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    Centaurs of the Dry Steppes
    Posted on Sun, August 13, 2006 by Dongul
    Vormaerin writes "The following article is an exploration of the centaurs of the Dry Steppes: their origins, culture, and habits.

    Centaurs of the Dry Steppes
    By: Vormaerin

    The Dry Steppes are a vast area of open plains ranging from near desert to fertile grasslands. Once the home of a flourishing Baklunish Empire, they are now the domain of assorted nomads and small settled communities. The majority of the nomads are Paynims and other Baklunish tribesmen, but those are not the only residents of this vast area.

    One of those races known to inhabit the Dry Steppes in numbers are the centaurs. Obviously, these plains dwelling centaurs are not identical to the sylvan/faerie creatures described in certain source materials. For what reason would steppe dwellers worship a being called "The Forester" or speak the Sylvan and Elvish languages? Or have darkvision, for that matter.

    These centaurs roam the southern reaches of the Dry Steppes, between the Sulhauts and Rumikadath river, their territory extending westwards towards Zahind and eastwards towards the Crystalmists.

    The following article is an exploration of the centaurs of the Dry Steppes: their origins, culture, and habits.

    Origins
    The Cendarii were a tribe of Oeridian horsemen roaming the central plans of Oerik centuries before the Twin Cataclysms. Their lands were rich in gold and silver, which the Cendarii became expert in the working of. The quality and quantity of their work allowed the tribe to become quite rich, while the ferocity and skill of their warriors allowed them to keep that wealth.

    As time went on the Cendarii grew ever wealthier, adorning themselves in gold and silver and buying ever increasing herds of horses and other animals. And they grew ever more concerned about their wealth and the importance of keeping their status even in the lands of the dead. While other tribes would bury the dead with coins over the eyes, the Cendarii began to bury their dead with great wealth. At first this wealth was in material things... gold and silver art, weapons, coins, etc. But later kings realized that their wealth was in servants and livestock as well, especially horses. So they started burying servants and horses with their lords. Sometimes only a few, but the greater kings would sometimes be buried with up to fifty horses and assorted servants, all ritually strangled.

    Well, this continued for a good long while, the Cendarii growing in skill and wealth, despite the amounts being buried with the dead. Now the Cendarii lands were on the eastern edge of the great central steppes, north of the lands of the Nagas. And, as has been mentioned, they were amongst the fiercest of the Oeridian tribes in war. So it was that they were not displaced the way many of their kin were when the Bakluns were driven eastwards by the Celestial Empire. And they continued to work their gold and silver, now trading with the Olman of Zahind, the Suel, the Baklunish, and the other Oeridian tribes. It seemed the tribe was blessed.

    Now as it happens, one of the Suel gods was Llerg, the Beastlord. And he was fond of taking the shapes of animals and living amongst them. In this fashion, he sired many bloodlines of superior beasts. One such lineage were the famed Llergaean Horses that roamed the the plains of the western edge of the Suel Empire. At that time, the Suel were being raided frequently by another Oeridian tribe, the Keogh, and many of these horses ended up part of the Keoish herds. One of these Llergaean steeds was a stallion of almost supernatural ability: swift, hardy, intelligent, and proud. Some even claimed he was a direct son of Llerg. Now this stallion, named Kerchik, was the prized possession of the Keogh chieftain Rukmin. And, as it happened, Rukmin was very unlucky in war and his clan was lucky to escape with its lives after a series of battles with another Oeridian tribe. Rukmin and his clansmen lost almost all their herds, both of horses and livestock and faced the slow death of the impoverished on the steppes. But he still had Kerchik and this came to the attention of Paidraik of the Cendarii, who offered to buy Kerchik from the impoverished Rukmin. Rukmin refused, but Paidraik was wealthy as only the Cendarii were and eventually he offered horses and livestock for everyone in Rukmin's clan, plus five times Kerchik's weight in gold. Rukmin could not refuse such a price and reluctantly he sold his pride for the survival of his people.

    So Kerchik came to be Paidraik's prized possession and lived well amongst the Cendarii. But the time came that Paidraik passed away and, as tradition demanded, Kerchik was strangled and buried with him. And knowledge of this came to Kerchik's father, for he was truly a scion of Llerg. Llerg was full of wrath at the death of his son and intended to wipe the entire tribe out of existance, but the Oeridian gods Delleb and Lirr convinced him otherwise. Instead, the three deities laid down a mighty spell that merged every member of the Cendarii with their favorite steed (for even the women and children rode amongst these people). 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.

    Thus was the race of the Centaurs born and they remain fierce warriors and master gold and silver smiths. But now they own no horses, treating them as kin and they are greatly angered by those who mistreat or kill horses. The Invoked Devastation has made the Centaurs even more nomadic than they once were. Though they still control some of the old gold and silver mines, much was lost in the Twin Cataclysms and they now trade for much of their wealth.

    Society

    The Cendarii are organized into clans, much as their oeridian cousins are. These clans range from quite small (50 or so individuals) to the quite large (perhaps approaching a thousand or more). Each clan has a fairly well defined territory which in wanders, which can be quite large for the more populous clans. Centaur government is quite simple. There is a clan chief, whose main function is to serve as warleader in the frequent skirmishes with other clans and with the paynims. Domestic matters are the the purvue of the council of elders. The main coercive power of the elders is the practice of shunning or exiling those who disobey them. Centaurs do not kill each other voluntarily. Within the clan, Centaurs are organized into families that are frequently polygynous.

    The centaurs lives focus around hunting and herding. All centaur tribes have horse herds, whom they look upon as partners. Mares' milk and cheeses are important parts of the centaur diety, the remainder being the product of hunting, wild vegetables, and trade. The males do the hunting, while the females handle the herds, gathering, and other domestic tasks. Centaurs have to eat a lot to support themselves, so food is a major focus of their society. Large feasts are a regular occurence and most centaurs carry a regular supply of foods to snack on.

    Each family also has one or more wagons which are hauled by horses from the herds, usually with one of the women riding along side the horses to guide them. These wagons carry supplies, the sick and injured, the great felt tents the centaurs sleep in, and also transport the forges needed to work silver and the like.

    The centaurs of the steppes dress elaborately, taking great pride in their appearance. Cloth and leather shirts heavily decorated with gold and silver adornments are worn on their human torsos, while elaborately embroidered and gold adorned caparisons cover their horse body. All centaur clothing is decorated with animal imagery, including magical beasts. A common theme is battle with griffons and hippogriffs of the surrounding mountains, which prey on the centaur's herds (and the centaurs themselves).

    Centaurs retain their ancestral skills with gold and silver working, producing fabulous decorative pieces of jewelry as well as small statues and the like for their wagons. The centaurs are also familiar with techniques for making silvered weapons able to deal with lycanthropes and other things vulnerable to such. Many centaur wrought weapons are made this way for decorative and cultural purposes, certainly far more frequently than simple utility would require.

    Like their Oeridian ancestors, the centaurs are warriors. They possess great strength and superior agility as well as unsurpassed control of their 'steeds'. This makes them fearsome warriors. The centaurs use long composite bows that few humans would be able to use effectively due to their size and strong pull needed as well as swords and long spears. The wealthiest centaurs have chainmail for their human torsos, with less well off having leather jerkins. Centaurs do not use any sort of barding, more due to the climate than anything else. When centaurs raid each other, the fighting is an elaborate form of counting coup, for centaurs consider each other to be equally under the prohibition against harming horses needlessly. Against paynims and other human raiders, they are relentless and grimly effective. Centaur archery is some of the most accurate in the world and their weapons skills are honed by practice and hunting. The human tribesmen around them rarely are willing to take them on directly unless the odds are more than four or five to one in the humans' favor.

    All centaur males are expected to fight, as are unmarried females. Married females fight only in defense of their homes and do not participate in raids. Centaurs believe that a warrior strong enough to endure the hardships of life on the steppes cannot be born of one too soft or weak to fight herself. Thus centaur women do not marry until they have proven themselves in raiding and warfare.

    Religion and Magic

    The Centaur religion is focused on spirit worship. Initially a form of the Oeridian habit of ancestor worship, since their transformation it has increasingly added spirits of the animal realms to the lists of venerated beings. Many of these animal spirits are tied to the Beast lord, Llerg, and he is the patron of most centaur priests, though some few follow other gods. Centaur priests are spiritmasters and shamans, relying heavily on trances and contact with the otherworld as sources of power and insight. They serve as advisors to the tribes, though they are considered somewhat strange and do not assist in 'normal' activities like hunting or food preparation. The spirits the shaman has contact with are believed to be dangerous for ordinary centaurs to associate with, so the shamans are kept apart to avoid contagion.

    Centaurs have extensive funereal rites. The entire clan mourns the death of a member and the corpse is brought along in a wagon, often preserved from decay by priestly magic, for at least two weeks before burial. Great chiefs can have their bodies carried about for even longer periods of mourning. The burials themselves involve building a barrow and placing the dead centaur within, along with a his best weapons and possessions. Mindful of their origin, they no longer sacrifice living beings to accompany the dead.

    Centaur magic is generally of the natural sort, not the book and lab sort practiced by wizards. The centaurs make little distinction between priests and mages: both serve the same role and have the same stigma. Sorcerors and adepts represent the bulk of centaur spell casters.

    Relations
    Living on the Dry Steppes brings the centaurs into contact with a variety of other cultures. The most prominent are the paynims and other baklunish horsemen. Relations between the these two groups are generally bad, with most of the interaction coming in the form of raids and warfare. Both sides steal horses from each other as well as defending watering holes and the like. The centaurs are also fanatical about defending their burial mounds, almost always sending out powerful raiding forces to avenge any disturbance of a burial site.

    The settled Baklunish around Lake Udrukankar have more peaceful, though still strained, relations with the centaurs and there is a fair bit of trade between the communities. Centaurs often bring the products of their forges to Kanak to trade for grain, fish, and goods from more distant places. Similar relations exist with the Zahindi of Sahan and Behow, though the mountains between keep trade more limited.

    The dwarves of the Crystalmists have some trade with the centaurs of the steppes below them, based mainly on a mutual admiration for each other's craftsmanship. The dwarves tend to trade raw metals and finished steel products such as weapons and armor for gold and silver artworks.

    There are also some sedentary Oeridians living in communities along the northern edges of the sulhauts. These Oeridians are generally subservient to the centaurs and are a mixture of farming and mining communities that trade with and pay tribute to their centaur "cousins." These sedentary Oeridians are actually rather ethnically mixed at this point, having absorbed baklunish, zahindi, suel, and even orcish immigrants over the centuries.

    "
     
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    Re: Centaurs of the Dry Steppes (Score: 1)
    by marilor on Sun, August 13, 2006
    (User Info | Send a Message) http://www.circumstancedesign.com
    Great article! I left a loophole IMC for centaur backstory, and now I've got some great background to draw from. Thanks a lot!



    Re: Centaurs of the Dry Steppes (Score: 1)
    by Vormaerin on Mon, August 14, 2006
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    You are welcome.


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