Horse Lords Culture

Between the fall of the ancient empire and the rise of the city-states, the plains of Tarsa were heavily populated by herds of bison, deer, wild cattle and horses, and other animals, making them rich hunting grounds for both Trolls and the nomadic Horse Lords. When the eastern civilizations began expanding into the plains, the Horse Lords frequently attacked travelers and settlers, who they saw as interlopers to be driven out.
The last Horse Lords attack on Khezvaros took place shortly before the rise of the Dragon Kings and might have ended with the city in ruins if not for the intervention of Tolva, Queen of Thieves and her army. When the city-states began enlisting dragons to protect them, the Horse Lord tribes accepted that there was little they could do to stop the spread of the invading settlers. Some tribes simply avoided the settlers, keeping to the unsettled regions or joining the tribes of their forest-dwelling distant relations. Others developed an uneasy alliance and trading relationship with the settlers, who were willing to trade weapons and other goods for the well-bred and highly trained mounts that gave the Horse Lords their collective common name.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

Ada, Adelheid, Albina, Alexa, Alfreda, Alida, Aloisia, Amelie, Anja, Anke, Annett, Ava, Babette, Barbel, Beata, Beatrix, Berta, Bianka, Brigitte, Brunhilde, Camilla, Carina, Carolin, Catrin, Celine, Cora, Cordula, Corina, Dagmar, Dietlinde, Dorthe, Edelgard, Eike, Eleonore, Elfriede, Elise, Elke, Evelin, Evi, Felicie, Franka, Franziska, Freya, Frieda, Gabriele, Gerda, Gerhild, Gertrud, Gisa, Gitta, Gratia, Gretel, Hanna, Hedwig, Heide, Helma, Hermina, Herta, Hilda, Hildegard, Ida, Ilsa, Ilse, Inga, Ingrid, Irmhild, Isa, Jutta, Kasimira, Kathe, Katja, Konstanze, Kora, Krista, Lara, Leni, Leonore, Liane, Liesa, Liesel, Lilli, Lilo, Lisbeth, Lotti, Luise, Lutgard, Margrit, Mariele, Marita, Marlene, Marta, Mathilde, Mia, Micha, Mitzi, Nadja, Nicola, Oda, Olga, Petra, Priska, Raimunde, Ria, Roswitha, Schwanhild, Senta, Sonja, Steffi, Tabea, Tanja, Theda, Thora, Trudi, Ursel, Ursula, Uschi, Valeska, Verena, Vilma, Vreni, Wilhelmine, Zella, Zenzi

Masculine names

Adi, Albrecht, Alwin, Anselm, Ansgar, Arndt, Artur, Axel, Baldur, Bernd, Berthold, Bertram, Bjorn, Bode, Burkhart, Claus, Cord, Detlev, Dierk, Dieter, Dietrich, Eckart, Eckbert, Egon, Emmerich, Erhard, Falk, Felix, Franz, Friedrich, Fritz, Gebhard, Gerald, Gerd, Gernot, Gerulf, Gervas, Gottfried, Gotthilf, Gunter, Hans, Hatmut, Hartwig, Heinrich, Helmut, Ignatz, Ingo, Ingomar, Ivo, Jorg, Jurgen, Kunibert, Lambert, Lenz, Lothar, Ludger, Ludwig, Manfred, Markus, Marwin, Marzell, Mattias, Niklas, Norbert, Olaf, Ortwin, Oskar, Othmar, Otto, Parsifal, Poldi, Raimund, Rainer, Reinhard, Reto, Roland, Rolf, Rudi, Siegbert, Siegried, Sieghard, Sigi, Sigmund, Soren, Thilo, Thorben, Tilo, Udo, Ulrich, Urs, Utz, Uwe, Venzent, Volker, Walther, Werner, Wetzel, Wilfred, Wolfgang, Wulf

Unisex names

Alex, Eike, Heike, Inge, Manu, Michi, Sascha, Sigi, Ulli

Family names

Horse Lords usually identify themselves by a personal name followed by a clan name.
Bloodsword, Blutschwert, Demonenfluch, Drakentutar, Nachtdolch, Feuerkrieger, Todesmagi, Troltutar, Zauberei
[Creating Horse Lords Clan Names: Clan Names are standard fantasy names like "Dragon Killer" or "Darksword." You can leave them in English for a "translated" version of the name or use a translator to convert them to pseudo-German.]

Other names

When formally introducing themselves, Horse Lords don't stop with just their personal name and clan. A formal naming recitation includes a long list of titles, nicknames, accomplishments, and interesting facts about both the person being introduced and their clansmen, mentors, personal heroes, traveling companions, and favorite horse. The formal introduction of a high-ranking or accomplished Horse Lord can take hours, maybe even days.

Culture

Birth & Baptismal Rites

A Horse Lord child is born into (and subsequently raised within) the clan that the mother was living with at the time of the child's birth, regardless of which clan the child's parents belong to. On a pre-appointed night each month--which varies from clan to clan--all children born into the clan during the previous month are tattooed with the clan's symbol. On the same day, the tribe undertakes a large hunt with the goal of securing both food for a feast that night and a freshly-killed predatory animal whose blood will be used to anoint the children during the naming ritual after the feast. The Kunig of the tribe, in consultation with the tribe's witch, decides what each child's name will be and formally bestows the name upon them during the ritual.

Coming of Age Rites

Horse Lord children are raised by the clan in communal nurseries where they live practically from birth (all the clanswomen who can nurse a child are expected to suckle any clan child, though in most cases slaves take on the bulk of wetnurse duties). They are considered the sons and daughters of the clan chief and most have no idea who their biological parents are. In fact, unless a child has a birthmark or other distinctive feature, most parents quickly lose track of which clan children they fathered or gave birth to. From an early age, children are expected to assist their caretakers with camp chores like cooking, tanning, and caring for younger children.
At the age of 12 or 13, Horse Lord children are apprenticed to an older member of the tribe, who becomes their Meister. A Meister's charge is called a Lehrling. A child's Meister is usually chosen by the clan witch based on signs and omens, and is usually of the same gender as the child. The Meister is responsible for the child's well-being as well as for training them to ride, fight, hunt, and perform other tribal duties. When the Meister feels that the Lehrling is ready, they are taken to the clan witch to begin their Gottesurteil, or coming of age ordeal.

During the first stage of the Gottesurteil, the Lehrling spends a day or more fasting, praying to the gods, and imbibing potions prepared by the witch that are meant to induce visions of the creature that the Lehrling must defeat in a ritual hunt. The creature (or feindlich), is usually the animal whose blood was used during the Lehrling's naming ceremony, but some Lehrlings envision other creatures, monsters, or even a human feindlich. In such cases, it's up to the witch to determine whether the vision is true or false. Once the witch is convinced that the Lehrling has seen their true feindlich, the Lehrling is fed and allowed to rest. The next day, the Meister presents the Lehrling with a weapon, a horse, and some supplies and the Lehrling is sent out to hunt down and kill their feindlich. The only way the Lehrling can return to the tribe's camp is with the head of the feindlich.


If the Lehrling succeeds at their Gottesurteil, they are given their second tattoo--usually one that symbolizes the feindlich--and are welcomed into the tribe as an adult.

Funerary and Memorial customs

When Horse Lords die, their bodies are burned during a feast to celebrate their life. Horse Lords believe that the dead must travel through a dark forest and defeat a thousand beasts before they are allowed to enter paradise, which they envision as massive tribal camp where they and their ancestors spend the day hunting and fighting glorious battles and their nights feasting and telling stories of their triumphs.
Horse Lords heroes are memorialized in songs and epic poems.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

The Horse Lords value strength, so they prefer both men and women who are tall and muscular. They also value accomplishment, so the ritual tattoos that a Horse Lord has earned can also make them more attractive. Horse Lords don't have any strong preferences regarding hair or eye color, but do see pale skin as a sign of weakness and softness. Both men and women wear their hair long and both braid their hair (and men braid their beards, if they wear one) before going on the hunt or into battle in order to keep it out of the way.

Gender Ideals

Horse Lords society is extremely egalitarian. Both men and women expected to fight, hunt, care for the horses, and perform other duties around the camp. Leadership positions are open to everyone and based on ability, not gender.  The things that many societies consider "women's work" are performed by both sexes, with the bulk of chores like raising children and preparing meals performed by those who aren't able to fight or hunt due to age, illness, or infirmity. The only time women are treated differently from men is during the last few months of pregnancy, when they are exempted from their duties and expected to rest and perform certain religious rituals to ensure a healthy child.

Courtship Ideals

The Horse Lords do not practice marriage and even long-term relationships aren't expected to be monogamous (though they sometimes are), so the kinds of courtship rituals found in most societies are strange and baffling to a Horse Lord. If a Horse Lord wants to have sex with someone, and the other person wants to have sex with them, they have sex. If they want a more permanent relationship, they have one, working out the specifics and boundaries by mutual agreement. The Horse Lords have no stigma against same sex relationships, nor do they object to marriage-like arrangements between more than two people. The only sexual relationships forbidden by Horse Lords society are those with children or animals and those between two people born into the same clan.

Horse Lords Characters