Kaurh

Culture

Common Myths and Legends

Kaurh are descendants of the line of Ulque through his daughter Nyrga. When the Creator banished His children to the West, each one chose a different path. Ulque the Wolf, took the northern passage through the land of the gargoyles but the gargoyles refused to let them pass so Ulque and his sons attacked them and captured their chief and his retinue. When the prisoners were brought to Ulque's camp, his daughter laughed and mocked their ugliness but their chief only smiled at Nyrga's insults and told her that she would fall in love with the man who breaks down the pine tree. One day as she was collecting mushrooms in the forest, Nyrga came a across a gigantic brown bear. The bear reared up on its hind legs and leaned against a pine tree which buckled and eventually snapped under the beast's weight. Just as the old gargoyle had said Nyrga immediately fell in love with it and they both went up into the mountains where it taught her all the secrets to surviving in the wilderness. In return she taught the bear how to speak and behave among men. She even gave her lover a name that reflected his powerful roar: Kaurh. When they returned to her father's camp, Kaurh asked Ulque to bless them and approve of their union, which Ulque agreed to. As time went by Kaurh spent his days hunting with Ulque and spent his nights with Nyrga. Soon her belly began to swell and there was much speculation among her people as to what her children would look like. The day finally came and Nyrga gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Although they were healthy, their strength and bear-like features worried Ulque and made him wonder if these children would not help their father overthrow him. He decided to banish Nyrga, calling her children hideous monsters and shaming her before her entire family and people. When Kaurh returned from the hunt and found out had been exiled to the wilderness he became enraged and chased Nyrga's family from the land before running up into the mountains to search for his wife. But as he rushed through the forested highlands he was ambushed by the gargoyles whose chief struck down Kaurh with a poisoned spear. Kaurh fell down with a mighty roar that echoed across the mountains and cursed the chief of the gargoyles. Far away, Nyrga and her children heard his voice as he died and she realised that this was all revenge for having insulted the gargoyles. She raised her children in secret, teaching them all that Kaurh had taught them and ingraining a dark hatred for the gargoyles. When they were old enough her children attacked the chief of the gargoyles and chased his people far up into the high mountains. That is how the people known as Kaurh, children of wolf and bear, became masters of the valleys of the Northern Pillars.