The Adantri are the primary race of the Empire of Lirith Kai. In general they are a tall, well-made people with tan skin and dark hair--black or brown; their eyes are usually light in color. They are noted for their strength and grace, and for their love of color. When speaking of the Adantri race, people generally divide them into the Northern and Southern Adantri. The physical differences between the two groups are real enough, though fairly minor, but the psychological differences which the Adantri claim to perceive as typical of one group or the other are most probably a result of cultural tradition rather than some inherent feature of the peoples themselves.

The Adantri are, first and foremost, a people of the An-Kiu Valley. The Northern Adantri are found in the part of the Valley which lies north of the Twisted Lands, the Southern Adantri are south of that influence. Some scholars theorize that the event which created the Twisted Lands may have also instigated the separation between the northern and southern types of Adantri, but this is unproven; the differentiation probably took place much earlier. However that may be, the pure Northern Adantri type is now found mostly in Angsin, Imperial Heart, Liho, Linshar, Pelang, and Shangsin provinces; the Southern Adantri is dominant in Aryai, Chan-Kerang, Danath, Linglan, Minho, Miroi, and Sjima provinces. As a general rule, the southerners make more of a point of `racial purity' than do the northern branch.

At the heart of the Adantri personality, whether north or south, are their own linked concepts of order and honor, in their highest forms embodied in the worship of Mantor and the Jade Eye warrior clan. Naturally, each region has its own slant or flavor on this...