The first Meeting between the Ra'Shaket and the Epaceluff was peaceful, as the farmers of the river welcomed the strange desert dwellers. That only lasted a few nights. While Marshenek, the Shadi of the Tribe, was horribly stricken by the plague of madness, it is likely even a sane Shaket would have taken the same actions. The Epaceluff decided things in a council: they had no leader, no head. To the Ra'Shaket, that was something untenable, a fate worse than death. Something even a mortal enemy would be spared.

If it weren't for the fact that the Ra'Shaket brought the plague with them, they would have been driven off by the rest of the Epaceluff, killed or run into the desert. As it was, the Epaceluff soon found themselves beset by failing vision and fraying minds, animals and men dying left and right. They were not given time to recover before the Ra'Shaket truly began their fight.

The biggest factor against the Ra'Shaket were the simple numbers of it all: with ample access to water and the ability to grow food, the Epaceluff greatly outnumbered the Ra'Shaket. Still, the Epaceluff had little tradition of combat, while the Ra'Shaket were hardened from years of inter-tribal conflict and turmoil (which has been brought to a fever pitch by the plague). For the Ra'Shaket, the problem was not beating the Epaceluff, but trying to manage the villages afterward.

That would not remain a problem for long. Drawn by tales of the river and those who lived there, more than half of the tribes wandering the desert journeyed to the West. I particular, tribes who favored raiding and violence were the ones who moved, while the rest took advantage of the increased space to grow and divide. Over time, this would become a notable geographic divide of the Ra'Shaket, with Traditions both becoming similar within each side, and yet diverging from the other.

Once more tribes arrived, the Ra'Shaket made it about a third of the way down the river before their progress slowed significantly, as the Epaceluff took up bow and spear and learned to fight. At halfway, the progress of the Ra'Shaket ground to a halt. Fighting and raiding was a constant affair, neither able to make any progress. The sands were stained red, as bodies floated downstream.

The river was named "Hamonah" by the Epaceluff. In their tongue it meant blood, and the water of the womb. It was fitting, for it was what allowed them to grow, and thrive, and live.

As the years past, the name never changed, but the stories of it's meaning did.