The Khinasi Plains stretch from the Gulf of Coerayns in the west to the western banks of the mighty Zhaïnge River in the east. Terrain-wise the plains continue on the eastern bank as well, but here the land is less arid and more rugged, so that is customary to count those realms as part of the Docandragh. Apart from a lush coastal strip running from Zikala to Adaba the land is dominated by steppe. The western parts of the steppe is fairly hospitable, but as one travels east and inland it gets drier and hotter, until one reaches the heart of the Tarvan Waste, which is bone dry, almost desert.
The Masetians established colonies along the coast as early as 500 BD – many of today’s great Khinasi cities, such as Zikala and Ariya, are located on top of older settlements, making them some of Cerilia’s longest continuously occupied sites (by humans anyway). The Basarji (ancestors to the Khinasi) came much later, only a few generations before the Battle of Mount Deismaar. They found the choice part of the region already taken and were forced to settle elsewhere, either in the shadow of the Masetians, or as free people further inland. Fortunately for the Basarji they were a hardy breed, well used to harsh lands under a burning sun. Thus was born the nomads of the steppe. After Deismaar the Masetians were greatly weakened militarily, but many of their great eastern cities still stood. In time, however, they became subsumed by their more prolific and energetic subjects, the immigrant Basarji. Thus was born the two primary Khinasi ways of life – the Basarji-Masetians of the coastlands and the almost pure-blooded Basarji nomads of the stepped. Even though el-Arrasi, the Prophet of the Sun, did much to unite the Khinasi lands, there is a distinct divide between the two cultures.
The Anuireans subjugated the coastal strip and the Basarji-Masetians living there. They had rather less luck with the tribesmen of the steppe, who remained largely free of Anuirean influence throughout the period of Empire. And even among those conquered peoples of the coast there was relatively little cultural impact. Here the Anuireans met a culture as old and strong as their own, and despite centuries of overlordship there was little dilution of the local way of life. Unlike in Brectür there was almost no intermarriage between the two peoples, and Anuirean governors found that they had to learn local languages and customs if they were to rule effectively, rather than the other way around.
