Tarandri Steppes
Little more than a loose collection of many villages of raiders held in check by the Hjalmor Lords, the tribes of the Tarandri Steppes are a hardy, individualistic lot. Free from the laws and administrations of the other nations, the Tarandri folk are well known for balking at any utterance of hierarchical leadership, believing that those who can not, or will not do the other of others hold no place among the tribe. Indeed, many tribes are therefore almost democratic in nature, with every member of the tribe adult enough to make their voice heard having a say during tribal deliberations.
With the low level of infrastructure, and barely maintained roads, centaurs and horses are king on the amber Steppes of Tarandri. Subsistence farming is uncommon, with most tribes existing as nomadic hunting and gathering collections of families. Life can often be harsh, notably during the worst winters, when food becomes scarce and the land itself seems to turn against the clans.
Of note, however: The region periodically unites under one leader, who takes the name or title of "Foremost" and invades the common lands of Hjalmor, Edos, Vunstimil, and Thetlin. These leaders arise, perhaps, every other generation - something in the tribes seems to ignite a spark of collectivism for a time. Virtually every one of the "Foremost" seems speak of the "greatness of the past" often referring to the prior leaders of such great raids in oral history, often embellishing previous accomplishments, or boasting of hereditary connections with Foremost of the past or the divine.
Regardless of the reason these tribes unite, these aggregations of the clans rarely amount to much more than a few months worth of raiding the border lands of their neighbors, and military force is rarely necessary to quell the raids as they, more often than not, fall apart just as quickly as they form as the spoils of such raids are squabbled over by clan leadership and their ambitious successors. Each Foremost seems to often fade away in the chaos, though none are recorded or told to be killed in the raids or the aftermath.
Nation Info
Official Name: The Tarandri SteppesCapital: Skargness (Periodic)
Population: ~230,000
Government: Hjalmor Vassal
Leader: Unoccupied
Leader Title: The Foremost
Demonym: Tarandric
Major Exports: None
Military
- 5,000 Combatants
- Warships: No Formal Navy
Breed Distribution
Religion Distribution
- 60% - The Guardians
- 20% - The Undevoted
- 10% - The Sentinel
- 5% - The Highlord
- 5% - Other
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
~ Dylan Thomas