Bedine

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[edit] Bedine Society

"Enslave the Bedine? They would find it easier to cage the wind." Bhadla of the D'tarig, from The Parched Sea

"The Bedine are always more concerned with vengeance than with what is right-and always is far too often for any folk to live long, or live untwisted." Elminster of Shadowdale

"The Bedine do not plan everything out in advance." Ruha of the Bedine, from The Parched Sea

Few in the Realms have even heard of the Bedine of Anauroch. Fewer still know the true nature of Bedine society. Legends speak of fierce people who dwell in the dry, sun-baked sands of Anauroch, swathed in long robes against the sun. These ruthless men ride camels, force their women to cover their faces, and wage endless war on each other with scimitars, for possession of camels and water sources (who may change hands hundreds of times in the course of a person's brief, brutal lives). The Bedine distrust magic, especially that of the arcane arts. When they need magical aid, they call on the gods-and often, the gods answer them directly.

More reliable sources (such as sages) tend to believe that the Bedine live in nomadic tribes, ruled by rival sheikhs, and that their male dominated society is warlike, hardened by the harsh desert life. They are experts on living in conditions that swiftly kill those not used to the perils of Anauroch. These Bedine are cruel, backward people (after all, they choose to live in a harsh desert, and fear and avoid using magic). They dwell in tents, wear loose, flowing robes and cover their heads against the sun, cover the faces of all the women, herd camels, and butcher each other (and, with even more enthusiasm, any intruders unlucky enough to come within their reach) with scimitars.

Except when they are fighting, Bedine move slowly, and are very lazy. What more can be learned, with the aid of Elminster's library, Harper contacts, and his years of snoop - er, exploring the Realms?

[edit] The Nature Of the Bedine

An outsiders view of any people is often distorted. This is especially true of the Bedine, for few folk of Faerun know enough of harsh desert conditions to understand why Bedine are as they are, and do as they do.

Bedine are brown-skinned, proud, warlike humans, who live a nomadic, tribal existence in the Sword, the hot "sand sea" which makes up the southernmost part of Anauroch. They dwell in tribes who will freely share food and water with those in need, but who otherwise carry on endless, deadly rivalries.

The largest known Bedine tribe is about three hundred men, women, and children strong. There are over a hundred Bedine tribes; some of them have never even heard of each other, let alone seen each other in the vastness of the Great Desert.

Most Bedine have brown eyes, and almost everyone has black or brown hair: blonde hair, blue eyes, and white skin are great rarities, marking outsiders, or "outlander blood". The apparent laziness of Bedine is due to a practice of wise desert-dwellers: to avoid excessive water loss (sweating) or "the heat-faints" (sunstroke), never run in the heat of the day. To shield themselves from the baking sun, Bedine of both sexes wear loose robes, known as abas, cover their heads, and dwell in tents.

Women of almost all Bedine tribes cover their bodies (except for hands, feet, and eyes), unless they are alone, or with only their husbands, in their tents (see "Customs" later in this chapter).

Most Bedine consider honor more important than life. They see much death, and believe the gods measure Bedine by their behavior in life. Among the Bedine, ending a man's life is not considered much different than killing any other animal (save that a man's family may avenge his death, so one must be more prudent in killing).

This pride and ruthlessness is balanced by a pragmatism usually voiced by the harsh tongues and long memories of the elder women of a tribe - an attitude reflected by Ruha, heroine of The Parched Sea, when she says, "You do what you must to survive, and I will do the same." Bedine live in the Mother Desert by choice, and understand little of other lands, or those who come from them. How could other places be better - or different - than the great Mother Desert? Tales of vast stretches of water, of trees so thickly grown that one cannot see through them, stretching for a day's walk or more - all of these may well be purest fancy. If they do exist, they must be the twisted result of magic, or the work of evil gods, turning the land into an unnatural state. A place without sand and the fierce heat of At'ar (the sun, worshipped by Bedine as a goddess; Bedine religion is discussed in "The Gods of Anauroch" chapter) is a strange place, where things are not as they should be, and men who dwell there become perverted and soft. Bedine dealings with outlanders (see "Bedine Dealings With Others," below) reinforce this belief; the outlanders they encounter tend to be gentle, foolish in judgement and in the ways of the desert, and to trust overmuch in cursed magic (see "Magic and the Bedine," later in this chapter).

Something of the character of Bedine can be gleaned by quoting some of their sayings: "A careful warrior will make a wise elder". "It is honorable to help a stranger, but remember that no friend is ever a stranger." "The enemy of my enemy is a friend." "If strangers speak with the honeyed tongues of bees, beware: their bite may carry the venom of the scorpion." "I would rather die with my enemy's blood on my blade, than live a slave." "With Kozah's wind, we drove the enemy before us like gazelles before the lion." A Bedine compliment: "You think like a camel thief."

[edit] Rank, Status, and Rule

Bedine live in tribes, ruled by sheikhs. In Bedine society, men rule and dominate. In many tribes, a man may have more than one wife at a time (so long as he can support every woman he claims as his own).

The organization of tribes varies, but most work something like this: the word of the sheikh is law, so long as he stays within fairly strict limits of "tradition," which outline a code of what a Bedine (sheikh or child) can and cannot do.

Important decisions are made by a council of the tribe's elders (in practice, these are almost always exclusively male warriors of the tribe, but older women exert much influence on their mates, and their words are often voiced by their husbands in council). There are typically six or so elders, but in a large tribe there may be twice that many. A council, traditionally held in the sheikh's tent and guarded so that women and strangers camped with the tribe cannot get close enough to hear, is usually one long-drawn-out argument.

If the elders cannot decide on a matter, the sheikh's duty is to decide for all. The sheikh's word is law, so long as he breaks none of the important traditions of the Bedine (these rules by which all live include, for example, the requirements that water must be given to the thirsty, and that oaths must be kept). Non-Bedine guests, at the sheikh's option, may be exempt from some Bedine traditions - such as a warriors' challenge: a fight to the death over possession of a woman.

The sheikh's ultimate threat to secure obedience to his will is banishment from the tribe. If a sheikh uses this unwisely, the tribe will dissolve, as all who disagree with him leave. More than one sheikh has been left alone (or accompanied only by family members or a few loyal retainers) after misjudging the extent of his authority or the wisdom of his judgements. A good sheikh always thinks first of the welfare of the tribe -but that phrase has been the refuge of many a foolish, indecisive, or overcautious sheikh, down the long, dry desert years. Most sheikhs function as generals in battle, directing their warriors from a vantage point, or from the rear, or in the center of their forces-but many have been known to lead charges (often dying in the process, as every enemy warrior wants to be the first to slay a rival sheikh, and risks all to bring down the enemy).

For men, success in Bedine society is measured in honor (battle-prowess), and wealth is measured in camels - or wives. A woman's status is linked to that of her husband, augmented by any additional influence she may have in the decisions of a tribe due to special regard for her, or for knowledge she possesses. For example, a woman who has fought well as a warrior will be regarded more highly by male warriors than other women; a woman who carries the memories and desert experience of great age is given more respect than even the most desirable young woman of the tribe; and a sheikh facing a beast he has never seen, or a problem he has never faced, will defer to the judgement of any woman of the tribe who knows more about the matter at hand.

[edit] Bedine Dealings With Others

The Bedine are concerned with survival; their daily existence is a long struggle with the desert, with a Bedine victory being a chance to see the sun rise over the desert tomorrow.

Most Bedine know that Anauroch is vast indeed, and gives way in the north to a land of hard-baked earth and wind-scoured stone. Used to desert ways and life, they believe that this Stone Sea is more lifeless and desolate than the sands of the Sword. Few Bedine have ever ventured far into it - and even fewer have seen the world outside the desert: the Lands of Many, Many Men and Savage Beasts. Bedine know that such a place exists, because the various light-skinned and strangely-garbed intruders must come from somewhere - but most Bedine would flatly deny that any land is water-rich enough that people could always dwell in one spot, farm crops from the land as well as pasture animals, have enough water to waste it in ornamental fountains or to bathe freely, live amongst trees so plentiful as to block one's sight - or could be as numerous as the intruders say; if hundreds of Bedine ever lived crowded together in a space as big as a large dune, they would soon all perish for lack of food and water - or slay each other in desperate bids to gain these necessities for themselves.

Bedine tend to judge other lands by the outlanders who have come to Anauroch - who tend to be desperate outlaws or reckless adventurers, schemers with plans of their own for the Bedine (such as the ruthless Zhentarim and the grasping D'tarig), or lost and feeble madmen. Few of these berrani know all that much of desert ways, and few impress the Bedine. It is not surprising that few Bedine think much of the world beyond Anauroch's sands, or want to see more of it.

Among Bedine who have not fought them, or detected their magic yet, the Zhentarim or "Black Robes" are considered rich, polite, very useful merchants: traders who always seem to have just the things that the Bedine need most. More than one Bedine sheikh has acquired a magnificent scimitar as a gift from a Zhentarim "Lord": a magic weapon that will influence him to evil ways, or even allow a Zhentarim mage to directly guide his actions through mind-altering magic.

The Zhentarim have spent much time, and many lives, in pursuit of the goal of establishing a trade route across the desert, either with Bedine aid, or with the Bedine exterminated or serving Zhentarim masters. (They have been countered by a few brave Harpers and the meddling archmages of Faerun, such as Elminster of Shadowdale, The Simbul of Aglarond, Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun of Waterdeep, Vangerdahast of Cormyr, and the like.) It is a measure of the stubbornness and savage strength of the Bedine that the magically-aided Zhentarim, working against a people largely without magic of their own, have not yet succeeded in making Anauroch their own.

In turn, the Bedine tribes have never gathered enough strength to menace Cormyr, the Dales, Hill's Edge, and other lands and settlements within their reach because they are always fighting among themselves, and because of the harsh desert winters.

Each winter, when the Snowwinds (great, howling fall snowstorms) come, every tribe has to invade one of the subterranean "buried kingdoms," or perish before the fury of winter. Most of these subterranean areas have inhabitants already, or contain predators who are waiting for the expected arrival of mobile food (the Bedines).

Every year, the Bedine must fight these monsters - beholders and worse! - for shelter, or perish. With death at their backs, they succeed more often than not, but the endless warfare saps their strength.

Bedine speak of men they have no respect for as "jackals," and especially despise smoothtongued, deceitful tricksters or dishonest traders: "jackals with tongues of sugared water." They see enemies among other Bedine tribes as often as among outlanders - and it seems very unlikely that an "oversheikh" or "emir" would ever arise to unite more than a half dozen tribes. Most tribal army gatherings (as opposed to temporary alliances, or nonaggression-pact friendships) have been made in response to specific outside-threats, such as Zhentarim-led or lamia attacks, laerti invasions, and the like.

Bedine privately consider outlanders to be strange in their ways, sometimes dangerous, but at heart weaker than Bedine. As a result, they give non-Bedine a chance to surrender where they would not expect a Bedine to do so; men who have no honor cannot lose it. At the same time, Bedine tend to keep an open mind; an outlander can acquire honor in their eyes by his words and deeds.

[edit] The Nomadic Existence

Very few places in the Sword are verdant enough to support permanent residents - and the few places that are (such as the oasis of Elah'zad) tend to be held sacred by all Bedine, and the property of no single tribe. Safety is another reason for the nomadic Bedine existence: a tribe that is always in one place can easily be attacked by rival tribes or by predators, who always know exactly where to find them.

A Bedine camp at peace is generally a circle of tents, their entrances facing inward. (A few tribes, such as the Ruwaldi, pitch their tents in a series of parallel rows, the mouths facing inward, to confront each other across a narrow corridor. They believe this more orderly arrangement is more secure.) In all cases, a Bedine camp is a guarded stronghold against desert perils, such as predatory monsters and rival tribes.

In a peaceful camp, the youngest children run about between the tents or wrestle within the circle. The older girls watch them, or help their mothers spin camel's wool, repair carpets, boots, and robes, and do other domestic work - such as gathering camel-dung (consisting almost entirely of very dry plant fibers), which is shaped into patties, and later lit with flint and steel and a little tinder, such as torn cloth, to make cooking-fires. Visitors are welcomed by the women whistling from beneath their veils; this sound also serves to alert everyone in the circle that intruders have arrived.

Young boys practice fighting, stalking, or caring for weapons. Older boys hunt for desert game and scout outside the camp, learning landmarks and watching for intruders.

The men take turns keeping watch, posted all around the encampment, well outside. They carry warning horns to signal danger or their need for aid, and need not be within sight of each other or the camp. Warriors not on watch practice with their weapons, attend to the sheikh and elders, and act as gobetweens, running messages, reports, and comments between the sheikh's tent, the tents of waiting warriors, and those keeping watch. The".waiting warriors" (those sleeping after watch, or too sick or wounded to serve on watch, or merely "extras" not needed at present for such duties) may spend their time in gambling, chatter, and tale-spinning, but they are ready to act as needed, to defend the camp, hunt for game, or carry orders.

A typical Bedine tent is conical, made of thick-woven camel hair, and is held up by wooden tentpoles, with (if the owner is wealthy enough) one or more additional "fly" pieces erected over it, to shade and cool the tent as much as possible, and to deflect blown sand from the tent itself. These extra tent sheets are called "flies" by most merchants of Faerun, but are known as rihba'ids ("windaways") to Bedine. Tents are usually dyed with henna, rubbed coffee-grounds, or other juices, and may be decorated with patterns or (rarely) with tribal symbols.

A tent has a ground-carpet (a sheikh's is very richly colored), to keep as much sand as possible out of everything. Tents are encircled by nabat-shef-habls ("plant-sword-ropes"), or thorn-girdles. A thorn-girdle is made of thorns, sharp bones, metal scraps too rusty to use, glass shards, sharp twigs, and the like, woven into a string of vines, cloth scraps, or rope. It is put all around the inside of a tent, to keep out scorpions, snakes, and other small desert wanderers.

Inside a Bedine tent, one generally finds cushions to recline and sleep on, blankets, a low table (used while sitting, kneeling, or reclining), and several packs. Most Bedine women set up their ground-looms and get out their cooking pots at every opportunity. Weapons and garments are hung from hooks on the tentpoles - the garments high up or around the edges of the tent, and the weapons within easy reach and near the center.

Most Bedine sleeping tents are triangular in floorplan, the overlapped and sewn "skins" of each tent held up by three upright cornerpoles, linked by a triangle of floor-poles (to which the ground-carpet is hooked, lashed, or pegged) and another triangle of ceiling-poles.

Blankets and garments are sometimes hung to create viewblock "walls" within a tent, to permit some privacy, or to conceal belongings or disorder from visitors. Folk of more than one family (such as a group of unmarried warriors) who are sharing shelter typically sleep six to a tent, their sleeping-carpets in a rough circle with their heads at the center, using kuerabiches as pillows.

The most precious belongings in any tent are the skins of milk and water, hanging from the poles in the center of the tent. When the Bedine are camped at an oasis with a pool or stream of water, as many skins as possible are submerged, to keep them cool and to make the skins themselves thoroughly damp (so as to stay supple, unwithered, and resistant to punctures, a while longer).

Even in summer, nights can be cold. Bedine who lack a tent or time to safely erect one (for example, when raiding another tribe) customarily dig out a little room, walled and roofed with their shields, in a dune. This sleepingspace is known as an asan-shurr, or "sandshelter." In contrast to the simple sand-shelter is the grand tent of a sheikh. A rich sheikh has a large pavilion, usually made of blond camel's wool. It has several "rooms" separated from each other by tapestries, so that a council can be held in one, cooking can go on in another, and women can meet in a third, with yet another used for storage, another for dressing and wardrobe, and another for private one-to-one discussions, separate from the larger council.

When necessary, a tent is illuminated by butter-lamps, which provide a dim, flickering light. Rich Bedine may tint or scent their lamps with oils, perfumes, and the like, or even have tinted, shuttered glass oil lamps, used for special occasions. A sheikh holding a feast may even have a central smoke-hole open in the roof of his tent, and roast the meat for the feast in a hearth under it, inside the tent. This is a common way for one sheikh to entertain another, when tribes meet in friendly circumstances.

A Bedine encampment is lit by campfires by night. Each campfire resembles a "star" of branches, the fire burning at the center; as they burn away, the branches are carefully pushed inward, toward the center. Those planning to sneak up on an encamped Bedine tribe are warned that the sentries are posted well outside the reach of the firelight, where they can be part of the night, and not targets outlined by the light, or blinded by it.

When Bedine are searching for someone after dark, or an attack is underway, they use torches. These are long, resin-coated branches, deliberately placed to project from the starshaped campfires, to give an easy handhold, and to keep them from burning away too quickly. Pulled out, they are used to give light, and thrown as weapons against robed attackers. If their light endangers their wielders, torches are quickly smothered by burying the blazing ends in sand. Bedine campfires must be constantly tended to prevent their going out, but this is better than wasting any more precious wood than is absolutely necessary. If a fire is left untended during a battle, it often burns outward until all that is left is a circle of ash, encircled by a ring of smoldering woody ends.

Bedine keep camels (the most important desert animal to them, detailed in their own section later in this chapter) and splay-footed, sand-running dogs. Bedine dogs fight off jackals and snakes, warn of intruders with their keen noses and loud barking, and help herd camels; they are not regarded as pets. Bedine have little medicine (and no magical healing, thanks to their discomfort with magic in general). Their lack of dentistry and hard lives make many of them toothless in middle age and elder years.

[edit] Customs

There are too few pages in this book to explore all the complex, half-remembered Bedine customs, which often vary from tribe to tribe, so this section presents a handful of common Bedine customs likely to be useful or important in play.

The first customs to affect visitors to a tribe are those surrounding the treatment of guests. Only a sheikh can offer strangers full guest-right, which includes the right to sleep within the tribe's encampment. Guests are asked to share black tea or (if they are honored, and it is the evening) hot salted coffee. A Bedine typically makes such drinks in a battered, blackened pot (metal is scarce; such a thing might cost as much as two camels), and serves it in a carved wooden cup; a sheikh may serve drinks to honored guests in silver cups.

In early evening, when the sun is down, Bedine men like to sing ballads to the accompaniment of their plucked rebabas, sitting outside their tents in small groups, while their wives serve them hot, salted coffee.

Bedine do not express gratitude for food and water. They regard these two essentials as the property of whoever needs them at the time. To "civilized" outlanders, this may seem a strangely charitable custom for a people who think it praiseworthy to kill a man in order to steal his camel.

Honor dictates that the sheikh banish or execute anyone who assaults his guest (unless the assault is justified by another Bedine custom or tradition - such as a warrior attacking a guest who tries to use magic against the sheikh).

Any warrior of a tribe has the right to enter the sheikh's tent without announcement. Women and guests do not, unless bidden to do so by a warrior.

Only men can welcome guests to a tent. The traditional greeting is: "Has somebody come to my khreima in need of help?" Wives must remain silent; if they are alone, and another man asks for entry, most women sing one of the traditional Bedine songs, to signal that the hushand is not present - and, if they wish (by choice of song and lyrics), to tell the man outside if he is welcome to enter, or not, what is happening within, or where the husband is and what he is doing.

Angry, sly, or hostile Bedine women may comment aloud (pretending that they cannot he heard by the man outside) on what they or their husband are doing, or about strangers or unwelcome guests who come calling, or something of the sort - without ever acknowledging or directly replying to the person outside the tent. If they are unmarried, it is permissible for them to call, "Is there someone at my door?" Bedine women wear the veil from puberty (or in some cases, earlier), and once veiled, are not supposed to come close to men of another family, even when riding camels; such behavior is considered "brazen." Men, however, are free to approach women closely, although an unwelcome advance causes anger on the part of the woman's family. A woman should not speak to a man of another family without either several other men present, or in the hearing of a man of her own family; unrelated men and women should not have secret conversations together.

It is common for cousins and more distant relatives to marry each other. Both women and their fathers have a veto over marriage choices in most Bedine tribes, and women seldom have any chance to get to know men of other families. Families already related by marriage are likely to be friendlier together, giving men more opportunities to court women.

Fathers typically arrange matches for their daughters. Bedine men who court women without the approval of the family are usually challenged by men of the woman's family. The fight is to the death; the winner gets the woman (or retains possession of her as a free woman, in her own family). When a match is made, the husband-to-be (or his father or tribe) pays a bride-price to the father, typically in camels. There is a wedding feast, at which the couple drinks together from a marriage cup filled with honeyed camel milk by the groom's father.

This system often results in stormy marriages, where the husband and wife only really get to know each other after they are wed. There is a "honeymoon" period after marriage known as purdah, in which the new bride is confined to her husband.s tent. She is forbidden to speak directly to any man except her husband, and must stay in the tent unless brought forth by her husband, or at the orders of the sheikh (conveyed through elder women of the tribe). Some tribes call this "the seven days of bliss" (the actual time period varies from tribe to tribe), but the custom probably arose to stop frightened brides from trying to flee back to their fathers' tribes.

A Bedine man is obligated to care for a dead brother's wife for two years, after which time he has the choice of sending her away or marrying her himself.

Aside from the requirements of both personal and family honor (such as caring for a brother's widow), Bedine men have far more personal freedom than their women - when they aren't scrambling to obey the orders of the sheikh, as warriors must. Although many men resent the orders of sheikhs who are foolish, or confused by age, only veterans dare to question orders - the younger men gain rank within the tribe only through eager obedience and splendid battle-performance, and find hesitating over orders hard, as it goes against their childhood training.

Boys are trained to obey orders, use weapons, and learn the ways of the desert as soon as they are old enough to understand what is happening around them. They are schooled to fight, and fight well. Even young boys are taken on raids, expected to stand watch (with a veteran warrior, as his message-runner), and to help in any fight when the tribe is attacked, usually by protecting the camels and the women. After a boy kills his first man, he undertakes a solitary camel raid on another tribe, the el a'sarad, as a rite of passage.

Bedine are sometimes labelled "superstitious" by outlanders. They ascribe storms, disasters, and all strange happenings, as well as everyday desert conditions, to the whims and stills of the gods.

The Bedine gods are detailed in "The Gods of Anauroch" chapter, and are worshipped by prayer, ritual sacrifices (usually of camels), and by obedience to what the Bedine know is favored behavior. The Bedine tribes have "holy men," wise in the lore of the gods and at interpreting divine will through natural signs, but there are no Bedine spell-wielding priests (as the rest of the Realms know them). The Bedine are so concerned with daily survival that they have no time for divine aims and precepts; their relationship with the gods is generally one of fear and appeasement.

Most Bedine have seen too much hardship and death to be anything other than fatalistic toward the gods - and even if one avoids the wrath of the gods, there are always the djinn.

The djinn are feared as evil spirits who roam Anauroch, and who have the power to shape-shift or turn invisible, move with uncanny silence, cast dangerous spells, and devour living men even as jackals will fall on a dead or badly wounded one.

Djinn are evil, but they are not always cruel or predictable; they may aid one person on a whim, or merely cause "impossible" things to occur in a sort of entertaining chaos, to stir things up for their own amusement. This makes appeasing a djinni impossible, and avoiding crossing them in an encounter a matter of luck - and rather short luck at that. The Bedine tend to respect, but not fear, most desert predators. Those that they are afraid of include lamia, laertis (whom they call asabis), or "The Evil Ones Below," a fell, magic-using race that most Bedine know only as a name - and the reason why, they are told in childhood, they must never dig too deeply. These are the Phaerimm, but their true name and powers are unknown to all Bedine alive today.

Perhaps through unconsciously resisting the mind-influencing spells of the buried Phaerimm for many generations, Bedine loathe the very thought of slavery, and tend to fight on in helpless situations, preferring to die with honor rather than suffer the shame of defeat. It is not unknown for such bravery to be admired by rivals; an elder warrior of a tribe, or a sheikh, may offer an embattled rival the chance to become one of the tribe - a warrior with the same rights and duties as all others. It is dishonorable to beg for this - but not at all shameful to agree, if it is offered. The embattled one kisses whatever weapon he or she bears (his open hand, if he has no weapon), and lays it at the feet of the sheikh, who kisses the embattled one's forehead, offers him wine, and into it introduces a few drops of blood from them both. They share the cup together, and the embattled one is thereby considered a new member of the tribe. He is now dutybound to fight those of his former tribe to the death, and is not well regarded by anyone if he changes allegiance again (ways of achieving this with honor include being the last survivor of the new tribe, free to take up with anyone, or in convincing members of the tribe one wishes to rejoin that one was persuaded to join the new tribe through "evil magic").

Bedine fear arcane magic, and shun or cast out "witches" who wield it. Beyond small, useful or healing effects ("the favor of the gods"), magic is regarded as treacherous against friends and wielders, and a dishonorable weapon to use against enemies. Even the most fearless Bedine are wary of those who can work magic, either by spell or item.

The Bedine aversion to magic is more fully described in the next section of this chapter.

Most Bedine want to become rich and acquire much honor, have many descendants, and perhaps to discover a rich oasis, found a tribe, or become a sheikh. These aims usually fade into the background in the daily struggle to survive - and the aim of most Bedine, in the end, is to die honorably, or to be respected and cared for, in old age. Few Bedine want to leave the desert, although there is the occasional one who wants to explore to the ends of the earth.

Some Bedine women want more independence, and there are rumored to be all-female, or female-dominated, Bedine tribes (these rumors are true; the Shaara and the Lilithai are tribes of female warriors, who subjugate men and herd camels - but these tribes are small, isolated in the northern Sword, and remain mere talk to most Bedine).

Although love is a luxury in Bedine society, many Bedine are romantics at heart, and dream of the perfect passion between a man and a woman "made for each other by the gods," who will share a splendid life in the desert together.

Bedine have few days dedicated to the gods, but some tribes hold annual feasts to commemorate great battles, or the founding of the tribe, or the birthday or anniversary of ascension of the current sheikh.

When Bedine die, their relatives bathe them, sacrificing precious water so that the deceased can meet the gods cleansed and at peace. Bodies are stripped of useful gear, and buried deeply, with rocks atop them if possible. Enemies and non-Bedine are simply left for the vultures.

[edit] Food

Everyday Bedine fare consists of camel-milk, a handful of bitterleaf grass, and "sand stew," a slow-cooked broth of palm-leaves, sandgrass-roots, desert lizards and bats. Onionlike root tubers are also dug up from the sand and eaten.

Meat of any sort is a delicacy. Roast hare and figs is a fine meal; a gazelle buck basted in honey and spices is a rare feast. Apricots and milk are another "special meal." Camel-milk and water are carried in skins; butter travels in tubes made of dried lizard skins. Bedine women prize their cooking pots - which they clean by scouring with sand. To give a Bedine woman a new, strong pot is to bestow on her a great gift.

[edit] Garb And Adornment

Burnooses (hooded cloaks) are not unknown in the desert, nor are turbans, but most Bedine cover their heads with flowing head-scarves (keffiyehs), held on by brow-bands. Bedine can tell the tribe of another Bedine by the color and pattern of his keffiyeh, which may for example have red and white checks, green stripes, blue lightning-flashes, lines of red spots, or be solid brown or black.

There are exceptions to this "norm": some northerly Bedine tribes wear trousers, loose shirts, and vests, not abas. There are even Bedine tribes (who dwell in the eastern central stretches of the Sword) whose men wear turbans and cover their faces with scarves, and whose women go without veils.

Many Bedines wear their wealth as fingerrings, or jewels adorning their swordscabbards (to a nomad, wealth that is not portable is worthless).

Bedine have no way to forge or refine metal, and must trade frankincense and myrrh (both tree gums) to get it. Metal is therefore valued highly - even a rusted, useless pot may be fashioned into an ornamental necklace of medal lions.

Bedine women of some tribes tattoo their cheeks for personal adornment, or paint their hands and cheeks with henna. Many use frankincense as perfume. Its sweet odor can pervade entire tents on festive occasions when a few grains of powdered frankincense are cast on a fire or lamp-flame.

[edit] Arts

Skilled Bedine dye or paint themselves and the cloth of their clothing and tents; some make "sand-pebble-scenes," usually when telling tales. Bedine preserve much of their tribal lore in songs that are chanted together. Some of these tunes are eerie and mournful, telling of the dead, lost love, or disaster; there are also warsongs and feast-songs (such as "Tlinlyn, Fool of the Desert") full of jokes and rollicking choruses that all join in on.

[edit] Slaves

Slaves are not kept by the Bedine - to become a slave is regarded as a "fate worse than death" by Bedine. Bedine take pleasure in slaying outlanders whom they know to be slavers. Freed slaves are left to wander in the desert, or - if they fight well - are offered a place in the tribe. Those who are obviously unhappy, or who are a burden to the tribe, are cast out the next time the Bedine travel near the edge of Anauroch (for example, to trade with the D'tarig). Such "guests" of the tribe are expected to work for their food by carrying packs of belongings when the tribe is traveling, for example.

[edit] Magic and the Bedine

No tribe of the Bedine has abided magic in all the generations (there have been at least twelve, and probably many more, but the Bedine have lost count) since the Scattering.

Bedine myth holds that there were once Three Ancient Tribes of Bedine. The sheikhs of these three tribes dreamed of ruling all the people, and so they had their sorcerers summon N'asr's djinn to make war upon each other. The war destroyed the land and gave birth to Anauroch. It took the gods themselves to set the world right again, and some of them died before the carnage could be stopped. The surviving gods scattered the Three Tribes to the corners of the world and forbade them ever to use magic again.

That is why the Bedine think ill of any who use magic. Any member of a tribe caught working magic must leave the tribe; honored guests must leave the tribe's encampment. Even if a user-of-magic aids a tribe, tradition is clear: witches and sorcerers are to be outcasts. If they are consorted with, the gods will surely deliver the Bedine who do so into defeat and slavery. Magic is for the gods, not men.

Bedine women, in particular, are feared if they wield magic - men rightly see them as a threat to the "peace of the tribe" (i.e., the status quo social order, with men on top). As "witches," they are driven out of the tribe to make their own way in the desert. The desert is expected to kill them; they are not expected to flourish alone, nor to someday return to work vengeance on those who cast them out.

This seemingly unlikely survival happens all too often; many a sheikh sends his best warriors out soon after a witch has been driven forth, to hunt her down and kill her before her night raids and food thefts cause his fearful tribe to question his decision or his competence to rule. (Typically a witch who is stalking a tribe attacks one tent a night, slaying its inhabitants with magic, and taking what goods can be had.) There are many tales of "shunned women" taking revenge on those who harmed them or drove them out - and Bedine always keep watch for the "lurking magic" of bitter, insane, or desperate "witches and wizards of the sand" (Bedine cast out for using magic).

Bedine mages employ a strange mixture of spells gained from intruders and developed for desert needs; these are detailed further in the chapter "Wind and Sand Magic." To avoid being cast out, Bedine mages try to conceal any magical powers they may have, often sewing their written spells (the runes burned or scratched into scraps of hide) into their abas, between two layers of cloth.

Most well-made abas are reversible, with a darker side, for night concealment, and a lighter, dun-colored side, for use by day. Scraps of hide or cloth are sewn into high stress areas (elbows, cuffs, and shoulderyokes) for extra thickness and durability - and all but the finest abas have been patched and mended a few times - so a spell or six can be readily hidden by any Bedine skillful with a bone needle in this way.

A Bedine mage openly casts spells only to avoid certain death, or when death seems inevitable. In all other cases, magic is worked "on the sly," so that results can be attributed to the capriciousness of a djinni, the aid of the gods, or some other explanation.

As always with the Bedine, there are exceptions to this abhorrence of magic. There are tribes whose sheikhs have come to tolerate magic; tribes who have found magical weapons and items uncovered by the sands, and see no wrong in using these "gifts of the gods" so long as they don't cast spells and seek to learn magic; and bands of Bedine wizards, such as the Asheira ("Shunned Ones").

[edit] Camels

The most important creature in all the Realms to a Bedine tribesman is the camel.

Camels provide Bedine with emergency food and water, and work as their everyday beast of burden and steed. Camels are fairly common in Anauroch, and plentiful in the far-off deserts of Calimshan and Raurin.

Camels are bad-tempered beasts, given to biting, groaning, breaking wind, kicking, rolling to rid themselves of a rider, and even spitting.

A well-watered camel has a firm hump and bloated belly; the camel takes a better part of a day to drink its fill- but once full it can work for 12 + 1d10 days without getting another drink, if it has to, and isn't injured at some point. If the thirsty camel has regular access to food, roll 3d4 dice instead of 1d10; if the camel is idling or resting and not working, it can go without water for 20 + 1d10 days.

A camel working hard in full sun, without access to water, loses a quarter of its body weight (and Strength, and carrying capacity, and MV rate) every 7 days. It can't drink vast "extra" quantities of water, and only accepts sufficient water to restore its body weight. A full-grown camel weighs around 500 pounds.

A camel ridden to water-exhaustion will collapse, and will die if it doesn't immediately get water and at least three full days of rest (two days will do, if it gets a full meal as well). Camels nearing dehydration begin to stumble, snort and groan constantly (instead of merely most of the time, their normal complaints), and they roar, roll their eyes, and collapse if ridden too far. When water is short, Bedine give it to their camels, and drink camel-milk themselves (from the she-camels; Bedine drink directly from the teats, to minimize evaporation).

The broad, fleshy pads of a camel's feet allow it to walk on the surface of even loose, shifting sand, sinking in only a few inches, rather than going in deeply (and exhaustingly), the way men on foot, horses, and other nondesert beasts do. (A Bedine fleeing a fight with outlanders sometimes lashes shields he has seized from the fallen to his feet for the same reason - the broad, hard surfaces of the shields allow him to run along the surface of the sand faster than he might walk through it.) In mud, a camel's movement rate drops, deep mud or quicksand will reduce it even further - note that camels perish in quicksand only if it is so large a bog that they can't swim and thrash across it in 4 rounds; a laden camel can carry a rider and gear through quicksand in this way.

Some camels are gelded when young, which improves their disposition and usually makes them grow larger and stronger, as they burn less energy through nervousness or fighting. The camels of northern tribes have longer "wool." The sheikh.s camel, alone of all the camels in a Bedine khowwan, is usually adorned with bells. These warn others of his approach, mark the sheikh's camel for precedence in conditions of bad visibility and confusion (dust-clouds, for instance), denote wealth, and have the practical use of concealing whispered words shared by the sheikh with scouts and elders from eavesdroppers riding nearby.

When a tribe is camped, most camel-tending is done by the Bedine children, the "herdboys" (young girls also do this work, but are more often kept busy doing the dirtiest camp jobs, or carrying water, and usually herd camels under the command of a chosen boy).

The camels graze on the best grassland that the Bedine can find by day, and are herded to a guarded area (a waterhole, if there is one) at twilight, and tied up to stakes or large boulders, or hobbled.

A hobble, called a "breakstride" by the Bedine, is a length of rope just long enough to prevent the camel confined by it from taking a full stride. The camel has one or both pairs of opposing ankles tied together with hobbles, which are usually woven with thorns or covered with a bitter paste of crushed insects, to prevent the camel from gnawing them through. The paste is better than the thorns, which can harm herdboys, dogs, other camels, and also cut through the hobbles themselves. Strong camels, or those with a tendency to wander, may have stones bored through with holes threaded onto their hobbles.

The task of the herdboys is to keep a sharp watch out for snakes, scorpions, other digging, flying, or surface predators of the sands (including raiding Bedine from rival tribes, although it is rare for any of these to slip through the adult Bedine sentries that every tribe posts, day and night, whenever the tribe is encamped), and drive these away from the camels, or to cry the alarm and bring the men of the tribe to deal with greater dangers.

The herdboys must also prevent camels from straying, fighting with each other, drinking too deeply, and wandering into areas of rocks and leg-breaking ground fissures. Herdboys (and girls under their direction) gather camel-dung for the making of fuel-patties.

Diseased camels must be kept apart from the others, and in areas where grasses are few, the whole herd must be kept slowly moving (in the same direction, not each camel following its own head in search of better grazing). The need of camels for fresh pasturage, more than anything else, is what forces Bedine tribes to live nomadic lives; rare is the oasis or pasture that can provide enough forage for a tribal camel herd for more than sixty continuous days.

Traveling camels always try to sample any vegetation that looks as if it has any moisture or life left in it at all, as they bellow and grunt their way through the desert.

Camels traveling in the dry sands are watered nightly, by emptying waterskins into large camel-skin buckets. A typical waterskin holds four gallons of water; two skins is a meager daily water ration for a camel.

Desperate Bedine will ride their camels to death, milk, skin and then butcher the dead and dying, and catch all the blood they can in the skins. Eating meat makes one thirsty for days, so the camel blood, milk, and a little desert salt are mixed together for a drink to go with it.

[edit] Desert Travel

Camels are ridden by means of halters and saddles. An experienced rider can sleep in the saddle as he rides, without falling off (though this would be foolish except in the center of a large Bedine party, traveling in good weather). A trained camel can be tethered for a short time by driving one's lance deep into a dune, and wrapping the camel's reins around the lance-shaft.

When warriors travel in the desert, it is the duty of their women to lead the string of baggage camels, by means of long reins.

A Bedine khowwan on the move may seem a disorganized herd to inexperienced eyes, but there is a deliberate order to the group. Riding far ahead of and behind the main group, mounted on the fastest camels and well beyond sight, are the youngest and most daring warriors. They are scouts, who will use their amarats (warning horns) to alert the tribe of any dangers lurking ahead - or approaching from behind. These horns have distinctive tones; Bedine can tell the horns of their own tribe, and even those of specific individuals (such as the sheikh and prominent warriors).

Ringing the tribe at a distance of about a thousand yards are the rest of the warriors, accompanied by their eldest sons, with welltrained hunting dogs and falcons.

Bedine hunting dogs are generally "Wild Dogs." DMs should use the standard statistics for most Bedine dogs, but switch to modified "War Dog" statistics for the best dogs the Bedine breed: the sleek saluki dogs.

As they travel, the sons watch the desert around for signs of game. Periodically they release a hound or bird, or burst into a gallop themselves, riding to the hunt. They usually ride back to the center of the caravan with a hare, lizard, or some other meat (such as a gazelle, or plump desert bird) for the evening's pot. before resuming their places in the watchful ring.

At the center of the caravan ride the mothers and sisters. The wealthiest women ride in elaborately decorated litters (known as haousdjejs), but most families cannot afford the extra camel's wool needed to make one of these box-shaped litters.

Around them, watched and guided by walking children and by women holding long reins, are the baggage camels, tribal belongings lashed to them with leather thongs. The women and children usually walk to avoid tiring the camels, but when a tribe is moving in haste, everyone rides camels, the youngest children clinging to the baggage atop the baggage camels. With everyone doubled up on camels, and the whole group moving at a deliberate, steady rate, a large tribe can cover as much as forty miles a day across the sands.

[edit] Warfare

Bedine use scimitars, daggers, lances and arrows (all of which they may employ from camel-back) in their struggles against each other and other desert predators. Desert wind and heat shimmer (by day) and poor visibility (by night) limit the usefulness of archery at long range; most combat is decided at sword-point. Most fighting occurs at night - not only does darkness allow attackers some concealment, but the lack of a blazing sun makes it more likely that anyone can survive the exertions of combat. Battle is usually marked by loud battle-cries; raiding is usually silent and deadly. The use of magic is frowned upon, even in battle.

Most fighting between Bedine tribes occurs when one tribe tries to raid another, to seize camels, wives, and food and other goods. This typically occurs in the coolness and concealment of night, and although there is something in the practice of recreation and even (for younger, hurt, or low-status Bedine) of "proving one's manhood," it is often a matter of desperate necessity: a tribe must take the food and water it needs, or perish.

"Waterless summers" (droughts) are all too common in the Sword. Settlements outside the desert but near enough to be reached, and weak enough for Bedine tribesmen to successfully raid, are nonexistent. So one Bedine tribe must attack another. Although most Bedine accept raiding as inevitable, years of bitter fighting between certain rival tribes have built up feuds that may cause battle at any time, whenever a tribesman of either side encounters the other.

The only reason that all the Bedine tribes are not constantly at each other's throats in an unending desert war is because of the custom of paying a blood price for any Bedine slain by friendly or allied tribes - a price, in camels and goods, or in the life of the murderer, given up to the other tribe - too high for most Bedine to want to pay.

Many Bedine have perished in hopeless fights they enter knowing death can be escaped only by some miracle. They go in, and die in vain, because it is a matter of honor for the entire tribe. This bravery makes them deadly foes - but it is also foolishness that allows non-Bedine opponents, such as the Zhentarim, to lead the Bedine into disaster and defeat, over and over again, once they have learned how the Bedine think and act.

[edit] Appearances

This article is about an element from the game Neverwinter Nights, and so some content may not be canon. Content published in computer role-playing games is considered canon unless it violates content already existing in some other Forgotten Realms publication. Furthermore, multiple endings in a game should be considered only quasi-canon since in almost all cases no one ending has been verified as canon, with exceptions. Should there be a need to discuss this further, please do so on this article's talk page.

The PC encounters a tribe of Bedine during the passage through the Anauroch in the Interlude following Chapter One. The tribe is beset by undead, and the PC must cleanse the undead and eliminate a Netherese lich before they can continue.