History of Hesh and the Pepper Savannahs:
Archeologists from the Academy of Renbluve have recently noted that the history of the Dynasties of Hesh would suggest that Hesh is far older than humanity... some even suggest that it is, in fact, older than even the long lost Titans.  Likewise, the oldest histories of Hesh also suggest that they had conquered kingdoms to their south and demanded tribute, and any casual student of geography knows that south of Hesh lies the Pepper Savannahs, which have no great kingdoms or treasures to plunder.  
While the casual observer might suggest that the Heshites are merely exaggerating their history, perhaps by making room for a variety of mythic kings and heroes that did not actually exist, this is simply too easy and too unsatisfying.  A more rigorous study of the facts was needed, and so Professor Parnham famously organized several expeditions into Hesh and the Pepper Savannahs in pursuit of answers.
Before he was run out of Hesh for disturbing their great Necropolis, he uncovered evidence that suggested, not that the histories were wrong, but that they were incomplete!  Hesh is indeed far older than Man, built upon the ruins of older civilizations, with even older ruins 'lost' in the deserts.  The most controversial of his 'proofs' was a transcript of an interview with a 'living dead' found deep in the Necropolis, that claimed to be of a race that predated even the Elves and Dwarves.  Due to a lack of any corroborating evidence this is viewed as merely interesting hearsay rather than direct evidence.
Far more interesting to the archeologists is the presence of great buried cities under the northern stretches of the pepper savannahs, currently the 'domains' of only the nomadic Maxcai tribes.  While the excavations were cut off by Parnham's exile from the region, artifacts brought back suggest that at one time farming was quite common in the Savannahs, and that a great civilization did, in fact once hold sway in the area.  Most curious is that the most recent ruins excavated, those closest to the city, are the most primitive and, more curious still, show clear signs of dwarven inhabitants, to include several intact skeletons, including what appears to be an entire family.  However, no further expeditions are planned due to the so-called  Parnham Curse.  While Professor Parnham himself continued to teach at the Academy until his death at the ripe age of 73, every student and laborer involved in the excavations on the Savannah died within two years of returning to Renbluve, most from diseases that are yet unidentified.   Several researchers studying the artifacts brought back have also died, and those dwarves involved with archeology refuse to participate, despite their reputed resistance to diseases.

The True History of Hesh and the Pepper Savannahs:
Many Millenia Ago, before the time of the Titans indeed, the Sun did set forth a kingdom in the lands now known as Hesh. The original inhabitants of this land are long extinct, their language all but lost except to the Gods, and we will call them Solars.  The Solars ruled a vast Empire, spanning from the eastern Sea to the border of what is now the Melitioran Plains, and the seat of their power actually lay in what is now the Pepper Savannahs, though still on the River Erd, which at that time lay a few leagues further south as well.
The Solars did not rule the entire Savannahs, not by a long shot, and many of their lands were actually tributary kingdoms, independent but weak, rather than actually being Solar cities, and the influence of the Solars was perhaps two or three times larger than their actual kingdom.
But the Solars were hidebound traditionalists, and their power waned as the Titans grew in power much further south.  When the Titans began their program of conquest and domination, the Solar Empire collapsed completely and was eventually absorbed, with a few hold outs lying to the extreme north. Eventually the Titans arrogance was such that they refused to acknowledge the Gods, and more importantly, refused to allow any other sentient beings to walk the face of Haven, and their dragon armies swept the lands of the remaining Solars.  It was Erd who saved her followers among the remaining solars, changing them into the first River Gods, crocodiles large enough and powerful enough to fight the early dragons, capable of hiding from their flame breath under the waters.   All the remaining Solars were exterminated by the Titanic Genocide, and it was this early destruction that started the eventual demise of the Titans.
The Dwarves, originally a slave race of the Titans, occupied the Savannahs, along with many other lands, and when the Titan's Empire collapsed (due to a loss of magic, destroying their great cities and their power), the Dwarven communities of the Savannahs remained the single strongest surviving settlement, enjoying the comfortable environment and the fertile croplands.  
Meanwhile, with the Titan's genocidal reign over, Erd turned the oldest of the River Gods back into the Solars they had once been.  The Solars slowly attempted to rebuild their old kingdom, recording some of their history, but their numbers were few, and they absorbed the refugees of the lost Titan civilization over the centuries, to include orcs, titans and those few elven pleasure-slaves that remained with their masters.  
When the Dwarf-Elf war happened, the Elves unleashed an ancient Titanic doomsday device, known now as the Horseman of Pestilence (one of the four 'Gods' of the End, possibly created with the help of Death), which struck the dwarves with a terrible plague, and destroyed their croplands, which is why the Pepper Savannahs are now unable to grow many common crops, but only the hardiest plants and, of course, the peppers for which they are famous.   The Dwarves fled north, to the mountains, passing through Hesh, but did not linger.
As the Savannahs had long been a source of food crops for the desert peoples, this was a blow to the newly reformed Kingdom of Hesh, and they languished in poverty and obscurity, nearly dying out amidst the wars between the Elves and Orcs that followed.  The Raising of the Tundrid Plateau was an environmental disaster for the entire North, the Desert of Hesh was no exemption, for many of the lesser streams that supplemented the waters of the Erd dried up, and their replacement, the seasonal flooding of the Wadis was a far less predictable, more dangerous concern.
During the Goblin Wars, small bands of humans began appearing throughout the lands, and the Heshites, no longer truly Solars, saw these peoples as a gift from the Gods, a race similar to their own to replenish their numbers.  By the time of the Dragon Riders of Tabor, the Heshites were as fully formed a race as any.  They are not Men, but such close relatives that even they mistake themselves for Men, and their language is an amalgamation of ancient Solar tongues (The language of the Sun, as they would say), ancient Titanian, and bastardized tongues of the early Men.  The Hesh witnessed the shining Host of the Dwarves leave their mountain fasts for the first time in millennia, recalling ancient legends of them headed underground.  The Hesh record everything as they understand it.
The old Hesh capital was known, eons ago, as Themeb, and many believe it is long lost.  However, when the original River Gods were restored to their forms they found that Themeb was ruins and, due to the shifting of the River Erd, no longer inhabitable, and so they built Bantusa where an ancient outpost once stood. As they died, they were buried alongside their kin in Themeb, and their decendents understood those ancient ruins to be tombs, and so the modern Necropolis of Hesh stands where Themeb once stood.
During the time of the Warlord, Hesh was led by the Sun King Ka'tet-haneb, who had reigned for twenty years.  His armies resisted the hordes of the Warlord, though Hesh legends of turning aside the Warlord himself are empty boasts, and the horde pressed south instead of braving the harsh desert sands and the hard people that call it home. The was successful, but it cost Ka'tet-haneb dearly, for his wife usurped his power in his absence, and the Moon Cult rose to dominance, holding power for fifty years  God-King Isti'vanle, as she became known, is believed by some to have secretly worshipped the Warlord, sparing Hesh his full might in return for sowing civil war.   Regardless, her  murder of her sons by Ka'tet-heneb ensured she had no heirs to return the Heshites to the Sun, and after her death the Moon Cult appointed a new God-King in her stead, but factionalism within the cult meant that several were named, each supported by different groups. Twenty years of infighting resulted in, eventually, the Erdites, led by God-King Menarch the Great, taking power, and his decendants rule to this day.  Menarch not only broke the backs of the Sun and Moon Cults, binding both to his will, but he also pacified the fractious noble houses for the first time in millennia, and was the first Heshite since the Titans to conquer lands outside the desert, though his children could not hold them. To this day there are smaller city-states to the East that pay a token tribute to Hesh to ward off the return of the bronze blades of conquest, though it was the increasing power of the fire cults, and their recruitment among the bandit tribes of the desert that broke the imperial aspirations of the Menarchids.
Contrary to popular belief, the desert of Hesh has several working Iron mines, and the Heshites are fully capable of working and smelting steel.   They do not trade iron south of the Erd, for they feel they are due the peppers of the Savannahs, and anything else of note from the region, due to ancient claims of dominion over those lands.  They do, however, trade to the West, mostly with their neighbors on the Melitioran Plains, and to the East, with the Spada and a few of the Tenebrian Kingdoms south of there.  The reason they do not use Iron and steel themselves is that the ancient Solars viewed their entire existence as dedicated to the Sun, and Bronze is the solar metal, thus the Sun gave them, in ancient lore, the secrets to enchanting it to be as strong as steel.  That bronze is easier to work with before enchanting is unimportant.  The Sun Cult temples, built as giant pyramids, are geomantic foci designed to channel certain mystic energies used in this enchanting process, and the Sun Cult has long been the center of military life.
The view of the Heshites towards the lizard folk of the sands is... complex.  There are no early records of such a peoples in their histories and myths, showing up for the first time around the Banality. The Heshite first viewed them as a nuisance, then as a 'gift' from the Sun, a slave race bred for the deserts. This led to powerful antagonism between the primitive but powerful lizards and the Hesh.
Menarch the Great, remembering the legends of his ancestors (The Erdites, 'children of the River Gods'), made peace with them during his exile, forming them into an army, and using them to bolster his ranks allowing him to take power, and even to expand the borders of his Kingdom.  As long as the Erdites have the Throne, the lizard folk are a welcome 'addition' to the kingdom, though they produce no wealth, pay no taxes nor engage in any trades that the Hesh are concerned with.   Their work as mercenaries and soldiers for the Hesh means that their tribes are left unmolested by the kingdom, and their people are not enslaved.   The Erdites, especially, remember that their power comes from their alliance with the lizard tribes, and they take great pains to learn their language and to keep that alliance strong.  Luckily for the Menarchids, the Sun Cults still view the lizards as a 'slave race' created by the Sun to serve them, though among the laity in the armies of Hesh this attitude is uncommon. The Moon Cultist have never taken a stance on the issue, but many believe that they would welcome more slaves, not less, but would take power any way available.  That the lizards sleep more heavily in the cold desert nights means that they are unlikely candidates for recruitment among the Moon cultists.
The Current God-King of Hesh is but a boy, weak of body and many believe doomed to die young. He is also believed to be a pawn of treacherous advisors, many holding faith with the Moon Cultists. King Senachib is, however, quite cunning.  He plays his advisors against each other, trusting only his mother, former Regent Nephali.  His frequent 'adventures' in the desert are not mere boyish fancies, but clever ruses to allow him time to negotiate with the desert folk, and to meet with those who would serve his will in secret.  He is also a Runelord of the Erdites, and as such he has the protection of the River Gods, which has allowed him to survive one assassination attempt, the sinking of his royal barque during a feast.
Some say that Senachib enters the desert to partake in profane rites, believing his physical frailty to be a curse from his 'Mother', Erd, for blaspheme.  Certainly prosecutions of ancient banned sects have fallen off in recent years, but the wise understand that this has been true for several kings now, and that Senachib, like all the Erdites, cares less about the blasphemers of the Sun Cult than they do.

Very cool.

From this and the other thread, I'm getting a definite Egyptian vibe from the Hesh.

Looking forward to hearing more about your campaign setting.

Oh good, I was afraid it wouldn't be obvious enough...  

If you've read the main worldbuilding thread in the sticky, the river Erd is a big ass, continent spanning river, so when I plunked a desert along it I went... HEY! That's a great place for an egypt analog!

Funny enough, I have a sort of conan-esque desert kingdom in the south, with serpent worship and all that funky jazz, but no pyramids.

The pepper Savannahs, which have been done in detail piecemeal are supposed to be a mix of Apocalypica and Shaka Zulu with some fantastic elements thrown on top.

One thing that may have been lost is that the River Gods are just super-sized crocodiles.  I once read that during the days of the pharohs that the crocs of the nile grew to 30 feet long on a regular basis, so I just sort of ran with that idea.

Quote from: Spike;457513One thing that may have been lost is that the River Gods are just super-sized crocodiles.  I once read that during the days of the pharohs that the crocs of the nile grew to 30 feet long on a regular basis, so I just sort of ran with that idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_(crocodile)

Heshites are a tall strong breed of humans, with open, expressive faces.  They are notable for their skin, which like the bronze it resembles, darkens with age and in ill health. An elderly or particularly sickly Heshite will have skin that is nearly black, while a newborn babe is pale and only slightly yellowish.

The Hesh are not a particularly hirsuite race, and they frequently shave the hair of their heads for ritual reasons, and among those who do not, natural baldness is a frequent occurance.  Among those who keep their hair, it is notable that there is little variation.  Hair tends to be heavy and straight and is either a pale golden white or oily black, never in between.  

The Hesh favor tattooing as a method of personal adornment, particularly those invovled with the military.  As such tattoos are frequently used as a medium for personal enchantment, it may be considered a status symbol, even if the tattoos are not, in fact, enchanted.  

The Hesh are extremely status concious as a people.  Most social interactions are predicated on how rich or powerful one appears, rather than ones actual social caste.  Ones social caste is frequently determined at an early age, with some upward mobility possible, and the ability to maintain the proper display of wealth, or to exceed one's 'status' in displays is used as an indicator of success.  A soldier who is draped with gold and attended by many slaves is more notable than a noble dressed in plain linens with only a few gems that must be hidden away.

Regardless of caste, gender or status the Hesh all wear similar garments, a simple kilt of linen wrapped high around the belly and belted in place and hard leather sandals.  The length of the kilt is a frequent indicator of status, laborers and slaves wear shorter kilts, as they frequently work in the mud of the River Erd, scribes and other intellectuals wear kilts that reach the ground, all but covering their feet.  Soldiers and Sorcerers wear kilts that reach to about mid-shin, and are frequently quilted layers or reinforced with leather strips for protection of the legs, while nobles wear the shortest kilts of all, to leave their legs bare to display gold ornaments, and historically to stay out of the wheels of their chariots.  Those who spend their days in the hot sun, laborers and soldiers, will wear a losely drapped head dress that covers the neck. The cloth is long enough and lose enough that it may be pulled across the face in case of a sand storm and is worn by any caste if they expect to be out of the city for any length of time, as the saying goes: going uncovered before the Sun is to tempt his wrath.

The quality of the linen, its color and any embroidered embellishments are far more reliable indicators of status than length, however.  Kilt length is a curious mix of practicality and personal comfort rather than a cultural mandate.  The Hesh have perfected a dyeing process that produces a golden colored cloth with is reserved for the God-King and his immedeates, as well as the priests of the Sun Cult, while a silver process that is somewhat less impressive, is reserved for the devout of the Moon Cult.  Blue is the color of the nobility and the Erdites while Green is reserved for Sorcerers.  Bleached white linen is not reserved by is generally only found among the intellectuals, and coarse, unbleached linens are worn by poor soldiers and laborers. Slaves tend to wear clothes a step below their master or station, and may have a colored band around the hem indicating their master's position.  

The social castes are, in order:  Slaves, laborers (to include farmers and herdsmen), soldiers, intellectuals (scribes and other skilled laborers), sorcerers, high priests, nobility and the God-King.  There is some cross over, slaves from Spadan stock are rare and highly prized for their martial prowess, and thus are frequently trained as soldiers, and socially may be treated as such despite their lack of freedom.  Highly intelligent slaves may be trained as scribes or teachers and so forth and suffer very little opprobium for their servitude. However, the vast majority of slaves are little more than valuable property. In times when the Hesh are constrained to their desert they are more valuable and protected, valued by their owners, when the Kingdom is expanding and war-prizes are easily had, the life of a slave is cheap. Of course, life in Hesh is generally cheap. Many religious ceremonies involve sacrifices, assassinations are common methods of advancement across all classes, and most crimes or even simple failure is frequently punished with death.  The higher one's caste the more likely one is to be targeted for death by a rival within, or above, one's caste. The lower one's caste the more likely that one is going to be killed by a superior for the most pointless of reasons.

Slaves in Hesh are a complex topic in and of themselves. All slaves begin with war prizes, captives from Melitior, the pepper savannahs or the Tenebrian Kingdoms of the Eastern coast. A common, but not particularly popular 'stock' are captured from rebellious desert tribes, kin to the 'civilized' Heshites.  Captured slaves are not trusted and are frequently abused, though a particularly prized slave may be given over to 'trainers' who specialize in 'breaking' new slaves.  It isn't until the third or fourth generation that slave stock is trusted.   The child of a slave is as free as the mother.  Slaves may be found at almost all levels of Heshite society, the concubines of the nobility are as respected as the nobles themselves, and particularly beloved concubines have been married, their children granted freedom.  Slave soldiers are formed into a corps known as the Jenzarah, sworn personally to the God-King, and are particularly feared for their high morale.   Slaves may own some property, including other slaves, and their property rights are, strangely, better protected than their lives by law.  A cunning slave will make a gift to his master that is coveted rather than risk being killed for it, making a joke of those protections.   A slave may not propose marriage to a free citizen, nor may they refuse it, but marriage is one of the few paths to freedom for those who desire it. A slave may marry another slave, however. The children of slaves are evaluated much as the children of citizens, those who show particular intelligence are frequently taught a trade, attractive children may be sold as concubines and large and fiercesome children may be sent to be trained as Jenzarah.  
There is not much of a market, however, in flesh.  Heshites have a weak merchantile class, property is owned for generations, and the personal loyalty, earned over generations, of a slave family is not something that can be bought.  Slave taking is a benefit to general warfare, not an activity any person of good standing would undertake for its own sake.   That isn't to say that there are not professional flesh-merchants. They do exists, but the primary market for their wares are the professional 'Slave-breakers', who are not particularly respectable, but are, at least, viewed as necessary.  Those who want a slave seek out the breakers for particularly trained stock.
The most important consideration is that the desert can not sustain a large population, and a constant influx of rebellious, hungry prisoners is less desirable than a breeding population of reasonably loyal, quiescent people.

The Army of Hesh:  When Hesh goes to war, the vast majority of its troops are peasant leevees, poorly trained and equipped with simple spears and ox-hide shields.  There is a cadre of professional soldiers to train them and lead them.  Typically, a soldier stands on the far left of the formation to keep the unit from drifting, as they tend to do, and to keep the men from breaking.  Each soldier is personally responsible for his squad's training and morale, and to have one's squad be in the first rank is a mark of honor.
Other soldiers stand in formations of archers, with only a few leevee's to fill the ranks from those who have demonstrated proficency.  Hesh archers tend use slings and javelins, as there are no native woods for bowstaves in the desert, though when Hesh held tribute from Melitior and the Tenebrian Kingdoms they experimented with proper archers, and those who own a real bow, and are proven marksmen with it, are in very high demand.
As a general rule, every formation will have two or more sorcerers attached to it. The soldiers generally owe fealty to the Noble 'officer' who leads the unit (sometimes by the simple expidient of paying for it, others will actually take direct command of one or more formations, often from a war chariot), but the Sorcerers officially owe loyalty to the God-King directly, or less formally, to their Cult.  In practice, however, the Sorcerers tend to form bonds of brotherhood with the men the serve with.  
Nobles rarely fight on foot or in formation.  Generally they roam the battlefield in armored chariots with others of their caste. Each chariot holds a driver and two 'archers' in addition to the noble, and these men are chosen for their personal loyalty and skill. Some are professional soldiers, others are favored slaves. A rare few are younger sons of lesser nobles.   The nobles generally will seek to duel men of equal rank on the battlefield, either in an opposed clash of chariots, or they will mutually dismount and duel on the battlefield.
Nobles will fight with curved bronze swords, sized by preference, and many wear a simple curiasse of gilt bronze, known as a plaque, that hangs from their gorget and ties to their thick leather (and gold) belt.   Some professional soldiers, to include the Jenzarah, will form units of pure, elite soldiery and will be equipped similarly with swords and plaques.  
A soldier 'works' for a noble, which in some cases will be a high priest instead, and when not at war is a minor land holder, responsible for a stretch of farmland along the Erd, which is actually worked by laborers or slaves.   They are poorly paid for their soldiery, and their lands are not more than self sufficent, so they look forward to earning booty on the battlefields.  It is not unheard of for a soldier to risk the scything blades of a chariot to kill an opposing officer for the prestige, and more importantly the valuable loot on the corpse.
Despite being the personal property of the God-King, the Jenzarah operate under a similar model, holding lands and properties that are worked by lower caste laborers and slaves.  Unlike the ordinary soldiers, however, the laborers of the Jenzarah lands are never used as levees by the Jenzarah themselves, who fight exclusively in units of their own kind, or rarely, in the chariots of the King and his favorites.  While any suitable slave child may be considered for training in the Jenzarah, by the time of the Warlord it has frequently become the case that only children of the Jenzarah themselves may join their ranks.
Many nobles, those with more wealth than land, will hire mercenaries to supplement their personal forces. For several hundred years the most common mercenaries are the lizard folk of the desert, for they are hardy and strong, and they are willing to work for years for the cost of a few weapons, decades for the armored enchantments that the Hesh can offer.  They are fantastic warriors, loyal to a fault once bought and believed to be fearless. The only downside is their unfortunate tendancy to decide for themselves when they've earned their keep and just walk away, often without bothering to negotiate for additional service. There is also their unfortunate tendancy to eat those they should take captive, but that is considered a minor 'additional cost' to the Hesh. Those who favor Erd are particularly fond of the Lizard Folk, viewing them as kin to the River Gods, despite the fact that the desert lizards abhor the water.

Heshite Families:  A Heshite will have as many spouses as he, or she, can afford. For most people this is just one, though in times of war this can change.  Hesh is generally male dominated, and the frequent violence sees more men dead than women, so polygyny is more common than polyandry, but neither raises an eyebrow.  Large families are common to everyone, and children are not particularly beloved by their parents.  Generally the oldest child will inherit, and will thus recieve the bulk of the attention from his or her parents, though this comes with enough scrutiny that many are disinherited for various offenses.  Younger children are sent off to be taught a trade in accordance with their temperment or ability, and the wealth of the family to support their schooling. A poor laborer may feel his son is a brilliant scholar, but if he can not convince someone from a higher caste to take pity on the boy, he'll have to find the money to pay for the schooling himself or the boy will remain a laborer.