Editing Araby (section)

== Society ==
Insofar as culture and society goes, Araby has been fairly indecisively written. The only thing that's completely clear regarding them is their consummate professionalism in matters of trade and economics. They vie with Cathay for overland spice trade routes that go through the Southlands, and have generally emerged better off from those confrontations than the Cathayans have. Some writers, like the great Rick Priestley, when he made an Arabyan armylist for Warmaster, described the Arabyans much akin to the Islamic World from the 8th - 16th centuries, i.e.: significantly ahead of the Old World insofar as medicine in particular and other scientific disciplines in general were concerned. Though they typically were behind insofar as adopting [[Gunpowder (Warhammer Fantasy)|gunpowder]] was concerned however, but if you know anything about the efficacy of [[Gunpowder (Warhammer Fantasy)|gunpowder]] in the middle ages, you'd also realise that this isn't particularly a mark of backwardness. On the other hand, Arabyans were also described as notorious slavers, who had contacts with Norscans (but then again, the Norscans sell slaves to the Kislevites also) and also had decadent, opulent courts. 

This disconnect was later justified by writers stating that the Arabyans were a disaggregated society ruled by many Emirs, Sheikhs, and Sultans, with some of them being Orientalist nightmares, while others were more or less competent rulers who governed their domains justly and with respect for the Arts and Sciences. So in a way, Araby is like the decentralised Empire of Man and Kislev to the north: like its real-life development, its potential as a great civilisation to rival its northern counterparts was hampered and stifled by corrupt rulers who limited their more-advanced neighbours from improving their whole nation and its peoples.

Because both GW designers and independent fan-writers are both neither as well-informed on historical matters as either thinks to be, most Arabyan armylists and lore, although ostensibly written to evoke the Arabs of the 7-9th centuries, actually ends up invoking the Ottoman Empire, which was Turkic (Warhammer already HAVING analogs for the Turks and Tatars). The actual armies of the Rashidun and Umayyad caliphates still had had a lot of Greek and Roman influence in their equipment, with a preference for spear formations supported by archer auxiliaries, although with more mail armor.

Along the southern borders, the local Southlanders were influenced by Arabyan culture, and they also intermarried with local Arabyans, resulting in a large mixed population.