The Hallani (also called Hladani) were the earliest known inhabitants of the Simtakka Valley. They were of medium height or shorter, rather stocky in build, and tan-colored: tan skin, medium to light brown hair, hazel eyes. A lot of the peasantry in the Simtakka Valley are still pure or nearly pure Hallani. The Hallani were a sedentary farming people, living in numerous small villages in the Valley. They made considerable use of irrigation, building efficient systems of ditches from the wells and reliable springs. They traded a little with the Sendori to the south and with various tribes of nomads to the west and northwest but had hostile relations with nobody. They were totally unprepared to defend themselves against the Tzaltakans (which see).

Before the coming of the Tzaltakans, they had a complex religion with numerous holy beings of many different degrees of power and very specific responsibilities. (For instance, instead of a god or goddess of agriculture, they had one for barley, and one for beans, and one for squash, and so forth.) When their gods were unable to aid them against the invaders, and afterward when they were being oppressed by their conquerors, most of the Hallani deities were forgotten, or sometimes scorned as powerless or even imaginary. The few that remained were generally changed by the changing circumstances, and by the time a hundred years had passed, most of the remaining gods wouldn't have been recognized by the old free Hallani.

Of the remaining gods, Haldanas is the senior: he is regarded as the creator and patron of the Hallani people, but as weak--because he eats no meat, some say-- and unable to protect his people. His priests (no one is a full-time priest of Haldanas, by the way) say that no, he did protect them, telling them to be patient and to submit because help would come, which it did--the Adantri. The more militant among the Hallani do not regard this as anything to boast about on Haldanas' part.

Saladansa is said to be the second, younger, wife of Haldanas; she is the goddess of fertile fields. Except that all farming now comes under her authority, her role is not changed much, and the farmers respect her and offer her a sacrifice of bread and honey in the spring and the first fruits of the fields later on.

Saladansa's brother, Lasildas, is the god of flocks. Some groups claim that Lasildas, and thus Saladansa, are not members of the original pantheon, but who can tell?

All three of these gods have public temples in the outlying towns of the province (though probably not all three in all the towns), but not in the city of Simtakka itself, since what Hallani population there is to be found in the city has largely gone over to Mantor. It's the country folks that still cling to the old ways.

Saladansa has two sons, born as twins but having different fathers (these gods and goddesses have really strange sex lives, sometimes). Gilandas is her son by Haldanas, and his twin brother, Morildas, is her son by her brother Lasildas. These two are currently the most important gods of the Hallani, overshadowing all the others who remain, and they are in fierce competition with each other--or at least, their followers are. Both groups are committed to restoring the racial identity of the Hallani and bolstering their pride in themselves. The four main sects of Hallani worship are:

Gilandas is a peaceful type, and his followers aim at what we would probably call "Hallani studies." They want to go back to the "old ways and ancient virtues," which in their case means farming, friendly trading, and attempts to revive as much of the old cultural pattern as can be discovered. They are proud of their farming skills, their irrigation systems, their weaving, the way they built their old (and some new) villages to make the best use of the site, and so forth. All worthy attributes, but not very dynamic. Of those people who have not gone over to Mantor, Gilandas draws mostly from the older ones. Sacrifices to Gilandas are of grain, cloth, flowers, the singing and dancing of children, and so on--charming, and gentle, and if the Tzaltakans were just arriving today, they'd go under just as fast as they did before.

Morildas is a different kettle of fish entirely. (This is part of the reason some people claim that his father was not an original Hallani god.) Morildas, if he is an old Hallani god, was probably originally a trickster type. Now, he is a warrior, and he has several variant cults, but all of them seem to agree that he favors some sort of ACTIVE path to restore Hallani pride--one that usually involves getting revenge on the Tzaltakans.

To one sect, Morildas remains primarily a trickster: his followers will consider it sufficient if someone else can be induced by them to beat up the Tzaltakans, and they are constantly on the lookout for a chance to get the Tzaltakans into trouble with the Adantri government. This group "sacrifices" money.

Another sect sees Morildas as some sort of junior Mantor; they don't seem to have decided what to do about the Tzaltakans, but they are trying to make Adantri-like warriors out of the Hallani--with little success. Young members of this sect "sacrifice" vows and noble acts.

A third sect sees Morildas as a trickster warrior--a sneaky, underhanded, success-at-any-cost type. They justify this attitude (they are a decent lot among themselves) by saying that the Tzaltakans aren't really human, they're the spawn of demons, and anything is fair against them. This is the most militant group and the most violent. Tzaltakans have probably been murdered by this group; their property has certainly been stolen or damaged by members of this group. This is the only Hallani sect that engages in blood sacrifice. Normally, this means rabbits, pigeons, maybe goats...but a Tzaltakan would be considered the very best possible offering...

Only Gilandas' sect has official temples. The others would probably be closed down by the Adantri as being "socially disruptive"; they meet in people's homes (just a dinner party, officer), caves, and the like. All four of these sects have numerous splinter sects that go to one or another extreme or blend the approaches of two or more groups.