Rumor #3: Shaved Heads for Citizens, Long Hair for Slaves

Art by fantasio

<Nuaros shakes his head, sweat and water flying from the ends of his black hair as the small boat he's on plies the waters of Lake Thaylambar. He and his crewmates are swapping stories as they work, because they're not just flinging and drawing in nets at boring intervals this time. Instead, they have to continually search the haul for a particular type of fish that supposedly comes up through the portals to other planes at the bottom of the water.

Any other fish are supposed to be tossed back over the side on the captain's orders, but Nuaros has already pocketed a few tasty beauties. Later, he and the others will collect their pay, leave the captain behind, and begin to bargain for the morsel they want for dinner. He's keeping a notable prize for Vosala, the most alluring of the women in the boat, in the hopes that he can trade it for a drink and some time with her. She's always toyed with him in the past, but this is the sort of fish they serve in that fancy restaurant with the hanging garden. She won't be able to just make a joke and walk away this time.

It's Vosala who's just brought up the next point of conversation. She visited Bezantur last tenday, the only city in Thay where foreigners are welcome, and noticed the tourists trying not to stare at her hair, which is only shaved along the sides and back. The rest of its length is pulled back into a pony tail with ties at intervals to keep the strands from getting free over the course of the day. The tail falls half way down her back and might not be a point of confusion or note in other lands - but this is Thay.>

They really are stupid, aren't they? Either that, or all the patrols and magic are working and keeping them out, since their rumors are a few hundred years out of date. Probably both.

They're idiots for a few reasons with this issue. First, they think all Red Wizards shave their heads and keep them that way so they can show off their tattoos. It's part of our 'ethnic folkways' or something like that, but Red Wizards supposedly keep it going, and then commoners do it to be more like them. It doesn't help that the Wizards who travel abroad do shave to mess with other people's heads and make an impression, even if they don't stay shaved at home.

We know damned well that if a Red Wizard wants to shave their head, they will, and if they don't feel like it, they won't. Nobody is forcing them to do anything except their superiors, and most of the higher-ups don't care if the novices burn their hair off. There are plenty of reasons why some of them keep their hair longer at home. Why show off their secret defenses if they don't have to? And if they get to stay in cushy positions, there's no risk. Some of them shave everything off in the old way, but most of them get over it after a few years. Maybe they'll do it if they have a dangerous assignment or they know they're going to be in an alchemy lab for a few months. But with magic to take it off and grow it back, it's not a big deal.

Yes, shaving all the hair on your head is an ancient custom, blah, blah, blah. But it was never for the common people; it was for the upper crust Mulan in Mulhorand, and that's it. If you go there now, you'll see it. Some of the nobles decorate their heads depending on which god they serve and which titles they have in their temple, because that way they can announce themselves just by walking into a room. Others wear those fancy wigs with different decorations that let you know who they serve.

Their commoners only shave to keep their hair out of their way, and their women rarely have the courage to do it because their beauty is in their hair or some such nonsense. Here in Thay, any citizen can shave without shame, or do it in sections, like our Vosala. We have some wicked styles, too. Our women know their worth isn't in their hair, and a few of them are more striking without it. It's a bigger deal in other lands because the people need all the help they can get to keep from looking ugly.

You've heard the rumor that our slaves can never cut their hair, just so we can tell who's a slave at a glance? That's Mulhorandi bullshit again. That's in their laws. They don't mind if their slaves are tripping all over themselves; everything is slower in Mulhorand, anyway. It's practically the land that time forgot. Hasn't changed much in thousands of years and they wonder why their empire is falling apart? But never mind that. Can you imagine if we did such a thing? We'd get some good laughs, sure, but the slaves would die even faster than they do now, catching on all kinds of things. 

We mark our slaves, but we have a few different ways of doing it. Some are branded on their necks, chests, arms, or hands in ways that can't be healed without some powerful magic. Others are pierced or bound with special jewelry they can't get off without tools and help. The slaves who do the dirtiest work in Thay on big projects, like the mines? They might have a pink finger or earlobe taken off. For the most part, they won't miss it. The gossip about how we mutilate our slaves all day long is for the pearl-clutchers in Silverymoon. Most masters won't do anything permanent that'll make a slave look disgusting or struggle to work. There are a few exceptions, of course, but some of us are necromancers who have very different ideas about beauty.

The rumors that our slaves run around half-naked are usually true, though. And why not? It doesn't get cold in most places, and it's hard to hide a weapon when you're in rags. Most of us aren't bothered by naked bodies, either. We all have the same bits and pieces. We wear the clothes we need to get a job done, or because we damned well feel like showing off, not because we're afraid of showing some skin.

When we do dress slaves up, they only get to wear light colors or white. That's right - man or woman, halfling or human, they get pastels, creams, or white. No one's going to waste rich dyes on slaves, and light shades make them stand out right away. (There's also the joke that they're walking dead anyway, so why not dress them as mourners?) We're not going to give them earthy tones that'll make it easier for them to hide or blend in with the commoners. We're also not going to load them up with jewels or the latest fashions. The most pampered slaves only get a few pieces of plain jewelry and simple cuts of cloth. And if they look dirty too quickly, that's on them.

It's not that hard to recognize a slave in Thay. You'll certainly never see a fat one, even among the dwarves. The humanoid patrols can tell the slaves from the citizens, and they aren't the brightest embers in Kossuth's brazier, if you know what I mean. The penalties for slaves being found with contraband are horrible enough to take care of most problems. The penalties for helping slaves disguise themselves take care of the rest.

But the rumors just show how gullible foreigners are. We fought a hell of a war to do it our way in Thay, so why would we keep blindly doing the same old thing? The nobles started changing it up right after we took our independence, and the Red Wizards did the same a few decades after they established their hold. Fashions come and go, and sometimes shaved looks are in, but we're not slaves to tradition or fashion. We are not slaves at all. We are free in ways other lands can only dream. We are Thayan.

<The atmosphere in the ship has become electric, and with a shared glance to confirm the need, the lot of them raise their fists and shout in unison, "Hail Thay!" Some follow it up with a hail to their deity, but some do not, and nobody cares who does or doesn't. And that is also very natural for most Thayan folk.

Nuaros notes a heartening gleam in Vosala's eye as she regards him. The evening could be worth the hard work of the day after all...>

Rumor #1: Thay Is a Dried Out Wasteland

Nuaros here.  Since we're just standing around waiting to board the next ship out, let's start the day with a good laugh.  Hopefully one that doesn't end up with me getting hit over the head.  Maybe instead of picking on what the nobles get up to just because they're rich enough to get bored, I'll pick on the stupid things outsiders believe about Thay.

Stop looking at me like that, Liroq.  I haven't said anything that bad yet.

Look, I don't mean 'outsiders' as in demons or creatures like that.  Those are a whole other matter and not one I want to know anything about, thank you very much.

No, I mean foreigners, all the kingdoms and races that are only fit to be here in chains.  <pause to spit off the dock>  Have you seen the way they usually show Thay on their maps?  It's no wonder they talk about us like we're still some sand-scrabbling backwater that needs our slaves to survive.  Everything they show is dry except for a few rivers and the lake.  Not a forest or a farm or so much as a tree.  Just look at it:

Excerpt from the 3rd edition Forgotten Realms map

It's like they think we haven't done anything here since we kicked Mulhorand out!  Or like it was a complete wasteland to begin with, which it wasn't.  (Or at least most of it wasn't.  There have always been some old scars on the land, but, you know, wizards.  They know how to leave a mark.)  The Rashemi who started out here only did so much but they had some forests and their own hardy plants.  The coastline on the Sea of Fallen Stars?  Plenty of green!  Always has been.

Then you have the chumps who think they have the "secret" map of what our land is really like.  Just look.  It has a little more green but none of the deep dark nastiness of the forests of Gauros.  Sure, we cut down whatever woods were in our way in some tharchs, but we didn't completely raze our own territory, not after we fought so hard for it.  (Okay, so we razed some of it, but only until the enemy gave in, and mostly in ways it could come back from.)  

Other cities know we ship tons of food across Faerun after growing it here.  They complain about how it's "slave goods" and morally wrong, but most of them are happy to buy it when their own harvests don't work out.  Just where do they think it comes from, if not from healthy soil?  Not every fucking thing is done by magic here.  Yes, the area around Tyraturos is still too dry, but there's only so much the weather net can do.  But this?  This is nonsense.

Excerpt from Unapproachable East

Much work, blood, and magic went into the land since we claimed it, believe it or not.  You don't have to be an elf to want a little green, and you don't have to be a druid to know that you need it to survive.  The nobles didn't want to live in Rashemi "hovels" or live like the nobles of Mulhorand, so they did something about it.  They did it on their own, some tharchions here, some noble families there, but it got done.  One of the only things the Red Wizards really pitched in for as far as I know was the weather net that makes it rain every night.  But that worked like a charm in most places.  We grow more food and drugs and other things than we know what to do with.

If they knew just how nice most of the First Escarpment is now, they would be bringing armies to our doorstep.  Better for us that they don't - even if it would be fun to kick their asses off the cliffs.  And the rumors will likely continue, anyway.  We have more sweeps across our land looking for spies and escaped slaves than you can get away from.  Even if a slave does make it out by some miracle, most of them keep their mouths shut or have some kind of unfortunate accident not long after.  Or they squeal and nobody believes them. 

And then there's the other major Red Wizard public project - the anti-scrying net of spells they keep running.  It just isn't possible to go scrying around our country, even if you are a powerful wizard.  We have all of the zulkirs making sure of it.  But that's a feature for another time.  We have a ship to board and work to do.

The Voices of Thay

Art by Artastrophe
For me, Thay began with a voice - the sarcastic tones of Edwin in the Baldur's Gate video game.  His endless complaining, threatening, and evading were no end of amusing to me as I made my way around the Sword Coast, and his entire attitude stuck with me.  Half a world away from home and alone among strangers, his swagger was not held back one iota.  He was a Red Wizard and wore his red with an almost ridiculous amount of pride.

When the time came to build my own version of Thay, I did not use Edwin directly - but I did not forget him.  I also did not fail to realize how valuable an insider's perspective and attitude can be.  I began creating characters who were Thayans born and bred, believing themselves above the rest, and they became my guides.  I listened to their reactions as I read my gaming books.  I allowed their views to shape what I saw.  I heard them explain what their country was like and the more I tuned in, the more I understood the hatred, impatience, pride, and power Thayans have been known for across Faerun.

Thus, for this blog, voices are going to be important.  I have ideas about which personalities will take part in these postings and deliver the inside scoop.  I plan to write many posts in character and from fictitious perspectives, but I will always make it easy to follow who is speaking and why.  To that end, I would like to introduce my possible cast to you.  

First, there is the record of House Delizan.  As a part of creating noble houses for Thay (which were conspicuously missing from the canon), I dedicated one whole house to the preservation of Thay's history.  The scribes and adventurers of House Delizan might get their hands dirty to learn more about their people, but they will brush aside the muck in order to produce crisp, precise, and  (mostly) objective observations.  Some posts will be from their archives, speaking for the collective rather than one person.

Next, there are the other castes of Thayan society which must be represented if you're going to understand the entire experience.  To access them and their unique points of view, I am going to draw from special NPCs created for our campaign.  Each of the PCs in our evil Thayan campaign has the Cult Leadership feat (as found in the third chapter of my book, Drow of Porphyra), and has a number of detailed cohorts and followers.  Using their voices here will allow me to learn more about them and their world at the same time.  

The voice of the Rashemi commoner will come from Liroq the sailor and his traveling companion, Nuaros.  These men are hard workers on Lake Thaylambar, but take vacations away from the water and into their homeland.  Without noble blood, they have fewer rights and privileges, but with a noble patron in Azonia Valgon, they have more leisure than they used to.  And while Liroq looks for ways to get the most out of his country on less than 1 gp a day, Nuaros' mouth makes that and most other things quite difficult.  They may never gain access to many inner workings, but they will likely stumble across plenty of things they shouldn't.

The voice of the in-between will be that of Lucindiya Szollos, a rare half-elf, half-Rashemi conceived in Gauros.  Her father is an elven slave who won his freedom by surviving a High Hunt of Malar.  Instead of fleeing, he chose to stay and marry into the local population.  It was a mixed blessing when Luci showed arcane talent because her muddied heritage means she can never ascend to becoming a Red Wizard.  She gladly attached herself to the perverse Thayan noble Viktor Valgon and rode him out of town (literally and otherwise) at the first chance, ending up across Thay and based in its capital city.  She has more access and a few more open doors than most commoners.

I am not settled on the next/last voice of this blog yet.  I am tempted to use the urban ranger Oltan, a free halfling who follows the blackguard Augustus Valgon and views every city as its own jungle, complete with predators, prey, trails, and so on.  His view is one that the PCs seek out often and he is usually at work in Eltabbar, scouting for his master for some reason or another.  He would be a fascinating way to explore any urban environment.  

I am also very tempted to use Augustus' lady of interest, Tari Govannon, a wickedly astute Thayan blue blood whose father works with the enclaves Thay has scattered across the continent.  She is so sharp that I never know what she will do or say next, and while she is on the census of Eltabbar, she can maneuver her way into almost any corner of Thay she fancies.

If you have any preferences or reactions, let me know.  Either way, I am looking forward to striking out into the wilds of Thay in a whole new way.  ;)