THE ZARANTHI Squat and well-built, with mottled brown skin and little body hair, the Zaranthi are the descendants of a barbar- ian horde defeated and enslaved at Foggy River in RY 177. Dif- fi cult to master and ill-suited to slavery, the Zaranthi now exist in a quasi-free state as a rural working class. They run hemp farms and cotton plantations and show a surprising knack for getting unruly plants to grow in diffi cult places. Virtually no paths to economic or political advancement are open to them except through the Realm’s army. Remembering their ancestors’ lineage as warriors, they follow imperial offi cers with almost fanatical devotion—sometimes even serving under the same Dragon-Blooded commanders who slew their multi-great-grandfathers.
