Lirith Kai, sometimes known as the Swordsman Empire, is a huge and ancient kingdom to the south and west of Alastari, across the Trier Sea and beyond the Rirorni Plains. The Empire is centered on the valley of the An-Kiu River, one of the mightiest river systems on the continent, which flows nearly three thousand miles from the Khriatrin Mountains and the Red Forest in the north to the Southern Ocean. Lyn Tirian (DM 78), the northernmost major city of the Empire, lies where two lesser streams come together to form the An-Kiu. Daiyla Kiv (DM 74), the capital of the Empire, lies six hundred miles downstream from Lyn Tirian, at the joining of the An-Kiu with the Fatebringer River, which drains the glacier-fed Trier Sea.

The eastern border of the Empire is formed, from north to south, by the coast of the Trier Sea backed by the Blue Hills (Dal Shang, DM 65, is the only Imperial city on this coast), the Twisted Lands (a region of broken and dangerous country contaminated by deadly magics), the World's Edge (a cliff hundreds of miles long and some two thousand feet high), the towering Drakenfell Mountains, and finally the barren stretches of Old Ratan.

Eight hundred miles or so to the west, across the fertile An-Kiu Valley, lies the Han Torra Khang, a mountain range comparable to the Rockies, which runs the length of the Empire from north to south; it is between two and four hundred miles wide. In the youth of the Empire, this range formed the western border, but the Adantri have long since crossed it. Today, several provinces lie on the western flank of the mountains where they slope down to a semi-arid plateau. Simtakka (DM 76) is the northernmost of them; in the south, the border runs through the jungles of Naowei to the Southern Ocean.

To the southeast of Lirith Kai is Old Ratan, once an empire in its own right but now a region of fragmented and impoverished city-states, quarreling independent emirates, and small kingdoms. To the east are the Rirorni Plains and the nomadic Rirorni, old enemies of both the Adantri and the Ratani. Northeast across the Trier Sea is Alastari, in Adantri eyes a region as quarrelsome as and even less important than Ratan. To the north lie the lands of the elves in the Red Forest, and beyond them the dwarves of the Khriatrin Mountains, but these folk have little interest in the nations of humans, nor are the humans much interested in them. West of Lirith Kai on the high grasslands are barbarians and nomads and kingdoms known only by rumor; most of the people who come out of the west are big and blond. In the southwest, jungles crowd the shores of the Southern Ocean, and the people who dwell there are dark-skinned.

The people of Lirith Kai call themselves Adantri, and they are human; there is no significant non-human population in Lirith Kai. A typical Adantri is fair to tan to bronze of skin, has dark hair--brown or black, and eyes of any color; they are neither as dark as the Delarquans nor as fair as the classical image of an Andorian. Their chief beauty is their bone structure: the Adantri are tall, strong, and gracefully proportioned with very little tendency to fat despite the richness of their cuisine. They love to wear rich fabrics and jewelry in bright colors and eye-catching designs, so much so that the most conservatively attired Adantri would be considered, in most places, to be dressed up for a fancy party. This frivolity of appearance is all on the surface, however. The keynote of the Adantri personality is practicality, and they have a strict and rather rigid culture, bound by a code of honor that most would rather die than violate. Nearly all Adantri are trained in the martial arts from an early age, and in each home (or most) is a place set aside as a "teva," a place for studying and practicing the arts of combat.

Their world is divided into five clearly defined castes: the nobility or warriors, who are kin to the gods, protectors of the Empire; the priests or holy ones who keep the temples and transmit the will of the gods; the farmers who harvest the bounty of the land; the merchants and craftsmen who take that bounty and transform it into things useful to men and transport it to where it is needed; and the casteless ones who have no dignity or honor. (Of late there has been a movement to consider the foreigners who have entered the country as a result of the adoption of the Lady Greywand's arena program as representing a sixth caste.) It is taught that all castes (except the outcastes, of course) are equal in status and honor before the gods and the law, though it often does not seem so in practice. However, the Adantri culture has a form of checks and balances to keep any one caste from abusing the powers peculiar to it.

First, members of each caste may range from the lowest to the mightiest level of wealth. The humble tailor's apprentice is of the merchant caste, as much as the proud owner of twenty fine ships. A laborer digging in a field is of the farmer caste, but so is the owner of ten square miles of orchards, whose words ring loud in the council of the Lord Governor of his province. The priestly caste has its rag-clad street-corner preachers as well as its high priests and philosophers, and among the nobility one will find more minor courtiers and small country squires than haughty dukes and princes. The main castes, each of which may have numerous subcastes, may be viewed as ladders: individuals may move up and down the ladders as their ability and luck permits, but they may not change ladders. The only caste which may be "freely" entered and left is the so-called "casteless" or "outcaste" caste: for one may enter that classification by some act of cowardice or dishonor, and leave it by leading a productive and responsible life in accord with the code of honor of the Empire and of the caste which one is to enter.

All the offices of the Imperial government, save only that of the Emperor himself, are in theory open to members in good standing of the four castes (outcastes have neither rights nor privileges). Assignment an office is based on tests given each year to candidates, covering basic education, knowledge of law and history, and any other factors deemed appropriate for the position in question. All members of the government start in lowly positions, advancing as experience and merit qualifies them to; there are many more petty bureaucrats eking out a living in an obscure office than Lord Governors handing down judgments from their thrones. If there are more members of the nobility in governmental posts, it is not entirely because they are better able to afford the education necessary--after all, there are a good many merchants who are richer than all but the wealthiest nobles. But the members of the caste of hereditary nobility are perhaps more accustomed to see a job in government, even in some minor post, as a worthy and proper goal.

The Army, also, is drawn from all castes, and (at least in theory) no preference is given to one caste over another in the matter of promotion--only ability is supposed to matter. If things do not work out quite like that in practice, still, there are numerous officers who have sprung from the farmer or merchant caste, and no few common soldiers of noble background.

The Warrior Societies (the phrases was first, and misleadingly, translated as `Warrior Clans', but they are not clans, or lineage groups, as in our sense of the word) also cut across caste boundaries and draw from all levels of prosperity, bringing noble and farmer, merchant and priest, into regular contact with each other on a footing of equality. A young nobleman who has learned the fine points of sword-handling from an old farmer who belongs to the same warrior society will not look so condescendingly on the tillers of the fields thereafter. These societies may be brotherhoods (or sisterhoods) of fighters, sworn to protect one another, semi-monastic religious sects, political parties...the uniting factors are many. The societies range in size and longevity from small groups of childhood friends to vast networks of swordsmen such as the Jade Eye Society, whose members are sworn to protect the weak and innocent--this society may count back through the centuries and still not come to a day when it did not exist, to the wealthy Golden Wind Society which joins its members together in the pursuit of business opportunities, to the outlawed Clawmoon Society whose spies and assassins have woven a web of fear throughout the Empire for centuries. While warrior societies have no formal status in Imperial law, they wield great influence and go a long way toward softening and blurring the effects of the caste system.

The Empire as a whole is ruled by the Emperor, who is advised by a Council of Ministers, the Council of High Lords, the Council of All Lords, the Lords Governor of the various provinces, the Council of High Priests of Mantor, the High Command of the Army, and the Emperor's Own Advisors. (There is no law or custom that forces him to follow all of this advice, which is perhaps fortunate.) Membership in the Councils of High Lords and All Lords is hereditary, but the Ministers and Lord Governors are men and women who have worked their way up through the ranks of the government and may be of any caste originally. Although most High Priests were born to the priestly caste, it is not unknown for a noble, farmer, or merchant to be Called by Mantor to that service and to achieve high rank. Likewise, although most High Generals are nobles by birth, not all are from that caste. The Emperor's Own Advisors are selected by him without reference to any outside judgment. Dian sen Lahka Twelve Graces is the current Emperor of Lirith Kai.

An Imperial Minister is selected by the highest-ranking officers of a given department of government from among their number. The post is held for life, or until the Minister's subordinates unseat him for some reason--or until the Emperor rejects him. (Note that Provincial Ministers are appointed by the Council of Imperial Ministers with reference to the opinions and judgment of the appropriate Lord Governor.)

Lords Governor, the highest-ranking officials in any provincial government, are appointed by the Imperial Palace for terms of varying length (depending on their experience and the nature of the post: a young governor might move around fairly often until he becomes experienced in all facets of his work; an especially difficult post might have the same governor reappointed for as long as he seems to be keeping things under control; a governor with a special flair for military matters might be moved from one border hot-spot to another as needed; and so forth). The Lord Governor is the supreme and final authority in his province and operates from the chief town or city of that region. Under him are sub-governors and magistrates who are also Imperial appointees--they run the day-to-day matters of each city, town, and district, sometimes combining the duties of mayor, chief justice, chief of police, tax assessment and collection, etc.--and the provincial ministers. Some of them move with a particular Lord Governor from post to post, but most are appointed individually; it is rare for any of them to serve in the province of his or her birth. Under these subgovernors, magistrates, and ministers are the justices of the peace and other lesser officials and clerks who are mostly local men and very knowledgeable about the neighborhood under their care; they deal with domestic problems, what we might call small claims courts, police and fire substations, various registry and licensing offices, and other such tasks.

This whole system is under the watchful eyes of the Inspectors General, who often travel the Empire incognito to see how things are being handled, and who have the power of summary justice at need.

Excepting the infamous Nai Shang, the Empire is poor in wizardry, though rich in the magic of priests and in the power of the hiu or spirit (what we would call, perhaps, psychic powers). This means, not that the Adantri cannot practice magic, but that they will not--magic, as such, is illegal in the Empire of Lirith Kai. For an explanation of this, see the section on Religion and Magic.

Names of the Adantri consist of the title, if any, then the personal name, followed by one of the syllables indicating descent or family connection and the family name, sometimes with a nickname tagging along at the end. On formal occasions, this whole name is used (although the nickname may be omitted). At other times, the person is usually referred to by personal name only, personal name and title where applicable, or personal name and nickname.

To give an example, Emperor Dian sen Lahka Twelve Graces (or Dian, Emperor of Lirith Kai, son of the noble House of Lahka, embodying the Twelve Classic Graces or virtues): on formal occasions, he will be introduced by this entire mouthful (often with yet other verbal flourishes added). In a scholarly discussion of his august lineage, he would be referred to as Dian sen Lahka; his advisors might address him as Emperor Dian; his fellow members of the Jade Eye Society might call him Dian Twelve Graces, or possibly Elder Brother Dian, since he is of high rank in that Society; and his friends would simply call him Dian.

In Imperial usage, the linking syllable "sen" is considered to belong solely to the ruling family. "Ten" is the commonest linking syllable for males, "tyl" for females, but there are numerous dialectical variations, so that a man's descent may be indicated by tel, den, bel, tan, or some other variant, the woman's being similar. In some dialects, no distinction is made between the male and the female in this part of the name. In general (but there are always exceptions), men's personal names end with consonants, or with an "o," and women's names with vowels.

Though the early and scanty information on the Empire referred to it as "oriental-like," please note that the Adantri as a whole are not markedly oriental in physical appearance, although somewhat more so in dress, nor are their names particularly oriental in form. (The Sendori have oriental-style names, however, and distinctly oriental features; the Southern Adantri have a slightly oriental appearance.) The "orientalness," such as there is, lies more in the general cultural pattern--and even there, the similarity is spotty. When in doubt and desperation, you can go with an oriental model, but if you have a chance--check with the Handbook or ask the Scribe, the Coordinator and Guardian of Continuity for Lirith Kai.

Readers, note that in the following more specific sections, parts of the introductory material may be repeated. This is done to make it easier to refer to one section only and have all the available information on that subject in one spot. If you read the whole thing straight through, well... When you see one of those repetitious parts coming up, just skip it and go on to the meat of the section, okay?