Ben-Cin

The Ben-Cin (pronounced Ben-Kin, not Ben-Sin) were the earliest inhabitants of Karr. They were culturally very close to the Aiyu of Juturia. They arrived from Juturia by boat at some time in the unrecorded past.

Like most of the Aiyu, the Ben-Cin were illiterate people who knew neither metalworking nor any significant amount of agriculture. They fished in the seas around Knarr, and hunted and gathered in the forests.

They appear to have brought a domesticated form of Wada with them. The animals were used in hunting, and eventually went feral.

With the arrival of settlers from the Elosian Empire after 900, the Ben-Cin were increasingly relegated more to the interior of the island. They largely continued their previous way of life, and were very little influenced by the Elosians (soon to be known as Knarrians).

In 1340, the Kingdom of Stofonia acquired control of Knarr, and Stofonian forces occupied the island. Through a sequence of events that is not entirely known, war broke out between the Stofonians and the Ben-Cin. Using their newly invented firearms, the Stofonians embarked on an extermination campaign. All Ben-Cin, men women and children, were hunted down and killed. A small number of survivors may have escaped to Juturia. By 1350, there were no Ben-Cin remaining in Knarr. This was an act of unprecedented brutality by Stofonian standards, and why it occurred has never been explained.