Kurkut

The city-state of Kurkut is an ancient and insular kingdom. It claims control of two smaller settlements: Dinkali and Barkesh. Thanks to the narrow gap in the mountains which serves as the only access point to the lands controlled by Kurkut, it is one of the only city-states to have never been conquered from without.

The People of Kurkut are prideful and somewhat aggressive. They hold highest loyalties to family groups and tribes, and there is a great deal of in-fighting between these groups. Typically the various families will only cooperate for any length of time in order to drive off an invasion. The lands around Kurkut are largely unsuitable for the growth of crops, as such most Kurkuti are heardsmen. Horses are the most commonly raised, and the Kurkuti use horse milk and wild game as their largest sources of food.

The city of Kurkut itself is not very heavily fortified. It has no walls and indeed many of its buildings are little more than hardened tents. The population of the city is semi-transient as few can afford to pay hunters for their game for long. Typically families will move to the city to sell wares they’ve made over the course of a year, stay until the money runs out, then return to their herds (which are largely self sufficient). The permanent population of the city consists of craftsmen and warlords whose wealth allows them to buy permanent homes, food, and amenities. At any given time the population of Kurkut is somewhere around two thousand people, though it fluctuates widely over time.

Kurkut city is 95% human, 3% Halfling and 2% Others

Dinkali is a fortress town, and serves as a border guard and early warning for the rest of Kurkut. It has stone walls and boasts a population of about five-hundred fifty people. The majority of family heads in Dinkali are soldiers, tithed to Kurkut by various warlords as border guards, their salaries allowing them to remain as permanent city residents.

Dinkali is 95% human, 3% Halfling and 2% Others

Barkesh rests in the foothills of tall mountains and is essentially a base camp and repository for the monastery in the tall mountains nearby. Supplicants who failed their trials, or failed to even reach the monastery are often too ashamed to return to their families, so many stay and raise families in the lands around Barkesh. In this way a whole population center has grown in what is otherwise an inhospitable part of the world, even by the standards of Kurkut.

Barkesh is 80% Human 7% Halfling 4% Elven 2% Dwarven and 7% Others

The monastery of Barkesh is called The Temple of the Silver Heart and is the most celebrated monastery in all of the eastern kingdoms. Supplicants come from the world over to train there. It’s monks are honor-bound to never divulge the secrets of their training, and few know the details of the monks lives save those who have trained there.