|
|
|
|
vladimirsusthiat writes "Strange, it seems only at first, to find beauty in something so fierce. Yet I know now that I had left the comfortable realms of the south years ago in such of that very thing. In the barren steppes of the north live the feral Wegwiur, hardened by an unforgiving climate and made ferocious by an unyielding desire for once was. I only return to the southern lands to share with you their story. But I warn it is a story ultimately about love, for their is no escape from the beauty of their fiercenss, when one beholds the heart of the Wolf.
Lady Aurelina
Author: vladimirsusthiat
The Heart of the Wolf
By vladimirsusthiat (uznielzur@aol.com )
(Used with permission, do not repost or redistribute without the express permission of the author.)
Ogobanuk
Kha-Khan Ogobanuk will return someday, according to a legend that still throbsin the hearts of the Wegwiur, and will lead the nomads again to greatness.
He would find his way of life changed little since the 4rd century, though what is left of his empire is but a fraction of what it was at its peak. The capital, Ghatulan, has been erased by history and buried under the mounds of the Howling Hills. Today, the sacred groves, streams, and burial grounds are defiled by the Iuz's priests, and their access is impeded by hordes of orcs and hill giants, not to mention the looming fortresses of Kendragund and Krangord.
The enmity between the Wegwiur and the Old One centered along the Dulsi River reflects the value of the Howling Hills, both as the birthplace of Iuz's power and as the birthplace of an ancient empire for the nostalgic Wegwiur.
Stretching beyond the Howling Hills for thousands of miles to the east and west spreads the northern prairies, the awesome, breathtaking steppe. It is still peopled in the west by herders who dwell in round, felt tents called yurts, and who depend upon horses for transport as well as for milk--much of it fermented into their beloved koumiss. Ogobanuk would recognize all: herds, horses, yurts, and the bitter koumiss taste.
There was little in northern prairies to attract conquerors, and there is little to lure them today. The chief resource of the northern prairies may well be grass, upon which most life depends. When the grass in one place has been cropped by their sheep and horses, herders simply dismantle their yurts and move to another place. Few other nations approach the end of the 6th century holding so true to traditions.
Cursed by a short growing season and fierce winters, the nomads never became populous. Larger than the size of rural Furyondy, the combined clans of the Chakyik and Wegwiur claim less than a sixth of Furyondy's population.
Hence a traveler crossing this grassland is awed--or humbled--by the sheer emptiness of it. Occasionally, very occasionally, tiny villages rise modestly on the far horizon, but no road spans the distance between them. Not even a dirt trail. Nor are there signs or roadside taverns, and of course, or a nomadic equivalent of the Golden Phoenix serving up hardwood grilled stirge or the manmade magnificence of Chendl's gardens.
Travelers often set off cross-country--sturdy, short-legged ponies are essential--guided by the sun's position and features of the landscape: a stream, a prominent hill. Hawks wheel overhead, patrolling for prey scurrying through the grass.
Eventually the traveler spies wisps of smoke, and soon a yurt. Stop and perhaps she will be invited in, but these nomads are only a bit more hospitable as the environs. She is lucky to call out a simple greeting before a dark, rugged, hide-strapped warrior releases his deadly aimed spear.
In the single round room is cots, stools, a low table, a small chest, perhaps a couple of saddles to one side. The wife offers tea and puts a ceramic kettle on the wood stove. Inevitably, koumiss appears too; it would be a poor family that had no mares to provide milk for this ubiquitous potion, which is about as alcoholic as wine. Tasting from the proffered bowl, you may wonder what spigot of the horse provided the raw material. Buttermilk is sweet by comparison.
The Wegwiur delight in speaking of Kha-Khan Ogobanuk--their King Thrommel I, they say, for he welded all the 13 nomadic clans into a single nation (though King Thrommel I never employed such legendary barbarism or beguilement, but nor did he need to).
He is the essence of how the Wegwiur want to see themselves: brave, charismatic, daring, all-conquering. His dynasty was a shooting star, a brilliant blaze across the sky. It lasted less than half a century, but in that brief time people throughout the Flanaess knew the symbol of the Wolf, and trembled.
Tribute and raiding loot flowed to the steppe, especially to Ghatulan. It became a city of gold-splashed palaces, of feasts and revelry. It is only rubble now. The city that ruled the second largest land empire ever in the Flanaess, the launch-place of the mighty raiders, was destroyed only when its raiders were challenged by the first largest ever land empire in the Flanaess, the Great Kingdom.
Round about spreads the empty steppe. It is hard to imagine that this sea of grass, whispering in a gentle breeze, breeds warriors bold and fierce. But it does. Inured to the steppe's hardships, they subsist in dire moments on blood cupped from a slit in a horse's hide. Hunting and herding, they grow up in the saddle, become expert with bow and spear, launch arrows both backward and forward at full gallop. For the nomads to become a nation of awesome power in the 3rd century, all the warriors needed were a determined leader.
Will there be another great leader, another Ogobanuk?
The Wegwiur are waiting.
Inspired by Richard Di Ioia's article: Omnipotent View: Wolf Nomads
This article was adapted from:
www.nationalgeographic.com/genghis/trail.html
"
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Average Score: 4.75
Votes: 12
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
|
|
|
|
|
| No Comments Allowed for Anonymous, please register |
|
|
|
|
Re: The Heart of the Wolf (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Tue, October 15, 2002 | It is refreshing to see an overlooked area such as the Wolf Nomads detailed so. This along with the "Omnipotent View: Wolf Nomads" looks to be an aspiring series on deveolping the much neglected Wolf and Tiger Nomads. It is true, the nomads have been silent too long.
Let us see if we can stir the pot a little.
Great job to vladimirsusthiat and Richard Di Ioia. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
