Urkhain

The men of the swamps or Imfalct We` Urkhain or the Urkhulon are those people who abode in the treacherous swamps of the Urkhain. Said to be an ancient break-away group of the Water Tribe, they are steadfast in their belief that Water and Earth are two aspects of the same elements, branches of a single tree sharing roots and trunk and everything else. They say that Water and Earth are the embodiment of a single leaf. This leads to the concept of Farcalsh. According to this concept, the swamps are the closest place to the original Ea’zir. Popularly it is told that once the whole of Ea’zir was covered by swamps. However during the Twelfth Sundering and the subsequent destruction most of them were finished. Some still whisper that it was one of the Twelve worlds which was home to the swamps and its dependent life forms. Once the world was mended only a few parts remained, most prominent on Ardh’iza Baagh.

Some points in the Urkhain enjoy a special importance because being points yielding the Highest Ooze, the base of all creation. The Ooze combines all the elements into a single cell. Many artifacts are related to this remarkable liquid, most famous among them is the Sweat of Ea’zir. The Urkhulon believe that because of the burden the world bears, it constantly perspires. One drop of this fluid is claimed to rebirth you. The founding of any Oozing sites are considered highly rare and usually one is unearthed in around five centuries. All Oozing sites run dry after a few years except the point guarded in the Temple of Ea’zir’s Sweat. This point has always existed and will only run dry once the burden of the world is removed, that is when the next Uppermost Minglement takes place and all Elements awake from their Surrendered Slumber. Usage of this can prolong any man’s life by decades and decades. Some Shamans in the Temple of Ea’zir’s Sweat have no record on how long they have lived making it possible that they might be a millennia old.

The Urkhain being one of the strangest places on the world also houses the He’imrun, the Youngest Tree. Originally it was part of a group of the Joesh’run, the seven spirit trees, but gradually the other four, the older ones, disappeared.

The swamps are populated by large numbers of lizards and creatures alike. The Urkhulon Shamans’ link let them become the Khainur’akh, The swamp tiger.