Ferin Sha ("Dancing Grounds" in Kharakid) was a location 200 miles from the White Desert, where a major Kiith Manaan gathering took place beyond the labyrinthine Shiiaro Mountains,
About the location itself very little is known, it was a closely guarded secret of the Manaani until 513 KDS.The gathering place was located on sacred ground somewhere between the sands of the desert. For Kiith Manaan it was more than just a secret location. A yearly gathering, a celebration for all Manaani, was held here. Because the location was sacred, any kind of fighting or looting there was strictly forbidden.
The Manaan developed a saying, meaningless to outsiders, that allowed the Manaan to traverse the confounding rock pillars, "Fourteen Days, fourteen turns, fourteen hundred souls to dance on the sands". Travelers knew that they had reached their destination when they encountered the lone-standing rock named Trader's Bargain at the end of the treacherous pillars.
The Festival[]
The Ferin Sha lasts for a week, beginning when the first two caravans arrived and ending when the Sa's Caravan would depart for the yearly circuit in the northern hemisphere. In that period was merriment, entertainment, songs, and dances in the gathering unlike any on Kharak. Violence was taboo on the sands as bloodshed on the dancing grounds was considered profane. Rank and formality were dismissed on the sands, though the Manaan-sa was still respected as arbiter and master of ceremonies.
History[]
In 513 KDS the last celebration of Ferin Sha in the northern hemisphere of Kharak was held during the Heresy Wars after being celebrated for centuries , The free-wheeling and joyous nature of the Manaan was anathema to both religious Kiith prosecuting the Heresy Wars
A Siidim army guided by a traitor who sold their Kiith for 500 pieces of silver, attacked the defenceless Manaani people, slaughtering everyone present. After that the Manaani people became pirates, attacking Siidim holdings on the edge of the desert for approximately a century, before constructing a new Ferin Sha somewhere in the Kiith Paktu controlled southern hemisphere.
As a result of becoming pirates they became a thing of legend during the remainder of the Heresy Wars
The tradition of the Ferin Sha continued to Hiigara where the third dancing ground was laid out at Massalo. Though the event remains full or merriment and joy, every Manaan is aware of the massacre. It remains a wound in the mind of every Manaan.
In game[]
Captain Soban is the leader of a fleet named Ferin Sha Fleet which helps the Hiigarans in Mission 2 of Homeworld 2.