The Drel are a Phemaire ('People of the Sea') tribe, similar to the
Pel,
who migrated west to
Miredor at the time of the
Great Darkness. There they inhabited the coastal area north
of the great forest of Terilaen.
This has suited them well as they favoured diet leans heavily on the fruits of the sea such as fish, kale and shellfish. Although fishing in the
Great Ocean is more challenging than fishing in the
Blue Sea
the Bay of Drel is one of the best fishing grounds in the region.
Politically Drel are suspicious of central authority but have chaotic democratic assemblies four times a year
to resolve common policy. They have abandoned their ancient matrilineal kinship patterns in
Miredor
and now a woman joins her husband's extended household on marriage. Women, however, still dominate the Drel's
religious life and a female matriarch will act as priestess or shaman for each household. The chief of their
many gods is Kojomo, Lord of Winds and Water.
The traditional Drel
dwelling is a stilted building by a lake or on the coast but in their cities they build many-roomed flat-roofed complexes
round a large central courtyard where much family life takes place.
The Drel do not have a standing army but instead employ a militia composed of the second eldest son of
each family. Although only trained to fight in loose formation they are surprisingly effective in the
coastal areas and woodlands of their homeland. Prisoners of war tend to become enslaved forming the bottom rung
of the Drel's rigid caste system.