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Long ago, when the Empyreans and the Atlanteans banded together to do battle against the Varati people, they summoned a flood which sundered the worlds of Earth and Aether. The Varati king, Jemshid, led all who believed into the safety of the mountains, creating vast underground shelters called "varas." It is from this legend that the Varati take their name.
The map you see above is not the whole of the Varati nations; there are territories to the south and to the east which are considered under Varati rule. But the mountain range north of Haven is its main base, and serves as the homebase for its major Clans.
The red circles depict the locations of major varas or varas related to player-controlled factions. Masada is the capital of all of the Varati kingdoms, and is the home of Clan Khalida. Here is where the fabled Ushas-Gah, the palace of the God-King Khalid Atar, is to be found.
The vaisya (merchant caste) clans noted here are those which are major enough to lay claim to their own vara; a vaisya vara will actually contain a number of vaisya clans with the highest-status one laying claim to leadership. The vara's name is that of its highest-ranked vaisya clan, and due to the intense nature of Varati politics, this is likely to change with some frequency (and is often a subject of kshatri scorn).
The varas of the major Clans are buried deep within the mountains and are accessible via an underground network of roads. The varas depicted here, however, do not, and have external "gateways" -- towns or villages through which trade is conducted. All of the varas with links to the internal network of roads are kshatri-controlled, although high-status vaisya clans certainly make their homes there (and the populations of all of the varas but Agni-Haidar varas are overwhelmingly vaisya). The four kshatri varas represented here are low-status, as they do not have links to the internal network.
Some of the clans depicted above already have descriptions; most do not. In addition, the major clans contained completely within the mountains (with the exception of the PC clans marked above) have not been named or described. Aether staff would rather encourage players to become members of the existing PC clans rather than members of NPC clans, but there are really no objections to players coming up with clan histories, names, NPCs, etc. as a part of their characters' backgrounds -- just be sure to inform the Varati admin so these histories do not conflict with what has already been decided. See the Clans page for ideas on typical clan backgrounds, and please feel free to @mail Hecate or Erzulie if you have any ideas that you feel would expand this particular area.
