The Gismesh are a people from across the Winedark Sea whose history goes back to
the ancient
Empire of Kelnore. The Gismesh and
Paldoran tribes appeared to have been conquered by the original Kelnorian people while
they were still a wandering tribe and it was on Gismesh lands that the city of Kelnore
was built. It is recorded, however, that at the fall of the Empire the Gismesh were
one of the barbarian peoples who sacked the city.
Many thousands of years after the fall of the Empire the Gismesh rose again in alliance
with the Paldorans and founded the city of
Tarantis on the eastern shores of the Winedark Sea near the
ruins of fabled Kelnore.
The Gismesh have managed to keep a tight cultural identity bound together by their own
distinctive religion which emphasises the importance of this life rather than the next.
This is not only true in Tarantis but also in the exiled Gismesh community in
Zothay where despite only forming
a small part of the population Gismesh have kept to their own way of doing things.
It is noticeable that nobody in Zothay has any complaints about the Gismesh apart from their
rather noisy relgious festivals. They seem to make industrious and reliable craftsmen and
keep their own Quarter relatively well-ordered.