^{If you haven't yet read the first chapter of our lore, I highly suggest you do so [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRealmsMC/comments/4c4i5n/the_karu/}

No one knows what happened to the Old World. Some say the volcanoes erupted and covered the surface, while others say that great holes of void ripped through cities and wilderness alike. Regardless, some few of us were brought here. But yet we weren’t. This is a new life . . . and yet it’s not.

That, little one, is what the guidance of the Ancestors feels like.

Our scattered people began to band together. We knew to trust each other. We knew that we were Karu. Without a council, we could not make decisions as we used to. We resolved conflict through either the Rak’sha, or the Trah’vaharat.

When Rak’sha was invoked, we would make our decision by the following sunrise. At night, the food from the hunt would be cooked and all of the group would sit around the campfire. Any man who wished to speak would stand up and be given his turn. After all those with their own wills have spoken, the group would stand behind the man whose wills they wanted to bring to reality. The tribe would follow the wishes of the man with the largest group behind him.

The Trah’vaharat involved making decisions by combat. Those with differing wills would be prepared by their similar minded men for combat as if they were going to war. They would begin to fight, and the rules of the combat would be upheld by the crowd themselves. They needed not fight to the death; only until all had submitted but one, though doing so would come at great loss of prestige. The wills of the victorious men or group of men would be followed by the rest.

Those two rites guided us through the lands, Na’tum as the natives called it. But we began to grow restless. Us Karu wanted a place to live, and no longer have to travel and to hunt every day for our own sustenance and protection from the creatures of the land. Many sought the Ancestors for guidance. On the 16th day since the Awakening, one man had a vision.

He dreamt of an ancient warrior finding a portal to Nath’ar, the Ancestors’ land of trial. Karu folktales claimed that this was the place where a lost soul must go before he can claim his place among the Ancestors. Nath’ar was an endless desert of red sand, filled with fire, lava, and strange creatures with golden weapons. Upon revealing this information to the tribe, it was decided that this man would become the High Shaman of the Karu. The shaman and his people followed a shooting star in the sky to the southern plains, and there they found a crater.

The center of this crater contained a shimmering portal. It was made of obsidian in a perfectly circular shape that could not have come from the natural world. For three days and three nights the shaman held vigil at the foot of the portal. He would neither drink nor eat. During this time, us Karu decided to setup houses and fires to sleep and cook our food.

At the next dawn, on the 30th day since the Awakening, the shaman stood up and spoke. He declared that this would be the birthplace of a brilliant Karuan city that would dwarf even the ancient wonders of Eternae and Dycarius. The shaman said that he needed six warriors to come with him into the portal.

No one really knows what happened inside the portal, but the seven men returned with vast knowledge and guidance of the ancestors. The seven men later formed the Council of the Karu. But soon new visions appeared to our shaman. He dreamed he was wandering Nath’ar, and happened upon another portal, made of glowing yellow stones. Inside this portal was the lands of the Ancestors, what others may call the ‘Promised Lands.’ The shaman told the council that warriors must be sent into Nath’ar to search for the portal to the Ancestors. Week by week, more and more Karu warriors were sent into the portal. Some passing mercenaries offered to join them, and on that day it was found that any who did not have the fiery blood of the warrior coursing through their veins were incinerated upon entering the portal, as a few mere moments after the mercenaries went in, their ashes fell back out of the portal. Some sneaky foreigners seeking only riches for themselves also went through the portal. These men had the blood of cowards flowing through their veins. Their ashes turned dark, and brown, into what the alchemists call ‘Soul Sand.’ Later visions revealed that Nath'ar itself burned the cowardly foreigners to keep the lands of the Ancestors from being defiled.

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I hope you guys enjoyed the latest installment of Karuan lore. Yes, we have indeed found a portal. The visions of our ancestors seem to indicate that there are at least two other known portals in the world, and potentially a fourth undiscovered one as well. For the time being, entrance to Nath'ar will be forbidden without permission until our scouting parties can learn more about it, our shamans can have more visions to learn the wills of the Ancestors pertaining to this, and our council casts votes on our policies. We will give permission on a case by case basis via votes of the council for individuals to enter or be accompanied into the portal to Nath'ar based on their strength of spirit, will of the warrior, the wisdom of their ancestors, and their prowess in combat. The council will also vote on what happens to those who have defiled Nath'ar without our knowledge, and anyone attempting to enter Nath'ar without our permission will be stopped.

In addition, it is also true that sneaky foreigners have attempted to defile Nath'ar and threatened our people for not revealing this portal to the world immediately. The Karu have recieved this (Also it seems really bs that you found it by 'mining too high.' You'd have to be mining for dirt in order to find the portal). message from someone hiding behind the mask of /u/RealmsMCJustice . We would insult his cowardice and demand he take off his mask, but... He isn't a very sneaky foreigner. Our listening wards have determined that he is /u/ShawtgunHobo. He and his henchman /u/milescool101 have both been to the portal, though ShotgunHobo is the only one who made the grave transgression of going through the portal. In addition to their crimes they have gone into our hidden chest room connected to the portal, though they did not break the chests.

The Karuan people are willing to let these transgressions slide and grant amnesty to these foreign cowards, however the Karuan council voted 6-0 (with one absent) in favor of banning any member of the nation of the FSRA, led by ShotgunHobo and of which milescool101 is a member, from entry to our portal under any circumstances unless the council votes to retract these bans some time in the future, regardless of a potential future decision to open up entry to the portal to all foreigners.

Karuan merchants are also looking to trade for the following materials: Gold, Crusted Earth, Infused Bones, Saddles, Apples, and potentially any skilled craftsmans' help in crafting the coveted machines known as 'Bastions'

Our shamans are also looking for information pertaining to other portals as well as the ruins found throughout Na'tum.

-Head Shaman, Sharpcastle33