Vanquisher

True sons and daughters of the northern steppes, the warriors of the Mammoth Tribe don’t let the other Tribes forget that it was their weakness that allowed the Chalers to take their ancestral lands and push them into the frozen wastes that the Mammoth Tribe has always called home.
The Mammoth Tribe has always roamed the cold wastes “Shedarn Baran” - between mountains- referring to the wide steppes between the Dorsang Danar and the Great Northern Mountains where the Mammoth Tribe ruled with an iron fist.
That time ended when the other seventeen tribes were forced north by the Krai Jan invasion. Suddenly, the Mammoth Tribe found itself competing with the remnants of the other tribes for food, land, and other precious resources.
During the time of Chaler occupation, there were many incursions into the lands of the Urdaggar. These were to take even more land, but in almost every case these were beaten back. The tribes, being much more condensed than they ever had been before, were much faster to react to these attacks and found cooperation easier out of necessity. In those circumstances, the Krai Jan, and later the Traazorites, never stood a chance.
During one such incursion by the Traazorites in -236 was dubbed the Vrasachmai Crusade by a Traazorite General that vowed to conquer the Kuzaarik Confederation. Traazorite forces pushing north from Corolar threw aside the Owl, Horse, Wolf, and Serpent Tribes as they swept north across the plains.
They ran straight into an alliance of Mammoth Tribe Clans south of the Shovorath - The Tuskwood - A sacred place of power to the Mammoth Tribe because of the Mammoth boneyard beneath the Balsam Poplar Branches there.
The Traazorite Crusade, already bruised and bloodied by constant fighting with the Owl, Horse, Wolf, and Serpent Tribes on its way there, was nonetheless confident in their abilities and their leaders, having won so many victories early in the Crusade. Indeed, at their current rate, they would be across the northern plains by Takrun Yama - Longsun Day - the Traazorite celebration of the Summer Solstice and one of the holiest days in the Traazorite calendar.
The Mammoth Tribe Clans formed up in unruly, shaggy masses. They brought their Shu La’adat, -Little Thunderers - The War Mammoths given to the clans and blessed by their Totem god La’adat - The Thunderer.
The Two Legions of the Traazorite Empire advanced in perfect order, their wall of shields seemingly impenetrable and gleaming in the sun. The Mammoth Tribe charge was wild, uncoordinated, and unstoppable. The Shu La’adat, stomped warriors beneath their mighty feet while Mammoth Warriors armed with long spears fought from a howdah on their back, stabbing wildly into the ranks of Legionnaires as the Mammoths rampaged through them. The Wildspine Legion bore the brunt of the charge, their ranks decimated by the charging beasts. .
As soon as the Mammoths had crashed into the ranks of the Traazorites, the rest of the Clans charged wildly, hoping to capitalize on the chaos the stampede of the Shu La’adat had caused.
It nearly worked.
Though the Wildspine Legion had been crushed and the center of the Traazorite lines was in jeopardy, the mammoths were mainly brought down in the first attack and would be unable to charge again. The wild charge of the Clans was holding their own but could not penetrate the deep ranks of the Traazorite Legions. The near panic at the crushing mammoths had passed, and the strength of the Legions was beginning to tell on the numerically inferior Mammoth Tribe.
Steadily the Mammoth Tribe was pushed back until it looked as though their defeat was certain. It was at this time that Kal Ruba’arnat, The Vanquisher Clan, arrived on the battlefield. The Vanquishers had been raiding the Kuzaarik around Vinyabah Gohrahd when the call to battle had gone out across the Mammoth Tribe, and they had not responded to the summons.
Yet here they were, and right in time. The Vanquisher Tribe was well known for their large, two-handed mattocks they carried into battle, pulping their enemies in wanton acts of violence while giving their kills as offerings to La’adat, the Thunderer.
The Vanquishers crashed headlong into the right flank of the Vasikshak - Kingsnake - Legion. Moments before the legion were nearly victorious, but the ferocity of the Vanquisher’s charge not only stymied them but began to cut through them, their shields no match for the mighty swing of War Mattocks.
Unable to withstand the charge, the Katira Vasikshak wavered and began to break. The Katira Brygis Satali -Wildspine Legion - already battered from the charge of the mammoths, believed their sister legion was about to collapse and broke, retreating from the field.
The Katira Vasikshak held on by a thread, but it was starting to get the better of the fresh troops that had charged them. Slowly but surely, they killed the reckless tribespeople that had rent a gash in their flank.
With their flank exposed and the remnants of the Mammoth Tribe closing on them, the Katira Vasikshak had no choice but to retreat.
When both Legions had quit the field, the Mammoth Tribe regrouped, but there was not a single member of the Vanquisher Clan left standing. They had bled themselves completely but broke the Crusade in a single charge.
From that day forward young warriors in other Clans of the Mammoth Tribe begin to carry large mattocks and call themselves Vanquishers. Over time, these warriors became well known for their ferocity and unwillingness to break no matter what the odds.
Today, the Story Songs of the Mammoth Tribe tell of the Katirahab - The bane of the Legions, of the Vanquisher's sacrifice and victory, and of the Traazorite’s defeat at the borders of the Tuskwood.
There are still some Clans within the Mammoth Tribe that call the war mattock a Katirahab. Those weapons, and the warriors who have taken the mantle of “Vanquisher” carry on the memory and legacy of the original Kal Ruba’arnat.