On Kothringi

Written by an Imperial Scholar named Marcus Caestus, this document is thought to have been published some time in the middle of the second era. It's the first of several volumes written by the same scholar regarding the Kothri tribes, giving a general overview of their culture from an outsider's perspective.

Having spent the past several months among them, I have taken it upon myself to dispel rumors and spread information regarding the human inhabitants of Blackmarsh. Despite some initial trouble in getting them to communicate, I have spoken to many Kothri tribesmen at length in regards to their culture and customs.

The source of the communication struggles was not linguistic, but cultural. They speak a broken form of common tamrielic, mostly picked up from traders out of necessity. While at first I assumed they were simply distrustful of outsiders, it soon became apparent that they would only offer information in regards to themselves if I offered information in regards to myself and my culture. Rather than demanding trinkets or subjorn tales, they desired knowledge of myself, my home, and the cities I dwelled in. I soon discovered that, as people, they place a great deal of importance on the concept of fairness- especially on fair trade. To them, everything must be balanced. This appears to touch all corners of their lives, from child rearing to how they divide their food stocks. Male and female roles are interchanged without internal struggle or ire, or even seemingly consideration.

The race of men we call Kothringi is actually made up of several tribes. The tribesman I resided with told me of four tribes, but bespoke of the potentiality of many more: the Kothringi proper, the Orma, the Horwalli, and the Yerpest. It is most accurate to call the group I spent my time with the Kothri; in their natural tongue it literally means ‘Those of Koth’, and according to their legends, all of them originate from a region ‘Koth’, though again it seems to matter little between the varying 'Tribes' if it's even fair to call them such, as they as a whole seem to have no internal conflicts with other tribes over matter of land or possessions as we know them.

Their skin, interestingly, is not naturally silver in colour. It is actually a fairly dark shade, though lighter than that of the Ra Gada. They actually dye it through a process that is, to my knowledge, unique to their culture. I was given the honor after much further haggling of stories and tales to be shown how this process is done, but denied inspection of the local herbs and exact method of it's production. They did however allow me to see that the distinctive silver color of their tribe comes from a sort of silverish clay found in the many rivers of Blackmarsh. A visiting merchant from what I was told was the Orma tribes appeared to be of a golden color, giving the impression that the exact composition of this dye changes regionally. The name of the concoction in their local tongue is "Sitje" and while having possible side effects (see the next paragraph), it appears to provide an excellent deterrent to not only the vicious predators of the lands, but the insects as well! In addition to their skin-dyes, many wear face-paint, apparently indicative of status or family.

The tribe I spent time with were the Kothringi proper; as indicated by the name, they inhabit the Koth region and are the group most scholars are familiar with. They exist spread out across many coastal village in the region, centered around a large settlement called ‘Koth-Tapuc’. The group I spent time with lived in a village called ‘Koth-Apic’, situated along the bay; I learned that almost all Kothri lived in the coastlands. This particular village was led by one ‘Elder Hethruc’, an aged, blind man. It should be noted that all of the older Kothri seemed to suffer from some sort of visual impairment. Upon pressing further, they seemed to show a reluctance to continue my stay but upon halting my inquiries, they appeared unaffected by such questioning. All they would tell me is that it was "the price of survival", whatever that meant. This leads me to speculate that it has a tie to the herbology they apply to their skins and faces- especially given that, as I later learned, the closest translation for ‘Sitje’ is ‘survival’.

To say they were fond of boats is to make a severe understatement. They seemed exceptionally skilled at crafting water-faring vessels of many kinds, and some of them spoke of great, sail-less ships from Koth-Tapuc, propelled by some sort of water-magic. They even used a sort of raft for the growing of crops; due to the nature of the Wetlands they live in, they grow much of their crops in floating rafts hardened against rot by some further sort of magic or perhaps fire. This shows the Kothringi are vastly more intelligent than presumed by most scholars, to be using aquaponic systems for not just leafy greens, but herbs as well.

They wore very little in the way of clothing, especially whilst aboard naval craft. What little they did wear was often animal-hide or draped fabric. My robes seemed to intrigue them; to them, heavy clothing means being slowed down or possibly drowning. Make no mistake, however. Despite all of this, they did not seem primitive, only strange and unaware of the outside world. Their skill in shipcraft seemed to surpass most civilized builders, and taking their resources into consideration, this is no small feat.

When questioned upon the neighbouring Argonians, I received a strange reft of change in their postures and attitudes. They were willing to impart that they have had to fight the Argonians on occasion and have lost a few of their own to capture. But upon having them mercifully returned, they, in their own words "Were changed, different, wrong." I cannot infer as to what this would mean for the Argonian peoples or the Kothri, but they would divulge nothing further even when offered the greatest of potential secrets.