The Tribes of The Grassy Sea
Once reduced to the shattered remnants of dozens of tribes trapped on a serpentfolk game preserve, the centaurs have bounced back to become the undisputed masters of the vast grasslands known as The Grassy Sea. They have rebuilt their society and its traditions from the tattered remnants that they managed to retain through their time under the cruel reign of the serpentfolk and created new ones based on their experiences in their new home. Today, the tribes hunt the vast herds which inhabit the seemingly endless expanse of The Grassy Sea, have mastered living in the once foreign forests, maintain strong alliances with their elven and dwarven neighbors, and stand strong against foreign invasion
History
Formed from the shattered survivors of the depredations of the serpentfolk, The Tribes of The Grassy Sea have grown to become the uncontested rulers of their domain.
The Tribes Form
After the cataclysm, freed from the depredations of the serpentfolk, the centaur population began to grow and soon they began to split up and form tribes. As the tribes began to expand and spread out across the entirety of The Grassy Sea, they quickly discovered that they now lived on an isolated landmass with water or mountains cutting them off from the rest of the continent. As they became established in their new home, rivalries both old and new began to make themselves known and soon the tribes settled into a regular pattern of skirmishes and raids against one another both for material gain and bragging rights. It wasn't long before many of the tribes of smaller bodied centaurs moved into the forests, seeking refuge from the raids of their larger and faster cousins.
The new forest tribes soon came into contact with the elven enclaves which had used the dense and undeveloped forests to hide from the serpentfolk, and once they learned of the serpentfolk's disappearance they welcomed the newcomers with open arms. With help from the elves the centaurs began to learn how to build homes from wood and navigate the forests with skill, much to the dismay of the handful of plains tribes who attempted to raid them in the forests that they now called home.
As the plains tribes spread out across the region that they now called home, those who ventured towards the mountains which tower over the plains soon discovered the dwarven clans in their fortified mountain holds. Trade relations soon began between the tribes and their new neighbors, and the dwarves would become the primary source of metals, both as ore and finished weapons, for the tribes. As the tribes began to look towards building permanent settlements, the dwarves encouraged them to use the pre-existing stone from the serpentfolk cities as building materials since the plains were lacking in other materials and the elves and forest tribes were somewhat resistant to the idea of large scale logging operations.
Foreign Interlopers
While the geography of The Grassy Served to isolate the tribes from the rest of the world from some time, it was only a matter of time before they would come into contact with outsiders. The first were Alhamish longships who upon finding no settlements on the southern coast sailed up the great river known as Stòr Beatha and discovered the city of Baile-Mòr Brèagha which straddles the river. When the shores of the river filled up with curious - and well armed - centaurs, the would be raiders quickly re-flavored themselves as explorers and introduced themselves on behalf of their village. Upon returning home they informed their leaders of their discovers, kicking off a long running and mutually profitable trade relationship between the tribes and the south eastern Alhamish villages.
At the eastern end of the region, a far different first contact would be made as an expedition from the desert nation of Ahl Alshamal made an attempt to establish a colony to secure more arable land and a source of timber. They proved entirely unwilling to negotiate with the tribes in good faith and ended up having their first settlement sacked by angry centaurs, and subsequent attempts were squashed before managing to set up new settlements despite containing larger military escorts. Subsequent colonization attempts were made by The Alborian Empire and The Kingdom of Bommbergonia, some of which involved major military elements, but all were forcefully repelled by the combined power of the tribes.
Society
Despite being divided up into dozens of different tribes, both forest and plains dwelling, there are common elements which bind them together and unite even the forest and plains tribes as one people.
Religion
The Tribes of The Grassy Sea are both polytheistic and anamist, as in addition to worshiping a pantheon of gods they believe that all parts of the natural world have their own spirits. There are a handful of primary gods which are shared across the tribes, but after that each has a collection of minor gods representing the geographic features and other aspects of the regions that they call home. The three primary gods of The Tribes are Tearlach, Tormod, and Brighde, with triplicity being a common theme in centaur religion.
The Hunt
Hunting is an absolutely central facet of both the forest and plains tribes, the great herds which wander the plains and plentiful game of the forests providing many resources. The centaurs use their incredible speed and agility to break groups off of larger herds and then run them down and kill them with lances and javelins. In the case of the smaller and somewhat slower forest centaurs, they will try and separate a group of animals and get trap them against the forests, trying to make them break and flee into the woods where more of their tribesmen and their elf allies wait to ambush them as they get bogged down in the dense underbrush.
Animal Companions
The preponderance of druids among the tribes and their importance in their culture has lead to many centaurs training pets of their own, but not many animals can keep up with a centaur on the hunt. While there are various large predators such as wolves and sabertooth cats on the plains and stalking the forests, most centaurs have a fairly strong aversion to them, so they turned elsewhere for their animal companions. Birds, particularly falcons, and small, agile animals which can travel through the forest canopies and rest on the shoulders of their companions are extremely common among the tribes.
Falconry is popular among the plains tribes, with many of the birds trained to find small game for their falconers and circle overhead rather than take it themselves. Taking a jackrabbit or other small, fast animal with a javelin or lance is regarded as a test of the skill of a warrior or hunter, and is an extremely popular sport, with the most popular hunters able to take an animal with minimal damage to the pelt and without digging their lance into the ground or missing with a javelin. The druids of the plains tribes use their companions to scout, giving them vision for miles around as the birds float on the thermals that rise over the plains.
With the dense canopies restricting where larger birds can easily fly, the forest tribes tend to prefer squirrels, chipmunks, and other small animals which can travel unimpeded through the branches of the forests in which they live along with smaller birds which can flit from branch to branch. The druids use these animals to have eyes throughout the forests, and even the non-druids often train their animals to find intruders and "scold" them from high in the branches, giving their positions away to the centaurs and their elven allies.
Raiding
The centaur tribes often engage in mock combat in the form of raids, with warriors of the two tribes engaging in battle and the victors leaving with both bragging rights and more physical trophies. While the combat is done with real weapons, efforts are supposed to be made to avoid killing and any deaths are regarded as a black mark against the killer and their tribe, with reparations paid to the tribe of the victim. In some cases deaths during raids have sparked generations long feuds, particularly where it was believed that the killing was done deliberately. While generally the prizes taken during these raids are just food or alcohol, occasionally weapons or personal items are taken, an act which has sparked feuds between individual warriors or entire tribes in the past.
Elders
In centaur society, age and experience are deeply respected, the leaders of the tribes are nearly always older centaurs and the elders are valued for their knowledge and ability to pass those skills down to the next generation. The oldest and most infirm centaurs who can no longer travel with the tribes or perform their normal duties stay in the cities and pass their skills along to the next generation.
Hot Blooded Youth
Often, bands of young hot blooded warriors will band together and strike off on their own and head off onto the plains in search of adventure. These bands are generally not well liked by the tribes they encounter, due to their loud, rowdy, and troublemaking nature. Eventually they will all return to their tribes, either of the own volition or because they caused enough trouble to be beaten down by the warriors of a tribe they were bothering and sent home with their tails between their legs.
Warfare
The centaurs approach to warfare has been heavily influenced by both their environment and their physiology, resulting in their being some of the undisputed best light cavalry on The Shattered Continent but lacking in other categories.
Fighting on the plains
Centaur combat has been largely shaped by a combination of millenia of both hunting on The Grassy Sea and raids and inter-tribe combat that has been almost exclusively centaur-on-centaur. These influences have resulted in speed and agility being the absolute kings of centaur warfare and centaurs with long legged, leanly muscled bodies effectively becoming the warrior class among the plains tribes, with pony or heavy bodied centaurs relegated to other roles. These traditional roles have been challenged in recent years, with heavily armored heavy bodied centaurs proving their worth on the battlefield againt tight formations of armored and shielded human troops.
Defending the Forests
The forest tribes, being smaller of stature and somewhat slower than their plains tribes allies, take advantage of their smaller size to manouver through the dense forests that they reside in, harassing their enemies with shortbow fire and drawing them into ambushes laid by their tribemates and their elven allies and using their speed to disappear back into the forests and strike again from different angles.
Wargear
The limited access to metal on the plains has lead to the vast majority of the centaurs wargear being crafted from wood, leather, and bone. What metal they have has largely been sourced from trade with the dwarves, and is generally used in weapons, with heavier armor which could slow down a warrior being regarded as worse than useless. Metal weapons tend to be highly prized and treated as family heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation, but generally only once a warrior has become 'blooded'.
While some dwarven crafted weapons do exist among the plains tribes, the centaurs are a proud people who would never settle for being unable to craft their own weapons. Under the tutelage of their dwarven allies, many centaur craftsmen have become skilled smiths capable of producing mastercrafted weapons, and due to the relative rarity of metal on the plains nothing less is considered acceptable in a finished product. No metal is wasted, with broken weapons being repaired or re-forged rather than discarded. Centaur smiths are highly respected among the tribes and are easily identifiable due to their dwarven styled beards, braided and decorated in the dwarven style.
Due to their fast paced style of combat, there are many similarities between typical centaur weapons and those wielded by human light cavalry. Spears and light lances are incredibly common, typically wielded alongside wooden shields, with clubs and maces wielded in closer quarters combat. Javelins are common when skirmishing, but while they have powerful horn longbows they are primarily used for hunting rather than war. When less lethal options are desired, nets and bolas are common and due to their useage in hunting are typically employed with tremendous skill and accuracy.
The armor used by the plains tribes is almost exclusively light, the tremendous importance that they place on speed and agility makes them tend to reject anything that would slow a warrior down. Their reliance on speed and agility in combat is also why their powerful composite longbows are typically used for hunting rather than war, as instability while moving makes them impractical to use unless stationary, centaurs lacking the ability of a horse-archer to stand up and absorb the shock of their mount galloping.
The Tribes
The Plains Tribes
These tribes are what most outsiders picture when thinking of centaurs, proud warriors galloping across the open grasslands to confront any intruders on their lands. The vast majority live in nomadic tribes which wander the plains nearly year round, but others live in a small handful of permanent settlements built on the edges of the grasslands where serpentfolk forts once stood.
Nomads
The vast majority of the centaurs who live in The Grassy Sea belong to the nomadic plains tribes which follow the herds across the open savanna for most or all of the year. The tribes carry their belongings both in containers similar to saddlebags and on travois which the centaurs drag behind them as they travel. Many of these tribes will overwinter in the cities, at least during particularly harsh winters, and will visit them regularly to trade throughout the year.
City Dwellers
While the nomadic tribes are largely self sufficient, crafting much of their own equipment, clothing, food, and weapons, there are certain things that are not so easily built on equipment which can be torn down and transported regularly. The cities provide a place for craftsmen to have permanent workshops, forges, and studios, food to grown and stored for scarce times, and large gatherings of the tribes to be held. Members of the nomadic tribes, particularly younger warriors, may express some derision for their agrarian cousins but it is generally light hearted and fresh produce is greatly valued after months out on the plains.
Notable Plains Tribes
While there are dozens of tribes which make their home in The Grassy Sea, there are a few which are particularly large or famous.
The Sealgii
Renowned for their hunting prowess, the Sealgii are one of the few tribes who regularly hunt long horned bison and megaloceros, the towering and extremely dangerous cousins of the elk and bison whose herds most of the other nomadic centaur tribes follow throughout the year. The Sealgii revere Seonaid, the spirit of the hunt, above all other gods and believe that their pursuit of the largest and most dangerous prey available to them brings them her favor. Their unabashed belief in their own superiority as hunters rubs many other tribes the wrong way, but the impressive trophies that they take are hard to argue with.
The Cosgaii
A tribe with a strong warrior tradition, the Cosgaii engage in near constant raiding of other tribes, moving from tribe to tribe rather than following the herds across the plains themselves. While this behavior hasn't made them popular with the other tribes, their combat prowess and willingness to be on the front lines of every conflict against human invaders has earned them grudging respect from the other tribes.
The Forest Tribes
Smaller bodied than their plains dwelling cousins, the centaurs of the forest tribes are at home among the dense forests which border the plains of The Grassy Sea. The small hidden villages that they originally built with the help of their elven allies have grown into massive cities which wind their way through the trees, making best use of the space available to them on the forest floor while leaving the dense canopies above intact. Some of these cities are even built underneath elven settlements built high in the branches above, the two communities living in relative harmony.
Notable Forest Tribes
Among the many tribes which make their homes in the forests which border The Grassy Sea, there are a few which are particularly well known.
The Sgàilei
A rare nomadic forest tribe, the Sgàilei travel along the perimeter of the northern forest, hunting the herds which wander close enough. This habit brings them into more regular contact with the plains tribes than any other forest tribe. More notably, they are one of the only forest tribes which regularly engages in raids on plains tribes which make camp or wander too close to the edge of the forest, generally attacking in the early morning. Experts in ambushing, flanking, and striking hard and fading away, the Sgàilei have taught many plains tribes to respect their smaller cousins.
Caraidii
The first of the forest tribes to encounter and ally with the elves, today the Caraidii occupy the great city of Baile-mòr Càirdeas, a city which lies directly beneath an ancient elven city and in which elves and centaurs freely intermingle. Today many other forest tribes have followed suit, but the few are as close to their elven allies as the Caraidii are.
Centaur Cities
While most of the plains centaur tribes are nomadic, they do maintain a few permanent settlements. These settlements serve as gathering places for the tribes, storage for food and trade goods, and workshops for craftspeople. Centaurs tend to dislike tight enclosed spaces and have trouble with stairs, so their buildings tend to be single story with high ceilings and are often open on at least one side. The only fully enclosed buildings tend to be used for storage and other weather sensitive uses.
The forges of the cities are arguably their most important feature, as only minimal metalworking is possible with the sort of equipment that can be easily transported by a nomadic tribe. Metal is hard to come by on the open plains and the knowledge of how to create, rework, and reforge metal is one of the greatest gifts that the centaurs have received from their dwarven neighbors. To this day, centaur smiths grow out their beards in the dwarven style; thick, braided, and decorated.
The Plains Cities
Due to the lack of readily available building materials on the plains, the centaurs turned to the handful of serpentfolk cities located around the edges of The Grassy Sea which had sat empty since the cataclysm. With the aid of their dwarven allies they tore down the cities and repurposed the stone for their own use right on the same sites that the serpentfolk cities once stood.
Baile-Mòr Brèagha
Baile Mòr Brèagha or 'The Beautiful City' in the local dialect is a city which truly lives up to its name. Straddling the river known as Stòr Beatha, the city is characterized by broad tree lined roads, large open spaces, and stone bridges arching over the river.
Cathair Airaghoid
Baile Mòr Airaghoid or 'The Stolen City' in the local dialect is located towards the eastern end of The Grassy Sea, placed squarely between the eastern, northern, and southern forests. Designed primarily as a meeting place for the tribes, the city is designed with a great many seperate large open spaces oriented around a larger central gathering space. All of the buildings, from warehouses to smithys and other crafting spaces, are laid out between the various spaces in order to seperate the gathered tribes and prevent tensions or rivalries from flaring up.
The Forest Cities
Unlike their plains dwelling cousins, the forest tribes have long dwelled in beautiful cities which wind their way between the trees of their chosen homes. They may have known little to nothing about building with wood when they arrived in the forests, but with the assistance of their elven allies they have become expert woodworkers and carpenters.
Baile-mòr Càirdeas
A testament to the deep friendship between the forest tribes and the elves of the southern forest, the 'city of friendship' as its name means in the old centaur dialect, is located directly beneath the elven city whose name translates to 'safety for our people high above the serpent's sight'. The elven city is built high in the branches of the forest, platforms built around the trunks of the largest trees with walkways stretching between them. While the centaurs inability to climb ladders means that they cannot easily reach the upper levels, at ground level elves and centaurs intermingle freely.
Would-be Colonizers
As the other nations of The Shattered Sea solidified their borders and began settling into a period of trade rather than regular warfare with their neighbors, many of them began looking further afield for new territory and sources of natural resources. The centaurs have been vigilant in maintaining their sovereignty and ensuring that no foreign invaders are able to gain a foothold within the borders of The Grassy Sea.
Ahl Alshamal
Seeking both arable land and a source of timber, the desert kingdom of Ahl Alshamal set its sights on the southern coast of The Grassy Sea long before any others, and they have been a constant threat ever since. Diplomacy quickly broke down when it became apparent that the Alshamalites were unwilling to negotiate in good faith, regarding the failure of the centaurs to 'properly' develop and use the land as being tantamount to giving up any claim on it. After the destruction of their first settlement, they responded with military force and were the first of the human nations to discover that the centaurs were the best light cavalry on the continent by a wide margin. The Alshamalites have made several more attempts to take territory within The Grassy Sea since, and have been rebuffed each time.
Alborian Aspirations
The Alborian Empire's attempt at colonizing The Grassy Sea was the brainchild of Guillemot Gavreau, a minor nobleman. Gavreau, the somewhat sarcastically named 'Marquis de Cheveaux', funded the expedition with the majority of his families wealth and would go on to die ignobly under the hooves of the centaur tribes who call the region home. The remnants of the expedition returned home in defeat, bringing with them a message for the emperor and his court from The Tribes of The Grassy Sea; that their homeland was not a place for foreigners to discover, explore, own, or become masters of, it had a people and they stood ready and able to defend it.
Bommbergonian Incursions
Having heard of and thoroughly mocked the Alborian Empire's attempt at colonizing The Grassy Sea, many members of the nobility of Bommbergonia felt that they now had an opportunity to both gain valuable territory and one-up their northern rivals. In an effort to avoid the mistakes of the Alborians, their expedition was far larger, sponsored by the government, and contained a much larger military element. The subsequent series of military clashes with the centaur tribes would teach them a valuable lesson about underestimating so-called primitives and teach the tribes a number of lessons about engaging in warfare against a large, well equipped force of humans. In the end, the bommbergonians were forced to give up their colonial ambitions, at least where the Grassy Sea is concerned, and the centaurs were left to deal with the idea that the slower, stronger, heavier bodied centaurs now had a role to play in their warrior class.
Foreign Relations
The Tribes have had few interactions with the other nations of The Shattered Sea, being regarded as a mysterious and savage people by most of the humans of the continent.
Ahl Alshamal
The desert kingdom of Ahl Alshamal and The Tribes have been in conflict for almost a thousand years now, both the longest running war and the only active one among the nations of The Shattered Continent today. While large scale military engagements haven't occurred in several hundred years, the centaurs still intercept and chase off armed Ahl Alshamali logging operations on a regular basis.
The Alborian Empire
Despite their geographical proximity, the Alborian Empire has no direct trade or diplomatic relations with The Tribes, pride preventing the government from reaching out after their failed colonization attempt and all private attempts having been rebuffed by the centaurs.
The Kingdom of Bommbergonia
If simple pride has prevented the Alborians from reaching out to The Tribes to establish diplomatic or trade relations, this goes double for The Kingdom of Bommbergonia. Their campaign against The Tribes was substantially longer and more costly than The Alborian Empire's, and as a result they have written off the entire region as 'a barren plain filled with savage, bestial horse-men'.
The Alhamish Union
While the first Alhamish to meet with The Tribes may have had raiding in mind, self-preservation quickly drove those thoughts from their mind and they are still to this day the only humans who The Tribes maintain active trade and diplomatic relations with. Because of The Tribes refusal to deal with the Bommbergonians or Alborians, The Alhamish are able to trade a huge variety of goods both from those nations and the rest of The Shattered Continent with the tribes in exchange for horn and bone carvings, masterfully crafted and decorated leather goods, and elven and dwarven wares. These goods fetch a premium across The Shattered Continent due to their rarity and exotic nature.
The Local Dwarves
The final, northernmost fragment of The Spine is home to the dwarves of Silversteel Hold, longtime allies of the plains tribes. As the tribes tried to adjust to living in this new land after the cataclysm, the dwarves helped them dismantle the serpentfolk cities to build their own and tought them to work metal again, since that knowledge had been lost during the reign of the serpentfolk. The Tribes and Silversteel Hold maintain strong trade and diplomatic ties, with the dwarves providing the majority of The Tribes metal in return for animal products, particularly meat, and centaur smiths maintain their hair and beards in the dwarven style to this day.
The Local Elves
The elven enclaves known as "Tel'Quessir Nelluin sel aul Tel'Vandor" or "The People Hidden High In The Forest" are scattered across the forests bordering The Grassy Sea, but at the time of the cataclysm they had been reduced to just a single settlement located in the southernmost forest. When the centaurs who would form the forest tribes first moved into the forests, seeking refuge from the larger and more aggressive tribes, the elves took pity on them and taught them how to not just live but thrive in their new home. The centaurs learned learned Bushcraft, carpentry, and many other skills from the elves and even today live in close proximity to them, trading, hunting, and patroling the forest side by side.
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