The Nahi Coalition
Ancestral lands, ritual discipline, and the Long Memory
Who the Nahi Coalition is
The Nahi Coalition is an alliance of related tribal nations whose lands cover the Mesa region and many of the territory's water sources. They are not a single tribe but a council of equal voices — six nations, each with their own elder, who meet at the Mesa council fire to coordinate defense, trade, and ritual practice. The Coalition is older than any of the Settler towns by centuries and substantially older than written record. Their stated mission in the current era is the defense of ancestral land against Settler expansion, Frontera raids, and the slower threat of railway and mining encroachment.
Lore and history
Before the Settler towns, before the Frontera came north, before the railroad surveyed any of it, the Nahi lived in the Mesa and the valleys around it. Their oral histories preserve names for places that no map records — the dry lake that was full once, the road that the stars walked, the bone-cave where the deck was first read. The Coalition formed as a defensive alliance in the 1830s when European-descended settlers began arriving in numbers. The alliance has held for two generations and shows no sign of weakening.
The shamans and the deck
Nahi shamans practice a form of deck reading that the other factions do not understand and which the Nahi themselves do not fully explain. Where a Settler clergyman might call the deck Providence, the Nahi shamans treat the deck as a memory — specifically, the long memory of the land itself, made visible through cards. Their ritual practice can alter how cards reveal: a shaman who has performed the right pre-ritual on the right night can grant a fighter the ability to redraw a single card in combat, or peek the next card in the journey deck. These rituals are exclusive to Nahi characters at Ally standing and above.
Starting bonuses
Nahi characters begin play with +1 to the Gathering skill, +1 to the Ritual skill, and -1 to the Energy cost of long-distance travel. They start at the Mesa council fire with basic Nahi loadout: a hunting knife, a spirit-hide jerkin, three days of rations, and a $40 stake. Their starting reputation is +15 Nahi, +0 Settler, and -5 Frontera. Nahi opening quests focus on the relationship between the player character and an assigned shaman mentor, who reveals more of the deck's deeper rules as the relationship deepens.
Nahi faction item variants
At Ally standing the Nahi unlock unique item variants. The Iron Revolver becomes The Earth-Sting, gaining the ability to spend 1 Energy to treat a Diamond draw as a success. The Duster Coat becomes The Spirit-Hide, granting +2 to Blackjack during rituals. The Hunting Bow becomes The Long-Memory, increasing its damage against unnatural enemies. The Nahi material culture treats these items as gifts from the land rather than property — losing one is not just a financial setback but a relational one.
Why play Nahi
Nahi characters have the deepest crafting tree in the game, the strongest passive travel mechanics, and access to ritual content that no other faction can fully experience. The faction is harder to play than Settler in the early game — Nahi quests are less linear, the mentorship system requires patience, and several of the most rewarding mechanics only unlock after extensive ritual practice. But Nahi characters who commit to the path end up with build options that no other faction can match.
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