Biraj

Race: Baia

Homeworld: Annor

Era: approximately 1400 Tu – 1427 Tu

Even today, it is still not entirely clear whether the lovely black-eyed maiden named Biraj really lived or whether she is but a fictional character from Baian mythology. Legends, however, are clear. Chief Damaaj had four daughters; one dawn, he ordered them to find themselves suitable grooms in the surrounding hamlets. One after another, each girl began to boast that it would be her who would stand before the ceremonial light with the most handsome young man. Only Biraj replied to her father that she did not long for any man - that she would rather marry the first chaalk tree growing outside the village. The enraged father banished her from the village for those audacious words and the maiden wandered far away from the lands of Baia. Here, on the threshold of fatal exhaustion, she fatefully encountered the hunters of the White Eyes, whom she knew only from rumors. All of a sudden, she falls in love with one of them - something absolutely unacceptable in Baian society.

The Annorian hunter sneered at her naïve confession because of the deep-rooted hatred of Black Eyes shared among his people. Biraj fell in desperation and plunged herself into a raging river. At the last possible moment, a jammed chaalk tree reached out and saved her from drowning. Thanks to the tree, she found the ultimate harmony with nature and gradually became its integral part.

The interpretation of the ending of this narrative varies among accounts. Older versions describe how Biraj merged with the chaalk into a single sacred creature. Contemporary tourist guide will rather claim that the Baian girl got forever lost in the local sandforests, where she met her death. What is certain, though, is that the sandforests still bear her name - Den Biraji, which translates into something like Dedicated to Biraj.