Havilites

One of the four rivers that flow out of the garden winds south through a country of red cliffs and dry canyons, and in that country the gold is good. The Havilites have lived there since the first days. They climb sheer cliff faces with nothing but rope and fingertips. They delve deep into the mountains along veins of gold that glitter in the lamplight. And they cut stone: onyx, jasper and sapphire, shaped by patient hands into jewels the lords of the gilded city would kill to own.

Every onyx coin that changes hands in the world was cut by a Havilite, and the Havilites have grown wealthy, careful and very sharp-eyed as a result. They can weigh a nugget in the palm of a hand and name its worth before it settles. They notice the glint of a coin in the grass from across a field. They are nimble as goats on a cliff and patient as the stone they cut, and they do not fall. Or if they fall, they land well.

The Havilites sell their gold to both cities and owe allegiance to neither. Each Havilite follows the road their own heart chooses. In the deep mines, though, where the air grows thick and strange vapors rise from the dark, the old miners say there are things buried in the mountains that should stay buried, and that some of the fallen came looking for them long ago.

Cut stones worn as ornaments, braided into hair or set in bronze at the throat. Rope coiled over the shoulder, climbing hooks at the belt, and the fine red dust of the mines in every crease. The men crop their hair short and carry that dust in their beards, the women bead their tight braids with tiny cut stones, and their Gemwork gear glows red ochre, gold and black onyx, with a small cut onyx on a leather thong worn beside the coiled rope like a vow. Havilites speak little, bargain hard and keep every promise to the letter.

Havilites are as much at home among healers as among hunters. Their Wisdom ranks with the best in the world, making them fine Intercessors, Clerics, Shamans and Warders, and their Agility, second only to the Mist-runners', makes them superb Rangers and Trappers. Their patience suits any calling that rewards a careful hand.

You want to be quick, sharp-eyed and quietly rich. You love high places, hidden treasures and the satisfaction of a perfect cut. The gold of their country is good, and no one knows its worth like a Havilite.