As I wandered the streets of Sarrakeen, I began to notice the strange faces passing me by. Each one was covered in soot, some a loose scattering across the brow and snout, some intricately marked like tattoos, still others an even coating, as an aristo of Barsuum. The more people I passed, the longer my glances lingered, and as our eyes met the strangers began to greet me, each with the same phrase: “Dust you are.”
At first, this phrase carried no significance to me. It was as if spoken in another language, and indeed I did at first suppose this odd utterance was some exotic word of the Ashland tongue. But gradually, after further encounters, I began to parse the phrase and take its meaning. Dust you are. Dust, dirt, ash. I came upon a fellow and stopped him, and asked him about it.
“It is a greeting,” he said, “It is answered: to dust you shall return.”
Dust you are, and to dust you shall return. A morbid thought to be sharing with strangers! He seemed to be in no hurry, so I asked him what the significance of it was, for I had been in Sarrakeen some months now and hadn’t come by it even once. And, respectfully, why did so many today wear ashes on their face?
The fellow was quite willing to answer my questions, although his grim demeanor did not leave him. “Today is the most important day, the Sarrakost. It is a day of great seriousness, a reminder of what we are—that we die, decay, yes, but also we are born.”
He explained to me that Sarrakost is a day in which folks mark their faces with the ash of the earth as a reminder of their mortality. In a city as diversely populated as Sarrakeen, such a shared ritual is quite welcome. Wealthy or poor, elf or man, whatever your creed or profession, everyone is born and everyone will someday die.
While all are welcome, not everyone observes the Sarrakost—most especially, it seems, the dwarves. As I learned more about Sarrakost, or “the Dusting” as it is sometimes called, I found that many dwarven Ashlanders struggle to accept the symbolism.
“Dust I am not,” one told me. “My people are stone.”
Orkhorum, on the other hand, deals not in coin but in tusks. While the ork-tooth trade has a long and dark history, and continues to this day in the shadowed corners of black markets, its use as a currency by the orks is in truth not so inconceivable. It is supposed that the tradition is rooted in the rather mundane trophy-hoarding of stronghold orks: if one managed to knock another's tusk loose (quite the feat, a tusk is no simple tooth to be loosened) then one had the right to keep, display and even trade it. Over many centuries of trophy-trading and many generations of new tusks, there is now a large enough quantity of tusks to sustain a currency. This has, of course, led to some inequalities in Orkhorum. Non-orks have no tusk-treasury, while even the poorest, clanless ork is born with at least two tusks. And neither can a goblin or a goliath, fallen on hard times, benefit from such a rainy-day fund. Yet neither are goblins or goliaths routinely targeted by dishonorable brutes who would pick a fight merely to loosen a tooth.
Unto the Personal Secretary of His Highness the Prince of Seydaneen.
Dear Sir,
His Highness’s humble servants of the Consortium of Merchant Venturers wish to formally re-submit our request for His Highness’s assistance in our continuing negotiations with the Nal-Hutta Navigator’s Guild. These negotiations are a matter of the utmost importance to the lasting prosperity of our realm, and we trust that you will bring this letter before Him with haste.
As you are aware, the Consortium of Merchant Venturers has, for a lack of reasonable alternatives, long relied on the services of the Navigator’s Guild for the transportation of our goods across the Rim. As the sole possessors of the knowledge of aerial navigation, the Hutts exercises a near monopoly on Rim trade, and have not hesitated to fully leverage this power towards their own excessive profit. Their ever-rising rates are unsustainable for our members, who struggle to maintain even the thinnest of margins. Furthermore, Merchants of the Consortium who have been barred from the Guild’s services are forced to pursue terrestrial shipping routes, which not only impose the burdens of slow and difficult travel, extensive provisioning, and costly security measures, but also greatly increase our risk. These expenses are levied against us without reason, hindering our ability to maintain trade and ultimately threatening the economic stability of Seydaneen and, indeed, the entire Rim.
Given the long-standing relationship between the Red Court of Seydaneen and the Consortium of Merchant Venturers, we humbly seek the intervention of His Highness in negotiating more favorable shipping terms with the Navigator’s Guild. His Highness’s esteemed influence and diplomatic acumen are highly regarded by all. We are confident that His Highness, with His visionary leadership and commitment to the welfare of His people, will understand the critical nature of this issue and lend His support to our cause. We eagerly await a favorable response and stand ready to provide any assistance required to facilitate this endeavor.
We remain His Highness’s most humble and obedient servants,
The Consortium of Merchant Venturers of Seydaneen