"Hawke, Simon - Iron Throne" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawke Simon)

tribes, the Masetians, had been devoted to Masela, the goddess of the
seas. These seagoing traders, whose swift, triangular-sailed sloops had
once plied the Adurian coasts, had not survived as a discrete culture in
the modern empire, though remnants of Masetian influence could still be
found in the Khinasi lands.

The sixth tribe were the Basai, the ancestors of the people now known as
the Khinasi, whose temples were dedicated to Basaia, the goddess of the
sun.

They were a dark-skinned, exotic-looking people who had crossed the
storm-tossed Sea of Dragons from their homeland of Djapar to settle in
the southeastern region of Cerilia. Their origins were shrouded in the
occult mysteries of their folklore, but it was believed that they had
come from the same stock as the Masetians, as there were many
similarities between their cultures and, like the Adurians, they had
worshiped the old gods, though each tribe had its favored deity among
the pantheon.

The Adurian tribes had fled from their war-torn ancestral lands to
escape subjugation by their neighbors, who were followers of Azrai, lord
of darkness.

Their flight took them to Cerilia, across the land bridge that once
existed where the Straits of Aerele now flowed.

Before the Six Tribes came, there had been no human presence in Cerilia.
However, there were other races who had claimed the land for their own.

Chief among them were the elves, who called themselves the Sidhelien.

Their civilization was ancient and advanced, but they were also capable
of fearsome savagery from centuries of competing with the feral
humanoids who shared their land. They had carved out their kingdom from
territories overrun by goblins, gnolls, and ogres, and in its days of
glory, the Elven Court was said to have surpassed in power and pageantry
even the Imperial Court of Anuire.

Of the remaining two races living in Cerilia, the dwarves were the most
insular. A strong, taciturn,

enduring people, they organized their kingdoms around clans, with each
clan leader swearing fealty to the dwarven king. Expert miners and
skilled fighters, they seldom ventured from their mountain strongholds
and lived in peaceful coexistence with the elves. Their only natural
enemies were the brutish ogres, who lived deep in the vast caverns that
honeycombed the mountains.

Cerilia was also home to a growing population of halflings, though less
was known about their history and culture than that of any other race