to watch the mages, especially in circles, and if necessary destroy them if they lost control of their power or fell victim to a demon, only the Templars did not leash the mages, although I was sure many would have liked to do so. It was common for this horned race to have a mage in a Karataam, which meant "a group of several mages in one place", but if one of them left the group, he was killed by the Arvaarad immediately.