Vedda

Vedda is a small country covering the far southern end of the Salwa peninsula. Its only city and capital, Veddashud, famed for elaborate temples and shrines, is the sole civilized place; the rest is deep jungle and swamp. Veddans look like the people of Meluhha's Akhan valley and dress similarly, though the steamy heat allows only the lightest clothes. A monarch called the Caliph rules from his great city palace over an unusually complex caste system.

Though the economy rests on trade with Mohenjo-Daro, Veddans prize artists and craftsmen: rather than export their abundant gold, gems, ivory, rare woods and resins raw, they turn them into goods so fine that they sell for five to ten times the price of ordinary good-quality items. The royalty and upper castes are among the wealthiest people anywhere, served by slaves bought from Mohenjo-Daro. The lower castes, over three-quarters of the population, labor in mines and jungles, poor and underfed, so discontent is high and unrest fairly common.

Its small army is highly regarded: heavy war elephants carrying towers for four to six men, and elephant cavalry with a single rider and a 12-foot lance, are thought superior to any others, and the royal guard is rumored to include rhinoceros units. A small, well-equipped navy is used mostly for trade. Veddans worship many gods and goddesses in richly carved and painted temples throughout the city, while the wilder shamanistic folk of the jungles, Camphor Island and Shiri Nahar are said to revere the first thing they see each morning.