Skip to content

Simiah

"I have spent forty years annotating the Cynwäll ruins. I have spent forty hours, total, in Dyrsin's presence. He has not yet refused me an answer. He has, on three occasions, given me answers I have spent the rest of my career disproving."
— Professor Yarrun-of-the-Reach, holder of the Antiquarian Chair, Free University of Cadwallon

The ape-folk of the southern jungles beyond Aarklash — a refined, scholarly people who came to Cadwallon over the past several centuries as traders, scholars, and cartographers, and have, in the academic generations since, become the city's foremost authorities on Cynwäll antiquity. The Antiquarian Chair at the Free University has been held by a Simiah for the past two centuries. Almost every serious study of the Cynwäll Ruins published in Cadwallon was written by a Simiah scholar.

What They Are

  • Ape-folk — broadly humanoid with primate features (variable; some lineages are gracile and chimpanzee-like, others are robust and gorilla-like; the diaspora has diversified considerably)
  • From the southern jungles beyond Aarklash's continent — a homeland Cadwës know almost nothing about, which is very much how the Simiah want it kept
  • Three jungle-cradle nations sent representatives: scholars (the largest Cadwallon population), traders, and a small diplomatic-religious caste who serve as cultural anchors
  • Strongly literate culture — Simiah arrived in Cadwallon already keeping written records; their archives in The Free District are older than the Free University itself
  • Modest lifespan — 70-100 years; their institutions are long because their records are long

Where They Live

  • The Free District (Drakaër) — the largest Simiah community, centered on the Free University of Cadwallon and the Great Scriptorium (Guild of Scribes HQ); ~1,500 individuals, almost all academic, scribal, or scholarly
  • The Old District (The Automaton) — Simiah scholars who work for the Company of the Bolt and the artistic-loot estimation trade; some of the best Cynwäll Ruins artifact authenticators in the city
  • The Embassies (Den Azhir) — small Simiah diplomatic-religious presence that liaises informally between the southern jungle nations and Cadwallon (no formal embassy)
  • [[The Free University of Cadwallon]] — a Simiah scholar holds the Antiquarian Chair, has done so for two centuries, and the chair is widely understood to remain Simiah for the foreseeable future

In Cadwallon

  • The Antiquarian Chair. Held by Professor Yarrun-of-the-Reach since 988. Yarrun's research focuses on the Cynwäll Ruins, the Walled Library, and the pre-Cynwäll Ophidian period. Yarrun has been to Dyrsin's Tower three times. Almost no one else has been once.
  • Guild ties — strong representation in the Guild of Scribes (foundational alliance); informal advisors to the Guild of Cartomancers on historical reconstruction; occasionally consulted by the Guild of Architects on Cynwäll structural questions
  • Trade beyond Aarklash — Simiah merchant houses maintain trade routes from Cadwallon to the southern jungle cities that no other Aarklash population can travel. The routes are not formally documented; the merchants are family-tied.
  • The southern jungle reticence — Cadwës who ask Simiah about their homeland get polite, articulate, complete-sounding answers that, on examination, never name a single river, city, or ruler. This is deliberate.

What They Know

The denied access

Yarrun-of-the-Reach has just been formally denied entry to the Walled Library. The denial came from Dyrsin, through a Drakaër intermediary, in Yarrun's third pass at researching the Elhan-sealed chamber. Yarrun is the only Cadwë scholar who has gotten close enough to the chamber for Dyrsin to bother denying entry. Yarrun is furious and currently writing a paper that argues, on Simiah documentary evidence, that the sealed chamber contains material Dyrsin personally has reason to keep hidden. The paper, if published, will damage Cynwäll-Cadwë relations. Yarrun is looking for a free league to either:

  1. Help publish the paper safely (the Cynwäll will try to stop it)
  2. Get Yarrun into the chamber by routes Dyrsin will not see coming
  3. Confirm or refute the Simiah documentary evidence Yarrun is relying on

Any of the three is a long, dangerous job. All of them route through the Free University of Cadwallon and the Walled Library. Yarrun has tenure, a network, and a grudge.

The cartographers

A small Simiah cartographer-guild operates from the upper rooms of the Great Scriptorium. They maintain the only accurate map of the [[Outskirts]] beyond a five-day march from the city. The map is private. Bernadil Ghiéron has a copy, paid for in a way the Scribes do not want examined. The map shows several features Cadwë cartography has never recorded — including a structure in the deep peninsula interior that may pre-date the Cynwäll.

Relations

The cartographer's mistake

A junior Simiah cartographer has lost a map. The map is one of the [[Outskirts]] interior maps and includes the pre-Cynwäll structure. The map was taken, not lost — the cartographer's apartment was searched discreetly and only the one document was missing. The Simiah elders want it recovered before whoever took it figures out what to do with it. Several parties might want this map: Drahas (the structure may be near a Court of Shadows hold), [[Baron Mardi]] (the Outskirts route passes through his territory), or Akkylannian intelligence (the structure may be useful to the Inquisition).

See Also