"They left their fields in fury and the continent starved."

~The Great Famine Rebellion, Katouiz History of the Tahl’Uruh.

The Tahl’Uruh are the least wealthy of the four great factions. Unlike their mountain-dwelling brethren, they are known for their friendliness, hearty nature, and generous hospitality. They inhabit an area known as the Green Cradle—a series of vast and fertile plateaus that encompass the majority of the Armurian continent, ranging from the North-Western coast, down around the Southern peninsula, and up the Eastern coast. The plateaus serve as the primary food supply for Armuria.

The Tahl’Uruh do not have a capital; their society is made up of farmers and herders inhabiting numerous towns and villages amongst vast swathes of farmland. Their single-storied buildings are long and built from either wood, mud brick, or stone with thatched roofing and a central fireplace inside for cooking and heat.

They have no interest in politics and war, and concern themselves with the weather and other factors that influence crop yield. Family and community are the core values in Tahl’Uruh society and are expressed through frequent social activities. They celebrate the harvests with large outdoor festivals in the summer and transform village longhouses into places of drinking, music, and dance during the harsh winter months.

Their economy relies on the export of food, animal pelts, cloth, and beer. In turn, they import agricultural tools and armaments from the Tahl’Ajanar.

Despite the Tahl’Uruh comprising multiple small communities and lacking any form of official military, they possess an efficient ability to unify when facing a threat. They use messenger pigeons to convey information among the villages, and messages can be sent across the continent in a matter of days. Their true combat effectiveness is found through their use of war beasts, namely the Maemor and the Vohl.

Maemor are four-legged herbivores indigenous to the Green Cradle. They play a crucial role in Tahl’Uruh society not only for their milk, meat, and insulating fur but also for their military usefulness. At two horses high and four abreast, a male Maemor strikes an intimidating figure. They are heavily muscled with thick fur and long horns that grow outward from their large heads. Over millennia, the Tahl’Uruh have domesticated these gregarious beasts and have become masters at herding and training them efficiently. Most villages will have at least a small herd of Maemor grazing in the surrounding meadows. They are peaceful in nature unless their herd is threatened, and a Maemor trained for war is a devastating force on the battlefield. Due to their thick fur, there is little need for costly protection. A large leather saddle is strapped to their backs, and they are ridden by three to four heavily armoured Tahl’Uruh wielding long pikes or equipped with horn bows. Maemor are used to break through lines of infantry in the centre of a battle, with the pikemen and bowmen protecting the Maemor’s flanks as they crush their way through the ranks of hapless enemies.

The Vohl are a breed of domesticated wolf, also indigenous to the Green Cradle. They assist in the herding of Maemor, protecting calves as well as the villages from predators. Vohl have lived alongside the Tahl’Uruh since the beginning of memory. Southern Vohl have fur that is black or dark brown, while Northern Vohl have grey fur mottled with white. They are long-limbed and stand almost as tall as a horse with long snouts. Their canines can reach thumb-length and they have the strength to pierce the fur and hide of a Maemor. In times of war, Vohl follow their Tahl’Uruh masters into battle. Due to their long limbs and lightning speed, they are particularly effective at dealing with cavalry, leaping high to meet necks with blade-like teeth. Their limbs are slender and vulnerable to sword slashes, so they are rarely used against large lines of infantry unless enemies are on the verge of routing. In such cases, they are devastating to already wavering morale.

Millennia ago, when the Tahl’Uruh were not yet the Tahl’Uruh but merely peasant villages, and the mountain cities were still ruled by the Mountain Lords of old, life was a cruel struggle. Villages were required to submit their harvests to their Lord’s tax collectors who came every summer with their soldiers. The farmers were told to be grateful for the protection of the Mountain Lords, the same lords who would take their daughters for their concubines. Refusal was met with brutal suppression.

A day arrived when an unnamed village elder, who had his family killed and his granddaughters sold into slavery for a poor annual harvest, began a pilgrimage of rebellion. He travelled from village to village, speaking with village elders and stoking the fires of revolt. Thus began the Great Famine Rebellion.

Like wildfire, the whispers of rebellion spread across the continent, fuelled with the resentment of countless memories of suffering. Villages hid their bags of grain in caves and their ancient barrows. The fields were abandoned, and no food was harvested. When the tax collectors came, they were met with a demand for freedom.

In the mountain holds, stockpiles ran low and unrest grew. The Mountain Lords, growing nervous, slaughtered whole villages in an attempt to quell the rebellion. Many Tahl’Uruh lost their lives, and entire villages were almost eradicated, but some hid in their caves and barrows.

Starvation set in, and civil war broke out among the mountain cities, crippling the armies and leading to the collapse. The Mountain Lords were overthrown, and the villages were granted their independence becoming the fourth great faction known as the Tahl’Uruh, through the single biggest loss of life in Armuria.