The following piece is a fragment of backstory or world history from an unreleased role-playing game. It was written by Cindy Vanous, copyright Sierra On-Line, 1998.
The Mequali (Nation: Mequal, "World-crest")
The Mequali are a high-mountain people, living amidst the ice and rocks of the World-crest range. Their cities are carved into the very stone itself, built deep into the cliff-faces like animal warrens. The surrounding area has been terraced into steppes, giving the residents a place to plant food and raise livestock. In such a barren environment, is it any wonder that the Mequali prize color and variety, and dress in hues more suited to tropical birds? To walk through a Mequali bazaar of gaily-colored tents, full of brightly-clothed merchants, a visitor would get the sense of discovering an oasis of light amidst the sameness of rock and scrub.
The Mequali government is a hereditary duarchy, where the duties and responsibilities of rulership are shared between a married couple. The functions of each half of the ruling pair are distinct and discrete, with the woman handling those aspects which are considered "female" by the Mequali, and the man handling the "male" functions. The current royal family has reigned in an unbroken line for nearly 600 years. The previous duarch dynasty held the throne for just over a century, but was deposed by a rival family when it became known that the reigning lady was secretly practicing magic. The Mequali are very devoted to their rulers and their nation, and can be a formidable force when invaders or danger threatens.
They are also fascinated with interactions, processes, and cycles, and have built a loose religion around the workings of the natural world. From the overwhelming to the miniscule, all aspects of their environment are believed to be part of some larger truth, which can only be realized when every smaller aspect is completely understood. Seasons and stars, birth and death, snow and cloud, even the movements of ant colonies and the patterns of light on water, all are part of a great equation. Fire is an important aspect of the cycle, as it not only destroys but renews, and a thicket leveled by fire might give rise the following year to seeds which had lain dormant for decades or even centuries, awaiting their chance to grow. Animals are believed to be closer to the understanding of the underlying truth, as are people born mentally impaired. Mequali who go mad are believed to have seen too much of the equation without first building an understanding of the underlying basis. The Mequali "holy men" are the physicists and naturalists of Athyr.
Mequal's magic is accordingly based on principles of nature. Their herbaerists use the potential within plants to help crops grow healthier (never faster, never excessively larger, as this would be a perversion of the natural order). Mequali elementalists can adjust their own body temperature or that of a desired item, quell a violent wind, or sense dangerous faults and rich mineral veins deep within solid rock, making them indispensable to their people. All Mequali mages are male. Females who show the potential for magerie are carefully watched and guided, their talents and energies turned to other outlets, as the Mequali feel that all females have the potential for creation magic, which is far too dangerous to be allowed.
The most revered location in the World-crest is Coraqual. This massive pyramid of stepped ice, whose name can be loosely translated as spirit-mountain or, more popularly, Soulspire, rises from the pinnacle of the largest peak in Mequal. At its flat summit, the Mequali believe, one stands at the junction of the world and the sky, at the crux of all the forces which guide the world's events. Each of their people is taken to Coraqual one month after birth to be presented to the world, then again at various points in life for their coming-of-age ceremony, their wedding, and their funeral. The summit of Coraqual also provides an unparalleled view of the night sky, and the Mequali holy men gather there to study the stars. The largest city in Mequal, Cormet, is built around the pyramid, and has for the last few centuries been the capitol city of that nation. One of the most coveted sorcerous posts in Mequal is the position of Coraqual-itel. This pyromantic keeper of Coraqual tends the ice pyramid by channeling all the potential heat of the structure into a sorcerous fire at its heart. This prevents Soulspire from suffering any melt-off, even during the funeral burnings which are held on its summit.
The primary exports of the Mequali are stone, minerals, and jewelry. They find it amusing that the stone blocks created in the excavation of new Mequali homes and tunnels can be sold at a lucrative profit to flatlanders for the construction of their own homes and fortresses. They also find it amusing that other cultures will hand over large amounts of useful goods in exchange for a relatively small amount of pure gold. The other cultures in question, of course, are convinced that they are robbing the Mequali blind, since they can trade the gold amongst themselves at a much steeper ratio.
Mequali clothing is, by necessity, extremely warm, except that worn by mages, which is lightweight and sparse, to demonstrate their status and power. The fabric for Mequali clothing is woven from the shear of a cold-weather sheep -- large, heavy-coated creatures which have evolved away from hooves to thick-hided grasping digits on all four paws. These beasts are also used for riding and as pack animals. Due to their relatively long lifespan, one beast might serve a man as transportation, burden-bearer, and fleece supply for most of his adult life. They develop an intense loyalty to their owner, much as a canine would, and are therefore well-treated and regarded with affection.
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