KIITH SOMTAAW
Of the earliest days of Kiith Somtaaw little is known, although this ancient family could once trace its unbroken lineage back over 1,000 years on Kharak. The Somtaaw made their ancestral homes in the peaks and valleys of the Kohntala Mountain range, one of the more dramatic geographic features in Kharak's northern hemisphere. In the first and second centuries, Somtaaw's holdings in the Khontala were rich and varied, running the gamut from farms, dams, and mills to fortresses and towns, including the walled cities of Hameln and Gydeo. The kiith was more than self-sufficient; the terraced farms of the lowlands and the seasonal grazing pastures of the highlands produced a great surplus of food and hides, and the Somtaaw prospered in trade.
Starting in the year 178, Kharakian artists from various disciplines were gathered under the patronage of Teigor Somtaaw, one of the most enlightened kiith'sid of his time. Employing hundreds of skilled masons, painters, architects and weavers, Kiith Somtaaw began building a series of temples on the slopes of the mountain called Lungma Jiin, "The Roof of the World." There were 33 temples in all, leading from the sands of the Kasaar to the very summit of what was, at that time, the world's highest known mountain.
Collectively, the 33 temples of the Somtaaw were known as "The Shimmering Path." For nearly 400 years, it was considered the height of spiritual devotion for a religiously inclined Kharakian to walk the Shimmering Path; most Kharakians attempted the trip at least once a lifetime. Beginning at the first temple, the Oracle of Tala, the distance that a pilgrim was able to travel on his or her own feet was considered a watermark for the strength of the Faith that burned within.
The vast majority of Kharakians finished the pilgrimage at the Seventh Temple, the famous "Dome of Heaven," which lay within the city walls of Gydeo. For those stubborn few who felt the need to move closer to god, however, there were 26 more temples along the Shimmering Path, each more inaccessible than the last. The highest of these was Temple of the Mysteries, which very few travelers could reach; the upper slopes of Lungma Jiin were a blasted ladder of crumbling granite and thin ice, and constantly buffeted by freezing gale force winds. According to legend, the most sacred relics of the Somtaaw were kept on the altar of this temple, and any pilgrim who made the journey on foot was permitted to touch them: the famed Star-Metal Scrolls, which were alleged to have been written by the hand of Jakuul Himself, in a language which no living man could read.
Up until the discovery of Khar Toba, most serious Kharakian scholars had assumed that the Somtaaw's Star Metal Scrolls were just a myth, very much like their Chalice of Life or any other mystical refuse from Kharakian legend. Before the discovery of the Guidestone, the Star-Metal Scrolls were put into the same category as Soban's sword Caaliburnos, or the Burning Spear of Gaalsi. However, given the discovery of the Guidestone, a great deal of new interest was generated in the Somtaaw holy relics. Many prominent anthrocists and historians, including the famous Mevath Sagald, joined forces and put a motion before the Great Daiamid at Tiir, requesting that the Somtaaw's upper temples, which had been closed to outsiders for over 300 years, be re-opened for the benefit of modern-day scholars.
Alas, nothing came of this motion before the Burning of Kharak. Representatives from Kiith Somtaaw dragged their heels in the Daiamid assembly, and even went so far as to suggest that archaeologists should approach the Temple of Mysteries on foot, dressed in traditional pilgrim's clothes! Sagald and her coalition declared this notion "ridiculous," and openly referred to the Somtaaw as "backward barbarians." Many Sagald supporters pointed out that the Daiamid was founded to hear sound logical debates, not listen to superstitious nonsense! Arguments on both side were still being heard when the Mothership was launched.
In any case, we will never know what we might have learned from the Somtaaw Scrolls; they were lost with the rest of Kharak, and among the Somtaaw survivors who awoke on Hiigara 15 years ago, there were none who could claim to have seen them. Since the later days of the Heresy Wars, Kiith Somtaaw had largely abandoned their role as a religious kiith; by the time of the Exodus, the vast majority of Somtaaw's kiithid were engaged in another profession, the profession by which they are still best known today: mining.
The transformation of Kiith Somtaaw from a primary religious kiith to a hard-working miner's kiith was a slow and painful one, and involved many generations of privation and suffering. The centuries of the Heresy Wars were hard times for the Somtaaw; their Khontala mountains provided a natural barrier between the forces of Gaalsi and Siid, and both sides struggled urgently to subdue or seduce the Somtaaw for nearly two hundred years. The flow of pilgrims to Somtaaw temples slowed disastrously in a world at war, and soon there was not enough money flowing into the kiith's coffers to maintain those temples in their intended role, as way-stations along the Shimmering Path. Eventually, in the year 675, all 33 of the Somtaaw temples were closed to outsiders, except for the Oracle of Tala and the Dome of Heaven.
By virtue of their own sheer stubbornness, and the natural protection provided by the narrow passes and forbidding peaks of their homeland, the Somtaaw were able to hold off all invaders during the worst of the Siidim and Gaalsien conflict. More difficult to resist, however, was the seduction of becoming a vassal clan, especially when the Somtaaw holdings, although easy to defend, were also easy to cut off from trade routes. Even a small garrison could hold the Kasaar like a cork in a bottle, and keep the Somtaaw trapped in their mountain fortresses; invaders couldn't enter, but neither could caravans and other visitors. Contact with the outside was sporadic throughout the seventh and eighth centuries...the Somtaaw held no goods sufficiently inviting to keep the Kasaar Road open.
This changed in the year 789, when Kuura Somtaaw, then kiith'sa of the 30,000 souls who still made their homes in the Khontala, awoke one night from a strange dream. Kuura had seen the image of the god Sajuuk, driving a great red sword into the earth in the Khontala mountains, in a seldom-visited region far from the main roads. Driven by the urgency of her vision, she ordered several smaller families to begin digging in the Red Creek valley. Because their kiith'sa was descended from the temple women of Tala, the Somtaaw reluctantly obeyed, and several Somtaaw kiithid moved to the area and began the excavation, although no one was quite certain what they were looking for.
What the Somtaaw found at Red Creek was a deposit of the richest iron ore ever seen on Kharak, which lay just six feet below the soft sediments of the valley floor. Here was enough metal to be hammered into a hundred thousand swords, and Kiith Somtaaw was not slow to announce their find to the rest of the world. Although both Siid and Gaalsi offered ruinous sums to buy the mine, or the ore that it produced, Kuura Somtaaw refused to trade with either side. In her own words, "Why should I sell these madmen a knife to cut my throat with?"
Instead, the Somtaaw built their own smelters and began mixing the iron with carbon, producing a very high grade steel...a commodity far more precious than gold, especially during those dangerous times. The arrangement that eventually sustained Kuura Somtaaw's kiith was made with the Sobanii, who immediately saw the use for Somtaaw steel and the superior weapons that could be forged from it. In exchange for a yearly tribute from the smelters at Hameln, the Soban signed an unheard-of contract; the mercenary kiith agreed to keep the Kasaar open and clear of marauders for a period of no less than one hundred years!
With the Naabal intervention, the Somtaaw expanded their operations, throwing themselves into their new profession with the kiith's customary enthusiasm. Although they never developed any significant technological advances on their own, they were always quick to buy, copy or outright steal any new tool or technique, once another kiith had put it into operation. Thus the Somtaaw profited greatly from the introduction of steam-powered drills, narrow-gauge railroads and chemical explosives. By the time of the Exodus, Kiith Somtaaw was nearly 500,000 strong, and had even built new holdings alongside great industrial kiithid like Naabal and LiirHra, to the extent of opening off-planet mines in the Kharakian asteroid belt.
The return to Hiigara was not as joyous for Somtaaw as for many of our people. Although a few of their number were awake during the journey from Kharak, employed in the care and maintenance of resource collectors, the vast majority of Somtaaw survivors were Sleepers during the journey. When they were awakened on Hiigara, many were horrified to hear that the families and loved ones they left on Kharak were gone, and that there was no hope of return. Of a kiith that had once been so strong, very few survivors remained; only 15,000 Somtaaw awakened on Kharak, less than a twentieth of their number, and the vast majority of these were men.
Somtaaw's fortunes were further complicated by a political conflict with Kiith Naabal, which made a bid seven years after landfall to absorb the Somtaaw survivors as a vassal clan. It was argued in the New Daiamid that Somtaaw's kiithid had valuable skills, which could be of the greatest possible use to Hiigara if channeled by Naabal's industrial planning committees. According to the Naabal, it was in the best interests of all Hiigarans if Somtaaw joined with Kiith Naabal, and provided their mining expertise to the Naabal-owned colonies throughout the Hiigaran buffer zone.
Somtaaw flatly refused this proposition, and the debate between Somtaaw and Naabal supporters in the New Daiamid has already been cited by many as a history-making event. According to the Somtaaw survivors, larger and more powerful kiithid like Naabal were deliberately campaigning to deprive the weakened Sleeper clans of their sovereign rights, which included the staking of land claims on Hiigara, a voice in the New Daiamid, and access to the ship-building capabilities of the Mothership Station. Given that the Mothership's building array had already provided whole fleets to the larger kiithid, and no less than fifteen carrier groups each to Naabal, Soban, Kaalel and Manaan, Kiith Somtaaw argued that they also had the right to seek their fortune among the stars. They proposed to build themselves a tonnage of starships which was proportional to their kiith numbers.
During the Somtaaw/Naabal debate, dispossessed members of many Kharak's devastated kiithid joined the Somtaaw as family members, swelling their ranks from 15,000 to nearly 25,000 in a few short months. The matter was contended for months in the Daiamid, with the larger kiithid of the inner council arguing bitterly. Kiith Soban honored its ancient ties to Somtaaw and opposed Naabal's power-hungry crusade, and so did the Paktu, a kiith inclined to support Somtaaw both out of historical sympathy with the underdog and respect for the rising confederation of Somtaaw with other weakened kiithid. On the opposite side of the table, Kiith LiirHra supported Naabal vigorously, citing the benefits of their own union with the survivors of the Hraal.
The matter was eventually decided by the Sa of Sa's, Karan Sjet, who came down on the side of the Somtaaw, and granted the miners access to the Mothership Station for a period of six months. In that time, the Somtaaw built two enormous mining ships, the Kuun-Lan and the Fal-Corum, which were both launched, fully manned, within 45 days. In the final days of their control over the Mothership's PDA, Kiith Somtaaw triumphantly built one final ship, the Clee San, a top-of-the-line deep space research frigate. Students of history will note that the names of all three vessels derive from the names of temples along the old Shimmering Path: Kuun-Lan, "Purifying Flame", Fal-Corum, "Silent Wayfarer", and Clee San, "Truth Seeker"...
Since then the Somtaaw have explored many neighboring systems to Hiigara. Although their numbers are small, they've set up several mining stations to collect rare elements, and they sell the fruits of their labors to all clients allowed by the current Hiigaran trade regulations. Like all our kiithid, their ships are bound to respond to any call to arms, when Hiigaran space is violated. But beyond the Somtaaw's duty to Hiigara, they live free and bend knee to none but their own kiith'sa...maintaining a centuries-long tradition.