The Savage Village of Nahalaar

by Dervyn Releth, Scholar of Winterhold

Commander Althus Anillius invited me to visit his outpost on the fringes of Winterhold one Loredas night. He stated that one of my most popular books, Scatology in Tamrielic Cultures With Regards To the Orsimer, provided him with the only enjoyment he had on his understaffed and desolate island outpost. An outpost which, coincidentally, contained one of the most intriguing and least pleasant cultures I have ever seen to date.

During my brief but troubled stay of two days at the Isles of Nahalaar, I learned as much as I could from books, eyewitness accounts and Tamrielic-speaking natives. Below is a summary of my findings.

Geography

The Nahalaar Isles are composed of one main island and two smaller islets; Fokraasil, Narsalath and Kelsakaar, respectively. Fokrasiil is roughly the shape of a circle, with Narsalath split from it at the northeast. Kelsakaar, a small crescent with its mouth facing west, is directly south of Fokraasil. It is a relatively simple matter to travel to and from all three.

Fokraasil is completely uninhabitable, with Fort Mossmouth to the south as its only sign of civilization. Here, Commander Anillius oversees the day-to-day operations of his barely functioning crew. The first islet is inhabited, but only by horkers and mudcrabs. None venture there.

Kelsakaar is the focus of our interest here. In this land is located the village of Nahalaar, after which the entire series of islands is named. It is dominated to the north by Kelsaakar Forest, home to a variety of hunting beasts. To the south is the village that lends its name to the series of islands: Nahalaar. Here, our story begins.

Culture and Social Structure

Nahalaar Village is a very close-knit community. A Chief-Scribe leads the village, with a council of a dozen Elders to keep his power in check. The Chief-Scribe's duties are name-giving, midwifery (at times), and keeping track of bloodlines. At the bottom are the common folk, or the regular hunter-gatherers.

Bartering and trading is still the method of exchange used in Nahalaar. Septims are viewed as vile and idolatrous by the Elders. The natives speak and write in a broken dialect of Nordic that my acquaintance Mr. Anillius barely understands. As is the case among less advanced tribes, though, haptic communication is favored.

Although it still has a gender-divided hunter-gatherer society in place, women enjoy much political freedom in Nahalaar. They can be appointed by the Chief-Scribe to the position of Elder when they are sixty, a full ten years before men are eligible. Some women have abandoned their gathering stations and turned to hunting and fighting, a change that is accepted as long as they are not with child or currently rearing children.

Nevertheless, the most important privilege is still reserved for males. The position of Chief-Scribe is only open to the eldest son of the previous Chief-Scribe. Since the Chief-Scribe is, of course, charged with recording bloodlines, there is sometimes an element of favoritism during this process. When a succession dispute arises, the customary way to settle it is through combat to the death. If all else fails, the Elders select a new Chief-Scribe from the populace.

Combat figures heavily into the day-to-day lifestyle of the Nahalaar people. Although useless due to isolation and rarely to the death, masculine pride is often exerted through brief skirmishes between two village men. It is a little known fact that the famous Two Tribal Youths Fighting painting by Arselil was based on this custom. Warrior-women are generally exempt from this game, but while losing to a woman is viewed as shameful, so is denying one the privilege of a fight.

Magic is discarded in favor of their warrior culture, but like with mainstream Nordic culture this was not always so. Future researchers are encouraged to delve deeper into the Witch-Wives of the Chief-Scribe.

Marriage Customs and the Concept of Family

The most notable and most unusual features of the Nahalaar are their complete lack of a marriage custom, an utterly alien and perhaps barbaric view of sex and sexuality, and a family structure unlike any other on Tamriel.

Tamrielic society places a great (almost sickening) deal of importance on the emotional connotations of sex, but the Nahalaar people view it as primarily for breeding purposes. The Chief-Scribe has to be present to record every act of copulation that occurs within the village. Fornication, defined in Nahalaar as having intercourse without the Scribe's presence, is punishable by exile.

That is not to say that the Nahalaar are completely pure, as this scholar has had unfortunate first-hand experience with. Indeed, sex for pleasure and various other debaucheries are actively encouraged in Nahalaar society, as long as the Chief-Scribe is present. The Nahalaar even have absolutely no qualms about letting unrelated third parties view them "in flagrante delicto", so to speak. Needless to say, wholesome residents of the Empire do not want to visit this area.

Once the woman has been impregnated, the father no longer has any say in the fate of the child. The mother bears the sole responsibility of raising the child, together with her mother and siblings. While friendships between mother and father are common, romantic relationships are unheard of and are indeed viewed as abominable in Nahalaar society.

One should not mistake the importance of the sibling relationship for incestuous tendencies. It is quite the opposite, in fact. One of the Chief-Scribe's most important roles is precisely to circumvent the possibilities of incest. If an incestuous relationship is discovered (and incestuous relationships are also considered fornication), the punishment is death for both parties. There are many faults with their culture, but incest is not one of them.

Religion

Unlike other religions, which depict gods as very much alive, Nahalaar religion is centered around a dead god.

In the oft-retold story of Keld, his Wives and the Dragon, the dragon Nahalaar carries a man named Keld away to the Isles along with his many wives. There he teaches Keld the secret names of the islands, the methods of hunting and surviving, and - most importantly - the laws of what will become Nahalaar Village. Finally, the dragon flies off to Aetherius, never to be seen again.

Although surely an embellishment (Keld being the sole male would flatly contradict the no-incest rule of the village), the story does have multiple elements of truth. A dragon named Nahalaar did found the village with Keld and he did create the basis for its modern-day society.

The true story has a much, much more tragic ending. At night, Nahalaar is ambushed by his fellow dragons. He is an apostate, one who defies Alduin's will. Apostates are not allowed to live under Alduin's rule. He is outnumbered three-to-one, and with his dying breath he Shouts at the Nahalaar Isles, concealing them in a thick fog and saving the people forever.

I am skeptical as to the nature of Nahalaar's apostasy, and considering the customs of his servants it seems likely to me that his motives were less than altruistic. Once you factor in the encouragement of breeding and the obsession with bloodline, his intentions become quite clear to us in the 4th.

Nahalaar was building an army.

Whatever his intentions were, it remains a fact that the people of Nahalaar Village practice a Day of Mourning every Turdas noon. All activity is stopped on that day. Rags are unwashed. Food is not gathered. Hunting parties stay inside. Nothing else goes on. For half an hour, wailing and mindless pulling of clothes dominate the village. Some say that the wails are in imitation of their god's death throes, or perhaps a tragically misguided attempt at calling his spirit back.

Nahalaar Village is utterly unconcerned with matters of life and death, choosing to focus on the temporal world.

Recent Events

The Imperials and Nahalaar enjoy a mutually beneficial agreement of noninterference. The Imperials use the island as a base for curbing pirates and foreign powers and Nahalaar is left to its own devices. At times, the Imperials harvest lumber from the neighboring woods, which is condoned as long as it does not interfere with their hunting and gathering lifestyle.

Despite these peaceable relations, Imperial influences are still looked upon with contempt in Nahalaar. Foreign races - especially elves - are subject to open ridicule. The only reason they weren't throwing rocks at me was that I was accompanied by the well-armed Commander Anillius. It was for this reason that I decided to terminate my research early, fearing for my safety and health.

And this concludes my brief treatise on the ways and customs of the Nahalaar. Hopefully, we have all learned something. I have learned that there are limits to the places a scholar should be willing to go.