Bedine

The Bedine were a proud, warlike race that inhabited the southern Anauroch regions but were concentrated in the region known as the Sword.

Description
They had brown-hued skin, brown eyes, and black or brown hair and were of average height and weight for a humanoid creature of Faerun. Those rare instances of blue eyes or blonde hair were a product of "outlander blood".

Bedine had lived for so many centuries in the desert that their bodies had adapted to its extremes of hot and cold more so than typical humans.

Society
Honor was prime among the Bedine's beliefs. Their harsh existence, full of death and hardship, molded their culture to believe the gods would measure them based on their behavior in the Fugue Plane.

The Bedine were once divided into over 100 tribes with the largest having more than 300 members. Some tribe names were: Alaii, Artinn Ruabi, Bai Kabor, Bait Mahwa, Binwabi, Bordjia, Clelarra, Desai, Dakawa, Dursalai, Felfaarin, Goldor, Iriphawa, Ju'ur Dai, Kellordrai, Lalajar, Mtair Dhafir, Mahlajai, Qahtan, Raz'hadi, Ruwaldi, Shremala, Ulaarjar, Yethtai, and Zazalaar. Each tribe was ruled by a sheikh. However the sheikh's ultimate power was limited by tradition and important decisions made by the tribe's council of elders.

Trade
Historically, the Bedine avoided interacting with those outside their desert. They commonly did trade with D'tarig caravan cities, however, and the D'tarig acted as a sort of go-between for the Bedine tribes and the "outside world".

The Bedine drank a dark coffee that they called qaw, a shorted form of qahwa, brewed from Anaurian beans. The D'tarig used to trade Bedine qaw with Zhentil Keep, but after the re-appearance of Thultanthar, the Bedine mostly kept their qaw to themselves.

The Bedine also harvested sap from the trees of the desert, which they used to make incense and unguents. These made their ways into the exotic markets of Faerûn, along with more mundane Bedine goods.

Clothing
Some clothing played a symbolic role in Bedine culture. Many Bedine wore kufiya scarves on their head. An igal held the kufiya on the head and indicated a person's statue and pride; it could be made of camel hair and precious gems. A type of sleeveless coat was called an aba.

Language
The Bedine spoke a dialect of Midani, the language of Zakhara.

Religion
The Bedine worshiped the old Netherese gods in name: A'tar, Elah, Kozah, N'asr, and Shaundakul. Scholars, however, agreed that these deities were in fact the Faerunian pantheon of Lathander, Selûne, Talos, Cyric or Kelemvor, and Beshaba. "Shaundakul" was actually Beshaba using the old god's name in a personal plot to annoy him.

During the near century of subjugation to the Netherese, most city-dwelling Bedine had come to worship Shar.

Cults
The Cult of the Sacred Skull gained a foothold among the Bedine for a time. It was surreptitiously led by a mind flayer who was ultimately the voice of one or more phaerimm.

History
In −339 DR, a group of humanoids immigrated from Zakhara using a portal. They intermingled with some surviving Netherese and over time their culture became what was called the Bedine. They maintained knowledge of their spoken language, Midani, or Uloushinn, but had all but forgotten their native written language. Over the centuries since, traders introduced them to the Thorass alphabet.

After the Fall of Netheril, the surviving cities, known as the Lost Kingdoms lasted for a time, until eventually the desert consumed them as well. The populace of these ancient cities merged into the Bedine tribes.

After the second rise of the Netherese Empire at the end of the 14 century DR, when the Spellplague restored the Anauroch to the fertile lands it once was, the Bedine were subjugated by the Netherese and forcefully integrated into their society, making up the new middle class of the Empire. Over the next few generations, they gradually became city dwellers, abandoning their nomadic ways, and living in such cities as restored Oreme, Orofin, or Rasilith. Some of the Bedine, however, formed a separatist group called the Sand Kings, who sought to overthrow the Netherese. .

In 1485 DR, the Bedine rebelled against the Netherese, after a war with Cormyr had thinned out Netheril's forces. Within a few years, the Netherese Empire had been destroyed for the second time in history, and in 1488 DR, the Bedine battled with Netheril's surviving forces over a site known as Memory Spire. This conflict accidentally unleashed a horde of phaerimm, who once again wreaked havoc on the lands below with their life-draining magics.

Notable Bedine

 * Ashurta
 * Ruha

Background
The Bedine are likely inspired by the Bedouin people of north Africa and the Middle East.

Appearances

 * Novels:
 * The Parched Sea
 * The Companions


 * Video games:
 * Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide