Such a direct course of retaliation, however, it not always an option for the wronged party. Only when more than one person of a family feels offended and tempers run particularly high, families sometimes resort to ambushes and raids, with groups of armed combatants storming houses or celebrations to wash their honor clean in the blood of their enemies. As a result, it is not unheard of for a squabble between children to end with a duel between renowned blademasters. These can either last until first blood or until death, and proxies can be appointed to represent a family as long as they can produce blood ties to the family in question. Among the permanent settlers, matters are usually handled by duels. Theoretically, pursuing a feud is the responsibility of the wronged person and his family, creating the very rivalries that separate the nomadic desert tribes to this very day. These are the laws of blood and vengeance, and their patron is Hadar, the Feuding Father. Even within the new cities of stone, the pride that lies at the heart of the D'Shar is not easily quenched, and when the honor of one man or his family is offended, all too frequently it is the blade of a saber that provides the answer. Outside of the cities and beyond the trade routes, the various nomadic tribes still cling to the faith of their forefathers, raiding their ancestral enemies for loot and slaves and waging war upon each other over rivalries whose roots have long faded from living memory. He is the god of the D'Shar cities, merchants and their caravans, the patron of the new way of life that became prominent as the alliance between the D'Shar and the newly founded Kingdom of Pendor grew into something more.Д«ut the old ways are not dead. The Black Stallion is a god of prosperity, cooperation, and trade his chosen guise an embodiment of the very commodity by which a man's wealth was measured in ancient times. Some would say that to this very day he isn't. Vata has not always been the most prominent deity among the D'Shar.

Nova aetas troop trees