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| - The Rhivi were a pastoral nomadic human society in the central Rhivi Plain of Genabackis. They were described as small in stature with brown skin. The Rhivi lived off the herds of bhederin and antelope that populated the plains, following them in a seasonal cycle. Some bhederin appeared to have been semi-domesticated as they allowed the Rhivi to walk among their herds and even ride them. The Rhivi were even known to bring herds of the animals along with them in their travels. They also kept domesticated goats and dogs. Rhivi were usually on the move, capable of walking long distances without any seeming regard for the heat. They built no walls of stone or brick, and lived in tents held in place by unique tent pegs designed to withstand the fierce prairie winds. Their belongings were transported by thick-wheeled wagons built to overcome high grasses and muddy sinkholes. The Rhivi used bhederin dung to fuel their fires. The Rhivi were not a warlike people by nature, but when they did fight they were said to hold the Spear of War. They considered the hills north of Pale to be sacred, resulting in frequent clashes with the farmers there. The Rhivi fought with long spears and sling-stones. Their clothes were primarily tanned hides. Some individuals ran stitches of red and black thread through their cheeks and jaws. They fought with knives and lances and spoke in a quick lilting language. Men wore their hair in braided strands laden with grease. The Rhivi often smeared the skin around their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth with an unguent made of grease and the crushed seeds of lemon grass to ward off flies and biting insects. The same unguent in stronger form was used on the bhederin. Some Rhivi were born with the ability to be a reader of bones, capable of holding "the people's entire repository of memories -- every lineage, reaching back to the Dying Spirit's Tear". Rhivi shouldermen and women often travelled in their dreams. The eldest sometimes encountered the spirits of wolves they called ghost-runners in their farthest travels. Always running, the joyful ghostly spirits were led by a single, living wolf who possessed eyes of life. Glimpsing them was seen as a sign of great fortune. The shamans, as their name suggested, were also capable of reading divinations from the burned shoulder bones of animals. Marriage occurred when a man placed a half-braid of grass outside the entrance to an eligible woman's tent. The woman was free to accept by entwining her own braid into the offering. Some claimed a wife's spirit-blessed duty was to produce sons. Once married women were free to bed anyone they wished without tribal sanction. Silverfox claimed that male Rhivi were terrible gossips and the women gave them much to gossip about. They created copper ornaments that were worn around the wrists and ankles and imbued with minor tribal wards to stave off aches in the bones. Running the back of four spaced fingers across the eyes was a Rhivi gesture of sad departing. The Rhivi took great care to properly prepare the dead for burial. They believed that spirits were born of spilled blood, and could be twisted into nightmare visions filled with spite without proper propitiation. When the Tiste Andii did nothing to mourn or ritualise their fallen, the Rhivi did so for them. When slaughtering an animal, the Rhivi invoked a propitiation ritual to call upon the animal's spirit asking for its understanding. In turn, the animal quietly accepted its fate and did not cry out. The Rhivi believed that spirits worked through adults who possessed the minds of children. These Rhivi were often tasked with preparing the dead allowing the spirits to comfort the fallen and guide them into the world of their ancestors. Rhivi spirits were capable of physically harming the living. The necrotic grasp of a spirit could infect the body with a withering illness that slowly spread through the body for months. Only the intercession of a god could stop the victim's inevitable death. Malign Rhivi spirits hid among the ashes of Rhivi Burn Grounds.
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