Thank for the article, Vormaerin. It was interesting and with the timing and location goes great with Mortlan’s OJ article. I particularly liked their origin, but overall I think you did a great job capturing the spirit of the steppes.
I noticed that you wrote “trading with the Olman of Zahind.” Is that your own take, i.e. Olman in Zahind, or did you get that from somewhere? I would see a racial relationship way back in the past, but I never thought about the Olman as a people living there. It is a side issue, but what are your thoughts on that.
That was from a discussion here that I liked, just one of many options for dealing with the racial spreads. Leaving that reference in was an oversight. I meant to cull all the IMC only specifics (there are a few others in the home version of the article).
I don't have it entirely worked out, but IMC the Olman peoples spread around the coasts from their jungle origins in or near Hepmonaland. The Zahindi are ethnicly Olman, but culturally different as they did not fall in for the demons masquerading as gods (my take, again) that the northern Olman did.
Nice article Vormaerin. Good point about the known habitats of centaurs on Oerth and how that doesn't jibe with the MM view of them as woodland critters.
BTW, any plans for detailing the centaurs of the Bright Lands?
I too liked this article. While at first, its innovation regarding the deific cooperation that originated them seemed too far from "canon," eventually its details won my approval / enjoyment.
I especially liked this sentence:
Quote:
The Cendarii were bewildered and consulted their seers, who answered that the people had had no appreciation of their horses before, but now they would have only one and would care for it even as they cared for their own life.
And while at first the notion of their gold and silver smithing didn't seem right, I like the idea that they retain ancient weapons and artifacts but lost much of their skill in the years they were unable to mine and had yet to establish adequate trade with those who could.
Regarding the gendered division of labor, I imagine the centaur women as amazing archers but culturally prohibited from melee for reasons of preserving the tribes' reproduction. In 3.5e rules, I'd make Scout the centaur favored class. Regarding their spellcasters, I'd probably make Druid be common with rare arcane casters, probably just Bards.
Finally I think it's interesting that you said "the Zahindi of Sahan and Behow." As I recall, Iquander's informant suggested they were mixed people but predominantly Suhfeng...
I happen to think that the gods must be interacting in various ways that aren't laid out anywhere. After all, the peoples certainly are. I could have invented an Oeridian god to take Llerg's place in the tale, but that is the sort of thing I really dislike doing.
The smith work is something I made up from whole cloth, though there are real world precedents for nomadic horsemen with excellent metal working and artistic skills. It fits their place in my campaign and provides a hook for the PCs to seek them out in particular or at least hear about them in an item description. It also differentiates them from "genericus horse nomadicus", which is a fate many plains roamers fall victim to.
The whole area of Zahind/Behow/Sahan, etc is pretty vaguely defined. There are quite a few differing views on who lives there. IMC, the nations have had immigration from the Oerids, Suel, Suhfeng, and Olman and have formed a fairly distinctive culture from these disparate elements (since quite a bit of time has elapsed). That region is also where I put the Gith ruins, rather than wherever chainmail puts them (I don't own any chainmail material). As with the Olman reference mentioned above, those comments are essentially throwaways as far as public consumption goes and can be completely ignored without injury to the article.
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