Heir-Kei

The Heir-Kei were a tribe of the An-Heir who migrated to the southernmost extent of the Starwood just over two centuries before the Sundering, driven out by extensive Ral settlement and deforestation. Led by a Kei-Sang known as tel-Shiva, they developed an unusual culture almost emulating the landsmen who had taken their home, building towers out of the husks of the enormous Davids Oaks native to the region, and creating extensive and permanent works of art carved and lacquered in wood and bone. There is some evidence that trees were actually felled during this time, and other An-Heir claim that they were driven out for embracing the Kei-Sang as a leader, and had the language of the trees taken from them, which allowed them to inflict such cruelties.

Founding the nation of Sheil-Meial, the majority of the tribe seem to have survived the Sundering thanks to their elevated towers, and may have even been instrumental in the survival of the continent of Ahlonia as a whole. tel-Shiva was eventually overthrown by the An-Heir Fieme who claimed rule over the Heir-Kei eleven centuries after the sundering. Swearing the Blood Oath, Fieme swore that no more harm should be done by his people, and returned to a more traditional An-Heir lifestyle, but remained passionate about maintaining the existing art and architecture his people had achieved, and it remained the norm for the Heir-Kei to live in dense concentrations of population around permanent fortified settlements.